London's Burning With Lit Mags Now!
Problems with a premier book distributor, exciting fellowships, lit mag reviews, and a whole lot of submission opportunities.
Greetings Lit Magnificents,
The saga continues at Small Press Distribution, a literary book distributor which distributes over forty literary magazines. At Publisher’s Weekly, Alex Green has covered the story, writing, “[A] former employee first posted the allegations of wage theft in early December, leading to a series of subsequent actions by current and former employees, including an open letter calling for the resignation of executive director Brent Cunningham.” As of today, several presses have discontinued their relationship with SPD.
In other news, some exciting fellowships are on offer. A Public Space is offering a fellowship to writers, whose aim “is is to seek out and support writers who embrace risk in their work and their own singular vision. Writers who have not yet contracted to publish a book are invited to apply.”
The Laura Kinsella Fellowship seeks to “support one exceptionally talented early career writer of literary fiction…Set up to support writers experiencing limiting circumstances, or whose voices are underrepresented in mainstream literary fiction, one writer will receive not only a cash prize but a bespoke programme of support delivered by National Centre for Writing.”
A few new mags crossed my path recently. Arthropod says, “[Our weird name] has a purpose, we swear. The phylum ‘Euarthropoda’ is the most diverse, containing roughly 75% of all animals on Earth. Our goal at Arthropod is the same: to include a diverse group of creative minds in our literary phylum.” And Querencia is “an online literary magazine highlighting the creative voices of any and all BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and historically underrepresented communities.”
Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about an old classic, CLMP has done an interesting write-up on The Yale Review. “In October 1911, the Yale Review transformed…into the literary incarnation we know today, which was originally known as the New Series and was edited for the next thirty years by Wilbur Cross, an English professor who went on to serve as the governor of Connecticut from 1931 to 1939. The New Series featured work by many notable, or soon-to-be notable, authors in its first years, including Edith Wharton…and, of course, Virginia Woolf, who contributed nine essays to The Yale Review between 1926 and 1938.”
For more lit mag reviews, this nifty newsletter might be of interest. Writes Henry Porter, “Dilettante is a weekly newsletter that seeks to reduce the tedium and frustration of trying to find the best literary magazine for your poems…Every other Wednesday, Dilettante features a profile of a literary magazine to give you a sense of a magazine’s true character.”
If you want to learn more about submission processes, you might want to follow up on this thread:
Those of you looking for more calls for submissions might like S. Kalekar’s list of 28 Themed Submission Calls for January 2021. Kalekar has also posted a list of 5 Paying Literary Markets to Submit to in January 2021.
For more paying markets, check out Write Jobs, which lists both literary and commercial magazines. And over at Publishing…And Other Forms of Insanity you’ll find many more lists, including magazines open in January and more paying markets.
And that you agape watchers of all the goings-on, you dumbstruck disbelievers in this world gone utterly mad, you cravers of calm, you cultivators of civility, you winding through a whirlpool of whiplashing wild things that just…keep…happening, you who can’t stop clicking, you who can’t look away, you who feel deluged with drama and you whose brain is a noisy clatter of firecrackers from every which way, you and you, and, of course, you, out there, remembering a few other things, here and there, like the brightness of stars, a salty beach wind, your favorite pen, your childhood prayers, your private and peaceful places, full of writing, reading and dreams, is the news in literary magazines.
Have a restorative week, pals.
Fondly,
Becky
P.S. Like this newsletter and think your friends will too? Please share!
P.P.S. Don’t want to miss a single bit of lit mag news? Make sure you’re signed up to get each full access to every newsletter and discussion thread!
P.P.S.S. I love hearing from all of you. If your lit mag is doing something cool and newsworthy, let me know. Or if there is a question you’d like me to pose to writers or editors in a discussion thread, drop me a line. Or just:
As always, thanks for reading.
Hi Becky, I just subscribed. Hopes for 2021!
I look for this info from Becky Tuch every week and am always pleased ! Sign up and get the best review of what’s what where and when !