Love is an Open Lit Mag!

New journals from Africa, writing workshops, new contests, calls for submissions, interviews and more

Greetings Lit Magthusiasts,

The New York Times has shed a light on The New Magazines and Journals Shaping Africa’s Literary Scene. Reports Abdi Latif Dahir,

Across Africa, literary journals managed by young writers and artists are emerging with the aim of publishing both new and established voices, collaborating across geographies and using the internet and social media to reach their audiences. They are building on predecessors such as Transition, which shaped post-independence Africa, as well as Chimurenga, Kwani, Jalada, Brittle Paper and The Johannesburg Review of Books, which introduced powerful African storytellers to the global stage in the past two decades.

Meanwhile, a few new workshops offered by lit mags can help get your writing into great submitting shape. jfa, a human rights journal, is hosting an online workshop for writing about human rights. “Zuha Siddiqui will present the work she has done writing on human rights, our changing environment and technology. She will also be discussing the implications of censorship and security when writing on human rights violations…”

Barrelhouse is offering fiction workshops in September. “Discourse grows during the course of the week, ideally very similar to a face-to-face workshop. At the same time, we frequently have a number of discussions happening on various topics, including general writing-related and publishing issues and questions, to very specific elements of craft.”

One Story has a number of workshops coming up, including a workshop in September on how to submit your work. “Designed for fiction writers of all levels, this class will answer these questions—and more—about how to present your work and yourself to the editors, agents, and selection committees on the other side of the submit button.”

If you’d like more intel on the submissions process, an oldie but goodie from Erika Dreifus might be of interest. In 13 Questions to Ask Before Submitting to a Literary Journal, Dreifus writes, “So how do I make sense of all the possibilities that now stretch before me? How do I advance beyond discovering them to selecting the most propitious possibilities?…I have realized that I ask at least 13 questions when considering a publication as a potential venue for my writing.”

Also on that site, Kim Liao has written Why You Should Aim for 100 Rejections a Year. Writes Liao, “Since I’ve started aiming for rejections, not acceptances, I no longer dread submitting. I don’t flinch (much) when I receive inevitable form rejection emails. Instead of tucking my story or essay apologetically into a bottle and desperately casting it out to sea, I launch determined air raids of submission grenades, five or ten at a time. I wait for the rejections, line up my next tier of journals, and submit again.”

If you’re looking to get involved with a journal, Kweli Journal, “the premier literary online journal and community for writers of color, seeks a part-time Development Manager.” And the winnow magazine has openings for two volunteer positions, a community events organizer and a discord moderator.

It it is contest info you seek, you may enjoy this piece on Insights From Judging a Short Story Contest. Writes Annette Gendler, “Going by my experience, if your work is polished, adheres to the guidelines, has a beginning, a middle and an end as well as a narrative thread that pulls through, chances are you will make the first cut.”

Speaking of contests, do you know about the Winning Writers newsletter? “We monitor over 200 of the finest poetry and prose contests that have no entry fees. Their rules and deadlines change constantly. We stay on top of them for you. Get instant access to our database of contest profiles when you subscribe to our free email newsletter…”

Here too is a list of 40 Free Writing Contests: Legitimate Competitions With Cash Prizes. These are “40 reputable, well-reviewed, free writing contests for poets, fiction writers, essayists and more.”

For general submissions, be sure to check out S. Kalekar’s list of 40 New Literary Magazines for July 2021.

And for anyone looking to get out and meet other writers and editors, this list of 23 Awesome Writing Conferences in August 2021 might inspire. Says Erica Verrillo, “Conferences are not only the best way to meet agents, get tips from other writers, and learn about the publishing industry, they make you feel like a writer.”

Finally, lit mag editor interviews abound! In case you missed it, I spoke last week with Michael Nye, Editor of Story Magazine and with Christopher Allen, Editor of Smokelong Quarterly.

Also, tomorrow, July 27th, at 12pm est I will be speaking with Ann Beman, Mare Heron Hake and Jim Gearhart, Editors of Tahoma Literary Review. You can register here to attend and join the conversation.

Also, next Tuesday I will be speaking with Stephanie G’Schwind, Editor of Colorado Review. Learn more and register here.

And that you skillful soul-searchers, you fearless swipers of scalpels to the sloppiest excesses of your prose, you ruthless revisers, you whose dining rooms are littered with the departed darlings you’ve brazenly done away with, you who make smart choices, you who also often make not-so-smart choices, you who cut, who paste, who cut and paste again, you with ninety-nine commas in the palm of your hand, you and you, everywhere, the alphabet a clamor of mismatched pieces and jigsaw stews, all the time, as you write, and reap, and delete, and write again, and sow, and sleep, and think, and write, always, anyway, everywhere, making letters into magic, is the news in literary magazines.

Have a fabulously productive week, pals.

Fondly,

Becky