Sunday Lit Mags Comin' Down!
Lit mags after Hurricane Helene; initiatives from Jewish Book Council; cancellations; novels vs short stories; not fearing submitting; more plagiarism news; work opportunities; 300 + markets; and more
Welcome to the bi-weekly news roundup!
Greetings Lit Magroscopes,
Recently on X, I inquired how our southern lit mags—Nashville Review, Raleigh Review, Georgia Review, among others—are faring in the devastating wake of Hurricane Helene. I heard back from the folks at Raleigh Review and Georgia Review that, thankfully, they’re okay. If any journals, presses or writers want to share something of your experience amidst this crisis, I’d be glad to hear from you.
Here, meanwhile, is a note from the Publisher of The Rumpus:
In geo-politically-oriented news, Jewish Insider reports on new initiatives from The Jewish Book Council, in response to the essay that was pulled from Guernica as well as other incidents that have lent to “a general culture of fear” in the literary world.
JBC [Jewish Book Council] is launching numerous initiatives to support and uplift Jewish authors and books, including marketing grants, support groups, book clubs and a legal rights workshop for writers along with UJA-Federation of New York and the Brandeis Center…This past year, JBC has been holding support groups for MFA students who feel isolated from peers.
This announcement comes on the heels of news that The Writers Institute of New York canceled a panel, which was to include writer Elisa Albert at the Albany Book Festival. As Northeast Public Radio reports,
According to a screenshot of an email sent by the Writers Institute’s Mark Koplik to Albert on Thursday, which was shared on social media, Koplik wrote “We have a crazy situation developing…Basically, not to sugar coat this, Aisha Gawad and Lisa Ko don’t want to be on a panel with a ‘Zionist.’”
At Tablet, Albert wrote of the canceled panel,
[T]he last thing on earth anyone needs is more anger, more resentment, more fighting, more hatred, more blood, more violence, heads to roll.
Haven’t we had enough, yet, of anger, fear, suspicion, hatred, fighting, bloodshed?
Are more rolling heads really the answer? More purges!?
One of the writers who withdrew from the panel, Aisha Gawad, has since lost her position as Writer-in-Residence at Connecticut’s Wilton Library. The library said they were “distressed and disturbed by the recent events surrounding the Writer-in-Residence program.”
PEN America has put out a statement, arguing that Gawad should not lose her position over the decision to withdraw from the panel.
Although we continue to lament the cancellation of the Albany panel, the Wilton Library’s choice to remove Gawad from her position as a result is also unfortunate and concerning. Retaliatory cancellations like this won’t do anything in service of deeper dialogue and understanding. At a time of deep division and distress, literature must be a bridge, not a border, and we should hear more from writers, not less.
In the realm of craft, Amy Stuber explores an important and oft-asked question at Electric Lit: I Love Short Stories. Do I Have to Write a Novel?
In 1993, I published my first decent story in a literary journal and a few months later received a letter from an agent whose name I recognized…
The agent letter was a surprise, and I was buoyed by it for days. The letter went something like this, “I enjoyed your short story. I’d be interested in seeing more of your work. Do you have a novel?”…
A few years later, I received another agent letter after another story publication. A few years after that, an email. The notes all said some version of “I liked your short story. But do you have a novel?”
In The Art of Research, Christopher Outcalt conducts a long (but thoughtful and lovely) interview with writer and Creative Writing Program Director at Colorado State University, Camille T. Dungy. Says Dungy,
I’ll never send a poem to publication without running it by three people whose opinions I trust. Those three people might vary. I like input from a variety of fields, and the kind of feedback I receive is different. With my husband, I get all the information I need from him often from like a grunt, or a very brief… ‘I didn’t expect that ending.’ And I have to figure out whether that was a good ‘I didn’t expect’ or a bad ‘I didn’t expect.’ He’s showing me what a reader is going to feel, right?
On The Brevity Blog, Jenny Klion has written I Do Not Fear the Submission.
I’ve been a circus clown, twice, all my life really, and I do not fear a writing submission.
I’ve toured with traveling shows, in theater, dance, circus, and opera, been on curtain-pull duty for an elephant act, the danger of which cannot be overstated. I do not fear a writing submission.
In Plagiarism News (is this a thing? sadly, yes, plagiarism news is now a thing), two additional names have cropped up in addition to John Kucera and his many aliases. Editors, beware:
Also, Editors, please be aware: The Pushcart Prize has announced that “nominations for the next Pushcart Prize, our 50th celebration, will be accepted [until] December 1st.” Learn more here.
For those of you seeking work in the nonstop-giggles-and-thrills land of lit mags:
trampset seeks a columnist:
Dulcet Literary Magazine has several volunteer positions open.
One Story seeks an Assistant Editor.
For those of you seeking homes for your latest & greatest:
Jessica Kusisto has posted 93 Literary Magazines Accepting New Work
Erika Dreifus has posted 60+ fee-free, paying/funded opportunities
Erica Verrillo has 91 Calls for Submissions in October 2024 - Paying markets and 45 Writing Contests in October 2024 - No entry fees
Authors Publish has 32 Themed Submission Calls and Contests for October 2024
Sub Club has 28 Recently Opened Submission Calls, Upcoming Deadlines, Contests, Theme Calls and more
As for us, lots going on this month, and it all begins tomorrow! I’m so looking forward to speaking with all the great editors and writers on the line-up for this month. Go have a look and sign up for stuff!
Save the Dates! October Panels, Interviews, Info Sessions and a Class!
October will be a big month here at Lit Mag News. There is a lot happening.
Also, it is never too late to join our Lit Mag Reading Club. We are currently reading the most recent issue of Alaska Quarterly Review, and will be joined by Editor Ronald Spatz at the end of the month. You can learn all about the Reading Club here:
Another Year of Reading Lit Mags! 2024-2025
It’s time to kick off this year’s Lit Mag Reading Club!
We will be reading Copper Nickel next month. I will share all the ordering information with you soon.
And that you adorable apple-picking acrobats, you handsome hay-ride hunks, you friendly foresters fawning over the magnificently fierce and frothing foliage, you mysterious makers of mulled apple cider, you picky and particular pumpkin eaters, you pulling the sweaters out of the closet, you yanking the jackets out of their crumpled up storage bags, you facing the fall that is so faintly and sweetly descending, you perhaps in a different place altogether, with weather of a different sort entirely, but hopefully a happy harvest nonetheless, you with sunset streaks on your fingertips, you with sunrise hopes in your hearts, you and you, wherever and always, in the midst of change, shifting your phases, as gradual yet always important as the moon, you wolf, you buck, you beaver, you so very you, so truly bright and so achingly high, is the news in literary magazines.
Have a most excellent week, pals.
Fondly,
Becky
And now a word from one of our lovely Lit Mag News sponsors!
It's not an S.O.S., though, more like a howdy. I want to start or join a writing group. I am Mark Gozonsky, a lifelong litmag reader, subscriber, and contributor. My perpetual jottings in wide margin composition notebooks have appeared with some frequency in The Sun and been anthologized in Best American Sports Writing and in a Norton college writing textbook, too. I'd love to be part of a writing community that shares keen and kind critique along with intriguing commentary on what we're reading -- me, right now, My Emily Dickinson by Susan Howe, wow, so oracular! and also Babbitt, yup, good ol' Babbitt, show me a better opening cityscape, go ahead, seriously, I wish you would, opening cityscapes are exactly the sort of thing my dream writing group would swap e-mails about. Crit and lit, with sides of bonhomie, commiseration, and that special tingle of introverts extroverting. I am tri-coastal myself these days, dividing time among Los Angeles, Chicago, and the Northwest Corner of Connecticut, so I'm imagining an online, asynchronous platform. I'm open to anything that's about writing and involves back & forth. If you've read this far, I already consider you a friend. Howdy me back: mark at gozonsky dot com
Dear Becky,
You are right on target. Thanks for discussing the lamentable situation of writers who cancel colleagues. It is not new, (ex. eugenics), but certainly highlights the cultural conflicts within the American literary scene.
Becky, Smoky Blue Literary and Arts Magazine (SBLAAM.com) is an Asheville-based litmag. Our fiction editor, who lives in Florida, is acting editor-in-chief presently. The poetry editor and the visual arts editor are local in and around Asheville. I'm the nonfiction editor in Maryland. Most of our readers are scattered across the country - we haven't heard from the two who live in and around Asheville, which is worrying - but we're able to keep much of the work going until John gets back up and running.