Pushback on new NEA guidelines; input on submission fees; lit mags on TikTok; history of leftist lit mag Anvil; Conjunctions Editor reflects on magazines; Witcraft closes; and more
Had to leave at least one thank-you comment in appreciation of your newsletter. You provide a much needed voice of sanity and rational "reporting" in a world that seems to be getting crazier by the minute.
An emendation to what I wrote in response to this NEA news, last newsletter: if I need to sign a statement like that just to apply, then of course I won't apply. Too bad, because I only just became eligible again. (And now I wonder who *will* apply and who will likely end up funded.) The letter signed by artists is exactly right that it's impossible to actually define what "promoting DEI" or "promoting gender ideology" actually means, but clearly, it's the principle of the thing. I hope the Executive Orders are indeed slapped down in the courts and that we get a chance again to be proud to apply for, and possibly receive, an NEA grant.
On looking closer, I guess it's just the guidelines for the institutional grants...? I'm torn as to what to do. Maybe apply and if by some wild chance I actually get offered one, I refuse it in solidarity...? Hm.
I have a lifetime passion and commitment to proletarian literature that is much more varied and deep than those who control the dissemination and distribution of literature in this country. Much of it has been disparaged,ignored, and omitted from major anthologies. Many teachers have been either too cowardly to teach it; many other teachers and, in particular, critic don't understand it from their liberal bourgoise fiefdoms.
Yet some of our finest writers write about working-Hclass people/ and what is euphemistically called "the underdog".Herman Melville and Mark Twain come to mind as do Theodore Dreiser, Frank Norris. Meridel LeSeur,Richard Wright, Chester Himes, Toni Cade Bambara, Toshi Mori, and poets Thomas McGrath, Gwendolyn Brooks, Martin Espada,Janice Mirikitani, BF Fairchild, Phillip Levine,Fred Whitehead Mary Fell,Tyehimba Jess, Natasha Tretheway,Lucille Clifton, and many others.
In college I corresponded with the original legendary editor of the Anvil, Jack Conroy of Moberly Missouri, an energetic paradoxically boisterous and humble man of letters who helped scores of young writers in our careers. In 1978 Jack invited me to an "alternative culture" conference of writers,musicians, and muckraking artists in Kansas City Kansas at the "Foolkiller center" with a wide variety of writers ranging in ages from 18 -80, and featuring three literary legends-Jack, Meridel LeSueur who had been blacklsted during the McCarty period
and was being rediscovered by the Feminist Press and other radical press such as West End. Young writers attending the the conference included soon-to-published writers such as myself,Joy Harjo, and Mary Fell. There were also radical musicians such as Sparky Rucker, Buddy Anderson (who'd played with Count Basie and Charlie Parker, and the remarkable all-woman band "Rosie's Bar and Grill." Theconference profoundly propelled my writing career along with forming lifelong friendships with Jack, Meridel (who had one of the finest ears for dialogue in American literature.
Jack's credo for the Anvil was "WE PREFER CRUDE VIGOR to SHALLOW POLISH.
I still find the brouhaha around the NEA stuff kind of overblown. It seems to me worthwhile for small orgs to apply, and if you end up with the wonderful problem of a grant offer, then you look at the contingencies then (and the NEA was clear they haven't worked out their guidance on everything, so).
Many thanks for the mention, Becky, and for all your support for Witcraft over the past 2 years.
I'm sorry to hear Witcraft is closing-- they honored me by publishing a couple of my poems last fall.
It was our privilege, Nolo
Had to leave at least one thank-you comment in appreciation of your newsletter. You provide a much needed voice of sanity and rational "reporting" in a world that seems to be getting crazier by the minute.
Thank you, Ms. Tuch.
Amen!
An emendation to what I wrote in response to this NEA news, last newsletter: if I need to sign a statement like that just to apply, then of course I won't apply. Too bad, because I only just became eligible again. (And now I wonder who *will* apply and who will likely end up funded.) The letter signed by artists is exactly right that it's impossible to actually define what "promoting DEI" or "promoting gender ideology" actually means, but clearly, it's the principle of the thing. I hope the Executive Orders are indeed slapped down in the courts and that we get a chance again to be proud to apply for, and possibly receive, an NEA grant.
On looking closer, I guess it's just the guidelines for the institutional grants...? I'm torn as to what to do. Maybe apply and if by some wild chance I actually get offered one, I refuse it in solidarity...? Hm.
I have a lifetime passion and commitment to proletarian literature that is much more varied and deep than those who control the dissemination and distribution of literature in this country. Much of it has been disparaged,ignored, and omitted from major anthologies. Many teachers have been either too cowardly to teach it; many other teachers and, in particular, critic don't understand it from their liberal bourgoise fiefdoms.
Yet some of our finest writers write about working-Hclass people/ and what is euphemistically called "the underdog".Herman Melville and Mark Twain come to mind as do Theodore Dreiser, Frank Norris. Meridel LeSeur,Richard Wright, Chester Himes, Toni Cade Bambara, Toshi Mori, and poets Thomas McGrath, Gwendolyn Brooks, Martin Espada,Janice Mirikitani, BF Fairchild, Phillip Levine,Fred Whitehead Mary Fell,Tyehimba Jess, Natasha Tretheway,Lucille Clifton, and many others.
In college I corresponded with the original legendary editor of the Anvil, Jack Conroy of Moberly Missouri, an energetic paradoxically boisterous and humble man of letters who helped scores of young writers in our careers. In 1978 Jack invited me to an "alternative culture" conference of writers,musicians, and muckraking artists in Kansas City Kansas at the "Foolkiller center" with a wide variety of writers ranging in ages from 18 -80, and featuring three literary legends-Jack, Meridel LeSueur who had been blacklsted during the McCarty period
and was being rediscovered by the Feminist Press and other radical press such as West End. Young writers attending the the conference included soon-to-published writers such as myself,Joy Harjo, and Mary Fell. There were also radical musicians such as Sparky Rucker, Buddy Anderson (who'd played with Count Basie and Charlie Parker, and the remarkable all-woman band "Rosie's Bar and Grill." Theconference profoundly propelled my writing career along with forming lifelong friendships with Jack, Meridel (who had one of the finest ears for dialogue in American literature.
Jack's credo for the Anvil was "WE PREFER CRUDE VIGOR to SHALLOW POLISH.
Delighted about Ploughshares—both for itself and because a friend’s poem is in the issue!
I still find the brouhaha around the NEA stuff kind of overblown. It seems to me worthwhile for small orgs to apply, and if you end up with the wonderful problem of a grant offer, then you look at the contingencies then (and the NEA was clear they haven't worked out their guidance on everything, so).
The Nea Grants for fiction writers and poets is,, to my understanding 25,000. That is one part of the NEA NOTOVEBLOWN
Thank you for the Stay Curious shout-out!