There's Lit Mags Happening Here!
Writers sign open letter opposing Israeli cultural institutions; backlash; writers sign open letter calling for end to boycott; correspondences with Poets & Writers; lists of markets; tips; and more
Welcome to the bi-weekly news roundup!
Greetings Lit Magizens,
Lots going on this week, lots of fizzy/anxious energy in the air, plus lots to get into on the literary front. Let’s dive in.
Thousands of writers have signed an open letter pledging not to “work with Israeli cultural institutions that are complicit or have remained silent observers of the overwhelming oppression of Palestinians.” They, “as writers, publishers, literary festival workers, and other book workers…call on our publishers, editors and agents to join us in taking a stand, in recognising our own involvement, our own moral responsibility and to stop engaging with the Israeli state and with complicit Israeli institutions.”
LitHub describes this as “perhaps the most forceful statement of condemnation—and largest commitment to cultural boycott—ever made by the global literary community with regard to the Israeli cultural sector.” According to Truthout, “The letter was organized by six groups — Books Against Genocide, Book Workers for a Free Palestine, Fossil Free Books, The Palestine Festival of Literature, Publishers for Palestine, and Writers Against the War on Gaza.”
Jerusalem-based literary agents Deborah Harris and Jessica Kasmer-Jacobs responded in The New York Times by saying that the letter “strikes us as a counterproductive and misguided rebuff by the very people who have been our comrades in the sacred mission of making books.” They ask, “For authors who would in any other case denounce book bans and library purges, what do they hope to accomplish with this?”
Creative Community for Peace has organized an open letter of its own, signed by over 1,000 writers, journalists and publishers. It states, “The instincts and motivations behind cultural boycotts…are directly in opposition to the liberal values most writers hold sacred. Boycotts against authors and those who work with them is illiberal and dangerous.”
Among the signatories on the latter letter is author Lionel Shriver. In
she writes,Publishing isn’t a very profitable enterprise. Literary festivals depend on fragile funding. Writers depend on both publishing and book festivals, and most writers do not make much money either. For authors, this latest fad for demanding that the industry and its promotional institutions conform to a specific political perspective—either by expressly endorsing that viewpoint or by puristically vetting financial supporters and writers for wrongthink—is self-destructive. Strict doctrinal conditions on supporters and performers make festivals in particular in danger of simply vanishing from the cultural landscape.
Writer
*, also responded to the boycott. She writes, “It’s imperative that we call this for what it is: the latest in a series of coordinated attempts to silence and scapegoat Jewish authors from around the world and demolish any hope for nuance, for discussion— and for coexistence.” In a personal message to a fellow writer who signed the open letter, she asks, “How would robbing artists like these of a platform contribute to advance the causes that the letter claims to support? How can de-platforming voices help in any constructive way?”And
has shared on her blog her correspondences with Kevin Larimer, Editor-in-Chief of Poets and Writers Magazine. Here she tries, seemingly in vain, to get that magazine to highlight news-worthy content relevant to “Israel and Jewish identity.” As she says, “What the magazine/website selects to publish—and ignore—with regard to Israel and Jewish identity has, in fact, been a long-standing concern of mine.”In one of the email exchanges, Dreifus tells Larimer,
Nor, unfortunately, can I have any faith that—six months after I suggested that attention might be paid to the experiences of Jewish and/or Israeli writers who, while being far from monolithic, depart from the anti-Zionist minority whose voices Poets & Writers has privileged to date—the magazine has even a fraction of the interest in (never mind compassion for) us that it exhibits, time and again, for every other group of writers among its readership.
Okay, moving on to lighter fare, as I know we all need some light fare right about now…
It seems like every month someone is writing about the amazing literary scene in Ireland. In this case, James Patterson (not the crime writer), has compiled a list that includes a few Irish mags I’d never heard of, as well as a video that appears to offer advice on breaking in. “One of the great things about being a writer in Ireland is that a fairly extensive network of literary magazines and journals already exists, catering to almost every strand of bookish endeavour there is.”
Cincinnati Review Editor Lisa Ampleman has posted Trends & Tips: What We’re Seeing, a helpful list of what they’re seeing a lot of in their submissions queue these days. Ampleman advises,
The trends described above are all just harder sells for us, to be frank! We do see good versions of these moves all the time, but we want to let you know that our inboxes have been saturated with pieces like these. Your work will feel more distinctive and compelling if it goes in other directions.
Brecht De Poortere has created the holy-grail mother of all spreadsheets featuring the Top 1000 Literary Magazines. The list includes magazines’ anthology prize wins, Best of the Net wins, X followers and other criteria. “It's important to note that not all aspects of journal quality can be measured and that this is just one ranking amongst many. In the end, this is just additional information, a tool, that can use when deciding where to submit.”
And Victoria Strauss, creator of Writer Beware (and the absolute queen of accountability and transparency in the literary world) has compiled Just for Authors: Writer Beware’s Go-To Online Resources. Many of these include magazine markets. And yes! I was over the moon to see Lit Mag News on this list!
For those of you seeking gainful employ:
The New Yorker seeks an Editorial Copy Associate.
Libre seeks volunteer readers.
For those of you scouting homes for your latest & greatest:
Sub Club has 45 Recently Opened Submission Calls, Upcoming Deadlines, Contests, Theme Calls and More.
Erica Verrillo has 90 Calls for Submissions in November 2024 - Paying markets and 54 Writing Contests in November 2024 - No entry fees
Jessica Kusisto has 96 Lit Mags That Want Your Work! — November 3, 2024 Weekly List
Erika Dreifus has 50+ fee-free, paying/funded opportunities.
Authors Publish has 31 Themed Submission Calls and Contests for November 2024; Eleven Wonderful Canadian Literary Journals; 40 Terrific International Literary Journals and Ten Terrific UK-based Literary Journals.
As for us, lots happening in the days ahead! This week I’ll be speaking with Rattle Editors Tim Green & Katie Dozier all about poetry, publishing, blockchain and NFTs. (What on Earth are blockchain and NFT’s, you wonder? Come find out!)
Next week I’ll be interviewing Nora Gold, Editor of Jewish Fiction Journal. And later this month I’ll be interviewing Wayne Miller, Editor of Copper Nickel. Plus more! You can learn all about it right here:
Save the Dates! November Interviews & Info Sessions!
The other day I went into Target. There were Christmas decorations on prominent display. We haven’t even gotten through Halloween, let alone Thanksgiving, and they’re already racing us into the next big holiday. I thought, Can we all slow down a bit? Do we have to careen so fast into everything so much of the time?
And that you patient poll watchers and buzzing ballot blasters, you who are registered to run toward your rapacious heart’s rigorous choosing, you whose status is active, you whose state is super swinging, you who can barely breathe for all the blinding anticipation and you with a bit more eh, whatever in your waking world, you who’ve been careening on the crests of every campaign wave and you whose nails are bitten down to the jagged worrisome quick, you everywhere, and you, too, viewing from distant lands—oh glorious spectacle! oh hall of funhouse mirrors! oh cacophonous circus clamoring to consume every last cube of your cosmic attention!—you in the frenzy of final countdowns, you who already did, you who haven’t yet, you who will, you who won’t, you of principle, you of passion, you of limitless timeless infinitude and all that so powerfully transcends persuasions, you and you, ready and alive, here, now, each and every one of us in all our precious togetherness, is the news in literary magazines.
Have a most peace-filled week, pals.
Fondly,
Becky
*An earlier version of this post stated that Vivian Cohen-Leisorek is the Creative Nonfiction Editor at The Ilanot Review. This is not the case. She was a reader at one time for the magazine. However her opinions, as quoted here, are her own and in no way reflect the views of that magazine’s editorial team.
I'm genuinely confused as to why genocide is not the bottom, unencroachable line for people. The UN<---The UN itself has use the word extermination in regards to palestinians.
Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) writes:
"Reading the health experts, I am starting to think with horror that if it's not stopped, Israel's assault could end up exterminating almost the entire population in Gaza over the next couple of years.
The range of presumable direct and indirect deaths could be between 15 and 20% of the population already by the end of this year, according to Prof. @devisridhar
(and that's in line with the work of other academics).
Once the dust settles, I can't imagine how the world will go on after having allowed that.
Again."
How this can continue to be a "but two sides" and "liberal freedom" "what about our festivals" debate is astounding. Imagine this same conversation happening around Nazi Germany - because make no mistake this is indeed a holocaust - in the 1930's.
Its frustrating to watch certain literary players conflate being anti-genocide/apartheid with being against all Jewish people. The boycott is for those who are zionist/supporting what is going on in Israel - which is plainly and clearly genocide heaped on top of apartheid. It becomes even more clear when those voices try to frame resisters as "a small minority of anti-zionists" so they can continue to paint resistance against genocide as inherently anti-semitic, which make no mistake its anti-semitic in and of itself to say Jewish identity must inherently be wrapped into zionism at all, much less as such a cost.
This is a tragedy in the soul of the literary community that the lives of millions at the hands of a warring state is pitted against writing communities who continue to support or refuse to resist genocide, as if these things are equal in any way.
Everyone: the selection of Zionists voices only is purposeful. They are slanting it like Fox news to elicit a certain reaction and manipulate the audience. Otherwise, they would have included voices of the boycott movement of ISRAELI institutions (not Jewish ones!). It’s clear they are pro-Zionist at this point.