CNF opportunity

July 8, 2009 at 3:11 am · Filed under Calls for Submission

A challenge to my CNF brethren….  plenty of time to get those submissions ready:

Creative Nonfiction is seeking new essays that explore death, dying, and end of life care, for a collection to be published by Southern Methodist University Press. We’re looking for stories that transcend the “I” and find universal meaning in personal experiences. We hope to include stories representing a wide variety of perspectives—from physicians, nurses,hospice workers, social workers, counselors, clergy, funeral directors,family members, and others. We want narratives that capture, illustrate and/or explain the best way to approach the end of life, as well as stories that highlight current features, flaws, and advances in the healthcare system and their impact on professionals, patients, and families.

Essays must be vivid and dramatic; they should combine a strong and compelling narrative with a significant element of research or information. We’re looking for well-written prose, rich with detail and a distinctive voice.

Creative Nonfiction editors will award one $1500 prize for Best Essay, and two $500 prizes for runners-up.

Guidelines: Essays must be: unpublished, 5,000 words or less, postmarked by December 31, 2009, and clearly marked “End of Life” on both the essay and the outside of the envelope. There is a $20 reading fee (or send a reading fee of $25 to include a 4-issue CNF subscription); multiple entries are welcome ($20/essay) as are entries from outside the U.S. (though subscription shipping costs do apply).

Please send manuscript, accompanied by a cover letter with complete contact information, SASE and payment to:

Creative Nonfiction
Attn: End of Life Stories
5501 Walnut Street, Suite 202
Pittsburgh, PA 15232

More info at: 
http://creativenonfiction.org/
information@creativenonfiction.org

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Fiesta Erika

July 6, 2009 at 1:17 am · Filed under Poetry Students

More good news for Erika Sanchez–  her poem “Fiesta Mexicana” will be published in the next issue of Crab Orchard Review.

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Random Tidbit for you about MFAer, Daniel Darling

June 30, 2009 at 5:09 pm · Filed under 1, Blue Mesa Review, Congratulations, English Department News, Miscellaneous

S Something to know… Dan Darling, Blue Mesa Review Production Editor and Fiction MFAer, is also a teaching wonder. This summer, he taught a lesson using the Cartoon Network’s Aquateen Hunger Force in his English 102 class. Believe it or not, Ripley, if you have cable, watch it this Saturday night. Apparently, he’s getting a good ole fashioned cartoon network shout out. Stay tuned for more information.

Watch a clip from the random cartoon by clicking on this blog posting…

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Wanted: CNF

June 26, 2009 at 4:40 pm · Filed under Calls for Submission

Jjellybucket_coverelly Bucket, the literary journal of the Creative Writing Program at Eastern Kentucky University, is accepting submissions for its premiere issue through August 1, 2009.

I’ve read several calls for Creative Non Fiction…  so polish up those manuscripts and get them in the mail!

The journal will appear in November 2009.

Check their website for full details –>

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BMR and Dawn Sperber hang with the Alibi

June 23, 2009 at 4:35 pm · Filed under 1

Hello folks,

It may be summer, but don’t think your literary magazine is slacking off. This past Sunday, your fearless advisor Marisa P. Clark and I (plus undergraduate extraordinaire Randi Beck) represented at the Alibi’s first Flash Fiction Contest Reading (the contest has been going on for some time now), where winners of the contest, local celebrities, and the Blue Mesa Review participated in an open mic night of free food, beer drinking, book give-aways, and literature loving that was also a benefit for the New Mexico Coalition for Literacy. It was great fun.

I read a couple of 119 word piece scratched together for the event–a fun writing exercise that I think everyone should try (and then submit to the contest next year.) Dawn Sperber also read twice!  (Marisa and Randi, however, did not–though Marisa contemplated reading her notes….)  It was a really fun and free thing we had here and if you are around next summer, I highly recommend going (and reading). I’m often struck at these things with how happy some people are to read their work aloud and how MFAers and other literati types are so bogged down with a need for perfection we don’t share enough. Let’s break the chain, people. Break it like it’s never been broken before (or.. well, i’m sure it’s been broken before, but break it like YOU’VE never broken it before…)

For those who don’t know, every year, the Alibi holds a 119 word Flash Fiction contest. Last year’s winner was our very own Dawn Sperber. This year, Dawn came in second. We should aim for a UNM take-over!. Check out the article and read the stories here:  http://alibi.com/index.php?story=28147&scn=feature

Special thanks to the Alibi’s Erin Adair-Hodges who allowed us to give away some magazines and spread the word about BMR to the locals.

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Tweet your True Stories

June 17, 2009 at 5:20 pm · Filed under Calls for Submission, Miscellaneous

twitter_logo_headerThe Great Twitter Experiment from Creative NonFiction magazine email newsletter:

As the genre matures and evolves, and technology and the popularity of social networking expands, we at CNF have become increasingly interested in different forms of creative nonfiction.

We’re wondering if it’s possible to tell true stories, well, in 130 characters or less. Think you could write one hundred CNF-worthy tweets a day? Go for it. We dare you. Submitting is easy. Simply tag your 130-character creative nonfiction tweet with the trending topic #cnftweet, and then hit “Update.” That’s it.

We’ll scour Twitter on a daily basis, re-tweeting the best of the day. And who knows? If this goes well, you may even find your tweet in an upcoming issue of Creative Nonfiction.

I’ve been hesitant to jump on the twitter bandwagon, even though I’ve been on twitter since 2006 (the result of attending a BlogHer convention). I just don’t quite see the point. This project, though does sound like fun… especially since I’ve been accussed of being too concise in my writing, of not wallowing on the page enough. I may just have to try this out as it may be right up my alley! Hope you’ll join me!

Check out Creative Non Fiction on Twitter–>

or better yet, Subscribe to Creative Non Fiction–>

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You Must be this Tall to Ride Anthology

June 5, 2009 at 5:26 pm · Filed under Miscellaneous

Editor B.J. Hollars writes:

I am an MFA candidate at the University of Alabama where I’ve served as nonfiction editor and assistant fiction editor for Black Warrior Review. I’m writing in regards to a new anthology I’ve just completed entitled “You Must Be This Tall To Ride: Contemporary Writers Take You Inside the Story” published by Writer’s Digest Books. Essentially, it’s 20 literary coming of age stories, 20 original essays by the authors explaining how they initially wrote the stories, as well as 20 writing exercises from the authors. It features work previously published in Best American Stories, Best American Nonrequired Reading, The Pushcart Prize anthologies, among others. Steve Almond, Aimee Bender, Judy Budnitz, Dan Chaon, Stuart Dybek, Michael Martone, Antonya Nelson, Peter Orner, Benjamin Percy, and Brady Udall are all contributors, just to name a few.

I don’t stand to make any money off of this endeavor (I divided the advance among the contributors) and I’m contacting you on behalf of these stories and essays simply because I think they might work well at the University of New Mexico.

I encourage you to check out the website, www.YouMustBeThisTallToRide.net and see for yourself. I’ve also started an online magazine related to the
book, and submission guidelines can also be found on the same site.

Thanks for taking a peek and helping to spread the good word.

Take care, and again, I appreciate your help. Feel free to contact me any time.

Yours,
B.J. Hollars

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The Mississippi Review Prize 2009

May 31, 2009 at 5:25 pm · Filed under contests ·Tagged ,

Awarding $1,000 each in fiction and poetry and publication in the print issue of Mississippi Review

Our annual contest awards prizes of $1,000 in fiction and in poetry. Winners and finalists will make up next winter’s print issue of the national literary magazine Mississippi Review. Contest is open to all writers in English except current or former students or employees of The University of Southern Mississippi. Fiction entries should be 1000-5000 words, poetry entries should be three poems totaling 10 pages or less. There is no limit on the number of entries you may submit. Entry fee is $15 per entry, payable to the Mississippi Review.

Each entrant will receive a copy of the prize issue.

No manuscripts will be returned. Previously published work is ineligible. Contest opens April 2. Deadline is October 1. Winners will be announced in late January and publication is scheduled for May next year. Entries should have “MR Prize,” author name, address, phone, e-mail and title of work on page one.

Postmark deadline: October 1, 2009
Winners announced: Jan 2010
Issue publication: April 2010

Details online –>

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Dana Levin’s Graduate Poetry Workshop Rescheduled

May 31, 2009 at 5:21 pm · Filed under English Department News ·Tagged

Dana Levin’s English 522: Graduate Poetry Workshop has been rescheduled to Wednesdays, 4:00-6:30.

FALL 2009 COURSE DESCRIPTION

Each week we will critique original poetry produced by students. Workshop will focus on revision and ways we can open a poem up to become its strongest and most vivid self, predicated on these ideas: that a poem has an autonomous life apart from the author’s will and intention, and that composition/revision is an act of dynamic relation between you and the poem: what does the poem want you to do with it? How do you find that out? Strange exercises may be assigned to further poem-opening; engaging the unconscious will be a focus. We will also, together, determine what kinds of readings would best advance the class: readings that teach us something about poetic composition and/or the history of contemporary American poetry in relation to zeitgeist-the spirit of the time-and how the individual artist both resists and absorbs his/her historical/cultural/aesthetic moment to produce strong, uncanny and impactful poems. Students will write one critical essay and produce a portfolio of 20 pages, including ten revised pieces.

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New Russo Chair: Poet Dana Levin

May 19, 2009 at 4:51 pm · Filed under English Department News ·Tagged

Poet Dana Levin has accepted an offer to come to UNM as the next Russo Chair in the creative writing program.

Dana is currently the Chair of Creative Writing and Literature at the College of Santa Fe where she’s taught in the creative writing program since 1998. She’s the author of IN THE SURGICAL THEATRE (Copper Canyon 1999) and WEDDING DAY (Copper Canyon 2005). Dana has received numerous awards for her poetry, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, a PEN award, an NEA, and an American Academy of Poets Prize.

Dana will be teaching the 522 poetry workshop this fall. That class is scheduled on Thursdays from 4:00-6:30. UPDATE: scheduled for Wednesdays 4-6:30pm

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