Jump to navigation Skip to content
Jon Parrish Peede confirmed as chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities; how Melissa Broder wrote her debut novel; a short film on writer’s block; and other news.
“It’s so wonderful…to sit down together, look into each other’s faces, and talk and listen, and then make something of it.” Marie Howe speaks about The Poet Is In, an annual program that brings more than thirty award-winning poets together to write individual poems on request. The 2017 event was cosponsored by the Poetry Society of America and MTA Arts & Design, and held during National Poetry Month in April.
Big Blue Marble Bookstore is an independently owned bookstore located in the Mt. Airy section of Philadelphia that specializes in progressive and multicultural titles of interest to Philadelphians in general and Mt. Airy-ites in particular: children’s books; woman-centered pregnancy and parenting; sustainable living; queer, African-American, and Jewish studies; feminist science fiction; literary graphic novels; and more. They host readings, events, book clubs, and other groups throughout the year.
Celeste Ng on the engine that drives good fiction; books by women priced 45 percent below those by men; writers and literary advocates make Essence’s “Woke 100 Women” list; and other news.
“Poetry travels, you don’t need a lot of money to write it, you don’t need a lot of money to print it and distribute it.” Evie Shockley, a finalist for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize in poetry for her third collection, semiautomatic (Wesleyan University Press, 2017), talks with City of Asylum about the accessibility of writing poetry and its long and powerful tradition.
Zachary Schomburg’s poetry collection Fjords Vol. 1 (Black Ocean, 2012) was inspired by his desire to write poems based on the dreams his friends had shared with him. In an interview for the Pleistocene, he explained that part of his process was “e-mailing my friends or having a beer and talking to them about their most interesting dreams or their most recent dreams, and trying to make poems out of them.” The resulting poems have the odd clarity of dream logic. This week, reach out to some friends and ask them to share their most vivid dreams with you. Then try turning that material into a poem: include both the surreal and the concrete.
Curtis Sittenfeld on writing political fiction; America’s hundred favorite novels; summer reading picks; and other news.
Submissions are currently open for the 2018 BOAAT Press Chapbook and Book Prizes. Two awards of $1,000 each, publication by BOAAT Press, and 50 author copies are given annually for a poetry chapbook and a full-length poetry collection. The deadline for both contests is April 30.
The Chapbook Prize is given to an emerging or established poet. Using the online submission manager, submit a manuscript of 15 to 30 pages of poetry with a $17 entry fee. Camille Rankine will judge. The Book Prize is given for a debut poetry collection. Using the online submission manager, submit a manuscript of 48 to 75 pages of poetry with a $25 entry fee. Nick Flynn will judge.
BOAAT Press is an independent poetry publisher based in Charlottesville, Virginia. In addition to administering its annual prizes, the press publishes the bimonthly online journal BOAAT.
Alfredo Aguilar won the 2017 Chapbook Prize for What Happens on Earth, selected by Natalie Diaz. Jessica Field won the 2017 Book Prize for Redwork, selected by Dean Young. Visit the BOAAT website for more information, and check out our Grants & Awards Database and Submission Calendar for more upcoming contests in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction.
(Photos: Camille Rankine, Nick Flynn)
This Barnes & Noble is located in the Arboretum Shopping Center, at the Southwest Corner of 183 and Great Hills Trail. Events include author readings, talks, and book signings.
Bank of Books is an independent, family-owned bookstore that supports the local arts community, including writers, historians, artists, and musicians. They host readings, talks and discussions, storytime, author signings, book groups, music performances, and other literary events throughout the year.
