Friday, August 24, 2018

Creative Nonfiction


The Summer 2017 issue of The Gettysburg Review features paintings by Tina Newberry. In addition to this untitled cover piece, there are eight works in a full-color portfolio inside. It's also worth a visit to her website to view her Barbies series.


Police taser 87-year-old woman carrying a knife to cut dandelions
Life imitating art - Now an independent Senator, will Cleaver step up to help Australia keep calm and carry on?

Rake

Series 5

Cleaver Greene finds himself a senator in Federal Parliament, a parliament beset by terror in globally uncertain times. And true to form, Cleaver manages to blunder into the middle of domestic and international affairs.

Aretha Is A Shooting Star (No, Really – They Named An Asteroid After Her)

249516 Aretha measures two to three kilometers, or less than two miles, across. It orbits between Mars and Jupiter, one of hundreds of thousands of known asteroids that reside between the two planets. It takes about five and a half years to make one trip around the sun. … Read More

About 30,000 ISIS Fighters Still in Syria and Iraq, Inspector General Reports. “At the end of December, the U.S.-led coalition had estimated “less than 1,000 ISIS terrorists” remaining on the battlefields gettysburg review


In these turbulent times, we can't help but wonder just exactly how words do matter, in the sense of "for good" instead of what we see so much of bandied about in terms of knee-jerk thoughtlessness.World Literature Today provides the perspective "Words Matter: Writing as Inspired Resistance" in their January-February 2018 issue. In addition to its regular content is "Treasuring the Tradition of Inspired Resistance”: A Conversation with Maureen Freely by Michelle Johnson, poetry by Iossif Ventura and Anna Maria Carpi, an essay by Liliana Ancalao, three audio poems (online) in Mapuzungun, Spanish, and English, by Liliana Ancalao, a web exclusive interview “Breaking Open Gates: A Conversation with Emmy Pérez,” by Norma Cantú and Chelsea Rodríguez.



lee gutkindIn "The Godfather Speaks," 3QR: The Three Quarter Review interviewed Lee Gutkind on the two-decade anniversary of the controversial Vanity Fair article, in which critic James Wolcott “accused creative nonfiction writers, of memoir in particular, of ‘navel gazing’ . . . lambast[ing] the form itself as: a ‘sickly transfusion, whereby the weakling personal voice of sensitive fiction is inserted into the beery carcass of nonfiction.‘" Wolcott labeled Gutkind as “The Godfather behind creative nonfiction.”

Gutkind reflects on what could have been devastating to some in their careers: “The Godfather label—the positive aspects of it—stuck. From that point on, emboldened, I was much more in an offensive rather than a defensive mode when it came to creative nonfiction.” And for this, we are all grateful to The Godfather.

bridled amy mengAvailable this month is the winner of the 2017 Lena-Miles Wever Todd Prize for PoetryBridled by Amy Meng. Selected by Jaswinder Bolina, Bolina says of his selection:

Bridled is poetry as slow-burn opera. [ . . . ] The poems here offer, in reverse chronology, the story of a crumbling relationship between an unnamed speaker and her nameless ‘lover.’ In this telling, Bridled articulates a politics of self versus other, of body and gender, of loneliness and togetherness. It’s a collection you’re going to want to read from start to finish and then from finish to start



bennington review coverI was relieved to see it wasn't just me who heard the Bee Gees in my head when I saw the cover ofBennington Review Issue Four themed "Staying Alive." Editor Michael Dumanis opens the "Note from the Editor" with these two lines from the 1977's classic, "Life goin' nowhere, somebody help me / Somebody help me, yeah, I'm stayin' alive."

Dumanis explains, "As we were reading the poems, stories, and essays submitted to Bennington Review  in 2017 for this, our fourth issue, we noticed a word that come up with remarkable regularity - the verb 'survive' in all its various permutations. In Issue Four, it occurs - frequently as a directive, occasionally as the noun 'survivor' - twenty-eight times. The word 'living' can be found twenty-one times, an the word 'alive' shows up an additional twelve."

A "tonal shift" from their previous issue, themed "Threat," Dumanis notes that "something has shifted in the cultural landscape. An acceptance of threat has bred a series of reactions - resistance, perseverance, even a measure of optimism . . . there's now a restored sense of agency."

Readers can find works by Patrick Williams, Erin L. McCoy, Marco Wilkinson, Ian Stansel, A. Molotkov and many more, with several contributors' works available toread online.

A Kundiman Fellow and poetry editor at Bodega Magazine, this is Amy Meng’s first collection. Stop by the Pleaides Press website to learn more



swwimWhat better way to usher in summer than to introduce SWWIM Every Day? SWWIM actually stands for Supporting Women Writers in Miami, and although it retains its origin’s namesake, everyone is invited to enjoy the international reach of contributors included in this daily online publication of poetry by women, women-identifying and femme-presenting writers.


concho river review

Untamed Photography by Tim L. Vasquez is becoming a regular here with his stunning cover images, this time on the Spring/Summer 2018 issue of Concho River Review.

true storyFrom the creators of Creative Nonfiction magazine,True Story provides a monthly home for longform (5000-10000 words) nonfiction narratives. This pocket-sized publication showcases one exceptional essay by one exceptional author at a time. Are you perhaps the next exceptional author to be featured?True Story is looking for a wide variety of voices, styles and subjects, and of course, readers who would enjoy the same. Subscriptions offer this gem delivered to your mailbox each month - perfect for your beach bag and road trip packing. And not just for you, True Story would be a fabulous gift for the readers in your life. For less than a date to the movies, you can send someone True Story for a year. Also available (for even less!) on Kindle. Just want to sample it? There's a grab bag of back issues available here.

2018 Lamar York Prize Winners

Published May 25, 2018Posted By 

The Spring 2018 issue of The Chattahoochee Review features the 2018 Lamar York Prize Winners and select finalists:
chatahoochee review spring 2018Winner for Fiction
“A Day in Which Something Might Be Done” by Michael McGuire
Published Finalist
“The Goddess of Beauty Goes Bowling” by Chaya Bhuvaneswar
Winner for Nonfiction
“Concaves” by Deborah Thompson
Published Finalists
“Here Is How I Come Undone” by Caroline Burke
“How My Body Was Made” by Terry Ann Thaxton
For a full list of finalists and judges' comments on the winners, click here.
Winners of the annual Lamar York Prizes for Fiction and Nonfiction receive $1,000.00 each