HOBART Contest Now Accepting Submissions – Deadline: May 31, 2012

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HOBART: another literary journal is in the midst of its first ever contest. Six winners will be chosen, one each by one of HOBART‘s book division (Short Flight/Long Drive Books) authors.

Entry fee: $16 entry fee; enter as many times as you like, but each entry is $16

Prize: $500 (for each winner; for a total of $3,000 in prizes).  All entrants will receive a copy of HOBART 14 (or any past issue or SF/LD book of your choice)

Judges: SF/LD authors Mary Miller, Adam Novy, Karl Taro Greenfeld, Elizabeth Ellen, Jess Stoner, and upcoming author Dylan Nice.

All submissions will be read blind.  Each of the 6 winning stories will be published in HOBART 14 with an introduction by the judge who chose it.

Deadline: May 31, 2012 (or until all 6 judges have chosen a winner!)

Bonus: $100 BISON PRIZE(s?) for best cover letter ridiculing or praising contests, name-calling, admonishing us for using one, etc.

Enter through HOBART‘s online submission manager:
http://hobartpulp.submishmash.com/submit

Advice for Writers Blog

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Ever wondered how can you get the full benefit of workshops and mentors, what and how you should publish, or how can you sustain your work as a writer?  Check out this blog providing advice to new writers on their literary work: Advice for Writers - http://zackrogow.blogspot.com

The blog is maintained by Zack Rogow, who teaches in the writing programs at University of Alaska, Anchorage and at California College of the Arts.

Open Book Experimental Book Workshop (application deadline extended to May 25)

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For those looking for course credit (or just looking to expand your knowledge), consider the Open Book Experimental Book Workshop (http://openbookworkshop.com/).

When: July 27 through August 05, 2012
Location: EMU rural Parsons Center near Traverse City, Michigan

The cost of the workshop is now $425.00 (students who want credit pay tuition + $260.00).
The application deadline for the workshop has been extended to May 25th, 2012

The 10-day intensive workshop will be organized by Leslie Atzmon and Ryan Molloy, and led by Edwin Jager and Danielle Aubert. While the instructors will guide the direction of and lead discussions at the workshop, participants will be asked to contribute their particular knowledge and skill sets and contribute to the topic through presentations of their ideas and their creative work or research.

The workshop is open to students, educators, and professionals from all disciplines. This workshop is an offshoot of the “Open Book” experimental book exhibition that was held in Eastern Michigan University’s University Gallery from April 3 to June 15, 2010. http://openbookexhibit.com.

For more information, please contact Leslie Atzmon latzmon@emich.edu or Ryan Molloy mryan7@emich.edu.

Support for this workshop has been provided by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Art Works grant, Eastern Michigan University, and Eastern Michigan University’s Women in Philanthropy. This workshop is also being offered in partnership with AIGA Detroit and AIGA Toledo.

Creative Writing Student Group bi-weekly workshops begin May 8th!

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And now a message from Creative Writing Student Group President Gerard Breitenbeck:

Calling EMU Student Writers,

You’re invited to the EMU Creative Writing Student Group’s bi-weekly workshop, 6:30pm every 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month in Room 320 of the Student Center.

No homework, professor, or grades, just a great opportunity to share and discuss your work with fellow writers.

Please bring a hard-copy of your work to our first meeting, Tuesday May 8th, 6:30pm at room 320 in the Student Center. If you can’t make our first meeting, you can always join us for the next one, Tuesday May 22nd.

Hope to see you there.

Graduate Showcase – Thursday, April 26, 6:00 p.m.

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Celebrate another year of Creative Writing with the Creative Writing Graduate Showcase, taking place on Thursday, April 26, 6:00-8:00 pm, in the Student Center’s University Gallery.  Graduating students Sean Kilpatrick, Ned Randolph, and Jack Visnaw will present their MA projects.

Additionally, the BathHouse Hypermedia Journal will premiere the release of issue 9.1, featuring works by Laura Wetherington, Arielle Greenberg, Patrick Samuel and more. Students and alumni (including Elizabeth Mikesch, Jonah Mixon-Webster, and Joe Sacksteder) will be presenting and performing pieces from the issue.

This is a free event.  Friends and family are welcome!

Mérida Fellowship Award accepting submissions

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U.S. Poets in Mexico will be holding its 4th Annual Poetry Conference on January 5-12, 2013 in Mérida, Yucatán.  The Mérida Fellowship Award Competition provides the winner with Conference registration fee and 7 nights lodging at Hotel Caribe in Mérida (value: $1,020).

To enter, submit 4 poems, no more than 6 pages, 12pt Times New Roman type (submissions will be read anonymously, previously published poem accepted), along with the entry Application and the $25 entry fee by check payable to U.S. Poets in Mexico, P.O. Box 4150, Grand Central Station, NY, NY 10163.

Entries must be received by August 31st, 2012. Recipient will be announced September 30, 2012. The Fellowship recipient will give a featured half-hour reading.

Find out more about the U.S. Poets in Mexico program, including registration and fees, by clicking here.

Kimiko Hahn will judge the 2013 Mérida Fellowship Award competition.  Hahn is the author of eight collections of poetry, including Toxic Flora (W.W. Norton, 2010), The Narrow Road to the Interior (2006); The Artist’s Daughter(2002); Mosquito and Ant (1999); Volatile(Hanging Loose Press, 1998); and The Unbearable Heart (Kaya, 1995), which received an American Book Award.  Other honors include fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts, The New York Foundation for the Arts, as well as a Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Writers’ Award; also, the Theodore Roethke Memorial Poetry Prize, an Association of Asian American Studies Literature Award, the Shelley Memorial Prize.  In October 2011, she received the Asian American Literary Award in Poetry for her poetry collection Toxic Flora, the highest literary honor for writers of Asian American descent.  Hahn received a bachelor’s degree in English and East Asian studies with a certificate in creative writing from the University of Iowa, and a master’s degree in Japanese literature from Columbia University.  She is a Distinguished Professor of English in the MFA Creative Writing and Literary Translation program at CUNY’s Queens College, NY.

Ian MacDonald reviews Intermedia Cabaret

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EMU student Ian MacDonald reviews the Intermedia Cabaret from earlier this semester:

Intermedia Cabaret -  3/15/12

It was a night of tornados and bare-footedness. In short, a night of surprises. I anticipated a boring, post rush hour commute, a drink or two (since the venue was a bar), and a series of somber, slow-paced intermedia performances that would, likely as not, leave me feeling somewhat depressed for the long drive home. 

Literally none of that happened. Caught in a sudden downpour on I-94, I almost T-boned two cars at 60mph that must have spun out some few seconds earlier, the drivers apparently still too shocked to realize they had come to a rest lengthwise across the highway, and were merely facing the ditch, not in it. The venue was indeed a bar, the operative word there being “was”. And the performances turned out to be full of humor, energy and biting social commentary, the effect of which proved to be enlivening as opposed to melancholic. 

A variety of performers, guests, and guest-performers were in attendance. If they had anything in common it was that they all came prepared. The performances felt rehearsed and confident. If they had anything else in common it was the aforementioned (and still inexplicable) amount of bare-footedness present. Throughout the night, I periodically checked to make sure my own socks and shoes hadn’t mysteriously vanished. 

I particularly enjoyed Brenna York and Elizabeth Mikesch’s musical/poetry/skit/comedy entitled (I’m about 65% sure) “Twat Like Breaking Dongs”. The two of them, sitting back to back, trying to work together to stand up without using their hands was novel gag, as was a particularly fitting bit of repartee on so stormy a night:

“Did you get wet on the way here?”

(…)

“You know…from the rain?”        

Johnah Mixon-Webster and Miranda Metelski’s performance was another highlight. Johnah started off by announcing “We’re improvising. Deal with it”. The ensuing performance including Miranda singing “Rockabye Baby” while Johnah called for “more flesh, more bone, more plasma, more supplication” and later asked “what if language is the compass?”. One of the concluding lines “we are eyes watching eyes watching eyes” seemed to speak to the general goings-on in the bottom of the martini-less martini bar that night.

It was a pleasure to watch some of my more soft-spoken classmates let loose onstage. The drive over, quite possibly, almost killed me, but I’d brave similar weather again for the next one.

Amy Oleynik reviews Capstone Showcase

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EMU student Amy Oleynik reviews the recent undergraduate Creative Writing Capstone showcase:

To the Beginning Creative Writer: The Capstone from a Reader’s Perspective

Capstone Reading, April 12th 2012

It’s been four vigorous years and it all comes down to one night. The graduating seniors of the Creative Writing program all come together to recite for you portions of their Capstone Project. This project is one they have been personally working on for the majority of their last semester, a project that is meant to reflect what they’ve acquired, gained and learned throughout their time in the program. I was one of these readers and I’d like to share with you my thoughts on the experience.

There were ten seniors lined up to present their works. With only five minutes for each performance, choosing your material to present was a nerve-wracking task. This was my first real reading. Of course I had presented pieces in class before, but I never was truly nervous of my audience’s reactions. Usually when given a time, it seems so long and you have to stretch your words to fill the space before you can wipe your brow and scuttle off stage. But in this moment, five minutes were barely a breath. What could I read that would sufficiently show my dedication and message? Luckily for me, I had written both short poetry and prose pieces. I was able to present a bit of each, though practicing beforehand made me even shakier.

As I sat in my room reciting to my houseplants, I realized each reading was completely different. I never emphasized the same words, I tried a different tone of voice or speed.  I’m not one for stage fright, but this performance meant more to me than others prior. This was the showcase of my hard spent time and ideas. I wanted to make it count.

My nerves were erased as I entered the Student Art Gallery. The space itself reflected what EMU is about, what we were a part of. Inventive, daring and ever varied. Our showcase was dynamic and multi-faceted. It revealed everything the Creative Writing program promoted and taught us, but it showed how we as individuals give life to the program.

Kylie read an excerpt from her mysterious and fantastical fiction piece. Jonah performed a series of poems that broke the fourth wall and reached out into the audience, asking you to inflect about where you call home. Elizabeth combined film making, appropriated music and narrative in a short film piece. Joseph performed a list poem interwoven with dialogue. David Chad used incredible word play and rhyme scheme to bring us a hilarious commentary on community and communication. Noah delivered a scene about Phoenix, asking us to take a journey through memory to find a final destination. Ian brought us a multi-genre approach in his video about the difficulties of the writing process, featuring many of the other Creative Writing students. Brenna led us through a complex fictional interview with the accompaniment of Elizabeth. And I shared with you moments of my grappling with today’s ideas of feminism.

From this performance alone showed what our program is all about. Collaboration, diverse genres, different backgrounds, attitudes and voices. We each brought something unique to share and invite you to step up to the podium when you are ready. There is a spot here for you.