Welcome to the August Newsletter! I hope everyone is having a great summer.
This month will be busy with publications. In the next few weeks, new poetry chapbook's by
Roger Sedarat and Gary Beck will be released.
Also, you can look forward to a new e-book called "I Ching" by Martin Burke.
Martin lives in Belgium but is originally from Ireland.
Later in August, there will be a few more chapbooks published.
Sometime in September, you can look for 2 new full-length collections by CL Bledsoe and Lo Galluccio.
Of course, more chapbooks too!
Until next April, the press will be busy non-stop. After this, Červená Barva Press will
slow down the pace. Currently, I am NOT looking for any poetry full-length manuscripts. I will look for queries for chapbooks during
my reading period only (Jan. 2nd-Feb. 10th, 2009). PLEASE do not query or send me anything outside of my reading period. Check my submissions page on the website
for information. It will be updated shortly with this information.
Červená Barva Press will be running a poetry and fiction chapbook contest starting in November. Soon guidelines will be posted on the
submissions page. A classified ad will appear in Poets & Writers.
Červená Barva Press will have a booktable at the AWP 2009 Conference in Chicago. I hope to see many of you there! Some of the
authors that were published by Červená Barva Press will be presenting at the conference including Glenn Sheldon (Bird Scarer, 2008),
Rane Arroyo, Chairman of the conference (Postcard Series: One, 2005), and Linda Nemec Foster (Ten Songs From Bulgaria, 2008).
Susan Tepper (Blue Edge, 2006) and Nancy Mitchell, both who have full-length collections forthcoming from Červená Barva Press,
will be helping at the booktable. It will be so much fun because I know so many who are attending.
Hey, Chicago has the best
deep-dish pizza ever. I ought to know being from Illinois!
I mentioned in a previous newsletter about two interns who are helping me this summer.
They are absolutely wonderful and have been working so hard for me. I thought it would be nice to
give them both some recognition. Jackie Hall (Simmons College) and Caitlin Jackson (Connecticut College)
were asked to write something about themselves for this newsletter. Enjoy!
Jackie Hall...
About me: I just received my B.A. in English from Simmons College, along with the George W. Nitchie Award for critical and
creative writing, given to one graduating English major. I am continuing in the English Graduate Studies Program there in the fall.
My long-term goal is to become a professor. I have always desired the knowledge of my teachers and professors. Throughout grade
school, I made sure to memorize grammar rules and to note the ways in which writers better than me were better. I wanted to be a
3rd grade teacher when I was in 3rd grade, a 7th grade teacher when I was in 7th grade, etc. Now, I know I want to be a professor,
and I feel that I've actually been preparing for it my whole life. All this "preparation" has consequently made me a skilled editor;
it's something I love doing too. (Good sentence structure really makes me giddy.) At Simmons, I was the prose editor for the art
and literary magazine, as well as a contributor. My work for Gloria at Cervena Barva Press is helping me get some real-life
experience in the field. While I am aiming for my Ph.D., I will need cash in the meantime, and I know that editing is where
I want to direct my efforts. Working with Gloria has been great!
Interests: I don't have a particular period or genre of literature that is my favorite-I love writers of all types.
What excites me specifically is literature within its historical, cultural, and political contexts. It is human motive,
ideas, people, that interest me-and people have always been people, throughout time, and on all continents.
Favorite writers: John Dryden, William Wordsworth, Denise Levertov, Muriel Rukeyser, Lucille Clifton, Mark Twain,
Primo Levi, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Salley Vickers. And my first love-Shel Silverstein.
Where I write: Whether it's a school paper or personal poetry, I write best after midnight. I think I hear myself
best then: The world is silent, except for the soft, peaceful snoring of my beagles, Olive and Huckleberry.
Caitlin Jackson...
I grew up in Littleton, Colorado in a small, white house. My mother is a teacher at a private school called Colorado Academy
where I attended for all fourteen years of my education. English has always been my favorite subject and I love to read
everything from Henry James to Spiderman comic books. I am going to be a senior this year at Connecticut College, a small
and awesome liberal arts school, located in New London, right by the water. I am a double major in English Literature and
Gender and Women's Studies. I have also taken many classes in writing, specifically in poetry and non-fiction. I love
writing non-fiction essays and would love to publish them one day. I just spent the last six months studying abroad at
the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. I took classes in 18th Century poetry, Scottish Literature, and 20th Century Crime Fiction.
The Crime Fiction was my favorite class and I cannot stop reading Agatha Christie. Poirot is my all time favorite Belgium.
Some of my other favorite authors are Jane Austen, George Elliot, and the Bronte Sisters. When it comes to poetry
I love Dylan Thomas, Dorothy Parker, and Emily Dickinson. Besides reading and writing, I absolutely adore listening to
music and going to concerts. David Bowie is my all time favorite and I have seen him in concert three times, despite not
being alive in the 70's. My other favorite bands are The Rolling Stones, The Shins, TV on the radio, The Cure,
The Pixies, and Neko Case.
I love living on the East Coast and while Denver will always be my favorite city, Boston makes a close second.
I have really enjoyed being involved in the world of small publishing. The experience of working with Cervena Barva Press
was exactly the internship I wanted. I have been able to be of real assistance and actually learn from Gloria, instead of
spending the summer making coffee at a larger institution. I think that small presses are amazing and I would love to work
with one once I graduate. The publishing field is something I am very interested in; there is nothing better than being
directly involved in the production of books. I am so thankful for all I have learned this summer and for getting to
be a part of Cervena Barva.
I am still having technical difficulties with the Istanbul Literary Review e-mails.
Please be patient. If you've sent work and have received no response. It has been lost.
Soon, Etkin (Owner) and Guluzar (Webmaster) will have a new Webhost and all the problems will be solved. I am very sorry about these difficulties.
Now for some wonderful news! Congratulations to Guluzar!!! She had a new baby girl in June.
Everyone at the Istanbul Literary Review is very excited for Guluzar and her family.
I would like to congratulate Anne Harding Woodworth.
Her chapbook, UP FROM THE ROOT CELLAR, has been the top seller for Cervena Barva Press ever.
I usually don't list these things in my newsletter but her chapbook sales have just been remarkable.
Thank you Anne.
The 46th Annual Cape Cod Writer's Conference
Sunday August 17th-Friday August 22nd
Craigville Conference Center-Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Registration begins May 15th
For more information and to register go to: http://www.capecodwriterscenter.org/
(I hope you will check out all the workshops being presented. This is a wonderful conference. I hope to see many of you there.
I am very excited to be included in this conference as a presenter with Doug Holder and Mark Pawlak.
Listed here is what all three of us will be speaking about on our panel discussion about the small press).
DEMYSTIFYING THE SMALL LITERARY PRESS: A PANEL DISCUSSION WITH AUDIENCE INTERACTION BY EDITORS
DOUG HOLDER, GLORIA MINDOCK AND MARK PAWLAK
Monday, August 18th
2:30-5:30, Tabernacle
ALL ABOUT THE SMALL PRESS-- FROM ITS HISTORY TO SUBMISSIONS,
THROUGH DISTRIBUTION OF BOOKS, TO GETTING REVIEWED
Mark Pawlak
|
PANEL ROLE:
MARK PAWLAK will give us an historical overview, from the perspective of an established but "small literary press," as well
as a nuts and bolts view of operating or working with small presses. How did Hanging Loose grow over 40 years, and how does
working with a press with an international readership compare with grassroots presses, like Ibbetson and Červená Barva?
BIO:
Mark Pawlak is co-editor/publisher of Brooklyn-based Hanging Loose Press. Founded in 1966, it is one of the country's oldest
independent literary publishers, noted for discovering award-winning writers such as Sherman Alexie, Kimiko Hahn, and D. Nurkse.
Pawlak has edited numerous anthologies, including Shooting the Rat, the third in a series drawn from the legendary high school
section of HL magazine. Pawlak is the author of five collections of original poetry, most recently Official Versions.
|
Doug Holder |
PANEL ROLE:
Doug Holder will demystify the 'small press' on the grassroots level: how to go about starting your magazine, getting local
coverage, networking in the community, readings, use of the internet, writers' groups etc, cooperative publishing, getting
the IBSN, print -on-demand. Pros and cons of starting a magazine or press, how it can help or hinder your own career.
BIO:
Doug Holder, founder of Ibbetson Street Press, has published the work of over 50 national and international poets, and over
20 issues of the journal Ibbetson Street. Ibbetson books and the magazine have been featured on NPR, Verse Daily,
The Boston Globe, and many other venues. Holder's own poetry and prose have been published widely. He lectured in Israel
as a guest of the "Voices Israel" Literary organization in 2007. |
Gloria Mindock |
PANEL ROLE:
Gloria Mindock will address what editors are looking for and what writers might expect from their small press publishers,
what is expected of each-from manuscript submission through book reviews; book covers and packaging; resources for sending
out to magazines or manuscripts to publishers; cover letters and query letters, networking, finding an audience for
your work.
BIO:
Gloria Mindock is editor/publisher of Červená Barva Press and editor of the Istanbul Literary Review. From 1984-1994,
she edited the Boston Literary Review/BLuR. She has been published in numerous journals in the USA and abroad. Gloria
is the author of two poetry collections, Blood Soaked Dresses (Ibbetson) and Nothing Divine Here (U Soku Stampa).
Červená Barva Press and BLuR has published many award-winning poets and fiction writers. |
All will consider the labor of love factor, the burnout factor, the thrill of finding new voices, and the satisfaction of
forming community that is part of the life of the small press publisher with whom you may be working.
The Cape Cod Writers' Center's mission is to assist published and aspiring writers of all genres, abilities and ages to
develop their writing skills and to learn the business of editing, publishing and publicizing; to publicize authors and
their works; to provide opportunities for writers to congregate for inspiration, education, and networking; and to introduce
readers to authors and their work.
BOOK REVIEW
Where Things Are When You Lose Them by Martin Golan
175 pages. $18.95. ISBN: 9780978997427.
Review by Susan Tepper
Martin Golan's debut story collection Where Things Are When You Lose Them is a precisely written book that shimmers in its
humanity. This is no tough-guy read. Golan has crafted deeply wrought and affecting stories that point up the human
condition in a way that made this reader look closely, then again, at what is often taken for granted about love: its
ultimate rise and fall, which is the core of these twelve enticing stories.
To order: http://www.birchbrookpress.info/newestforthcoming.html
"In this latest collection Michael Daley combines his knack for narrative with his compelling view of memory.
His poems allow us to slow our thoughts from the frenetic pace of life in this information-blitzkrieg century-to
savor the natural world, where the sunflower becomes feminine. Daley's lines move with ease from familial
relationships toward larger, more universal relationships. In To Curve history, epiphany, and fragility travel
the curve together. As a son learns from his father, so the persona in these achronological, naturalistic,
sonorous poems inherits the gift of prophecy: This book braids questions and answers to style a new world
filled with tenderness."
-Judith Skillman
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