Contributor Spotlight: Sean Patrick Hill

Like anyone else, I’d rather vainly sent out my manuscript for The Imagined Field (in one of any number of formats) to the myriad of contests, university publishers, and even a few big ones (even Graywolf, of all places) that dominate American publishing. I walked to the post office with fat envelopes under my arm like a pilgrim hiking to Santiago. I did this fairly often. Of course it got tedious, the $25 checks to contests I didn’t win, the extra postage for those big envelopes, the depletion of ink in my printer (unless, by some luck, the particular publishing house—or shed, in some cases—accepted email submissions).

I’d ask myself, naturally, why I was bothering with the whole thing at all. Did publication really matter? Who was I trying to reach and why? I’d be happy if my friends and family alone could read my book, or at least people who appreciated what I’ve done. Obviously, Copper Canyon was a long shot, as was the Yale Younger Poets, etc., etc. I understood there was a degree of ego to the whole enterprise. But who was I trying to impress?

Myself, for one. My wife, too. Not to mention my mother. And then there is the simple joy of holding a book in the hand, rather than a clumsy sheaf of papers. Sure, I could print my own chapbook—I’d done it before—but there is a sense of accomplishment that follows publication. I suppose I felt like Robert Frost when he was in England, sitting by the hearth and wondering why someone wouldn’t want to publish his little collection of poems…

It was by chance, or at least in the course of long research, that I came across Paper Kite Press, a small publisher in eastern Pennsylvania. They accepted manuscripts by open reading, and they accepted them by email. I sent it in, and they responded with a resounding yes fairly quickly. I was shocked, then relieved. But also a bit wary.

I don’t want to leave any impression that I was glad to have anybody publish my first book. I’d been warned to publish with a press that would keep my book in print, that would give it exposure, and so on. Paper Kite, as of now, has printed 100 copies of my book. I have 16 of those. Should I sell out that first hundred, they will print more. I’m not getting paid anything beyond my copies, but I don’t care. I can buy my own books at half-price and sell them for full, and will at any rate as I attend readings.

The real reason beneath all the economic aspects of the book (and I loathe to say that there even are economic aspects, but here we are in the 21st century) that I published with Paper Kite, I think, is that they overwhelmingly appreciated my book and felt it deserved to be in print. That is, the editors believed in it. The process to get it into print was simple, and I had all the freedom I could ask for, especially the cover, whose art I asked my friend Ryan Malmberg to create. He did, and it is attractive and fitting. I’m certain I drove the editors a bit ragged with my little changes and nitpicky edits over the proofs, but for this I was granted free reign to my perfectionism to assure the best book I could produce.

I feel that between Jennifer and Dan of Paper Kite, my friend Ryan and his Finch Design, and myself as writer, we have created a real collaborative effort of a “book.” Everyone is happy with it, and the goal is neither to make money or make anyone famous, but simply to create something beautiful. In that, I think we’ve succeeded.

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Sean Patrick Hill is the author of The Imagined Field (Paper Kite Press, 2010) and Interstitial (BlazeVOX, forthcoming). He has been awarded the Zoland Fellowship to the Vermont Studio Center, and has received residencies from Montana Artists Refuge and Fishtrap. He currently reviews poetry for Rain Taxi and Bookslut. His blog (theimaginedfield.blogspot.com) contains links to published poems and reviews, as well as some short poem/films. He currently lives in Louisville, Kentucky.

Otto Penzler in the New York Times

Otto Penzler (who called us back February to let us know that Matt Bell's story "Dredge" - first published in HFR #45 - had been selected for The Best American Mystery Stories 2010) has a profile in today's New York Times. Apparently he owns 58,000 first edition books, is friends with big wig writers like James Ellroy, and has a cool agent who lends him money to pay off his taxes. If Jay-Z liked mystery stories instead of hip-hop, he would be Otto Penzler.

Check out the full article on the Times website, here.

Website of the Week: Zinsser on Friday

William Zinsser - the 87 year-old journalist, nonfiction writer and teacher whose 1976 book On Writing Well is standard issue for all writers looking to de-clutter their writing - now has a new venture to add to his already lengthy resumé: blogging.

Zinsser on Friday is the new blog series, published weekly by The American Scholar, where Zinsser writes at length about whatever is on his mind - writing, the arts, his distaste for "sharing" - and does it in a way that makes us all revert back to our childhood-selves, sitting cross-legged on the carpet, listening to his stories about a time when the average Joe couldn't just catch a plane to Honolulu. His posts are interesting and insightful, filled with the wisdom of a guy who started writing in 1946 and hasn't stopped since.

Skim through the archive of posts (I particularly enjoyed "At Ease in the Stone Age") and keep your eyes peeled for his new, weekly post, every Friday, here.

News Around the Net

Readers, put down your books.  Writers, put the pen down (or stop typing, or whatever you're doing).  I have some bad news.  Fiction is dead again.

In the spirit of last year's Infinite Summer, readers have banded together this year to read the world's oldest novel, Tale of Genji.  Knowing nothing about it except the length, I wish all involved the best of luck.

The merry-go-round of publishing, told by an author.  I hope she didn't have to pay for all those lunches.  And hey, at least she got to make a bunch of new friends!

Using real-life characters in fiction.  Yay or nay.  I think I'll agree with what's said here: Yes, just don't suck.

There's a new poetry editor at The Paris Review.  Just another job I didn't get.

The lessons in recent American poetry.  The sort of reasonable study of writing that doesn't include the words "No one cares about poetry.  It is dead."  Well done.

The world where everyone can be a published author.  I tend to agree that, on the whole, it seems good, but that, yes, double yes, there is a painful amount of truly, just awful stuff out there in slush piles around the world that would be published en masse as well, so be ready.  That was a whopper of a sentence.  I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

This Week in Literary History: Happy Birthday Typewriter!

Playwright Arthur Miller took a stand against McCarthyism on June 21, 1956 by refusing to name off any communists before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Arthur Miller defines "bad-ass": defies the government, wins a Pulitzer prize for "Death of a Salesman" and marries Marilyn Monroe. Save some for the rest of us, please.

It was on June 23, 1868 that a newspaper publisher/part-time poet/politician patented what would become every writer's best friend (and sometimes worst enemy), the "Sholes & Glidden Type Writer". While it started out as nothing more than a little box type thing of which only 5,000 were sold in the 5 years it was in production, Christopher Sholes' typewriter was the beginning of a whole new way of writing. Who would have thought that 151 years later, Cormac McCarthy would sell his little Olivetti for $254,500 at auction? It's the new McCarthyism!

June 23rd is also the night that Papa Shakespeare set his play "A Midsummer Night's Dream". The name is a little bit deceiving considering the summer solstice began two days ago. But he's Shakespeare, he can get away with anything.

So it is now officially summertime. For us Phoenicians here at HFR, this means about another 3 months (if we're lucky) of 100+ degree days, so another 3 months of living like vampires, shades drawn, avoiding the daytime sun like it's a handful of garlic. On the upside, it also means a bunch of new lit journals arriving in the mail! The new Gettysburg Review just came in and inside there is a poem by Elizabeth Gold called "Wild Turkey" that is all about Christopher Sholes' sweet invention, the typewriter. Gold calls them "discarded messengers of the machine age" and her poem suggests that typewriters recognize their role within the new technological age, as "ghosts." "That's why / we seldom see them," she writes, "but we hear them, / sometimes, typing away at that life / sentence". Pick up a copy of The Gettysburg Review and check it out.

Website of the Week - Poets for Living Waters

With today being day 65 of the Gulf oil leak disaster and up to 2.5 million gallons spilling in to the Gulf daily, desperation is at an all-time high to try and stop what is already the worst spill in U.S. history. They've got the guy from Dances with Wolves building some machine that can separate the oil from the water. Lousiana lawmakers have resorted to simply praying for it to stop. It's kind of like that scene in Star Wars where everyone is stuck in that trash compactor that is slowly closing in on them, about to crush them like peanut shells, and Luke and Han are desperately reaching for anything to try and make it stop. Except it isn't stopping.

For Amy King and Heidi Lynn Staples, their solution comes from the first law of ecology, which states that "everything is connected to everything else." This is the mission behind Poets for Living Waters, the poetry blog that is soon to be a printed anthology and reading in Washington D.C.: "An appreciation of this systemic connectivity suggests a wide range of poetry will offer a meaningful response to the current crisis."

The blog is a chance for writers from all over the world to submit work that will positively contribute to the efforts to improve the situation in the Gulf. At this point, we need all the help we can get, and this certainly won't be the first time we've used poetry to help our country through a difficult time.

Check them out here, and if you are interested in submitting, send 1-3 poems, a short bio and credits for previously published work to poetsforlivingwaters@yahoo.com.

Book Review: Sufficiency of the Actual

Review of Sufficiency of the Actual by Kevin Stein, University of Illinois Press, 2009. By Mark Liebenow.

Sufficiency of the Actual is Kevin Stein’s fifth book of poems. During the day, he teaches English at Bradley University. After hours, Stein works as the poet laureate of Illinois, traveling around the state and engaging elementary and high school students in the challenges and joys of writing poetry.

Stein wants us to pay attention to the history and people he’s unearthed, the riffs of cultural reference, and what they evoke in us. In “Autumnal,” Stein connects history and the personal with an account from his teenage years when the Vietnam War was tearing into American society, and he felt the need to respond without knowing how. The poem leads others to remember their own disjointed attempts:

Some things you do you wish you hadn’t.
Some you don’t you wish you had.
It’s years before you know the difference,
so what good’s remorse?

Ethical struggles are expanded into the larger matters of history, religion and culture. The big-ticket items of love, sexuality, war and death are brought down to the personal level, as when Death makes its presence felt in a miscarriage, whose name is spoken “only in the bathroom / with the water running.”

The focus is often on what separates us from history, each other, even our selves, the distances that naturally exist as well as those we protectively create. History is not what happened to someone else, he quotes Bob Marley as saying in the epigraph, it’s what happened to us. And we won’t know who we are until we remember who we’ve been. In “Mars’ Karma” we somberly realize that humans haven’t grown much over the centuries, because we still kill each other with the same bloodthirsty rage of the ancient and civilized Romans.

In the poem about filling out the viewing record for the Nielsen ratings, Stein says that we separate our public and private selves by writing down what we think we should be watching, like programming on PBS, instead of what we really view, Oprah, South Park and Cops. In “Appetites Earthly and Other,” our desires struggle against our noble intentions and generally win our attention, but sometimes compassion succeeds in selfless acts of devotion. Humor appears throughout, as in “Lovesong Ending with ( ),” and sexuality shows up in poems like “Aesthetics of Desire:”

I love the way things open,
the fervid shudder and release that breathes relinquish,
a lover tonguing your ear.

Another gap exists in religion where we realize that how we talk about faith to others is far different than how we live it. The poem “In Human Hands” encourages us to look at how well, and how poorly, we hold to our beliefs, feeling caught between our hope that faith is real and our fear that it isn’t:

I lived the abyss between reach
and grasp,

inferring therefrom the necessity
of forgiveness.

This, the wager one makes in Confession,
whose supplication’s less atonement than fear

The poems in the book cover a wide range of people and topics, and include Herodotus and Wittgenstein, the Mountain Man Rendezvous, Slinkys and Schwinns, Bob Marley, factory workers, rock ‘n’ roll, the H-bomb, NASCAR and Mozart, Iraq, the Grateful Dead, JFK and Nixon, Viagra, Propecia and Rogain. It feels like we’re on a cultural history tour, with the author pointing out the signposts we’ve forgotten and showing how they connect us to each other.

Stein addresses our struggles to be who we think we should be, while trying to accept who we actually are. There are the wistful meanderings of what might have been, the tumblings of heart, and the honest, midlife realization that although we’re not where we expected to be, where we are is okay.
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Kevin Stein is the author of four previous poetry collections of poetry, two books of literary criticism (Private Poets, Worldly Acts, Ohio University Press, 1996; and James Wright: The Poetry of a Grown Man, Ohio University Press, 1989), and two poetry anthologies Illinois Voices and Bread & Steel, the latter an audio CD. A new book of essays, Poetry’s Afterlife: Verse in the Digital Age, will be released by the University of Michigan Press in 2010. Recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Poetry Fellowship and Poetry’s Frederick Bock Prize, Stein is Illinois Poet Laureate and Caterpillar Professor of English at Bradley University.

Jobs! and Residencies!

English Department and Creative Writing Program of Bowling Green State University seek strong applicants for a tenure-track assistant professor in Poetry Writing and Literature. The successful candidate will teach graduate and undergraduate poetry workshops and literature courses, work with students on BFA and MFA theses, and advise BFA and MFA majors. He/she will be expected to engage in creative/scholarly writing and publishing, to serve on program and department committees, to serve as program director on a rotating basis with the other program faculty, and to participate actively in the life and governance of the program including its efforts to recruit, advise, and retain students. Qualifications: PhD in English or MFA in Creative Writing by start date of employment; Specialization in poetry writing; Strong record of publication of poetry, including at least one book of poetry; Strong commitment to excellence in both undergraduate and graduate teaching, including the teaching of literature. Desirable attributes: secondary specialization in creative nonfiction; experience editing a national literary journal; and interest in form/theory of poetry. Salary: Competitive. The starting date of employment is August 2011. See our website, www.bgsu.edu/departments/english/index.html for a fuller description of position. Submit application materials to: Kristine Blair, Chair, English Department, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio 43403. Complete application files should include: 1) letter outlining qualifications relevant to this position; 2) a CV which includes a brief description of courses taught; 3) at least three current original letters of reference; 4) transcripts; 5) writing samples. Application Deadline: Postmarked by 11/15/10. BGSU is an Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer and encourages applications from women, minorities, veterans, and individuals with disabilities. Postal Address: Dr. Kristine L. Blair / English Department / Bowling Green State University / 1001 E. Wooster Street / Bowling Green, OH 43403 / Phone: 419-372-7543

This is a full-time, nine-month, tenure-track faculty position responsible for contributing significantly to Stephen F. Austin State University's undergraduate and/or graduate programs through teaching, scholarship/creative accomplishment and service. Works under minimal supervision, with extensive latitude for the use of initiative and independent judgment. This is a security-sensitive position. Reports to the chair. Essential Job Functions: 1. Performs an equivalent of eight teaching units of work during the regular academic year; reduction of teaching load through reassignment of duties is possible under certain circumstances. 2. Engages in research/scholarly/creative and service activities at levels that are appropriate to faculty rank and departmental tenure/merit criteria. 3. Provides services to the university and the profession. 4. Participates in promotion review of lower-ranked faculty within the department. 5. When tenured, participates in tenure review of candidates for tenure.
6. May conduct supplemental instructional activities such as independent studies, internships, advising, and thesis/dissertation supervision. More here. Special Instructions: Candidates must apply via the SFASU online application system. Please submit letter of application and CV at: https://careers.sfasu.edu.

Oklahoma City University seeks applications for part-time faculty to teach in a new low-residency MFA in Creative Writing program, scheduled to begin in Summer 2011. We seek faculty committed to creative and professional writing, writing pedagogy, and teaching online as well as in workshop formats during twice-a-year residencies. Genres of interest include fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and screenwriting, although writers who cross genres, or write in a secondary, specialized genre, are also welcome to apply. Qualifications: Terminal degree (or demonstrated equivalent) and extensive creative publication required; college-level teaching experience and knowledge of genre-specific practices and theory preferred; knowledge of writing theory and pedagogy, and a history of professional writing employment and/or knowledge, and ability to teach online appreciated. Successful candidates must be available to attend on-campus residencies, faculty meetings, and orientations at our Oklahoma City campus. Residencies will take place in summer and winter, at times TBD. Application deadline: To be considered for the spring/summer 2011 semester start date; submit materials by June 31, 2010. Applications received after this date will be kept on file for review as additional positions become available. Application instructions: Please complete our online application by clicking on the application link below. Should the link fail to work you can find the posting on our website at http://ocucareers.silkroad.com click on Employment Listings to search and apply for the position. You will be able to upload the required application materials during the online application process. More here.

The Frost Place in Franconia, New Hampshire, invites applications for a six- to eight-week residency in poet Robert Frost's former farmhouse, which sits on a quiet north-country lane with a spectacular view of the White Mountains, and which serves as a museum and conference center. The residency begins July 1st and ends August 31st, and includes an award of $1,000. The Resident Poet will have an opportunity to give a series of public readings across the region, including at Dartmouth College, for which the Resident Poet will receive a $1,000 honorarium, and at the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum. There are no other specific obligations. Accommodations are spartan but comfortable. The Frost Place Museum is open to the public during afternoon hours, but the resident poet will have sole use of non-public rooms of the house. Previous recipients of this residency include Katha Pollitt, Robert Hass, William Matthews, Cleopatra Mathis, Mark Halliday, Mary Ruefle, Mark Cox, and Laura Kasischke. The 2010 Resident Poet will be Adam Halbur. The aim of The Frost Place Trustees has been to select a poet who is at an artistic and personal crossroads, comparable to that faced by Robert Frost when he moved to Franconia in 1915, when he was not yet known to a broad public. To be eligible, applicants will have published at least one book of poems. Applications will be judged by members of The Frost Place Board of Trustees. Applications are received March 1 through July 2, 2010. Poets can apply directly or be nominated by someone else. Please submit to The Frost Place, P.O. Box 74, Franconia, NH 03580: a check for $25 (reading fee) and four copies of the following: 5 poems from a most recent book, a letter explaining why the candidate would be a good choice for a residency at The Frost Place, a current resume, and contact information for two references. More here.

2012 Sandburg-Auden-Stein Residency
Intensive Learning Term poet-in-residence program, from 30 April to 18 May 2012. From the early 1930s to the mid 1940s, Olivet College hosted some of the best-known writers of the time: Sinclair Lewis, Sherwood Anderson, Katherine Ann Porter, Carl Sandburg, Ford Madox Ford, W.H. Auden, and Gertrude Stein. In that tradition, Olivet has established an annual residency program for poets who are establishing a name for themselves in this new millennium. Previous Sandburg-Auden-Stein poets-in-residence are John Rybicki (2007), Carol V. Davis (2008) and Rhoda Janzen (2010). During the 2012 Intensive Learning Term, the Olivet College Humanities Department will offer its sixth poet-in-residence position. The Sandburg-Auden-Stein poet will live on or near campus and teach ENG 247: Poetry Writing. The Sandburg-Auden-Stein poet will also host two public events: a public reading of his or her work and a stand-alone talk/discussion on a subject of his or her choice (publishing poetry, beat poets, def poetry, etc.). An award of $3,100 (plus room and board) will be given to the 2012 poet. The Humanities Department faculty will evaluate the submissions and choose the winner. Poets who have published at least one book of poetry are eligible. Submissions are due on Sept. 10, 2010, and should include the following: five poems from your most recent book, a single page personal statement regarding your poetics and teaching, a current résumé and two references. There is no entry fee. Please contact Kirk Hendershott-Kraetzer, Ph.D., Humanities Department chair, with your questions at (269) 749-7621 or mailto:khendershott-kraetzer@olivetcollege.edu. Electronic applications are strongly encouraged: .rtf, .doc, .docx formats accepted, .pdf preferred. Send to khendershott-kraetzer@olivetcollege.edu with "Residency application" indicated in the subject line. More here.

Call to Arizona Writers!

A Call for Summer!

The Blue Guitar magazine is pleased to announce the launch of a new summer issue and is sending out a call to Arizona writers in all genres! The Blue Guitar is accepting submissions for its summer edition through July 20, 2010.

Submissions are sought in all genres — fiction, poetry, plays, creative nonfiction. Writers must submit original work and must live in Arizona. Simultaneous submissions will be accepted, but the writer must notify the magazine as soon as possible if the work is accepted elsewhere. Submissions selected by the editor will appear in the summer edition of the magazine, which will be published online and potentially in print. Please include your name and the best way to contact you on your submission. It is free to submit and submissions may be made in multiple genres. Submissions will be accepted through July 20, 2010. Manuscripts and photos that are mailed to the magazine cannot be returned. Send submissions to: Rebecca Dyer at: rebeccadyer@theblueguitarmagazine.org or the Arizona Consortium for the Arts at info@artizona.org or mail to: The Arizona Consortium for the Arts / 14608 N. 40th Way / Phoenix, AZ 85032.

The Arizona Consortium for the Arts is a startup, nonprofit group dedicated to supporting and fostering artists and the arts in Arizona, including the literary, visual and performing arts. The Blue Guitar Magazine is a project of The Arizona Consortium for the Arts.

News Around the Net

If the New Yorker's list of 20 writers to watch under 40 wasn't enough for you, here's a list of twenty more writers under 40. This one includes Salvador Plascencia and Eric Puchner, both of whom are awesome.

An inaugural John Updike conference will be held in Reading, Pennsylvania to celebrate his works. It will be put on by the John Updike Society, which was formed shortly after he died.

A poet gets her work published because of her Twitter account. Everyone: we all need to do this, then we can be famous and successful and stuff.

The myth of masculine writing style.

I can't decide if I would be honored to be on this list, or if I would feel dirty and ashamed. Or maybe it's the best list to be on. After all, you'd really be able to focus on the book - on bowel movement at a time - since it's the one place you're (almost) guaranteed to be alone.

I'm cheating here, as this isn't really news (but is any of this, really?). However, I like to pretend I make the rules, so, here's a blog that I really like. And I'll just leave it at that.

This is good, too: a grumpy agent makes fun of query letters.

Last, but certainly not least, Portuguese Nobel Prize winning author Jose Saramago died today at 87.

Poetry and Basketball

In light of tonight's Game 7 of the NBA Finals, we at HFR thought it would be a great opportunity to talk about the slightly odd, opposites attract relationship between poetry and basketball. It exists, and if the two were a celebrity couple they would be the new Angelina Jolie/Billy-Bob Thornton, a beauty and a beast whose relationship is equally odd and mysterious.

As a poet who has recently developed a near-unhealthy obsession for professional basketball, I have been asked frequently over the past season (mostly by my girlfriend), "What the hell happened to you?" In a matter of months I went from knowing almost nothing about the NBA to being able to quote stats and salaries for a laundry list of players. I expanded our cable package to include NBA TV. I bought a Kevin Garnett jersey.

For me, I truly believe there is an intimate relationship between the court and the page, the point guard and the poet. Look beyond the cliche "basketball is poetry in motion" stuff; I think it is more than that. It is a respect, an awe, for those who immerse themselves completely in their work and are amazing at it. It is the high-running emotion of a close game, the either complete devastation or rush of overpowering happiness that comes from a game winning buzzer shot, depending on which side of it you are on. There is automatic camaraderie between fans of the same team, a feeling of "we are in this together, no matter what" which is in many ways exactly what poetry does to it's readers: unifies us under the common front of human beings experiencing life as it comes to us. Basketball is everything good poetry hopes to be: awe-inspiring, powerful, unifying.

Maybe I am reading too far into it. My girlfriend thinks it's just a premature mid-life crisis. Maybe she's right. Either way, when game 7 kicks off tonight I'll be watching it much the same way I would sit down to work on a poem: at home, with a beer in hand, trying to work through the ups and downs of the game all in hopes of coming out with something that will be remembered for years to come.

This Week in Literary History: Sláinte!

"This Week in Literary History" is the first of a few new segments we will be introducing to the HFR blog in the coming weeks. It will be a good way for us all to keep up on our history, read some awesome lit journals and remember to sing our favorite writers "Happy Birthday" on their special day.

June 13th was the 145th birthday of Irish poet, playwright and Nobel Prize winner William Butler Yeats. I'd like to think if he were still alive today he would have celebrated with a nice bottle of Jameson and a virtual tour of his own exhibit in the National Library of Ireland. That's what I would do anyway.

Sticking with the Irish Modernists, the grand-daddy of them all, James Joyce, met his wife for the first time on June 16, 1904. This became what Joyce used in his masterpiece, Ulysses, as the day the reader follows Leopold Bloom on his passage through Dublin. In 1954, June 16th was officially dubbed "Bloomsday" in celebration of Joyce and his work. It's celebrated every year in Dublin with pub crawls and marathon readings of Ulyssses lasting up to 38 hours. There's even an "odyssey" 12-kilometer race held in Spokane, Washington each year. With a holiday like that, who needs Christmas?

Speaking of Spokane, I was thumbing through the June 1999 issue of Spokane's own Willow Springs this morning when I came across two poems by Tomas O'Leary. He's from Boston, not Ireland (although he does share his name with a pretty popular Irish rugby player), and his poems are pretty awesome. Unfortunately neither of the two poems published in the issue are available online, but you can check out some selected pieces from other writers in the issue here. Or check out an interview with Tomas O'Leary here. Or read this awesome interview Willow Springs did back in Fall of '06 with poet and HFR frequenter Beckian Fritz Goldberg. The possibilities are endless.

And while we are on the whole Irish kick, everyone should pick up an issue of HFR #43 from Fall/Winter 08-09 where we published Billy O'Callaghan's short story, "On The Beach" (originally written in Gaelic). Billy contributed to the blog back in November of '08, talking about the difficulties of navigating the publishing world in his homeland of Ireland. Don't get frustrated Billy! Don't pull a James Joyce and burn your manuscript!

Unusual Calls for Submissions

2010 Barbara Mandigo Kelly Peace Poetry Awards
Nuclear Age Peace Foundation: An annual series of awards to encourage poets to explore & illuminate positive visions of peace and the human spirit. ELIGIBILITY: The contest is open to people worldwide. Poems must be original, unpublished, and in English. AWARDS: DEADLINE: All entries must be postmarked by July 1, 2010. Adults - $1,000, Youth (13 to 18) - $200, Youth (12 and under) - $200. More here.

Call for anecdotes for an upcoming Sarabande book
Jeffrey Skinner and Leslie McGrath are working on a project about the careers of poets and literary prose writers. How do poets and other literary writers move ahead in their careers (other than via their blazing talent?) This is your chance to share the anecdotes you’ve only told your closest friends. We’re interested only in the stories, not in names and places. We offer anonymity and gratitude in exchange. And, if we use your anecdote, a free copy of the resulting book. Please email your anecdotes to mcgrath.leslie(at)gmail.com (replace (at) with @) by July 1, 2010 under the heading “Book Anecdote.”

Call for poems: Poets for Living Waters website
Poets for Living Waters is a poetry action in response to the Gulf Oil Disaster of April 20, 2010, one of the most profound man-made ecological catastrophes in history. The first law of ecology states that everything is connected to everything else. An appreciation of this systemic connectivity suggests a wide range of poetry will offer a meaningful response to the current crisis, including work that harkens back to Hurricane Katrina and the ongoing regional effects.
Please submit 1-3 poems, a short bio, and credits for any previously published submissions to:
poetsforlivingwaters(at)yahoo.com (replace (at) with @). More here.

CALL FOR POETRY SUBMISSIONS: Slipstream Magazine
Theme Issue Planned for 2011. Slipstream is now accepting poetry submissions for its first theme issue in several years. We seek work exploring SEX-FOOD-DEATH. Originally examined back in Issue 14, the theme was so popular we have decided to revisit it. Your interpretation may include one, two, or all three of the subjects. No previously published work. All submissions must include a SASE for response. Deadline for submissions is: MARCH 1, 2011. Address submissions to: Slipstream, Dept. W-1, P.O. Box 2071, Niagara Falls, New York 14301. More here.

Writing Contest: Sports Literate
You need not be even remotely athletic to compete in Sport Literate’s 15th Anniversary issue. Toe the line with your finest essay or poem: $200 for the best essay, $100 for the winning poem. All entries will be considered for publication, and all entrants will walk away with a copy of the historic volume. No fiction, please. Editors will read all entries and select finalists to be sent anonymously to our two judges: Philip Gerard will choose the best essay and Frank Van Zant will judge the poetry. Winners will be announced in September 2010. Postmark deadline is June 30, 2010. We strongly prefer online submissions. More here. The reading fee is $15 per entry.

Seeking submissions for Words for Things: How We Learn About Sex, a collection addressing the dawning of sexual awareness and sexuality. What formal and informal messages guide our sexual formation and identity? How does this initiation—literal or metaphorical—affect us in later life? How do we look back on this induction into adulthood, if that's what it is? From whom do we learn, and what are the consequences? Are there generational and social differences, or is such discovery a constant? We welcome the true, the gross, the mythic, and the humorous, in essays, memoir, creative nonfiction, or poetry. Please no fiction or porn/erotica. Please email submissions to editors Ed Madden, Ray McManus, and Carl Jenkinson words4things(at)gmail.com (replace (at) with @) as a Word document (preferred), or mail to Ray McManus, Division of Arts and Letters, University of South Carolina Sumter, 200 Miller Road, Sumter, South Carolina 29150-2498. Deadline for submission: September 1, 2010.

Call for Submissions: Essay Anthology by Women in Jewish Interfaith Relationships
I am developing an essay anthology that will feature essays by women who are in (or have been in) an interfaith relationship or marriage, in which one of the partners is Jewish (the contributors may be the Jewish or non-Jewish partner). An amorphous body of this literature is floating around the internet, notably on the websiteinterfaithfamily.com. Sociology books on the topic of Jewish intermarriage abound, as do practical guidebooks for marriage and parenting. But what is often missing from the existing literature are human stories. This collection of personal essays will focus specifically on women’s stories, about the joys and challenges of their relationships, their experiences with child-rearing, how they relate to their communities and families, how they create their own identities in the unique “liminal zone” of the interfaith relationship. I am looking for, first and foremost, great, well-written, vivid personal stories. I welcome published and unpublished authors to submit their essays/stories. The length may be 1,000-2,000 words (but I am open to any reasonable length, shorter or longer). The tone/style should not be polemical or sentimental, just an honest and compelling non-fiction personal narrative. (You may want to take a look at the excellent anthology, Half/Life, edited by Laurel Snyder and published by Soft Skull Press, which features the stories of adults who were raised in Jewish interfaith homes.) Please send submissions as a Word attachment (not .docx) to
(replace (at) with @ when sending e-mail). Submission deadline is July 1, 2010. Include your name, a short bio, and email address. Responses will be sent by September 1st, 2010. Thank you, and I look forward to reading your stories! Hila Ratzabi, Editor

fiction anthology on villains seeks work: Main Street Rag
To submit a manuscript for consideration for our anthology, please be sure to address the envelope to: The MSR Short Fiction Anthology, PO BOX 690100, Charlotte, NC 28227-7001. More here.

Rena Effendi: Pipe Dreams

Many of us are following the tale of the spilling oil in the Gulf of Mexico, but the impact of oil on human lives goes back as long as we have been using it. Forthcoming contributor to HFR Rena Effendi spent time in Georgia, Turkey and Azerbaijan taking photographs of the people who lived along the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline for her book Pipe Dreams. The book contrasts oil company propaganda photos of the region and explores the true effects of the pipeline on the people who live near it: Their health, happiness, and prosperity. Enjoy this book and then come back to Hayden's Ferry Review in the fall for more of her groundbreaking work.

Lit Mag Marathon Weekend!

This weekend, June 19th and 20th, is the 11th Annual LIT MAG MARATHON WEEKEND! All events are free and open to the public.

The magazines may be little, but the weekend is big, big, BIG! Itʼs time once again for CLMPʼs annual Lit Mag Marathon Weekend, a massive showcase of Americaʼs diverse literary magazines and journals.

EDITORS UNLEASHED! The Magathon, New York Public Libraryʼs DeWitt Wallace Periodical Room, 5th Ave. at 42nd St. Saturday, June 19th from 4–6:30 PM. The Magathon kicks off the weekend with a celebratory “marathon” reading. Dozens of editors representing journals of different sizes and styles will present favorite selections from their latest issues.

BARGAINS! BARGAINS! BARGAINS! The GIANT Lit Mag Fair at Housing Works Used Book Café, 126 Crosby Street in Soho, Sunday, June 20th from 12–5PM. Lit fiends can take home armfuls of lit mags discounted more than 50% at only $2 a copy! Choose from hundreds of magazines from all over the country and hobnob with many of the editors whoʼll be there in person to meet and greet.

Proceeds go to Housing Works, a nonprofit organization serving homeless people living with AIDS, and to The Council of Literary Magazines and Presses, a nonprofit organization serving independent literary publishers.

News Around the Net

We need one of these on this side of the Atlantic.  And we'll do it bigger and better than the English, because we're America.

Stephanie Meyer's new book is one of the fastest selling books of all time, blah blah blah.  The thing I really like about this, though, is the picture.  If that doesn't explain Stephanie Meyer's success to a tee, I don't know what does.  So hilariously shameless.

Why it's awesome to be a ghostwriter, about a guy who got filthy rich through being one.  It's not such an embarrassing thing anymore.  Maybe we should change the name to something less mysterious.

At Jacket Copy, they're embarrassed they haven't read a word of Tolstoy.  They say the problem is that it's too long.  So, for all of you who agree, I googled Tolstoy and here's twenty of his short stories.

Wells Tower won the 2010 New York Public Library Young Lion Fiction Award.  Here's a short Q&A with him.  I'm still in shock that his real name is Wells Tower.  How contradictory.

June 14th is the date for the 15th Annual Poetry Walk Across the Brooklyn Bridge.  Complete with Unnecessary Capitalization and a Bill Murray video.

Why you're not ready to be a writer and why that shouldn't stop you from being one anyway.  This is good, I promise.

The Virginia Quarterly Review has become one of the first literary journals to offer an edition of their publication specifically for the iPad.  They're selling it much cheaper than the print edition.  All-around great idea.

If you like art, and live in NYC

Please join HFR contributor Will Steacy TONIGHT for the opening reception of his solo show DOWN THESE MEAN STREETS at Michael Mazzeo Gallery, 526 West 26th Street, Suite 209, NY NY 10001, 212.741.6599.

The photos in DOWN THESE MEAN STREETS are disturbing and haunting, documenting fear and abandonment in America's inner cities. The photos were all taken at night, using a large format view camera. Will explains, "I work in a set routine by walking between the airport and central business district of each city I photograph. My focus is the neighborhoods you wouldn't want to be in at night."

The show will feature:
-A selection of photographs, some never exhibited before.
-An installation exploring Will's working process.
-A signed newspaper made specifically for this exhibition, available at the opening.
-A limited edition print (edition of 50) also available at the opening with a newspaper.

Peter Turchi on MFA Programs

Here's an interview with Peter Turchi, Director of the Piper Center for Creative Writing and ASU's MFA program. So, my boss. And someone who knows a lot about writing, teaching and the MFA for writers.

"But here’s the truth: I think any writer should go to the best program that will accept him or her, regardless of format or geographical location. The quality of the education trumps everything else. The great challenge, of course, is to recognize what makes a good MFA program, or a great one."

NPR's Suggested Summer Titles

NPR gave us a list of its 15 recommended summer reads last week and ran the gamut from over-eating issues to mystery novels to everything in between.

But, if you're a history buff who enjoys a slightly tilted take on dead celebrities you definitely beat the spread. Granted, we're not talking Abe Lincoln killing vampires novels, nor 19th century zombies, more like Byron and Shelly kicking it old school and Alice L. Hargreaves giving her two cents about Lewis Carroll. Make sure to check out the listings for some great titles or rest your eyes and let your ears do some work revisiting last week's sound bits.

Contributor Spotlight: Sally Wen Mao

Transcribe your furies!

The poem in HFR #46 is a poem written when I was in the foulest of moods, having just read the first three chapters of a book I won’t name. In short, this book is a 450-page defense of Western dudes’ tastes for venturing off to “exotic” lands and “conquering” Asian ladies. I read it with a feeling that I was going to retch out my eggplant tempura and eyeballs. Except, how was I to find the author of this book and tell him how much it made me want to puke?

The best way to mitigate such feelings, for me, is to channel that urge for bloodshed into poems. It may border on the passive-aggressive in that no swords are unsheathed and no limbs severed, but perhaps that is a good thing, as even I don’t believe that violence is the answer. It does feel nice when the object of fury isn’t given a chance for rebuttal. A poem may act as a kick to the groin of an offensive person, or at least delivers that caliber of satisfaction.

I give my example in Chelsey Minnis’s work in her collection Zirconia. This past summer, a lovely poet friend of mine (who is an expert on bullfrogs and how to catch them) read out loud the work of beauty that is “Dung Cart.” Later that summer I tiptoed through the dim hallways of the Stanford library and came across Zirconia by Ms. Minnis. In “Primrose,” Minnis poem-chants with the tone of a vengeful dirge:

“…I have…./bare shoulders…./and a flower behind my ear……./as I beat gentlemen rapists……./with bronze statuettes……/so that the blood……/oozes down their handsome sideburns…../or give them…./a poisoned mushroom…../or corsages and corsages of gunshot…..”

Minnis gleefully creates a scene of violence, power, and vengeance juxtaposed with an almost-blithe description of feminine fragility—bare shoulders and flower behind ear. As the reader, I can adopt these desires and fantasies despite how easy it is to overwhelm myself with feelings of powerlessness and inadequacy in the face of anger or despair. If this were a parallel world, or a movie directed by Chan-wook Park, Minnis might be beating gentlemen rapists with bronze statuettes, with beautiful cinematography—rosettes of blood shot in colors as deep as wine or brilliant as watermelon sorbet. Unfortunately, the real world is not so jubilant. It is up to the poet (and maybe the cinematographer) to create scenes of such grotesque justice.

Anyway, use your poems as weapons of questionable destruction (or something more subtle, like a spritz of lime juice to the eyes). The perks are that nothing is blown up, and you can point your finger at the object of distaste and say: at least you were useful for something.

Disclaimer: I am encouraging angry poems at people or entities you don’t personally know, against whom you have no real outlet to voice your pains. No personal vendettas. I am not encouraging angry poems at exes or crop-eating rabbits, unless utterly and totally necessary, such as in the case of your ex driving all the way from Iowa to steal your dog.
*

This fall, Sally Wen Mao will be an MFA candidate at Cornell University. She is the recipient of fellowships and scholarships from Kundiman, Bucknell Seminar for Younger Poets, and 826 Valencia. Her work is forthcoming or has appeared in Rhino, Cave Wall, Another Chicago Magazine, Gargoyle, Copper Nickel, and Crab Orchard Review. Her poem, "Yellow Fever" appears in HFR #46.

News Around the Net

The New Yorker's list of the top 20 writers under 40 will come out next week, but I think now is better than next week. They will also be publishing short fiction by everyone on the list coming up.

Why do so many writers feel the need to write about writing/writers? This should be required reading for Dave Eggers. There are other things to write about!

The Irish Book of the Decade was awarded to children's fantasy writer Derek Landy in an upset. I wouldn't really know since I haven't read any of the books mentioned, but that's what they say.

Ian McEwan wins another award. This one is for making funny things happen in his new book, Solar. His mantle is probably full, so this one will have to settle for the sock drawer.

Reading as an obligation, even if the books really suck. Luckily, I don't have this problem. It would be exhausting. I quit reading Martin Dressler a couple weeks ago. Good times.

What's your favorite thriller of all time? I'll go with The Spy Who Came In From The Cold.

Coolest book club ever. Sorry, twitter book club, but The Rumpus has you beat.

Last, but certainly not least - probably the opposite, probably the most noteworthy - heiress Peaches Geldof is writing a book of short stories for children. And she compares her writing style to Bret Easton Ellis. Yes, that Bret Easton Ellis. He of American Psycho.

Reviewpoints #4 Issue 46

Continuing Reviewpoints, a series that concerns the genesis of new works by their writers and why our editors chose them for publication, here is Rose Swartz talking about J.D. Schraffenberger's poem "I memorized a list."

“I memorized a list of every single thing I forgot.” Being a forgetful person myself, I often wonder about all that has been forgotten and lost. The idea of having a list of these things is tantalizing and the idea of being able to memorize the list is even more exciting. After this initial statement, the poem retreats from philosophical concerns to general geography: placing the reader on a bus, on the street, on a walk. The speaker insists: “There are only so many things on the street. You can count them go ahead I’ll wait.” This assertion, paired with the images and frantic voice of the second section give me the feeling that I am wandering through a city or perhaps reading about a city that I wandered through and have since forgotten. The jarring little slice of sidewalk, motorcycle, and sky in give the reader time to catch their breath before the third stanza begins with another semi-impossible, yet hilarious claim: “A dog off his leash thinks that I am more or less like him.” Rather than questioning how the writer of the poem knows the dog’s thoughts, I find myself wanting to ask: well, are you? This is how I know I’m under the spell of the poem. My belief has been suspended. And yes, it is a bit frightening when the speaker announces that they are “trying to get behind the blinds of your bedroom window,” but the awkward positions that that the speaker, reader, and the outside world are what make this poem work. The poem provides finite details which arejust connected enough to provide the reader with a hallucinated memory of something that was or could have been. The impossibility of the poem is intriguing. Needless to say, this poem is not something that I will forget.

Reviewpoints # 3 Issue 46 Jeremy Schraffenberger

Our Reviewpoints series continues with Jeremy Schraffenberger discussing how he wrote the poem "I memorized a list." Come back tomorrow to read why Poetry Editor Rose Swartz decided on the poem for Issue 46.

I met Rauan Klassnik when he came to Cedar Falls to read from his book of poems Holy Land (Black Ocean), which I can’t recommend enough. Later he suggested I look at Stephen Berg’s translations of the fifteenth-century Zen master Ikkyu, Crow With No Mouth (Copper Canyon). I had these two books on my mind (and in my ear) as I composed “I memorized a list,” one in a series of twelve or so prose poems.

The poems emerged in fragments, sometimes disjointed and dreamlike, sometimes interconnected, often suggesting a larger coherent narrative, but more often dissolving into the tense stillness of a moment. I wrote them more or less orally on my daily walks to and from work, and the rhythm of this walking seems to have worked its way into the poems, as did the various objects and people and events I observed—dogs barking, motorcycles rumbling by, all the beautifully random happenings of the street.

The prose poem form lent itself to—or suggested, or required—a poetic consciousness troubled by the incomplete, the unresolved, the forgotten. I think of them as anti-sentimental poems of longing and grief and anxiety—with a touch of madness. The form also insisted that I rough up my usual style. For better or worse, my other poems have tended to be much more finely wrought, more lyrical, but these pieces asked to have an unbeautiful scratchiness in the voice, as if to resist the epiphany that often accompanies slipping into the lyrical.

HFR Contributor Michal Chelbin publishes monograph: The Black Eye

Upcoming HFR contributor Michal Chelbin has recently published The Black Eye through Twin Palms Publishers. The monograph contains photographs of athletes. The photos were mostly taken after moments of physical exertion, before the subjects had fully recovered from the their workouts or competitions. Their faces and bodies are both thoughtful and primal, showing the intellect of instinct.

Enjoy her book, then come back for more of Chelbin's work in the fall issue.