Get Out of Town!

How does a three-week writing retreat in Italy next summer sound? This, from Stephen Webber, the program's coordinator:

The retreat takes place in the villa of a country estate called Spannocchia in Tuscany just a short drive south of Siena. The estate is a working organic farm and participants have free rein of it during their stay - it's great for nature lovers or anyone interested in traditional sustainable agriculture. The price includes everything - room & board and tuition for the program. The food at Spannocchia is simply outstanding. It rivals most of the cuisine this side of Heaven, actually. The retreat lasts for three weeks, and students will have weekends off, so they can travel to Florence, Rome, Venice, or one of the nearby Tuscan hill towns. Participants don't have to be hardcore-serious writers-- if they want this to be an excuse for a vacation where they get some work done, perfect. I'll do what I can to assist and the landscape will do the rest. For more information, email comments@writingimmersion.com or visit here.

Writing Contest for Study Abroad

The University of New Orleans, the pioneer in writing programs abroad, is pleased to announce the fifth annual writing contest for study-abroad, Summer, 2009. This year the contest is co-sponsored by The Normal School, who will judge the entries and publish the winners. Full fee waivers, including housing allowance, will be granted to one writer each in the genres of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction. Partial awards and honorable mentions may also be granted. Winners may attend any of UNO’s 2009 study-abroad writing programs:

-Writing Workshops in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
-Writing Workshops in Montpellier
-The Ezra Pound Center for Literature, Dorf Tirol, Italy

Guidelines (Please note that these are the complete guidelines. Queries are not necessary.)
Submission Deadline: January 31, 2009. Eligibility: Anyone writing in English who has not yet published a book of 45 pages or more in the genre of application, except faculty and administrators employed by the University of New Orleans. Entry Fee: An entry fee of $25 must be paid for each submission. Fees should be paid online at the Metro College payment module. Submission Format: Beginning this year, the submission process is entirely electronic. No paper manuscripts will be accepted. To submit your entry, go to the submission module on the UNO Press site. Note: The payment modules and submission modules are separate, so you must enter all your information on each site, separately. Multiple Submissions: Applicants may submit multiple applications in one or more genres, however each application must be complete with entry fee. Payment for multiple submissions may be made in aggregate at the payment and registration module, but each submission must be uploaded separately at the submission site. Submission Limits: Prose submissions should not exceed 4500 words (about 15 pages double spaced). Poetry submissions should not exceed 5 pages and may include a maximum of 3 poems. The submitted work must be unpublished at the time of submission, though it may be under consideration. The author's name may not appear anywhere in the work. Acknowledgments: Acknowledgments by email query only. Each applicant will be emailed a list of winners when the contest has been decided, around the end of March.

The Literary Guide to the World

Have you all seen this? I just found it, and am enamored! Salon.com's Literary Guide to the World features guides on the literature ("fiction, history, memoir or otherwise") of locations all over the world. Salon's book editor, Hilary Frey, thought of the idea when a friend gave her a copy of City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi by William Dalyrmple to read during her trip to India. The book, she says "became my traveling companion -- pointing out the sites, teaching me Delhi's complicated and storied history, cracking jokes that were much funnier in India than at home. Dalrymple, even more than Mr. Vijay, who ran our very necessary car service, showed me the city. His book was indispensable -- and a delight."

After her trip, The Literary Guide to the World was born. This summer, two new locations are chosen each week; in the fall one will be profiled. From Zimbabwe to The Alps to Havana to Armenia, each article recommends the best books from those who know these places first-hand.

As a Philadelphia native, I was especially impressed to see The Jersey Shore on the list. In my opinion, you haven't lived until your slice of Mack & Manco pizza has been stolen from right near your face by a seagull on the boardwalk. Or, until you've read about it.

In somewhat related news, London has been named the top literary destination in a top-ten list from Reuters. Says Publishers Weekly about the verdict, "Whoever made up this list is a literary dunce. In fact, London had to import most of its famous writers (let’s start with Shaw and Wilde) from Dublin. There have been more quality writers in the last century per square block in Dublin and New York than any other place in the world. James Joyce and Norman Mailer, celestial drinking pals, are reportedly livid."