One Step Closer to Funding the NEA, Jenny Zhang’s New Story Collection, and More
Simon & Schuster launches a science fiction and fantasy imprint; novelist Clancy Sigal has died; book theft anecdotes; and other news.
Genre: Creative Nonfiction
Athletes Perform to Poetry, the Prison Typewriter, and More
Stanford University Libraries adds two thousand cassette-tape recordings of Allen Ginsberg; how political books are dominating the publishing industry; Library of America editor and publisher to retire; and other news.
A Place Called Home
As a part of an interactive installation by artist Aman Mojadidi, three repurposed pay phones have been installed in New York City’s Times Square to transmit oral histories focusing on immigrant experiences. Anyone can enter into a phone booth and choose from a collection of seventy stories recorded by New Yorkers from a variety of countries, told in a variety of languages. What memories or anecdotes do you have about immigration or migration, feelings of belonging and displacement, or storytelling over long distances? Write a personal essay in the style of an oral history, as if you’re relaying a story over the phone to a faraway friend.
Junot Díaz Picture Book, Rebecca Solnit on Libraries, and More
Jamia Wilson appointed executive director and publisher of Feminist Press; publishing books with gender-neutral names; an essay primer for adults; and other news.
First-Book Prize for Women and Nonbinary Writers of Color
Submissions are currently open for the second annual Louise Meriwether First Book Prize, cosponsored by the Feminist Press and TAYO Literary Magazine. A prize of $5,000 and publication by the Feminist Press is given annually for a debut book of fiction or nonfiction by a woman or nonbinary writer of color.
Women and nonbinary writers of color (or those who self-identify as nonwhite) who are U.S. citizens and who have not yet published a book may submit a manuscript of 50,000 to 80,000 words by July 31. There is no entry fee. Visit the website for complete submission guidelines.
This year’s final judges are acclaimed authors Tayari Jones and Ana Castillo, Feminist Press executive director Jennifer Baumgardner, and TAYO editor in chief Melissa Sipin. Five finalists will be announced in October; the winner will be announced in February 2018.
Fiction writer YZ Chin won the inaugural book prize for her story collection, Though I Get Home. Of Chin’s manuscript, Sipin said, “The need to escape, to live, and to survive is rendered beautifully in these eclectic and visceral stories.”
The Louise Meriwether Prize was founded in 2016 to honor the legacy of novelist, journalist, and activist Louise Meriwether, whose 1970 novel Daddy Was a Number Runner was one of the first contemporary novels to feature a African American girl as the protagonist. The book went on to inspire the careers of authors such as Jacqueline Woodson and Bridgett M. Davis.
Learn more about the prize and sponsoring organizations at www.tayoliterarymag.com and www.feministpress.org, and visit the Grants & Awards database and Submission Calendar for a complete list of upcoming poetry and prose deadlines.
(Photo: YZ Chin)
Pitching Agents at Writing Conferences, Joe Biden’s Memoir, and More
U.K. Royal Mint puts Jane Austen on the £10 note; a poet travels the country in a “poetry wagon;” nominations open for the Guardian’s “Not the Booker” prize; and other news.
Comey Memoir, Liu Xiaobo’s Last Writings, and More
A web series reimagines Middlemarch through an LGBTQ lens; why Sherman Alexie canceled the rest of his book tour; Marginalia Books launches a series of annotated books; and other news.
Diksha Basu
Caption:
Diksha Basu, author of the debut novel, The Windfall (Crown, 2017), answers eight book-related questions, including her favorite book to give as a gift. Basu is featured in “First Fiction 2017” in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
Blind Dates With Books, Modern Love of Booksellers, and More
Dana Canedy becomes first woman and first African American to administer the Pulitzer Prizes; fans defend Seven Stories Press’s social media from trolls; a defense of strangeness in poetry; and other news.
Liu Xiaobo Dies at Sixty-One, Publishing Vets Launch New Imprint, and More
Center for Fiction announces the longlist for its first novel prize; an exhibit of Agatha Christie’s personal correspondence; why Akhil Sharma hates his most popular short story; and other news.
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