Literary MagNet: Alex McElroy
The fiction writer and essayist on five journals that published their work and helped shape their debut novel, The Atmospherians.
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BOMB Fiction Contest Open for Submissions
Submissions are open for the biennial BOMB Fiction Contest. The winning writer will receive a prize of $1,000 and publication in BOMB. Novelist Ottessa Moshfegh, the author of My Year of Rest and Relaxation and Death in Her Hands, will judge.
Using only the online submission system, submit a short story of up to 5,000 words and a cover letter with an entry fee of $25 by May 3. For writers in the United States, the entry fee includes a one-year subscription to BOMB. The winner will be revealed on July 31. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Founded in 1981, BOMB is a multimedia publishing house that spotlights artists and artwork in various disciplines, including literature, film, and visual art. In addition to publishing a print quarterly—which features interviews, portfolios, as well as essays, fiction, and poetry—BOMB maintains a regular online publication. BOMB also hosts one literary contest each year, alternating between poetry and fiction. The winner of the most recent fiction contest was Alexandra Gauss for her story “Sanssouci.”
GalleyCrush: The Woman From Uruguay
Pedro Mairal’s The Woman From Uruguay, translated by Jennifer Croft, forthcoming from Bloomsbury on July 6, 2021.
Rachel Cusk on Discipline in Writing
Caption:
“Discipline is a massive component of creating a body of work, and the further I get, the more I see that that really is true,” says Rachel Cusk in this 2019 interview with Tonny Vorm at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark. Cusk’s novel Second Place (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2021) is featured in Page One in the May/June issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
Genre:
Big Bad Wolf
“First, grant me my sense of history,” writes Agha Shahid Ali in his poem “The Wolf’s Postscript to ‘Little Red Riding Hood’” in which he reimagines the classic fairy tale from the perspective of the story’s villain. “And then grant me my generous sense of plot: / Couldn't I have gobbled her up / right there in the jungle?” The poem offers a complicated portrait of the “Big Bad Wolf,” including disturbing confessions and provocative questions that reexamine this allegory and consider the power of perspective in storytelling. Write a story that explores the perspective of a villain in a children’s story you know well. What new information will you include about this character? What, perhaps, was left out of the story?
Hambidge Creative Residency Program
Hambidge offers residencies of two weeks to two months to poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers on 600 wooded acres in the Blue Ridge Mountains of northern Georgia. Residents are provided with a private cottage with a bedroom, studio space, kitchen, and bathroom. The cost of the residency is $250 per week, which includes some meals. Scholarships are available.
Type:
RESIDENCY
Ignore Event Date Field?:
yes
Event Date:
May 9, 2021
Rolling Admissions:
ignore
Application Deadline:
May 9, 2021
Financial Aid?:
no
Financial Aid Application Deadline:
May 9, 2021
Free Admission:
no
Contact Information:
Hambidge Creative Residency Program, P.O. Box 339, Rabun Gap, GA 30568. (706) 746-7324. Christine Jason, Operations Manager.
Christine Jason
Operations Manager
Contact City:
Rabun Gap
Contact State:
GA
Contact Zip / Postal Code:
30568
Country:
US
MacDowell
MacDowell offers residencies of up to two months year-round to poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers on a 450-acre estate near Mt. Monadnock in Peterborough, New Hampshire. Residents are provided with a private room, work space, and all meals. Travel aid and personal expense grants are available based on need.
Type:
RESIDENCY
Ignore Event Date Field?:
yes
Event Date:
May 9, 2021
Rolling Admissions:
ignore
Application Deadline:
May 9, 2021
Financial Aid?:
no
Financial Aid Application Deadline:
May 9, 2021
Free Admission:
yes
Contact Information:
MacDowell Colony, 100 High Street, Peterborough, NH 03458. (603) 924-3886.
Contact City:
Peterborough
Contact State:
NH
Contact Zip / Postal Code:
03458
Country:
US
Southampton Writers Conference
The 46th annual Southampton Writers Conference will be held online from July 14 to July 18. The conference features workshops in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction, as well as readings, lectures, and an agent panel. The faculty includes poets Billy Collins and Major Jackson; fiction writers Julia Phillips, Paul Tremblay, and Frederic Tuten; nonfiction writer Roger Rosenblatt; and fiction and nonfiction writers Melissa Bank and Matthew Klam. The cost to attend the full conference, including workshops, is $950; the cost to attend the lecture series is $150.
Type:
CONFERENCE
Ignore Event Date Field?:
no
Event Date:
July 14, 2021
Rolling Admissions:
no
Application Deadline:
July 1, 2021
Financial Aid?:
no
Financial Aid Application Deadline:
May 9, 2021
Free Admission:
no
Contact Information:
Southampton Writers Conference, Stony Brook Southampton, 239 Montauk Highway, Southampton, NY 11968. (631) 632-5007. Christian McLean, Contact.
Christian McLean
Contact
Contact City:
Online
Get Lit! Festival
The 2021 Get Lit! Festival was held online from April 12 to April 18. The festival featured readings, craft classes, panel discussions, cocktail hours, and an annual Pie & Whiskey event for poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers. Participating writers included poet Aimee Nezhukumatathil; fiction writers Esi Edugyan, R. O. Kwon, and Jess Walter; and nonfiction writer Robin Wall Kimmerer. Most events were free; select events, including craft classes and cocktail events, started at $25 and required advance registration. Visit the website for more information.
Type:
FESTIVAL
Ignore Event Date Field?:
yes
Event Date:
May 9, 2021
Rolling Admissions:
ignore
Application Deadline:
May 9, 2021
Financial Aid?:
no
Financial Aid Application Deadline:
May 9, 2021
Free Admission:
yes
Contact Information:
Get Lit! Festival, Get Lit! Programs, 668 North Riverpoint Boulevard, Suite 258, Spokane, WA 99202. Kate Peterson, Director.
Kate Peterson
Director
Contact City:
Online
Writers Speak Wednesday With Elizabeth McCracken
Caption:
“It was sodden daylight. The rain had stopped, but she could hear water dripping off things.” In this Stony Brook University virtual event, Elizabeth McCracken reads from her new story collection, The Souvenir Museum (Ecco, 2021), which is featured in Page One in the May/June issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
Genre:
Pages
