Welcome to Lit-Burgh. A one-stop shop for everything Lit in the Burgh. Including, but not limited to, submission info, up-to-date lit events, Q & As with local authors, some helpful links for aspiring writers, n'at. Enjoy!
A pop-up indie bookstore will be taking over the former Borders in East Liberty. For one month, beginning May 7, Fleeting Pages will fill the vacant space with independent and self-published work. They will also hold workshops and other events.
Jim Daniels will be reading from his newest book, Homestead: From Milltown to Malltown, on Saturday, April 16 at 1:30 p.m. at the Homestead Pump House.
In their new book From Milltown to Malltown, poets Jim Daniels and Jane McCafferty team up with photographer Charlee Brodsky to explore the steel-era ghosts of Homestead, Pa. Jim Daniels will read poems from the book in concert with the Brodsky photographs. Poet Peter Oresick will introduce the program, which will begin with a special tribute to Dave Demarest, whom we will honor for initiating this poetry reading series at the Pump House many years ago. A book signing follows.
Kristin Ross, Jen Michalski, Adam Robinson, and Kelli Stevens Kane will be reading at ModernFormations Gallery in Pittsburgh on Thursday, April 21 at 8 p.m.
Pendulum, Pitt-Greensburg's literary magazine, will be having its launch party on Thursday, April 21 at 7 p.m. in the Village Hall coffeehouse on campus. It is part of the Written/Spoken series. This event is free and open to the public. More information to come!
Pitt-Greensburg's English Literature Capstone Presentations will be held on Thursday, April 21 at 5:30 PM in the Fireside Lounge, Chambers Hall. There will be six presentations, with a brief intermission and a question-and-answer session. The event will run until about 8 or 8:15 PM. Light refreshments will be provided.
Here is a preview of the presentations:
* Corey Florindi will investigate theatrical contexts, panopticism, and Irish identity reflected in the free indirect discourse of James Joyce's Dubliners.
* Sarah O'Neil will address the intertextual relationship of Charlotte Smith and William Wordsworth, and what it can tell us about the idealized image of the Romantic poet.
* Kate Smith will discuss the challenges of shifting subjectivities in Edgar Allan Poe's and Kate Chopin's short stories.
* Jessica Rendos will consider predetermined scripts, power, and the question of liberation in Kate Chopin's The Awakening.
* Beth Smaligo will examine dialects, class status and physical bodies in transition in D. H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover.
* Brian Perry will explore the machinations of suspense through cognitive estrangement and split identities in Philip K. Dick's A Scanner Darkly.
The capstone scholars will benefit from your comments and questions as they make the final revisions to their capstone papers.
Matthew Newton is a journalist documenting contemporary American life.
Matthew Newton is a journalist whose writing has appeared in Spin, Good, Next American City, and Swindle, among other publications. He has reported on the decline of sampling in hip-hop; interviewed artists and musicians who survived Cambodia’s killing fields; and investigated the struggles of U.S. military veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. He has also appeared as a commentator on Austria’s FM4 radio and is editor of the nonfiction anthology Young & Reckless. He lives and works in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
His work speaks for itself. He is awesome and I urge yinz to check him out here, here, and here too.
If the promise of spring is amping up your creative juices, now’s the time to write. Start your novel, play, or other work today and you’ll have enough material to workshop at the Ligonier Valley Writers’ Conference.
The 24th annual conference will take place on Saturday, July 16, at the Rogers Center at St. Vincent College in Latrobe (back by popular demand). If you’d like a hardcopy of the conference brochure or have any questions, contact Judith Gallagher at jgallagher@LHTOT.com or (724) 593-7294.
Exceptional faculty members stand ready to help you grow your writing. Peter Oresick is teaching poetry, Scott Mastro fiction, Rebecca Godfrey nonfiction, and F. J. Hartland playwriting. F. J. will also be delivering the Thoburn Lecture.
If you register by June 10, you can enjoy early-bird pricing ($95 for LVW members; $110 for nonmembers for the full day). From June 10-July 1, the price is $105 for LVW members and $120 for nonmembers. Once again, LVW members will be able to sell their books at our book room during the conference. And to celebrate LVW’s 25th anniversary, we’ve reduced the price of a full-year membership, which includes not just discounts to most events but also our information-packed quarterly newsletter, to just $25.
Thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor, six scholarships are available for adult writers. The only criteria for the Ligonier Valley Writers’ Conference Scholarships are writing talent and financial need. Regarding need, let your conscience be your guide. Regarding writing ability, we ask that you submit a sample of your writing. Writers of all ages and backgrounds are welcome to apply.
LVW also invites students who will be high school seniors in the fall or who are graduating this year to apply for the Tina Thoburn Memorial Scholarship. Application forms for both LVWC and Thoburn scholarships are at www.LVWonline.org. The deadline for both is June 6.
Publication Party: Ligonier Valley Writers is kicking off the conference Friday night with a publication party for the 2011 edition of its literary magazine, The Loyalhanna Review. The party will be on July 15, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the Latrobe Art Center on 819 Ligonier St. in Latrobe. Loyalhanna Review authors will read from their work. Beautiful paintings and photos (some of them reproduced in the magazine) will be on display in beautiful surroundings. Guests will have a chance to talk with the authors and artists whose work is featured in the magazine. The Loyalhanna Review has been published continuously since 1992.
For more information about any LVW events, workshops, publications, writing contests, and submission guidelines, please visit LVWonline.org.
Hot Metal Bridge, the University of Pittsburgh’s graduate literary magazine, presents HOT HOT HOT: readings by writers we love on Friday, April 15. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the readings begin at 7:30 p.m. at the ModernFormations Gallery.
Those scheduled to read are: fiction writers Allison Amend (author of Things That Pass for Love) and Damian Dressick (author of the forthcoming Fables of the Deconstruction), performance poets and local stars Nikki Allen and Renee Alberts, and others TBA.
A $5 donation will be requested at the door. Proceeds from HOT HOT HOT will fund the highly-anticipated “Best of Hot Metal Bridge”, the magazine’s inaugural print issue. Snacks will be generously provided by Whole Foods Market.
Michael Adams will read from his book, Steel Valley on Thursday, April 14 at the Carnegie Library of Homestead. Following the reading, Adams will lead a discussion of life in the Steel Valley during the heyday and decline of the steel industry. He will be joined by Charlee Brodsky, a professor of photography at Carnegie Mellon University. The event begins at 5 p.m. in the Reading Room. It is free and open to the public.
Five soon-to-be graduating writers will headline the April Written/Spoken series reading on Tuesday, April 5 at Pitt-Greensburg. The reading will begin at 7 p.m. in the Village Hall coffeehouse on campus and is free and open to the public.
The line-up will include:
* Rachel Kuskie, a senior English Writing major who specializes in creative nonfiction. Kuskie will be reading from a collection of essays that deal with her experiences as a race-car driver and, especially, her father’s daughter. Kuskie’s work has appeared or is forthcoming in Pendulum magazine, the Pitt-Greensburg Insider, and in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, as well as on her blog – http://www.girlsagearhead.blogspot.com
Kuskie is also the winner of this year’s Ida B. Wells Prize, the annual Pitt-Greensburg award for the best in student nonfiction and journalism.
* Rin Little, a senior English Writing major and poet. Little will be reading a poetry sequence dealing with the subjects of mental illness and family. A member of the Sigma Tau Delta literary honor society, Little has published work in Pendulum magazine and elsewhere. She also blogs about her experiences with alternative cultures at http://www.thealternativeandtheunderground.blogspot.com.
* Katie Mustovich, a senior English Writing major with an emphasis in creative nonfiction, will read excerpts from her memoir/essay collection, “I Still Hide Behind My Mother.” Mustovich’s work has been published in Pendulum, and she maintains the literary blogsite, LitBurgh (http://www.litburgh.blogspot.com).
* Janelle Sheetz, the winner of the 2011 Joan Didion Creative Nonfiction Award at Pitt-Greensburg and a senior English Writing major. Sheetz will read from her essay collection, “Fayettenam,” a series of place-based pieces based on Sheetz’ Fayette County home. Sheetz writes more about Fayette County daily on her blog, http://www.fayettepa.blogspot.com.
* Natalie Strohm, a senior English Writing major, journalist and creative nonfiction writer. Strohm is currently at work on a manuscript based on the reportage of oral historian and journalistic pioneer Studs Terkel. Strohm will read from her project, “Serving,” a series of interviews with people who serve others.
Strohm, a runner-up for the 2011 Joan Didion Creative Nonfiction award, writes about her other passion, the TV show “Glee,” at http://www.gleekergirl.blogspot.com.
Professor Lori Jakiela will host the Capstone readings. Jakiela, an associate professor of English and widely-published author, teaches the English Writing senior capstone course each spring.
A reception follows the readings. Free copies of the Capstone anthology featuring work by all the readers will be available.
The Written/Spoken series is sponsored by the Academic Villages, The Pitt-Greensburg Writing Program, Pendulum, and the office of Academic Affairs. For more information about the series, or about the writing program at Pitt-Greensburg, call 724-836-7481.
Singer/Songwriter Bill Deasy is among the featured speakers at the 10th annual Pitt-Greensburg Writer's Festival, going on this week in the Village Hall coffeehouse on campus.
On Friday, March 18 at 7 p.m. Deasy will talk on songwriting, followed by a performance and book-signing.
Here is an excerpt from Bill O'Driscoll's article, "We comment on 50 pages each of four recent local fiction releases." O'Driscoll reviews "Ghost Tree," Deasy's most recent novel.
It's a sentimental premise, even corny: A dying man's last words (along with interest from a local independent filmmaker) inspires efforts to reunite a short-lived but semi-legendary rock band whose legacy is limited to one concert in their small Pennsylvania town. The former members, now ensconced in middle age, include a Catholic priest, a college administrator, a coffee-shop manager, and the semi-reclusive but seemingly ageless lead singer. This is the third novel for Deasy (the local singer-songwriter who formerly fronted The Gathering Field), and he makes it work. Sure, his narrative voice tends to be prosaic, and the dialogue too. But if his characters say "or something" a lot, they're an engagingly earnest lot, searching for answers and understanding. And if you've ever harbored a youthful dream, the promise of the band's reunion show makes for a thoughtfully pleasing, generally good-humored page-turner.
Bill O'Driscoll is the Arts & Entertainment Editor at Pittsburgh CityPaper. Check out the full article here, which includes a review of Dave Newman's book, "Please Don't Shoot Anyone Tonight."
Pearl magazine was founded in 1974 by Joan Jobe Smith while she was an undergraduate at California State University, Long Beach. The first two issues (#1 published May 1974, #2 December 1974) were funded by the CSULB Honors Program and distributed gratis. For want of being typeset and different, those issues featured calligraphy by Smith and women only. Established poets Lyn Lifshin, Ann Menebroker, Linda King, and Rochelle Holt were included, as well as many university women poets, most notably Marilyn Johnson, who was not only published for the first time, but would eventually become a co-editor of Pearl.
Pearl is a 96–160 page, perfect-bound magazine featuring poetry, short fiction, and black & white artwork. They sponsor the Pearl Poetry Prize, an annual contest for a full-length book, as well as the Pearl Short Story Prize, an annual fiction contest. Their annual poetry issue contains a 12–15 page section featuring the work of a single poet, and their annual fiction issue features the winner of their short story contest, as well prose poems, "short-shorts," and some of the longer stories submitted to their contest.Submissions are accepted January through June only.
"We're probably the nicest editors you'll ever find," says Joan Jobe Smith at her Craft Talk during UPGs Writer's Festival. So, if you have something, submit it.
Get more information on Pearl, submission guidelines and contests here.
Also, be sure to check out this interview from Verdad magazine with Marilyn Johnson.
Author Brad Kessler will be at the James Laughlin Music Hall on March 16 from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.
Brad Kessler is the author of the critically acclaimed novel Birds in Fall (Scribner 2006) which won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. His other work includes the novel, Lick Creek (Scribner 2001) and the literary non-fiction Goat Song: A Seasonal Life, A Short History of Herding, and the Art of Making Cheese (Scribner 2009). He is the recipient of the Rome Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Whiting Writer’s Award, a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, and the Lange-Taylor Prize from Duke University’s Center for Documentary Studies.. Kessler’s work has appeared in publications such as The New York Times Magazine, the Nation, Bomb, Kenyon Review, and The New Yorker. He lives and farms in Vermont with the photographer, Dona Ann McAdams.
I thought it necessary to pay homage to Pittsburgh native Lee Gutkind, considering this is Lit-Burgh.
Lee Gutkind is the founding editor of Creative Nonfiction and prize-winning author or editor of more than a dozen books, the most recent of which, Almost Human: Making Robots Think, was featured on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. As founder of the creative nonfiction movement, according to Harper's Magazine, and the "godfather behind creative nonfiction" (Vanity Fair), Gutkind travels widely throughout the world giving workshops and readings, explaining the craft and the mission of the genre.
Perhaps Gutkind IS Lit-Burgh.
You can read the chapter, "Groundhog," from Gutkind's most recent book, Almost Human: Making Robots Think, here.
“A wild book—A crazy suspense story—fascinating stuff”—that’s how host Jon Stewart described Lee Gutkind’s new book, Almost Human: Making Robots Think on The Daily Show (Comedy Central Channel) when Gutkind and Stewart squared off in an amusing and enlightening conversation and debate.
Check out Gutkind on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart here.
Although Weave Magazine is currently closed to all submissions, they will reopen April 15th. That's just around the bend, so check out guidelines here!
Poets & Writers Magazine has this cool thing called The Time Is Now. The Time Is Now offers a weekly writing prompt to help you stay committed to your writing practice throughout the year. They post a poetry prompt on Mondays and a fiction prompt on Thursdays. Get writing here!
Here is one of my favorite Write Now prompts from January 10:
Write an erasure poem: Rip out one or two pages from a magazine or newspaper. Read through them, underlining words and phrases that appeal to you and that relate to each other. Using a marker or White-Out, begin to delete the words around those you underlined, leaving words and phrases that you might want to use. Keep deleting the extra language, working to construct poetic lines with the words you’ve chosen to keep.
Keeping with the baseball and poetry theme from the previous post, I've decided to share my erasure poem. I ripped out two pages from the September 12, 2005 issue of The New Yorker. Ironically, the article was about Rickey Henderson. This is what I came up with:
Desert Sun Stadium
The desert: a prison that housed outlaws from the Wild West
Players lounging in their underwear, chewing sunflower seeds
It ain’t Yankee Stadium
A hundred and nine degrees, hard to breathe
Sign autographs, pose for photographs
I’m the Babe Ruth of independent leagues
Five feet ten, like a Rockette pressing forward
He hides behind wraparound sunglasses
Pants above his hips
Creases on his forehead, around his mouth
Tapped dirt out of his cleats
A cloud of dust
Where’s your fucking wheelchair?
Time defeated the man of steal
Unceremoniously released him
Three thousand and eighty-one games
Slash at balls as they shot out of a pitching machine
Eighty-five miles an hour
No injuries. No problem with my eyes. Knees are good.
I have a little pain in my hip
Ain’t nothin’ a little ice can’t cure
Sitting on a metal chair with his shirt off
Dad, why are you doing this?
He wanted to make it to the majors
Trying to make it back to the show
They never treat us old guys well
I could go out the way I came in
It’s time to finally let go
I wasn’t getting my bat out right
Into the cage
You’re stepping too far in
The divot in the dirt too deep into his head
Stealing Home
One night in Fresno, California, 1977
Private eyes reported back
“Your father is dead.”
An unlikely father figure
A pugnacious drinker who slugged one of his own
An in-your-face approach to the game, a manic style of play
The catalyst, the creator of chaos
Wreak havoc on the defense
Each hitter has a strike zone uncommonly small
The size of Hitler’s heart
Collapsing his shoulders to his knees
Get on base
Three-run homers and big innings
Be a nuisance, a pest
Steal second. Steal third. Stole home four times.
It’s Rickey Henderson Night
I hear he never lifts weights—he only does pushups and situps
A yellow Volkswagen Beetle
A pair of rodent-like ears attached to its roof
A curly tail sticking out of its trunk
It’s time to exterminate the competition
Truly Nolen Pest Control—We get the bugs out for you
On the bench, soaked with sweat
Cheerleaders danced on the dugout roof
See if you can answer tonight’s trivia question
Why won’t he quit and come home?
He began to run
Fireworks explode
You got to be fearless
They’re coming for you
Everyone in the stadium knows
I don’t give a dang
Bounce violently, brutally pounding his body
Everyone knows you’re going
I’m gone
Start out low
The final touch
Feet first
Head first
Find that one part of the body that tells you he’s home
This anthology continues the long and distinguished relationship between poetry and baseball. Michael C Ford has scoured the sandlots of Southern California to compile a stellar lineup of heavy-hitting and rubber-armed literary figures, eager to take their swings and toss some metaphors for the newest team on the sporting scene, the Los Angeles Bards.
Listen to more of the anthology "The Los Angeles Bards - Live In Pasadena" here.
The Pitt-Greensburg Writer’s Festival celebrates its 10th anniversary Monday, March 14 through Friday, March 18 in the Village Hall coffeehouse on campus.
West Coast poets and writers Joan Jobe Smith and Fred Voss, bestselling mystery novelist Kathleen George, poet John Repp, “That’s Church!” blogger Virginia Montanez, singer/songwriter Bill Deasy, and UPG faculty, alumni and students will be among the featured speakers.
Editors and publishers from New York’s Spuyten Duyvil press and the internationally-acclaimed Caketrain literary magazine will also be on hand to offer their insights into breaking into print. Receptions and booksignings will be ongoing throughout the festival.
All events are free and open to the public. Each day a craft talk will begin at 4 p.m. and a reading will follow at 7 p.m. Authors’ books will be available for purchase.
The full schedule includes:
Monday, March 14 -- Poet/memoirist Joan Jobe Smith -- craft talk at 4 p.m.; reading
at 7 p.m. with reception and book-signing to follow
Tuesday, March 15 -- Poet Fred Voss -- craft talk at 4 p.m.; reading at 7 p.m. with
reception and book-signing to follow
Wednesday, March 16 – Editors and publishers from Caketrain, Spuyten Duyvil and more discuss the literary life at 4 p.m.; Faculty/Alumni reading at 7 p.m. with reception and
book-signing to follow
Thursday, March 17 – Bestselling mystery novelist Kathleen George -- reading and talk at 4 p.m. with reception and book-signing to follow; Poet John Repp -- reading at 7 p.m. with
reception and book-signing to follow
Friday, March 18 -- One Book Event with Kathleen George at noon (this event is sponsored by the Pitt-Greensburg Friends of the Library and will be in the campus’ Millstein Library); The Art and Craft of New Media: a panel presentation featuring UPG bloggers and professional guest blogger Virginia Montanez at 4 p.m. in the Coffeehouse; Singer/Songwriter Bill Deasy -- talk on songwriting, followed by a performance and book-signing, 7 p.m.
The Pitt-Greensburg Writers Festival is sponsored by the university’s Writing Program, Academic Villages, Student Government Association, Pendulum, Academic Affairs, and The Friends of the Library.
For more information about the festival, or about the writing program at Pitt-Greensburg, call 724-836-7481 or e-mail loj@pitt.edu.
Caketrain’s Station: From UPG to Literary Magazine
By Rachel Kuskie
Amanda Raczkowski, 30, and her husband Joseph Reed, 28, of PittsburghPa are more than just alumni of UPG with degrees in English Writing. They have taken their love of literature and desire for something bigger to create Caketrain, a literary journal and publisher based out of Pittsburgh. Since it’s founding in 2003 it has reached both national and international writers and doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon. Joe is scheduled to read on Monday, March 22 at the UPG Writer’s Festival as invited by faculty member, Richard Blevins.
Joe, you are planning to read on the faculty and alumni night of
the Writer's Festival, what do you intend on reading for it and what was
the inspiration for it?
J: I'm not sure exactly what the game plan is yet, but I'll be reading the
work of Caketrain contributors. I'm going through our latest issue with
post-its as we speak.
Tell me a little about your time at UPG and how it influenced you as
writers.
A: UPG had a large impact on my entire literary career. The faculty and my
fellow classmates were very welcoming and encouraging; a completely
different experience from the school I previously attended. I will never
forget the first day of Poetry Workshop when Professor Blevins said "Poetry
is a language experiment," and I finally felt like I belonged somewhere.
Each instructor I had at UPG encouraged us to submit to literary journals
and to look beyond the world of undergraduate work. I feel that this
attitude gave me a greater edge in the literary community.
J: My role today as a small press editor is wholly attributable to my time
spent with Judy Vollmer, who appointed me the editor of UPG's lit journal,
Pendulum, and encouraged me to explore the world of the small press and
establish my own parameters for what a literary journal should be. In my
time at UPG, I labored relentlessly over every aspect of Pendulum, from
selection to sequencing to cover design, layout and typography. It's thanks
to Judy that when we started Caketrain--which was founded in the same year
that we graduated from UPG--I had two good years of experience already
behind me.
So the two of you met at UPG, have you ever written about finding your
soulmate at UPG?
A: (laughs)I have written pieces that are somewhat based on our
relationship, but I never have written something directly about the start of
our relationship at UPG. Perhaps we should write a one-act play about our
budding love during our final semester?
J: Yeah, the set would just be, like, a bench and a façade of F.O.B.
Seriously, though -- and maybe a little sappily -- I'm so thankful to have
found Amanda. I couldn't imagine a finer collaborative partner and friend.
UPG is a terrific matchmaker.
How is it working with your spouse? Do you edit each others' work?
A: It is both wonderful and frustrating; it can be hard to separate the work
of Caketrain from our every day lives since Caketrain is such a part of our
every day lives, but we work at keeping the arguments to the appropriate
area. Joe is one of the best readers and editors I have ever had the joy of
working with. His editorial guidance was a large part of my book manuscript
and I value his opinion greatly. When we first starting dating, we posed a
little writing experiment to each other. Our task was to write pieces in the
other's style. At UPG I wrote very narrative, confessional work and Joe
focused mainly on language and images. This experiment really influenced my
future writing and without it, I do not know if I would have progressed in
the way that I did.
J: I love to edit. Sitting down with a promising manuscript and finessing it
into making good on that promise is the most rewarding part of our work. And
Amanda's work is no different, except, when one of her poems makes reference
to a real event that I was there to witness, it can be difficult to keep
that from informing my reading of it.
Have the two of you ever collaborated on any pieces before? If so, could
you tell me about a particular piece you are both proud of?
A: Everything with Caketrain is collaboration between the two of us, but I
think Caketrain Issue 04 is a defining moment for us because it was the time
when we exercised more of our own editorial control.
J: Absolutely. Caketrain started as a three-person operation -- the two of
us and a friend and fellow UPG grad, Donna Weaver -- and that structure
necessarily called for a greater willingness to compromise. Donna left
Caketrain in 2007 to focus on a career in journalism, and since then the
journal has been run by Amanda and I alone. It's a rather nice arrangement:
if one of us feels strongly enough about a particular piece, we can accept
it without consultation with the other. So we both have final say, in a way,
but neither of us is usually that certain about a particular submission, so
we're constantly bouncing work off of each other for a second opinion and to
look for opportunities for improvement through edits and suggestions for
revision.
What is your preferred genre to write? Can you tell me about one of your
favorite pieces of work?
A: I would classify my work as prose poetry/flash fiction, but genre
distinctions can be too distracting. I wrote a series of five pieces that
are included in my book manuscript that I am very keen on.
So, Caketrain is a literary journal and book publisher? How did you come
up with the name "Caketrain"?
A: Caketrain publishes one literary journal per year and with necessary
funds, three single author titles (two of which are the result of an annual
chapbook competition).
J: The name Caketrain was chosen by our former editor, Donna Weaver, who
just called me up one day and said, "I've got the title." It's not bad. Has
a nice ring to it.
How difficult was it getting Caketrain started? Can you tell me about
how you went about getting the word out about it and how it progressed as
a journal and website?
A: To be legally legit, there is a lot of bureaucratic nonsense that you
have to deal with. We started the journal with a website and an e-mail
address and solicited submissions from writers we knew and respected. The
amazing part was when we didn't have to solicit to receive amazing content.
J: From the very beginning, people in the literary community were very
supportive, especially on the local level. And since then it's just gotten
bigger and bigger through word of mouth. We've been content in the seven
years we've been operating Caketrain to let the project grow organically,
and slowly but steadily, it has done just that.
Do you personally prefer writing or editing?
A: I cannot imagine actively competing with some of the wonderful talents
that we encounter every day. Editing the journal requires a lot of time and
I feel to be able to produce a well-rounded issue, I need to focus all my
talents on editing.
J: I think that we are creating an even greater literary legacy for
ourselves and the writers we work with. And it feels good to be a champion
of fledgling writers, to give of ourselves to others in this way. It's a
reward that is, for me, much greater than the creation of my own work.
Where did the Caketrain Chapbook competition idea come from? Are you
always looking for a specific genre or does anything go? What are the
entries like?
A: The chapbook competition helps Caketrain remain independent and it also
allows us the opportunity to publish single-author titles. We look for the
daring and innovative - something that makes us question what can writing
do. We receive about 200 chapbook submissions each contest and the styles
vary greatly.
J: And to keep things interesting, we switch genres each year--from fiction
to poetry and back again.
What are some of the contributors to Caketrain like? Do you meet many
of them personally? Does anyone in particular immediately stand out in
your mind?
A: We have only met a few of our contributors, but all of them are wonderful
and we hope to meet more of them.
J: We're supposed to be meeting one of them later this year: her name is
Tina May Hall and she'll be in town to accept Pitt's Drue Heinz Literature
Prize. We published her first fiction chapbook last year, and I think she's
promised us a dinner date. (laughs)
Do you get more local submissions or national? How about international?
A: We receive a mixture of local, national, and international submissions.
When did you first notice Caketrain was becoming more than a local
Pittsburgh journal?
A: We always wanted to have a journal that was part of Pittsburgh, but not
necessarily defined by the region.
J: Yeah, we're not really regional, but we love being in Pittsburgh; it's a
terrific place to run an arts project.
Would you encourage UPG students to submit to Caketrain?
J: Absolutely. Don't feel as though it's too early. Be courageous. I think
the fact that we were encouraged by our professors to submit made the
process easier.
Where do you see Caketrain going from here? Where do you see your
writing careers heading?
A: I hope that we can keep Caketrain moving and that the last issue
(whenever that will be) will be edited by the two of us and be the best one
Ed Ochester and Judith Vollmer will be reading at the Sphinx Cafe in Oakland on Feb. 22 at 8 p.m. Get more info on the event here.
The Hungry Sphinx Reading Series is run by Carlow University creative writing students. It is free and open to the public, and featured readers are followed by an Open Mic.
Hot Metal Bridge, the literary magazine of the University of Pittsburgh, is accepting submissions for their spring issue. The deadline for submissions is March 14th at midnight. Get more info here.
As part of the DV8 series, Lori Jakiela and Dave Newman will be reading at the American Coffee Shop in Greensburg on Feb. 19 at 7 p.m.
Newman will read from Please Don't Shoot Anyone Tonight and maybe poems from his last chapbook, Allen Ginsberg Comes to Pittsburgh. Jakiela may read poems from her chapbooks Red Eye, out last year, and The Mill Hunk's Daughter Meets the Queen of Sky, coming out this summer.
Stephanie Brea, Adam Matcho, Kelly Scraff, and Megan Tutulo run the series. It is a monthly event, free and open to the public, and usually held the third-ish Saturday of each month at DV8 in Greensburg. However, the DV8 owners are on vacation, hence the change in venue.
Can words explain a city like Pittsburgh, with its rich history, complicated geography, and thriving communities? Over the years, countless writers—who grew up here, or moved here, or were just passing through—have taken up the challenge. Check out Pittsburgh in Words - A Creative Nonfiction Website.
LIMESTONE, a literary journal housed at the University of Kentucky, publishes original art, poetry, and prose from established and emerging writers.Submit by March 1, 2011 in order to be considered for the 2011 issue.Get more information here.
TINGE Magazine, a new online journal from Temple University, is seeking submissions of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction.The first issue will debut at the end of April.So, submit soon!
Brad Kessler is the author of the critically acclaimed novel Birds in Fall (Scribner 2006) which won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. His other work includes the novel, Lick Creek (Scribner 2001) and the literary non-fiction Goat Song: A Seasonal Life, A Short History of Herding, and the Art of Making Cheese (Scribner 2009). He is the recipient of the Rome Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Whiting Writer’s Award, a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, and the Lange-Taylor Prize from Duke University’s Center for Documentary Studies.. Kessler’s work has appeared in publications such as The New York Times Magazine, the Nation, Bomb, Kenyon Review, and The New Yorker. He lives and farms in Vermont with the photographer, Dona Ann McAdams.
