An Interview with Fred Voss

Jules Smith interviews Fred Voss for The Penniless Press. Check it out here

Writers, Poets, Publishers and More Headline Pitt-Greensburg’s Writers’ Festival March 14-18

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.

An interview with the editors of Caketrain

 Caketrain’s Station: From UPG to Literary Magazine

 By Rachel Kuskie

Amanda Raczkowski, 30, and her husband Joseph Reed, 28, of Pittsburgh Pa 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

yet.

J: That's awesome. That's just what I hope for!

Caketrain

Submissions are now being considered for Caketrain Issue 09, tentatively slated for release in late 2011.  Get info here.

The Hungry Sphinx Reading Series presents Ed Ochester & Judith Vollmer

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.

Get more info on the series here and check out The Hungry Sphinx on Facebook.  

Hot Metal Bridge

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.

  

Please Don't Shoot Miss New York Tonight

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. 

Get more information on the event here.

Pittsburgh in Words

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.


  

Writing Jobs

Baseball fan?  SportsFan Network is looking for you! Check it out here!

Writer / Interviewer needed in Pittsburgh for Short Story Challenge

LIMESTONE/TINGE

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! 

Call for Poets & Writers in Westmoreland

Annual Westmoreland Arts and Heritage Festival Poetry & Short Story Contest