Rebecca Siegel

October 1, 2020

Calls for Submission, Deadlines, Events, Newsletter, Workshops, The Dipper

The Dipper - October 2020

Rebecca Siegel

October 1, 2020

Calls for Submission, Deadlines, Events, Newsletter, Workshops, The Dipper

"The Dipper" is our monthly newsletter, where we highlight readings, events, calls for submission, and other literary-related news for the coming month. If you have news or events to share, let us know!

October News

We are so pleased to bring you another great virtual author event in partnership with Hanover’s Still North Books. On October 14 at 7:30 pm, Sierra Crane Murdoch will be in conversation with Angela Evancie of VPR’s Brave Little State to discuss Sierra’s compelling nonfiction book, Yellow Bird.

Yellow Bird tells the story of Lissa Yellow Bird as she obsessively hunts for clues to the disappearance of Kristopher “KC” Clark, a young white oil worker who worked on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota. Drawing on eight years of immersive investigation, Sierra Crane Murdoch has produced a profound examination of the legacy of systematic violence inflicted on a tribal nation and a tale of extraordinary healing. Sierra and Angela’s conversation is bound to be riveting. Register today to attend!

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Alexandria Hall’s debut book of poetry, Field Music, will be published by Ecco on October 6. Alexandria is a poet and a musician from Vermont (and currently a PhD candidate in California). Publishers Weekly calls Field Music, “a striking debut…This atmospheric collection will transport readers to Hall’s layered landscapes.”

We are so fortunate that Alexandria agreed do to an interview with us, and we are equally fortunate that Rena J. Mosteirin enthusiastically agreed to pose the interview questions. The interview will be published on our site on Field Music’s publication day, October 6, so check our blog then.

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In Slow Club Book Club news, we recently announced the last book in our year of reading books by Canadian authors: Dionne Brand's 2018 hybrid poetry collection, The Blue Clerk. In this intriguing book—an Ars Poetica in 59 versos—Dionne Brand stages a conversation and an argument between the poet and the Blue Clerk, who is the keeper of the poet's pages.

A sampling of The Blue Clerk reveals its mesmerizing power. Listen to Dionne Brand read two of the prose poem versos on the Griffin Poetry Prize website (the book was shortlisted for the 2019 prize) and fall under its liquid language spell. We hope you decide to join us in reading The Blue Clerk beginning on October 15. If you do, please let us know; it's nice to know you're out there.

October’s Shooting Stars

A cool literary find from each of us to help light up your month!

First Wednesdays from Vermont Humanities are back, beginning October 7. This time around we are lucky to be able to listen to these lectures from our homes. I’m particularly excited to hear Jarvis Green’s lecture, “Atlantic Is a Sea of Bones” on November 7 We’ve posted the literary lectures from this series in our calendar of events. For the rest (including some really amazing topics from dance and Muhammad Ali to bird migration to food justice), please visit the Vermont Humanities website. —Shari
These days I often feel closed, tight, compressed into myself. I need reminders of expansiveness: drop the shoulders from my ears, breathe deeply. The other day I saw a link to a recording of Seamus Heaney reading “Postscript,” one of my favorites of his poems. Rereading it always blows me open, as the last line intends. Hearing Seamus’ own voice makes it even better.—Rebecca

October Highlights

Layli Long Soldier will read as part of the virtual Poetry at Bennington series on October 7 at 7:00 pm.

Samantha Kolber celebrates the release of her new chapbook, Birth of a Daughter, with a virtual event at Bear Pond Books on October 9 at 7:00 pm.

Sierra Crane Murdoch discusses her book Yellow Bird with Brave Little State’s Angela Evancie via Still North Books & Bar on October 14 at 7:30 pm.

The Brattleboro Literary Festival takes place virtually this year from October 16 to 18, featuring writers of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.

Jason Lutes appears as a part of Virtual Bookstock 2020 on October 15 at 7:00 pm.

Phil Klay will read and discuss his latest novel, Missionaries, on October 16 at 7:00 pm. This online event is presented by both The Norwich Bookstore and Still North Books & Bar.

603: The Writers’ Conferences is online this year on October 17 from 8:00 am to 5:30 pm, with featured speaker Brunonia Barry.

Charles Simic gives a virtual reading sponsored by the Poetry Society of New Hampshire and Gibson’s Bookstore on October 20 at 7:00 pm.

Visit our calendar for detailed information about these events and more!

Worth a Listen

Artwork by Sludge Thunder — *Artwork by* *Sludge Thunder*

Daniel Hornsby speaks about his debut, Via Negativa, on Marginalia. His new novel was recently recommended by Lauren Groff on Twitter.
On the Slow Stories podcast, Sanaë Lemoine discusses her writing process for her debut, The Margot Affair.
Middlebury grad Bianca Giaever has a wonderful new podcast for The Believer called Constellation Prize. Five episodes about strangers, religion, poetry, and art are available now.
Dustin Schell and Alexander Chee (curators of the Still Queer reading series) were featured on Christine Lee’s podcast, Front Yard Politics, talking about gardening during the pandemic.

We're Looking Forward to These October Releases

Mantel Pieces, by Hilary Mantel (Fourth Estate, October 1)
Leave the World Behind, by Rumaan Alam (Ecco, October 6)
The Hole, by Hiroko Oyamada, translated by David Boyd (New Directions, October 6)
The Superationals, by Stephanie La Cava (Semiotext(e)/Native Agents, October 13)
Kant’s Little Prussian Head and Other Reasons Why I write, by Claire Messud (W.W. Norton & Company, October 13)
The Century, by Éireann Lorung (Milkweed Editions, October 13)
The Silence, by Don DeLillo (Scribner, October 20)
Divorcing, by Susan Taubes (NYRB Classics, October 27)
Memorial, by Bryan Washington (Riverhead, October 27)

Calls For Submission and Upcoming Deadlines

Hunger Mountain Issue 25: Art Saves
Send your manifestos and rhetoric, your stories and poems, your essays and forays into justifying art as an answer to—and escape from?—these trying times: pandemics, forest fires, catastrophe, white-supremacy, murder, burning buildings as the only way to be heard, and fascism. Please submit prose of no more than 8,000 words, or up to three flash pieces all in one document; for poetry, 1 to 5 poems all in one file.
Deadline: October 15 | Details

Sundog Poetry Center’s First or Second Book Award Prize for a Vermont Poet
Sundog Poetry Center is pleased to announce the inaugural book award for a first or second poetry manuscript, in partnership with Green Writers Press, who will design, print and distribute the book nationwide. The final judge is Vermont Poet Laureate Mary Ruefle. A cash prize of $500 will be awarded along with 50 copies. Manuscripts should be between 48 and 64 pages. All submissions must be authored by a poet who resides in Vermont; proof of residency will be requested along with a $20 application fee.
Deadline: October 31 | Details

Sunken Garden Chapbook Prize for Poetry
Tupelo Press’ Sunken Garden Prize seeks submissions of previously unpublished, chapbook-length poetry manuscripts. The prize is open to anyone writing in the English language. This year’s judge is Mark Bibbins. The winner receives a $1000 cash prize, in addition to publication by Tupelo Press, 25 copies of the winning title, a book launch, and national distribution with energetic publicity and promotion.
Deadline: October 31 | Details

New England Review
New England Review is open for nonfiction submissions and for their digital “Confluences” series. For nonfiction, NER accepts a broad range, including dramatic works, essays in translation, interpretive and personal essays, critical reassessments, cultural criticism, travel writing, and environmental writing. The word limit is 20,000. For “Confluences,” they are seeking brief essays (500 to 100 words) in response to a book, play, poem, film, painting, sculpture, building, or other work of art.
Deadline: November 15 | Details

Bennington Unbound
October 15 to December 15
These four-week intensive online courses in fiction and nonfiction (October 15 to November 15, and November 15 to December 15) are geared toward current college and college-ready students considering an academic gap year or looking to supplement their current coursework. The courses are taught by Bennington’s award-winning graduate and undergraduate writing and literature faculty. Weekly live video class meetings foster an intimate seminar experience. Web-based discussion forums and unique multimedia resources extend the classroom community. All students will write both creatively and critically. Students earn one college credit per course.
Deadline: one week prior to the beginning of each course | Cost: $600/course | Details

Bloodroot Literary Magazine
Bloodroot is now accepting new, unpublished poetry, fiction, and essays for its spring 2021 issue. Send a Word document including 3 to 5 pages of poetry or 10 to 12 pages of fiction and nonfiction. For anything outside that scope, like an experimental form or digital project, please send a one-page proposal and they will be in touch if we want to see more.
Deadline: December 15 | Details

The Dorset Prize for Poetry
Tupelo Press’ Dorset Prize is seeking submissions of previously unpublished, full-length poetry manuscripts. The prize is open to anyone writing in the English language. This year’s judge is Tyehimba Jess. The winner receives at $3000 cash prize and a week-long residency at MASS MoCA, in addition to publication by Tupelo Press, 20 copies of the winning title, a book launch, and national distribution with energetic publicity and promotion.
Deadline: December 31 | Details

Vermont Writers’ Prize
The Vermont Writers’ Prize is accepting essays, short stories, plays, or poems on the subject of Vermont: its people, its places, its history, or its values—the choice is yours! Entries must be unpublished and 1,500 words or less. The Writers' Prize is open to all Vermont residents and students except for employees of Green Mountain Power and Vermont Magazine. Please submit only one entry.
Deadline: January 1 | Details

The Frost Place Chapbook Competition
The competition is open to any poet writing in English. The selected winner’s chapbook will be published by Bull City Press in the summer following the competition. The winner receives 10 complimentary copies (from a print run of 300), a $250 prize, full scholarship to attend the Poetry Seminar at The Frost Place, including room and board, and gives a featured reading from the chapbook at the Seminar. $28 entry fee.
Deadline: January 5 | Details

Zig Zag Lit Mag Issue.10
Submissions are open for Issue.10 for those who live, labor, or loiter in Addison County, Vermont. Zig Zag accepts submissions in any genre and topic, including fiction, nonfiction, dramatic forms, and poetry. They also accept art. You can submit up to three pieces of writing and/or art.
Deadline: January 5 | Details

Crossroads Magazine
The independent, student-run magazine based out of Burlington, Vermont, accepts very short fiction and poetry, 300 words or fewer. Submissions should be in Word or typed directly into an email. No PDFs, please.
Deadline: rolling submissions | Details

Dartmouth Poet in Residence
The Frost Place’s Dartmouth Poet in Residence program is a six-to-eight-week residency in poet Robert Frost’s former farmhouse. The residency begins July 1 and ends August 15, and includes an award of $1,000 from The Frost Place and an award of $1,000 from Dartmouth College. The recipient of the Dartmouth Poet in Residence will have an opportunity to give a series of public readings across the region, including at Dartmouth College and The Frost Place.
Deadline: none given | Details

Green Mountains Review
GMR is accepting fiction and experimental and hybrid poems. The editors are open to a wide range of styles and subject matter. Please submit a cover letter and include up to 25 pages of prose or up to five poems. $3 submission fee.
Deadline: none given | Details

The Hopper
The environmental literary magazine from Green Writers Press, is accepting submissions of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. They are interested in work that offers new and different articulations of the human experience in nature, specifically nature writing that is psychologically honest about the environmental crisis and the impacts of mechanical modernity.
Deadline: none given | Details

Isele Magazine
Isele Magazine is seeking submissions of essays, fiction, poetry, art, and photography. You may submit up to 8,000 words of prose, six pages of poetry, or one long poem.
Deadline: rolling submissions | Details

Junction Magazine Editorial Board
If you're passionate about the vibrant community of the Upper Valley, and showcasing the myriad cultures that exist here, consider joining the Junction Magazine Editorial Board. Their areas of coverage are Arts and Culture, Food and Farm, People, and the Wild. Editors meet bi-weekly, and share pitching, writing, editing, and layout duties, as well as the (small) financial cost of the website and hosting.
Deadline: none given |

Mount Island digital magazine
To focus on their mission of supporting rural LGBTQ+ and POC voices, most of the submission categories are open only to folks who identify as LGBTQ+ and/or POC and who currently live in or hail from a rural area. They do welcome “allies” who do not identify as LGBTQ+/POC/rural to submit in certain categories, such as interviews, reviews, and blog articles. When such categories are open for “ally submissions,” they are labeled clearly as such.
Deadline: open year-round | Details

Nightingale Review
Nightingale accepts and celebrate all types of literary creative expression from queer authors, including poetry, plays, general fiction, nonfiction essays, and book/movie/music reviews. Both established and unpublished authors welcome.
Deadline: none given | Details

Six-Word Quarantine Stories
Do you have a six-word story about your quarantine to share? Tell yours on social media with the hashtag #quarantinesix, and tag @vtartscouncil so they can share your story, too.
Deadline: none given | Details

Three By Five
Share a small moment—anonymously—that has altered the path of your life. Record it on a 3" x 5" card and mail it to PO Box 308, Etna, NH, 03750. Or, take a photo of your card and email it to .
Deadline: none | Details

Listening in Place Sound Archive
The Vermont Folklife Center invites you to send in recorded interviews and sounds of daily life in an effort to open hundreds of small windows into the experiences of Vermonters during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Vermont Folklife Center will make these recordings available on their website and social media to foster connection and sharing, and will also archive the recordings for posterity.
Deadline: none | Details

Writing the Land
Writing the Land is a collaboration between local land trusts and poets to help raise awareness for the preservation of land, ecosystems, and biodiversity. Poets and land trusts are being enrolled on a rolling basis. They are especially seeking under-represented poetic and environmental voices, but welcome all poets at any stage of their career and would like everyone to contribute to this project. If you are an interested poet, please fill out the information in the contact form on their website or email Lis McLaughlin at . You will need to submit a 50- to 75-word third-person bio, three pieces of work, and list which locations or regions you are willing to travel to.
Deadline: rolling submissions | Details

Upcoming Workshops and Classes

Horace Greeley Writers’ Symposium
October 17, 10:00 am to 3:00 pm
Aspiring writers, published authors welcome. Writing workshops, networking, Q&A, and more. Location: United Baptist Church, East Poultney | Cost: $65 adults; $20 students | Details

Expressive Writing with Vivian Ladd and Joni B. Cole
November 5, 5:30 to 7:00 pm
This workshop fuses explorations of works of art with fun and meaningful expressive writing exercises. No writing experience required, just a willing pen and curious mind.
Location: online | Cost: free | Details

The Fluidity of Memory: Finding Strength in Your Story
November 14, 9:30 am to 12:00 pm
Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA Candidate Ruth Amara Okolo is offering a workshop that gives insights into the importance of creative nonfiction. Through an exploration of the elements of the genre, she presents an approach and technique to creating, writing memories that shows life in all its color, description, and realism.
Location: online | Cost: $25 to 65 | Details

Everyday Poetry: Accessing the Poetry Within
November 15, 9:30 am to 12:00 pm
Enjoy the art of poetry with Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA Candidate Sara Stancliffe as she unearths why poetry is a life force and examines poetry as an essence. Prepare to demystify poetry in this workshop by beginning with a low-key discussion on what we think poetry is, where it shows up in our everyday lives, and how we might access poetry to elevate our everyday existence. In this workshop, we’ll share music and collectively enjoy sounds of rhythm. This will be a “come as you are” workshop where no prior poetic experience or vocabulary or even passion is needed.
Location: online | Cost: $25 to 65 | Details

Inner & Outer Weather: Character in Fiction
December 12, 9:30 am to 12:00 pm
Join Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA Candidate Jonathan Calloway as he discusses how our stories’ characters, like ourselves, each carry a lifetime’s worth of experience, much of which the outer world is oblivious. Through generative writing exercises and close readings of excerpts from a wide range of fiction authors, you will investigate how perception can be used as a tool to shape evocative environments, sharpen focus, and redefine the boundary between the individual and the whole. You will have the opportunity to share and receive direct feedback from instructors and fellow participants, as well as acquire a set of tools to further your own unique explorations of the caverns of character development.
Location: online | Cost: $25 to 65 | Details

Rebecca Siegel

July 1, 2020

Calls for Submission, Deadlines, Events, Newsletter, Workshops, The Dipper

The Dipper - July 2020

Rebecca Siegel

July 1, 2020

Calls for Submission, Deadlines, Events, Newsletter, Workshops, The Dipper

July News

We’re so happy to announce that our rescheduled Poetry & Prose Community Open Mic with Still North Books & Bar is happening on Sunday, July 12 at 4:00 pm. We’ll begin the event with readings by Megan Buchanan, Dede Cummings, Emily Arnason Casey, and Taylor Mardis Katz and then open up the screen to you. Writers of all stripes—poetry or prose—are welcome to sign up to read one original, brief selection (no longer than three minutes). Find all of the details and rsvp today!

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We are truly bowled over by the enthusiasm you showed for Constellation: Ekphrasis, our first community writing project. We received so many thoughtful submissions inspired by works of art of all kinds. Submissions are closed now, but we invite you to continue exploring this Constellation and we look forward to creating a new Constellation in the future. We give heartfelt thanks to everyone who has trusted us with their writing!

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While the pandemic has forced many cancellations and postponements, we’re delighted to announce that our next Little Dipper publication—Mary Kane’s gorgeous collection of short fiction titled On Tuesday, Elizabeth—is on track for release on July 18 (which would have been the date of this year’s Poetry & Pie event).

Although we’re unable to get into the print studio right now to print covers for our hand-stitched books, we’ve worked with Mary to come up with a virtual launch, where the free digital download versions of the book will be available. Our subscribers will get a full announcement via email on July 18. If you’re not already subscribed to our newsletter, you might want to take care of that today!

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Scudder Parker’s new book of poetry, Safe as Lightning, was recently released by Rootstock Publishing and has been praised by Sydney Lea and Chard deNiord. We invited Scudder to create a Summer Reading List for our readers. Be sure to head over to our blog to see which books Scudder recommends.

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Have you downloaded your Summer Reading & Writing Bingo card yet? If not, you still have plenty of time to start reading and winning prizes. If you are in need of some recommendations for your summer reading, we’ve got you covered. We’ve been asking members of the local literary community to make suggestions, and we’ll be posting these to our blog all summer long. So far, we have recommendations from Dustin Schell of the Still Queer reading series, with many more to follow in the days to come.

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We’ve been quiet lately about the Slow Club Book Club because we’ve been busy with, oh, you know, a lot of other things, but we’re so happy to let you know that we’ve announced the second pick of the year to our SCBC subscribers: Reproduction, the debut novel by Ian Williams.

Reproduction won the 2019 Scotiabank Giller Prize and was CBC’s Best Novel of the Year in 2019. Ian Williams is a poet and novelist, whose poetry has been shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize. We hope you’ll join us in slowly reading this novel this summer. If you’re not already a SCBC member, find out more and sign up today!

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Those who attended our Summer Reading & Writing Kick Off in May were treated to Makenna Goodman’s preview of her gorgeous, funny, and thought-provoking debut novel, The Shame. We’re thrilled to announce that we’re partnering with Still North Books & Bar for a virtual launch celebration of The Shame on Thursday, August 11. Makenna will be in conversation with author Lauren Groff, which is super exciting! We’ll send our subscribers a brief email on August 1 with the full details.

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Finally, as in past years, we’re taking August off from publishing The Dipper so that we can rest up and generate fresh ideas for the fall. Keep an eye on our blog, though, as we’ll be featuring more Bingo picks and August new releases that we’re eager to read. We hope you all have a good, peaceful month, and we can’t wait to talk to you again on September 1.

—Shari and Rebecca

July’s Shooting Stars

A cool literary find from each of us to help light up your month!

During the pandemic, Cave Canem has been offering Literary Balms on their Instagram feed. Literary Balms are prompts written by many of the Cave Canem fellows—up to 18 prompts so far. If you are a writer, I think you’ll find these prompts inspiring. Visit the Cave Canem Instagram page and give these writing exercises a try.
—Shari
On February 18, 1965, the Cambridge Union hosted James Baldwin and William F. Buckley, Jr. to debate the question, “Is the American Dream at the expense of the American Negro?” Baldwin is riveting. The ovation he receives is overwhelming. If you’ve been paying any attention at all, nothing he says will be new to you, but it bears repeating until everyone really listens.—Rebecca

July Highlights

Northshire Bookstore in Manchester Center, Vermont, has been holding Northshire Live events for the past few months and these virtual events continue this month. You can catch novelist Mamta Chaudry in conversation with writer, Jim Shepard, on July 7; Alice Miller will be in conversation with Christopher Castellani on July 9; and Lisa Alther will be in conversation with Madeleine Kunin on July 14. And for all you mystery fans, tune in on July 23 to hear Sarah Stewart Taylor and Paul Doiron in conversation. All events begin at 5:00 pm.

On Sunday, July 12, join Literary North and Still North Books & Bar for a Poetry & Prose Community Open Mic, from 4:00 to 5:30 pm on Zoom. The event features headliners Megan Buchanan, Dede Cummings, Emily Arnason Casey, and Taylor Mardis Katz. Sign up now to read or listen. We’d love to hear your original work!

Joni B. Cole leads an Expressive Writing workshop with Vivian Ladd of the Hood Museum of Art in Hanover, New Hampshire, via Zoom on Thursday, July 23 at 5:30 pm. Registration is required.

Beginning on Thursday, July 23, Green Mountain Academy for Lifelong Learning hosts the “Armchair Journeys Real and Imagined” reading and writing workshop. Led by Elayne Clift. The workshop run for five consecutive Thursdays afternoons.

For more information about these events and to find out about other online events, please visit our calendar.

In support of Vermont’s Black organizations

This month we’re highlighting some organizations in Vermont that are doing vital work. If you are able to donate to these organizations, please do so. If not, please visit their websites and familiarize yourself with the wonderful work they’re doing, volunteer to help them, or spread the word about what they offer our community. These organizations inspire us. We are so lucky to have them in Vermont!

Clemmons Family Farm is a 148-acre African-American working farm in Charlotte, Vermont, and is one of 22 official landmarks on the State of Vermont’s African-American Heritage Trail. Clemmons Family Farm hosts a range of arts and culture programs with the aims of building quality relationships and fostering an appreciation of the heritage and cultures of all people. Past events have included storytelling sessions, readings, art exhibits, and programs that focus on African-American and African culinary heritage.
JAG Productions is a Black theater company in White River Junction, Vermont, led by Jarvis Green. JAG Productions needs no introduction from us as we’ve sung their praises from the very beginning. We love the work that Jarvis Green and JAG Productions bring to our area. We need Black voices, Black art, and Black perspectives!
Mount Island is a Black-run small press and literary magazine dedicated to rural LGBTQ+ and POC voices. Based in Brattleboro, Vermont, Mount Island publishes a quarterly digital magazine, an annual print anthology, and special letterpress projects. Mount Island is also the home of the Lucy Terry Prince Prize, a new award that recognizes exceptional work by rural poets of color. The prize honors the life of Lucy Terry Prince, a free, landowning Black woman who is the first known African-American poet in English literature. We are so lucky to have Mount Island in Vermont. Please check them out and support them if you can.
SUSU Healing Collective is a Brattleboro-based group with the mission of providing an affirming place to practice community reciprocity. SUSU offers classes, workshops, community gatherings, and other services to support Black, Indigenous, and People of Color by creating safer spaces for people to release trauma patterns of white supremacy, oppression, colonization, and westernized disconnection. They currently have a Go Fund Me campaign running with a goal of $400,000 to buy land for Black and brown farmers in Vermont.

More help for authors affected by COVID-19

Independent Publishers of New England (IPNE) has recently announced a new grant to support independent publishers and authors who have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Grant applicants are eligible for up to $500 in cash from IPNE or in editorial, marketing, or other services of equivalent value. Applicants must have published at least one book and live in New England. For full details about grant eligibility and how to apply, please visit the IPNE Pandemic Grant page.

Worth a Listen

The YourShelf podcast episode with New Hampshire author Rebecca Dinerstein Knight
The Conversations podcast episode with author Sheila Heti on Tove Jansson’s letters

We're Looking Forward to These July Releases

Desert Notebooks, by Ben Ehrenreich (Counterpoint, July 7)
After the Body, by Cleopatra Mathis (Sarabande, July 7)
The Sirens of Mars, by Sarah Stewart Johnson (Crown, July 7)
Riding with the Ghost, by Justin Taylor (Random House, July 7)
The Son of Good Fortune, by Lysley Tenorio (Ecco, July 7)
Pew, by Catherine Lacey (FSG, July 21)
Hamnet, by Maggie O’Farrell (Knopf, July 21)
It is Wood, It is Stone, by Gabriella Burnham (One World, July 28)
Fathoms, by Rebecca Giggs (Simon & Schuster, July 28)
Intimations, by Zadie Smith (Penguin Press, July 28)
Memorial Drive, by Natasha Trethewey (Ecco, July 28)
I Hold a Wolf by the Ears, by Laura van den Berg (FSG, July 28)

Calls For Submission and Upcoming Deadlines

Zig Zag Lit Mag
Zig Zag Lit Mag has extended its submission window for issue 9 through July 5. They accept fiction, nonfiction, dramatic forms, poetry, and art. Submissions are open to those who live, labor, or loiter in Addison County, Vermont.
Deadline: July 5 | Details

2020 Hopper Poetry Prize
This contest is open to poets with an identified interest in the natural world and whose work explores issues tied to our ever-changing environment. The winning poetry manuscript will be selected by Lisa Kwong and will be published by Green Writers Press as a collection in 2021. The winning poet will also receive $500 in prize money.
Deadline: July 31 | Details

Pandemic in 25
The Howe Library in Hanover, New Hampshire, wants to hear your pandemic stories. Write about your pandemic experience in 25 words or fewer and you could win a 32GB iPad. Entries will be judged by Literary North and Three by Five. Selected stories will be shared on social media and/or during a virtual event.
Deadline: July 31 | Details

The MudZoom: Change
The AVA Gallery is calling for storytellers to submit their story ideas for their next online MudZoom event (September 10) on the theme of “Change.” To submit, send a summary of your true, personal story in fewer than 300 words and a brief biography of fewer than 100 words. Selected storytellers will be expected to attend a rehearsal held on the afternoon of Sunday, August 30, via Zoom.
Deadline: August 21 | Details

Bookstock 2021 Coordinator
Woodstock's Bookstock Committee is planning its 2021 annual literary festival and is seeking an overall coordinator to oversee and coordinate a range of activities from logistics and publicity to fundraising. In addition to hosting some 40 authors and poets as speakers, this free weekend event includes a substantial book sale as well as vendors and exhibit tables under tents on the Woodstock Village Green.
Deadline: until position is filled |

Center for Cartoon Studies, MFA Degree and Certificate Programs
CCS is accepting applications for the MFA, and one- and two-year certificate programs. Learn all you need to know about making comics and self-publishing in a prolific and dynamic environment and community. $50 application fee.
Deadline: rolling admissions until programs are filled | Details

Tupelo Press Manuscript Conferences
These advanced Tupelo conferences (August 14 to 17, and September 11 to 14) are for poets who have published widely and have in hand a full-length or chapbook-length manuscript. Using Zoom, you will meet as a group for Q&A sessions, poetry readings, and “happy hours” to socialize, in addition to daily break-out sessions for manuscript reviews. Over the four days of the conference, Tupelo faculty will make individually tailored suggestions about where to send your manuscript, as well as the placement of individual poems in magazines and journals. Tuition is $950.
Deadline: rolling until programs are filled | Details

Upcoming Workshops and Classes

Fiction Writing Workshop with Daly Walker
July 6 to August 3, 9:00 to 11:30 am
This workshop will help participants fictionalize an autobiographical piece about a meaningful event in their lives. During the course of the workshop, the elements of fiction, character, dialogue, point of view, voice, and plot will be discussed. Stories by well-known writers that illustrate the various elements of fiction will be required reading. The main focus of each session will be to workshop the stories submitted by the students. Other literary topics that will be woven into the course include getting published, finding an agent, where to find the best literary fiction, creative writing workshops, MFA programs, and self-publishing.
Location: online | Cost: $60 (OSHER membership required) | Details

Online Workshop Pods with Joni B. Cole
July 8 to 29, 6:30 to 8:00 pm; July 13 to August 3, 10:00 to 11:30 am or 6:30 to 8:00 pm
This small-group writing workshop is open to writers of creative nonfiction and fiction of all levels. It offers participants motivation, personalized instruction on craft, and a small supportive community. Come to the first meeting (and every meeting) with three to four pages of something brand new or revised to read aloud for verbal feedback. Our goal is to meet every draft where it is at, and help you write forward productively and with confidence. You’ll also receive weekly prompts you can use to inspire new ideas, scenes, or just keep the flow flowing! Preregistration is required.
Location: online | Cost: $135 | Details

Armchair Journeys Real and Imagined Reading and Writing Workshop with Elayne Clift
July 23, 30, August 6, 13, and 20, 1:00 to 3:30 pm
This workshop offers suggestions and techniques for writing fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction that derives from travel and journeys, real and imagined. Prompts will bring out the writer in you and will be shared voluntarily. We will also read and discuss selected readings that combine travel with memoir. Come prepared to wish, wonder, remember, and write!
Location: online | Cost: $90 | Details

Pioneer Valley Writers’ Workshop
Various dates and times
Pioneer Valley Writers’ Workshop is offering a number of online workshops, including $5 online writing sessions, through the summer. The workshops are on a range of topics, including advanced fiction, lyric poetry, memoir, flash fiction, and more.
Location: online | Cost: $5+ | Details

WriterSpace “Kindest Space” with Sparrow Alden
Mondays and Wednesdays at 6:00 pm, Fridays at 9:00 am
Sparrow Alden of WriterSpace at River Valley is hosting an ongoing series of virtual drop-in writing sessions. “Kindest Space” is full of supportive words and gentle writing prompts. Drop in for a few minutes or a couple of hours. For more information, email .
Location: online | Cost: free |

Rebecca Siegel

November 1, 2019

Calls for Submission, Deadlines, Events, Newsletter, Workshops, The Dipper

The Dipper - November 2019

Rebecca Siegel

November 1, 2019

Calls for Submission, Deadlines, Events, Newsletter, Workshops, The Dipper

November News

No sooner had we whispered aloud the existence of Ben Cosgrove’s upcoming Little Dipper chapbook, A Space Filled with Moving, than the edition’s initial run of 25 immediately sold out via pre-orders! We’re all bowled over and so grateful for your interest in these little books.

If you missed out on the first 25, we’ve decided to put our aprons back on, re-set the type, and make a second run of 25. The second batch will be available to those who attend Ben’s launch party on Friday, December 6, from 7:00 to 9:00 pm. Ben will read, he’ll play a little music, and we’ll eat some salty snacks in honor of Ben’s album Salt, which features in the book. Put that party date on your calendar! We’ll share more information about the launch party very soon.

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If you’re reading Lucy Ellmann’s Ducks, Newburyport along with us, you’re now about 200 pages in and we’re really wondering what you think of the book. Are you ready for another 800 pages, or have you had enough of “the fact that” to last a lifetime? We’re sharing our thoughts in the comments of our blog post and also on our Instagram feed. Let’s hear from you: do you love it? Are you not sure? Do you find it meditative or confounding? What do you think of the narrator’s obsessions? Where do you think this book is leading? We’re not entirely sure ourselves, so we’d really love to hear from you!

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As you know, we’re huge fans of the playwright Nathan Yungerberg, whose play Esai’s Table just completed its world premiere in October with Jarvis Green’s JAG Productions in White River Junction, Vermont. From here, the play will move to the Cherry Lane Theatre in New York City. We were among the lucky people who got to see the evolution of the play from its early incarnation as part of JAGFest 2.0’s staged reading series to the full production and we recently had a chance to interview Nathan about that process. If you missed the play in Vermont, we hope you can get to New York City next March to see it!

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The 5th Annual Vermont Book Award winner will be announced at a Gala held at the Vermont College of Fine Arts in Montpelier, Vermont, on Saturday, November 9 at 6:30 pm. The finalists—Sue Burton, Michael Collier, Anna Maria Hong, Daphne Kalmar, Jason Lutes, Kekla Magoon, Rebecca Makkai, Leath Tonino, and Tony Whedon—will read, you’ll get to snack on refreshments and hear live jazz, and you’ll be the first to find out this year’s winner. This will be our second time in attendance, and we hope to see you there! Tickets are $45 and available now.

November Highlights

On Saturday, November 2, Portsmouth New Hampshire’s 2018-2020 Poet Laureate, Tammi Traux, will be reading from her verse novel, For to See the Elephant, at Gibson’s Bookstore in Concord, New Hampshire, at 2:00 pm.

Maaza Mengiste, author of the novel The Shadow King, is reading as part of the Cleopatra Mathis Poetry & Prose Reading Series at Dartmouth College’s Sanborn Library in Hanover, New Hampshire, on Tuesday, November 5, from 4:30 to 6:00 pm.

Miciah Bay Gault will read on Wednesday, November 6, at 4:00 pm as part of the Norwich University Writers Series in Northfield, Vermont.

Dartmouth College’s Baker-Berry Library East Reading Room, in Hanover, New Hampshire, Rena J. Mosteirin and James E. Dobson are presenting their new book of poetry and critical theory, Moonbit, on Thursday, November 7, at 4:30 pm.

*Megan Mayhew Bergman. Photo by Bo Bergman*

Author and journalist Megan Mayhew Bergman will talking about Climate Change in the South at Bennington College in Bennington, Vermont, on Monday, November 11 at 7:00 pm as a part of the CAPA (Center for the Advancement of Public Action) symposium.

On Tuesday, November 12 at 4:30 pm, Ivy Schweitzer and Gordon Henry celebrate the publication of Afterlives of Indigenous Archives: Essays in honor of the Occom Circle with short presentations, books for sale, and light refreshments in the Wren room in Sanborn House at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.

Poet Jason Tandon reads as part of the Ferguson Reading Series at Water Street Bookstore on Wednesday, November 13, at 6:30 pm in Exeter, New Hampshire. Jason’s reading will be followed by an open mic.

Thursday, November 14 is loaded with several events across the two states, including Megan Mayhew Bergman and Spring Ulmer reading at Middlebury College’s Axinn Center in Middlebury, Vermont, on Thursday, November 14 from 4:30 to 5:30 pm.

Also on Thursday, November 14, the Cleopatra Mathis Poetry & Prose Reading Series presents poet Tyehimba Jess reading at Dartmouth College’s Sanborn Library in Hanover, New Hampshire, at 4:30 pm.

Thursday, November 14 also brings Richard J. King, who celebrates the launch of his book Ahab’s Rolling Sea, at Gibson’s Bookstore in Concord, New Hampshire, at 6:00 pm.

And finally, on Thursday November 14, at 7:00 pm, see Pulitzer Prize winning writer Samantha Power present her new memoir, The Education of an Idealist, at The Music Hall Loft in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Visit our calendar for detailed information about these events and more!

Worth a Drive

Terry Tempest Williams will be at The Brattle Theatre, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on November 14, at 6:00 pm, to read from her new book of essays, Erosion.

Worth a Listen

Leanne Shapton’s interview on Writers and Company was wonderful and worth your time.
Lisa Brennan-Jobs over at So Many Damn Books. Delightful!
A behind-the-scenes look at one of our favorite publishing houses, Fitzcarraldo Editions, with founder Jacques Testard at What Editors Want.
The fabulous Major Jackson at Dropping In.

We're Looking Forward to These November Releases

The Crying Book, by Heather Christle (Catapult, November 5)
Vernon Subutex 1, by Virginie Despentes (FSG, November 5)
Humiliation, by Paulina Flores (Catapult, November 5)
Pain, by Zeruya Shalev (Other Press, November 5)
Love Unknown: The Life and Worlds of Elizabeth Bishop, by Thomas Travisano (Viking, November 5)
Ahab’s Rolling Sea, by Richard J. King (University of Chicago Press, November 11)

Calls For Submission and Upcoming Deadlines

The Hopper
The literary magazine from Green Writers Press is currently accepting submissions of nonfiction, short fiction, poetry, visual art, and book reviews.
Deadline: none given | Details

Marble House Project Residencies
Applications are open for the 2020 residency season. Applications are accepted in fiction, playwriting/screenwriting, poetry, non-fiction, and a variety of other creative fields. Residencies run from April through October. Each session accommodates eight artists and is specifically curated to bring together a diverse group of creative workers. $35 application fee.
Deadline: December 9 | Details

Bloodroot Literary Magazine
Submissions are open for Bloodroot, Volume 12. Send three to five pages of poetry or 10 to 12 pages of fiction or nonfiction in Microsoft Word format. For other work, like an experimental form or digital project, please send a one-page proposal and the editors will be in touch if they want to see more. They are looking for new, unpublished work.
Deadline: December 31 | Details

Zig Zag Lit Mag
Accepting submissions for Issue 8. Send up to three pieces of writing. Must be a resident of Addison County.
Deadline: December 31 | Details

Neukom Institute Literary Arts Awards
Submissions are open for the Neukom Institute Literary Arts Awards for Speculative Fiction, Debut Speculative Fiction, and Playwriting. For fiction, any work published or under contract to be published no earlier than January 1, 2019 and no later than December 31, 2019 is eligible. For plays, they invite submissions of full-length plays addressing the question “What does it mean to be a human in a computerized world?” The fiction awards come with an honorarium of $5,000 to be received at an event at Dartmouth College. The playwriting award comes with a $5,000 honorarium as well as a support for a two-stage development process with table readings at local arts festivals.
Deadline: December 31 | Details

2020 Dartmouth Poet in Residence at The Frost Place
The Frost Place in Franconia, New Hampshire, invites applications for a six-to-eight-week residency in poet Robert Frost’s former farmhouse. The residency period begins July 1 and ends mid-August, and includes an award of $1,000 from The Frost Place and an award of $1,000 from Dartmouth College. $28 application fee.
Deadline: January 5, 2020 | Details

2020 Frost Place Chapbook Competition
The Frost Place invites submissions to the eighth Annual Frost Place Chapbook Competition, sponsored by Bull City Press. The winner’s chapbook will be published by Bull City Press in Summer 2020. The winner will receive 10 complimentary copies (from a print run of 300), and a $250 prize, a full scholarship to attend the Poetry Seminar at The Frost Place, August 2020, and will give a featured reading from the chapbook at the Seminar. $28 application fee.
Deadline: January 5, 2020 | Details

MacDowell Colony Summer 2020 Residency
Applications for the summer residencies (June 1 to September 30, 2020) are now open. The MacDowell Colony provides time, space, and an inspiring environment to artists of exceptional talent. A MacDowell Fellowship, or residency, consists of exclusive use of a studio, accommodations, and three prepared meals a day for up to eight weeks. There are no residency fees.
Deadline: January 15, 2020 | Details

Center for Cartoon Studies, MFA Degree and Certificate Programs
Now accepting applications for the MFA, one- and two-year certificate programs, and low-residency second-year option. Learn all you need to know about making comics and self-publishing in a prolific and dynamic environment and community. $50 application fee.
Deadline: rolling admissions until programs are filled | Details

Junction Magazine
Junction Magazine founder James Napoli has moved to Minneapolis. With his blessing, a local collective has decided to re-launch the magazine, and they invite you to contribute. Pitches and submissions should fit into one or several categories/subject areas: arts and culture, food and farm, people, wild, photo essays, and the calendar.
Deadline: rolling submissions | Details

Crossroads Magazine
Crossroads is an independent, student run magazine based out of Burlington, Vermont. They accept very short fiction and poetry, 300 words or fewer. Submissions should be in Word or typed directly into an email. No PDFs, please.
Deadline: rolling submissions | Details

Upcoming Workshops and Classes

Magic in the Kettle: Writing Magical Realism in Fiction with Bianca Viñas
November 2, 9:00 am to 12:00 pm
Transport yourself from the ordinary into the realm of the fantastic. In this workshop, writers develop an eye for the bewitching, secretly hidden world of magic. We start with the ordinary and make the leap into the extraordinary. Prepare to be immersed with live audioscapes, videos, and, of course, writing exercises. Equal measures mediation and imagination, this workshop will give you the eye for magic in fiction.
Location: Vermont College of Fine Arts, Montpelier, Vermont | Cost: sliding scale | Details

Vermont Folklife Center Workshops
November 2 through December 7
Vermont Folklife Center workshops offer training opportunities for community members, undergraduate and graduate students, and others interested in developing skills in ethnography, oral history, and cultural documentation. This fall’s offerings include “Intro to Audio Storytelling: Interviewing & Recording” in Brattleboro, Vermont; “Oral History and Audio Stories” in St. Johnsbury, Vermont; “Intro to Audio Storytelling: Editing Basics” in Brattleboro, Vermont; “Oral History” in Burlington, Vermont; and “Storytelling for Community-Based Projects” in Burlington, Vermont.
Location: various | Cost: $95 ($55 students) | Details

Gentleheartedness: A writing and Yoga Retreat with Deb Heimann and Joni Cole
November 3, 12:30 pm to 8:30 pm
As we ready ourselves for the various end-of-year holidays and cold starkness of the coming winter, many of us feel anxious, overwhelmed, and even grumpy. In this eight-hour retreat we welcome all who wish to cultivate gentleheartedness as a means of dissipating fear and anger and channeling the potency of kindness toward peace within ourselves and the world. We will call on ceremony to support our hearts; write from prompts that explore our relationship to peacefulness, gratitude, and tenderness; breathe and move in ways that nurture us; and share ourselves, our writing, and a meal.
Location: Good Commons Retreat Center, Plymouth, Vermont | Cost: $110 | Details

Travel Blogging and Web Design with Virginia Booth
Sundays, November 3, 10, and 17, 2:00 to 3:30 pm
Join Virginia Booth as she delves into a three-week series that explores the ins and outs of the various marketing strategies that we are exposed to daily, step-by-step instructions for building your own website, and the depths of travel blogging.
Location: Vermont College of Fine Arts, Montpelier, Vermont | Cost: sliding scale | Details

Vermont Humanities Council Fall Conference
November 15 to 16
Registration is open for the 2019 Fall Conference, “Searching for Home: Journeys, Quests and Migrations.” The conference includes talks and breakout sessions on the topic of “the search for home.” This year’s plenary speakers include essayist and novelist Kiese Laymon, clarinetist Kina Azmeh, Dr. Hasia Diner from New York University, and professor Carol Dougherty from Wellesley College.
Location: University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont | Cost: $149; $99 for students | Details

Writing Fiction with Ukamaka Olisakwe
November 16, 9:00 am to 12:00 pm
In this workshop, writers will pay attention to how they consciously or unconsciously shape their character’s interiority, or what is also referred to as a character’s mental process, and the reader’s access or lack of access to them. We will consider some short stories/novel excerpts and how their authors pay attention to the characters’ mental processes, as well as doing some writing of your own. You’ll leave the workshop with more insight into how to create complex characters, as well as new tools to bring into your own writing. Bring something to write with.
Location: Vermont College of Fine Arts, Montpelier, Vermont | Cost: sliding scale | Details

NaNoWrMo Rally: An Expressive Writing Workshop with Joni B. Cole
November 18, 6:30 to 8:00 pm
The pressure’s on if you’re participating in National Novel Writing Month, the creative writing project that challenges participants to write a 50,000 word manuscript in November. Let us take some of that pressure off with this fun expressive writing workshop that invites you to write from a prompt to develop a character….add a plot twist…or discover a scene that’s just been waiting to burst onto the page. Bring a notebook or laptop, and leave all self doubts at the door.
Location: Norwich Public Library, Norwich, Vermont | Cost: free | Details

Poetry of Protest with Rebecca Jamieson
December 7, 9:00 am to 12:00 pm
What can poetry offer in times of political crisis? How have writers used their poetry as a form of resistance, and how might we follow their lead? In this class, we’ll explore these questions through discussion, writing prompts, and reading the diverse and powerful ways that other poets have approached these subjects in their work. Bring something to write with.
Location: Vermont College of Fine Arts, Montpelier, Vermont | Cost: sliding scale | Details

Quiecence: A Yoga and Writing Workshop with Deb Heimann and Joni Cole
December 7, 9:00 am to noon
In this intimately-sized three-hour “retreat,” we welcome all who wish to revitalize their spirit through a combination of yoga and expressive writing. As part of the yoga practice, we will refresh through breathing exercises, poses to open channels of vitality, and heart-centered intention. We also will write from a prompt as a means of exploring our thoughts and feelings on the page, and sharing our journey forward. Absolutely no yoga or writing experience is required to attend this retreat.
Location: Central Street Yoga, Taftsville, Vermont | Cost: $55 | Details

Rebecca Siegel

January 1, 2018

Calls for Submission, Deadlines, Events, Newsletter, Workshops, The Dipper

The Dipper - January 2018

Rebecca Siegel

January 1, 2018

Calls for Submission, Deadlines, Events, Newsletter, Workshops, The Dipper

"The Dipper" is our monthly newsletter, where we highlight readings, events, calls for submission, and other literary-related news for the coming month. If you have news or events to share, let us know!

January News

Happy New Year!

2018 has barely begun and it's already shaping up to be a very exciting year for Literary North and our friends. We have a lot of plans and we can't wait to share them all with you. But first we'll let you in on some great events happening in just the first few weeks of the new year.

We hope this fresh year brings you many good things, including good books, good friends, and good health.

—Shari & Rebecca

Start Your Year at the Right Pace with the Slow Club Book Club

As many of you know, we're announcing the Slow Club Book Club* for 2018! Over the course of the coming year, we'll read four books we've chosen to appeal to the quiet and unhurried in us. We'll start reading our first book this month. If this sounds appealing to you, subscribe to our TinyLetter newsletter to find out more and learn the title of our first book. We really hope you'll join us.

*Shout out to Robin MacArthur for our club name!

Be the first to hear a Reading from Heart Spring Mountain

Speaking of Robin, our first event of 2018 is the celebration of Robin MacArthur's new novel Heart Spring Mountain, which is being released on January 9. Join us at the Norwich Bookstore on Wednesday, January 10 at 7:00 pm for her first official reading. We'll be there to celebrate and provide the refreshments. Reservations are strongly recommended, as seating is limited. Please contact the Norwich Bookstore to reserve your seat.

Support Emerging African-American Playwrights at JAGFest 2.0

And finally, mark your calendars for JAGFest 2.0, February 9 to 11 at Brigg's Opera House in White River Junction, Vermont! JAGFest is a performing arts festival put on by Jarvis Green's production company, JAG Productions. The festival features new works that celebrate the talents of African-American playwrights and performing artists.

Over the course of three days, JAG will present four staged readings of new works that are written, directed, and performed by Black theatre artists. The weekend-long festival of play readings celebrates and explores diverse, new voices in American theater. Each performance features a post-show conversation with the playwrights, actors, directors and Dartmouth scholars.

Tickets are on sale now. Single tickets are $15 per performance, or buy a weekend pass that includes access to all presentations for $50!

We're huge fans of Jarvis Green and JAG Productions, and are honored to be a sponsor of this incredible festival. We'll be sharing more information with you about the playwrights and their plays in January, so stay tuned!

January Highlights

Lauren Markham reads from her non-fiction book, The Faraway Brothers, at VCFA in Montpelier, Vermont, on Wednesday, January 3, at 7:00 pm.

Jenny Boully and Jill McCorkle read at Bennington College's Tishman Lecture Hall, in Bennington, Vermont, on Thursday, January 4, at 7:00 pm, as a part of Bennington's Writers Reading series. Other authors in the series include Claire Vaye Watkins, Major Jackson, Stuart Nadler, Clifford Thompson, Alexander Chee, and Allan Gurganus. See our calendar for more details.

Francisco Cantú will be at the New Hampshire Institute of Art in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Sunday, January 7, at 7:00 pm, to read from his upcoming book, The Line Becomes a River.

Jelani Cobb will give a talk on free speech on college campuses at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, on Wednesday, January 10, at 4:30 pm.

Dan Chaon will be reading at the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, Vermont, on Wednesday, January 24, at 8:00 pm.

Jeffrey Lent will lead a tribute to Howard Frank Mosher at the Norwich Bookstore on Wednesday, January 31, at 7:00 pm. Come out and celebrate Mosher's final book, Points North.

Worth a Drive

Fiona Mozley, whose novel, Elmet, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, will be at the Harvard Bookstore, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Tuesday, January 16 with Hallgrimur Helgason. The reading begins at 7:00 pm.

We're Looking Forward to These January Releases

Green, by Sam Graham-Felsen (January 2, Random House)
Heart Spring Mountain, by Robin MacArthur (January 9, Ecco)
Winter, by Ali Smith (January 9, Pantheon)
Fire Sermon, by Jamie Quatro (January 9, Grove)
The Largesse of the Sea Maiden, by Denis Johnson (January 16, Random House)
This Will Be My Undoing, by Morgan Jerkins (January 30, Harper Perennial)

Calls For Submission and Upcoming Deadlines

In neighboring Amherst, Massachusetts, applications open on January 1 for the Juniper Summer Writing Institute (July 17 to 24) and the Juniper Institute for Young Writers (July 22 to 29) at the University of Massachusetts. Faculty for the Juniper Summer Writing Institute includes Eileen Myles, Dorothea Lasky, Rickey Laurentiis, Dara Wier, Noy Holland, Mitchell S. Jackson, and Joy Williams. A non-refundable application fee for the Summer Writing Institute is required. There is no application fee for the Young Writers Institute. For more information about both institutes and to apply, please visit the Juniper Summer Writing Institute website.

Applications are currently open until March 31 for two scholarships at The Frost Place:

The Gregory Pardlo Scholarship for Emerging African American Poets is open to African American Poets writing in English who have published up to one book of poetry. The winner will receive a full scholarship to attend the Poetry Seminar, including room and board, and will give a featured reading at the Seminar. For more information, please visit the Gregory Pardlo Scholarship page.
The Latin@ Scholarship is open to applicants that self-identify as Latin@, have a strong commitment to the Latin@ community, and are at least 21 years of age. The winner will receive tuition, room and board, and travel for The Frost Place Conference on Poetry. For more information and to apply, please visit the Latin@ Scholarship page.

The Frost Place is accepting submissions for its 2018 Chapbook Competition until January 5. The competition is open to any poet writing in English. Entries must be accompanied by a $28 entry fee. For details about submitting your manuscript and more information about the competition, please visit their Competition page.

Also until January 5, The Frost Place is accepting applications for the Dartmouth Poet in Residence program, a six-to-eight-week residency in Robert Frost's former farmhouse. The residency is July 1 to August 15, and includes an award of $1,000 from The Frost Place and $1,000 from Dartmouth College. For more information and to apply online, please visit their Residency page.

Applications for the 2018 MacDowell Colony Summer Residency (June 1 to September 30, 2018) are being accepted through January 15. A residency consists of exclusive use of a studio, accommodations, and three prepared meals a day for up to eight weeks. For more information, please visit the Application Guidelines page.

Registration is open for the League of Vermont Writers' Winter Program and Annual Business Meeting (June 27). The theme of the meeting is "New Directions, New Journeys: Writing Resources for Vermont Writers" and will be held at Trader Duke's Hotel in South Burlington, Vermont. $45 for members; $55 for non-members. Registration is open until January 24. For more information and to register, please visit the Meeting page.

Hunger Mountain, the literary journal from VCFA, holds four annual contests: The Howard Frank Mosher Short Fiction Prize, The Hunger Mountain Creative Nonfiction Prize, The Ruth Stone Poetry Prize, and The Katherine Patterson Prize for Young Adult and Children's Writing. All contests are open to submissions through March 1. For more information, please visit their Contests page.

Vermont Literary Review is taking submissions of creative work about New England until March 31. For more information, please visit Castleton University's website.

Registration is now open for the VCFA Writing Novels for Young People Retreat (March 23 to 25, 2018). Faculty includes Donna Gephart, Nova Ren Suma, Amanda Maciel, Maggie Lehrman, and Sarah Aronson. A $200 deposit is required (refundable if the retreat is able to fill your spot). For more information please visit the Writing Novels for Young People Retreat page.

Registration is also open for the VCFA Novel Retreat (May 15 to 21, 2018). Faculty includes Connie May Fowler, Jeff Kleinman, Richard McCann, and Crystal Wilkinson. A $200 non-refundable deposit is required. For more information, please visit the Novel Retreat page.

The New England Review is open for poetry and digital submissions through May 31. For more information, please visit the NER Submissions page.

The Bennington Review is open for submissions through May 15, 2018 with no reading fee. For more information, please visit the Bennington Review Submissions page.

January Workshops and Classes

Joni Cole leads "Sunday Surges," a four-session, weekly workshop for fiction and creative non-fiction writers. This workshop, which meets Sundays, January 7 to 28, from 4:00 to 6:00 pm, is a great way to generate material, revise with direction, and make solid progress on your prose project. Each meeting provides you with a deadline to assure you are producing consistently. You will be asked to read aloud excerpts from a work-in-progress (three or so double-spaced pages, given time constraints) at each of our meetings. The discussion of these “surges” allows for quality feedback, and fosters teachable moments that benefit every participant in the group. $145 (minimum 4 participants; maximum 6). Preregistration is required. For more information and to register, email .

Join science fiction author and 2014 NH Flash Fiction winner Ed Ting for an hour-long “Introduction to Flash Fiction” webinar on Tuesday, January 9. This webinar will take a peek at what Flash Fiction is, how you can get started writing it, and how to craft elements to make your story work. You will walk away with the tools you need to tell your three-minute story. Then, when you have your story written, join your writing peers at one of the 2018 Three-Minute Flash Fiction competitions held statewide. $10 for NHWP members, $25 for nonmembers. The event is nonrefundable. For more information and to register, please visit the New Hampshire Writer's Project Workshops page.

Poet James Crews will lead a two-week, online workshop titled "Mindfulness and Writing" from Sunday, January 14 to Sunday, January 28. Examine connections between the practice of meditation/mindfulness and the act of writing fearlessly from the heart. Using quotes and other written works as prompts, we will complete several exercises each week that invite us to pay closer attention to ourselves, our lives, and the world around us as we do our best to define the term, "mindfulness," and what it means for each of us. Beginners and all skill levels are welcome. You do not need any previous experience with mindfulness, meditation or online courses; all you need is a reliable internet connection and an open mind. The cost is $95. For more information and to register, please visit the event page at the Northshire Bookstore website.

Join Vermont poet laureate Chard deNiord for a Poetry Master Class on Monday, January 8, from 6:30 to 8:00 pm at the Burlington Writers Workshop in Burlington, Vermont. This workshop will focus on reading and writing poems whose speakers place another before them, and then make charged figurative connections to what Walt Whitman called “the other I am.” We will read each other’s poems line by line, examining line breaks, poetic strategy, form, intention, imagery, tropes, verbal music, and what John Keats described in his definition of “negative capability” as the ability to “exist in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason.” In addition to writing poems with transpersonal speakers, we will also write a few persona poems as class exercises. For more information and to RSVP, please visit the Burlington Writers Workshop Meetup page.

On Monday, January 22, from 6:30 to 8:00 pm, join poet Gary Margolis for a Poetry Master Class at the Burlington Writers Workshop in Burlington, Vermont. This workshop will reflect on the poetic line by looking at examples, including those we'll write in this workshop. Workshop participants should bring three original poems to this class. We'll also write new ones during the workshop. For more information and to RSVP, please visit the Burlington Writers Workshop Meetup page.