Resources
From Category:
The Question Authority
By Rachel Cline. This slim, incisive, timely novel of the #MeToo Movement explores the long aftermath of a popular teacher's serial predation on tween girls in a 1970s Brooklyn private school. Two middle-aged women, once childhood best friends, find themselves on opposite sides of another sexual misconduct case because of the different psychological strategies they employed to cope with their victimization. The Question Authority fearlessly examines the gray areas of consent, understanding that young women routinely overestimate how much choice and objectivity they could really bring to a relationship with an older male mentor.
The Cloud That Contained the Lightning
By Cynthia Lowen. Elegant and unforgiving as equations, these poems hold us accountable for living in the nuclear age. Persona poems in the voice of J. Robert Oppenheimer, "the father of the atomic bomb", reveal self-serving rationalizations and belated remorse, while other poems give voice to the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This collection is notable for exposing the emotional logic of scientific imperialism, rather than revisiting familiar scenes of the bomb's devastating effects. Winner of the National Poetry Series, selected by Nikky Finney.
Digital Transgender Archive
The Digital Transgender Archive is an online compendium of source materials and original documents of transgender history, including oral histories, periodicals, correspondence, and activist pamphlets and posters. Invaluable for researching your historical novel or writing characters outside your personal experience of gender and sexuality.
Singapore Unbound
Founded by award-winning poet Jee Leong Koh, Singapore Unbound is a cross-cultural literary organization that builds connections between Singaporean and American authors through projects such as the biennial Singapore Literary Festival in New York City; Gaudy Boy Press, publisher of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction by authors of Asian heritage; and the SP Blog, with book reviews and artist interviews.
Metallic Thud
By Cheryl J. Fish
for the Davids
World Trade Center and Mount St. Helens
"Step by step, breath by breath—no rush, no pain." –Gary Snyder
1.
David Burns, insurance man hears a metallic thud
just after morning coffee, September 11, 2001.
A crushing noise a windy void.
He peers out his north-facing view
sees windows blown out eye-level
windows, no crater.
Shouts to anyone who will listen
shouts to the wind.
Some co-workers flee
to floor 78 express car
Liberty Street in a matter of seconds
before number two's crash.
2.
Column of steam, ash, rises 7,000 feet.
Ice and rock, wind a wild ride.
Cracks merge and become the "bulge."
Volcano souvenir business flourishes.
USGS scientist David Johnston measures the bulge on the north flank.
His observation point Coldwater II six miles northeast of St. Helens peak.
Sightseers press towards the steaming crater for closer view and photos.
3.
Bystanders and students watch as captives plummet from the towers,
missiles of grief. This is not television. Yes, it is.
"Go home," I shout. "Look away." Snails and stomachs and tails.
You know nothing of what's to come. Metallic thud.
Dave Burns and his pal Paul rush onto the waiting Staten Island Ferry
Engine ramps ramps ramps into the blue and black.
Life jackets all around in case of an aerial attack
It's not the engine, no, but a hulking dust cloud,
Time-made matter, a dirge.
4.
A 13,000 foot eruption of ash and steam
harmonic tremor signaling. Hot
seismic chart blot May 12 a 5.0 earthquake
underneath the north flank of St. Helens
triggers a small debris avalanche half a mile down.
Many people come out with cameras and binoculars.
Last chance for Spirit Lake landowners to evacuate.
5.
David Johnston perishes; David Burns survives.
Bones cut the wind.
More towers rise.
Tweetspeak Poetry
Tweetspeak is a friendly online poetry community with a clean, sophisticated design. They offer a variety of features to help people engage with poetry, including writing prompts, book clubs, audio recordings, and craft essays.
Parks & Points
Handsomely illustrated with nature photography, Parks & Points is an online journal of personal essays and poetry about national parks and other public lands. See website for annual writing contests.
The Universe
By Carol Smallwood
It must be true: the Universe has no edge or center as I've read
so it brings me security to make patchwork quilts at night;
it makes sense to cut up pieces to sew with needle and thread.
"You are not lonely when you sew," Grandmother often said
as she sewed apron after apron with evident delight;
It must be true: the Universe has no edge or center as I've read.
Other activities most likely should have been my stead:
quilt after quilt I've made at night sitting straight, upright:
it makes sense to cut up pieces to sew with needle and thread.
Mixing pattern with plain, varying width until ready for bed,
securing the needle easy to spot on a piece extra bright—
it must be true: the Universe has no edge or center as I've read.
Fleece, flannel, denim, have made many a patchwork spread
and those who receive them do express thanks forthright:
it makes sense to cut up squares to sew with needle and thread.
I've concluded I'll have no edge or center when I'm dead
and finding security sewing squares is better than fright.
It must be true: the Universe has no edge or center as I've read
it makes sense to cut up pieces to sew with needle and thread.
Poems to See By: A Comic Artist Interprets Great Poetry
By Julian Peters. Understand classic poems in a new way through this artistic dramatization of 24 works by Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes, Carl Sandburg, Maya Angelou, Seamus Heaney, and many others.
Budgeting for Bibliophiles
This article on the CouponChief website links to their favorite sites for free or discounted books and audio books.
Bookshop
Established in 2020 by Andy Hunter, the publisher of Catapult Books, as an alternative to Amazon, Bookshop is an online book vendor that directs a portion of its proceeds to support independent bookstores.
Corona Virus WTF Blog
Journalist Jenna Orkin created this forum for sharing our real-time reactions to the 2020 pandemic. Orkin's published works include The Moron's Guide to Global Collapse. She is also the co-founder of the World Trade Center Environmental Organization.
RHINO Poetry
RHINO is a well-regarded poetry journal established in the 1970s. Their handsomely designed online archive features selections from back issues up to 2015, with more to come.
Submittable’s Universal Submission Tracker
Launching in 2020, Submittable's Universal Submission Tracker is a new record-keeping feature available to anyone with an account at their online submissions platform. The designers say: "In addition to tracking the progress of submissions made using Submittable, you can now add submission details for any opportunity made outside of our platform, including the status, submission date and title, name of the organization reviewing your work, and internal notes specific to that submission."
Freddy Niagara Fonseca
Poet and spoken-word performer Freddy Niagara Fonseca writes of natural wonders and spiritual questions. His projects include the poetry collection The Bomb That Blew Up God and the anthology This Enduring Gift, a compilation of work by 76 poets from Fairfield, Iowa.
Archive of Our Own
One of the first and most comprehensive sites for fan-fiction and artwork, the nonprofit Archive of Our Own ("AO3" to fans) is home to over 5 million creative works spanning 30,000+ fandoms.
Inside Publishing: The Book Publicist
This installment of Poets & Writers "The Practical Writer" column discusses the functions of a book publicist and their continued importance in the new social media landscape.
Response to the Brother Who Wants to Move in After the Earthquake:
By Meg Eden
You are not welcome here.
You are contaminated.
You have radiation in your skin.
You breathed in that nuclear air.
You are contaminated;
a power plant lives in you now.
There's already radiation in your skin,
and I can't risk you rubbing off on me.
You carry that power plant inside you,
but we are genki here,
and I can't risk you rubbing off on us.
We want to live—
We are genki here, but
he who mixes with vermillion turns red.
I want to live,
I don't want to think about Fukushima.
Mixed with red ink, anything becomes red.
It can't be helped.
I don't want to think about Fukushima.
There are places for that sort of thing.
Shikata ga nai.
You breathed in that nuclear air.
There are places for that sort of thing, but
you are not welcome here.
(genki = healthy, well)
AuthorsPublish List of No-Fee Poetry Manuscript Publishers
This list compiled by Emily Harstone at AuthorsPublish features 80+ publishers that do not charge reading fees to consider poetry manuscript submissions. Among them are major British presses like Carcanet and Faber & Faber, as well as reputable American literary publishers like Able Muse Press, Damaged Goods Press, Milkweed Editions, and Persea Books.
Storyathon
Storyathon offers free competitions for students in grades 3-6 to write stories that are exactly 100 words. The challenges are designed to get young people excited about writing and teach them how to tighten their language, experiment with words, and focus their message. See website for new themes offered every semester.
Social Media Hashtags for Book Authors
Web Design Relief is a site with articles on social media marketing, site design, and building your author platform online. This article from 2017 suggests 55 popular writing-related hashtags that can boost your profile on social media and give you entry into useful conversations and communities. The article includes examples of how to use them effectively.
How to Build an Author Website
Author websites have become an essential marketing tool. In this 2020 update of her 2015 article, publishing expert Jane Friedman shows you how to get started designing a professional-looking site with the key information about you and your books.
PEN America’s Prison Writing Program
For over 40 years, PEN America, a prominent arts and advocacy organization, has sponsored a Prison Writing Program that pairs incarcerated writers with mentors on the outside. Their annual free Prison Writing Contest accepts poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and dramatic works.
Book Publishers Who Specialize in Diversity and Inclusion
Here Wee Read is a book blog for parents and educators. This A-Z list profiles small presses and specialty imprints that promote multicultural literature for children and adults.
Writer Beware: The Impersonation Game
Victoria Strauss's Writer Beware site is a comprehensive and up-to-date resource for investigating deceptive literary marketing schemes. This article teaches you to watch out for solicitations from con artists masquerading as well-known agencies or publishers. Common scams include false claims of affiliation with legitimate companies (even going so far as to copy their logo) and emails using the names of real literary agents (who did not actually write them).
Wrath-Bearing Tree
Established by combat veterans and maintained by a diverse board of veterans, military spouses, and writers compelled by themes of social justice and human resilience, The Wrath-Bearing Tree publishes essays, reviews, fiction, and poetry on military, economic, and social violence written by those who have experienced military, economic, and social violence or their consequences.
How to Help Prisoners Get Books
In this article at Electric Lit, NYC Books Through Bars explains how to support prison books projects or start your own. Book donations help prisoners with rehabilitation and maintaining community ties, but mailing rules vary widely from one facility to the next, so it's always a good idea to check with established prisoner-support organizations to see what materials are needed and allowed.
A Late Memorial
By Geoffrey Heptonstall
The words, already written,
are now in the process of being
opened and heard at random,
to write with a momentum
of their own choosing.
And so begins an impossible hour
imbibed with passion—
the fear of not knowing
as others say they have known
how it will end when finally...
Those dreams were sung by everyone
drinking metaphor as spoken
by several personae, each with his name.
Later in the early hours he confesses
the ice complements a bourbon dawn,
smiling at the thought of everything
Waking to hear the well-remembered,
let us whisper the proper tea values
of English princes Shakespeared
by a Harvard man
so near the music of devoured dreams.
Knowing those neighbours,
they had a common source.
Approaching them, he died.
The Submission Grinder
The Submission Grinder is a donation-based tool for poetry and fiction writers to search for publications to submit their work; view anonymized response time statistics based on other writers' submissions; and track their submissions. It is a project of Diabolical Plots, an online journal of speculative and horror fiction.
Brittle Paper: An African Literary Experience
Launched in 2010, Brittle Paper aims to promote and discuss the best in contemporary African literature. They publish original fiction and poetry, literary news and commentary, book reviews, and craft articles. They also compile a list of notable African books published each year. Among the useful resources on this site, we recommend Kenyan author and Cornell University professor Mukoma Wa Ngugi's article "Writing Your Other: A Concise Guide for White Writers".
This Book Is Anti-Racist
By Tiffany Jewell. This social justice handbook for middle-grade and young adult readers offers tools for understanding your identity and social position, unlearning myths of American history, affirming yourself in a prejudiced world, and using your privileges to disrupt racism. Upbeat, energetic illustrations by Aurelia Durand create a mood of hope and momentum for dealing with tough truths. Jewell's background in Montessori education is reflected in her trusting and empowering young people to make mature moral choices.
Writer’s Knowledge Base
Created by Hiveword, the Writer's Knowledge Base search engine indexes over 40,000 online articles on the craft and business of writing. Search by keyword or browse by category.
Reading Well for Children Booklist
Reading Well, a project of The Reading Agency in the UK, recommends books to help you understand and manage your health and wellbeing. Their booklist for children features titles aimed at ages 7-11 on topics such as anxiety, mindfulness, emotional regulation, bereavement, bullying, and having a disability.
Jane Friedman’s Guide to Getting the Most Out of a Writing Conference
Publishing expert Jane Friedman has been speaking at writers' conferences since 2001. In this article from her blog, she gives tips on how to select the best conference for your goals, being a well-prepared speaker, making the most of networking opportunities, and more.
Poetry Cooperative
Poetry Cooperative is an online forum to share your poetry and win prizes. Basic membership is free, and Gold Tier membership is $10/month. Gold members have the opportunity to be paid $50 for work that is accepted for the Poetry Cooperative Magazine. The site also offers a monthly contest whose prize is one month of Gold membership.
Plenitude Magazine
Based in Canada, Plenitude Magazine is an online literary journal publishing poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, graphic narrative, and short film by queer creators. No submission fees. Editors say, "We define queer literature and film as that which is created by LGBTQ2S+ people, rather than that which features queer content alone...Plenitude aims to complicate expressions of queerness through the publication of diverse, sophisticated literary writing, art and film, from the very subtle to the brash and unrelenting."
Nothing in the Rulebook
Nothing in the Rulebook is a UK-based online magazine that includes competitions listings, writing news, and feature articles about literature and culture.
I Am a Rothko Painting
By Kevin Hinkle
Canvas stretched across a frame, rough and dry.
I'm a Rothko painting—deep red,
brown, and orange. I'm February brooding,
suffocation from a lack of sun.
My therapist tells me to appreciate
my moods, to talk back and walk on. I nod...
but I'm Rothko painting.
I can't bear mirrors and self-contemplation.
I'm a Rothko painting, and it's difficult
to accept beauty’s nuclear age.
I remind myself that sunlight varies by season,
meaning depends on context.
Rothko painted me layer on layer;
now let me hang and dry.
Best Fonts for Books
IngramSpark is a leading distributor of self-published, small press, and print-on-demand books. In this 2019 article from their website, book designer Michele DeFilippo gives advice on choosing the best fonts for your book. Primary considerations are readability and harmony with the content.
100 Common Publishing Terms
Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Editor of Writer's Digest. In this September 2019 post on their website, he defines 100 common publishing terms such as simultaneous submissions, work for hire, log line, and much more. Useful for understanding contest guidelines and publication contracts.
Hands Holding Firm
By Thelma T. Reyna
If hands could laugh, ours would've pealed our way
through Rome's catacombs, Spanish Steps, thousand cats
lounging in Coliseum ruins,
and everywhere we roamed on every wheel that
turned—buses, taxis, trains—hands holding firm to
one another, vacationers in love, when we were
young, languoring with afternoon hands circling
warm on weary flesh, sun gilding balconies
outside french doors and marble floors in
alabaster rooms built centuries ago, where
foreign hands speak sentences and poems in
flourishes, and icon cities are for
lovers with palms clasped whenever we strolled
cobblestones, our paths just one, one direction,
together regardless of where.
The ADD Writer
In this 2020 blog post, author and writing teacher Michael Jackman shares tips for writing productively with attention deficit disorder. If daily routines and schedules don't suit the way your brain is wired, try some of his strategies for jump-starting your creative enthusiasm, such as exercise, travel, and enjoying cultural events. Above all, take the long view of your productivity and don't measure yourself against people with different needs.
The Writer’s Workout
Launched in 2014, The Writer's Workout is a resource site with features including a discussion forum, submission calls, prompts, a newsletter, and a literary journal called WayWords. For $1/month you can use their Achievement Tracker to organize your submissions and drafts. The site's editors say, "It's designed and tested to help you measure all your literary progress: the Achievement Tracker shows your total word count, competition wins, reading, editing, publications, and more throughout the year as well as your daily and monthly average word count. Seeing these totals and averages helps you develop constructive writing habits, encourages you to try different things, and provides a clear visual of your growth."
Horror Tree
Run by novelist and JournalStone Network editor Stuart Conover, Horror Tree is a resource site for horror and speculative fiction writers that includes submission calls, craft essays, and author interviews.
Down the Hall
By Jennifer Davis Michael
I am going down the hall
in my childhood house.
Our father has summoned
my brother and me.
It feels like a dream, and not.
The hall seems shorter,
ceilings lower.
I let my brother go first,
though I was first. We pass
his bedroom door, then mine,
the photos in their frames.
At the end is our father's bed.
He has things to say,
not the last things, not yet,
and yet the movement feels
like last, and first,
down the hall,
a narrowing space.
I will be here again,
and soon.
Down the hall.
My father calls.
Publishing and Marketing Scams List at Writer Beware
Writer Beware, a project of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, is a leading industry watchdog for literary scams. In this August 2019 blog post, Victoria Strauss calls out over 50 publishing and marketing companies (many of them affiliated with the same publishing group in the Philippines) that aggressively target writers with false promises and charge exorbitant fees.
Craft Capsule: The End
In this installment in the Craft Capsules essay series at Poets & Writers, Cameron Awkward-Rich, a Lambda Literary Award poetry finalist and professor at University of Massachusetts-Amherst, talks about his revision process. Any elements of the poem that he can re-create from memory are essential, he has found. "What I like about using memorization as a diagnostic is that it says nothing about the “quality” of a poem, so it discourages thinking about revision as 'fixing.' Instead, what determines whether a poem is finished is the relationship between us, the poem and I."
How to Write a Memoir
William Zinsser (1922-2015) was a widely published journalist who wrote for periodicals such as The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and The New York Herald Tribune. His seven books on the craft of writing include On Writing Well. In this article from The American Scholar, where he was a regular columnist, Zinsser gives sound practical advice about how to structure your memoir, and stresses the importance of recording your family story, whether or not you seek publication.
Almond Press Writing Competitions Event Calendar
Launched in 2012, Almond Press is a Scottish small press that publishes short story collections and sponsors literary contests. This curated submissions calendar on their website lists numerous writing contests, free and fee-charging, for English-language writers in the UK and internationally.
Flying Kites: A Story of the 2013 California Prison Hunger Strike
By the Stanford Graphic Novel Project. This fictionalized account of a real-life hunger strike to protest prison conditions exposes the horrors of solitary confinement and the inspiring struggles of families to stay connected to their incarcerated loved ones. The e-book is free to download for your computer or tablet.
