News • Updates • Cool Clicks
TW’s Winter 2014 Issue: “Do We Need Critics?”
Launch Date: February 17, 2014
What does it mean to be a critic in the age of book blogging and indie lit? In TW's next issue, contributors explore the brave new world of literary criticism. Highlights:
- Theme Essays: rumors of lit crit's demise; mainstream critcs fail writers of color
- My Favorite Critic: Zadie Smith, George Orwell, Carolyn Heilbrun, Leslie Fiedler
- Poetry Spotlight: eight contemporary poets honor Muriel Rukeyser
- TW 2013 Contest Winners: flash fiction and creative nonfiction
Talking Writing at AWP 2014
This year, TW editors will gather at the annual Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) Conference in Seattle, Washington.
AWP 2014 kicks off on Wednesday, February 26—just two weeks away—and TW has a jam-packed schedule.
The Talking Writing Series: Three Panels
- Thursday, February 27, 12:00 – 1:15 p.m.
R177. Literary Politics: White Guys and Everyone Else. Join TW moderator Lorraine Berry and panelists Roxane Gay, Amy Hoffman, Aimee Phan, and Mat Johnson for this controversial session about race, sexual orientation, and identity writing.
- Thursday, February 27, 4:30 – 5:45 p.m.
R252. First-Person Journalism: Tips on Telling the Truth. Join TW moderator Martha Nichols and panelists Fred Setterberg, Andrew Lam, Autumn Stephens, and William Wong for a different take on creative nonfiction.
- Friday, February 28, 9:00 – 10:15 a.m.
F116. Digital Lit: Why Online Magazines Deserve More Respect. Join TW moderator Martha Nichols and panelists Lee Hope Betcher, J. W. Wang, Matthew Limpede, and Michael Garriga for this spirited session about the media revolution.
Follow TW's live tweets: #R177, #R252, #F116
Friday Reception: Celebrate Digital Lit
Here's your chance to network with other digital literature fans. Talking Writing; Solstice: A Magazine of Diverse Voices; and Carve Magazine are cohosting this fabulous offsite reception at a fine Seattle restaurant.
- When: Friday, February 28, 6 to 8 p.m.
- Where: Blueacre Seafood • 1700 7th Avenue • The Marlin Room
(about one block from the Seattle Sheraton)
Complimentary gourmet hors d’oeuvres, cash bar, and a brief news flash about a new collaboration of online journals
#CelebrateDigiLit
TW's Bookfair Table: N33
This year at AWP, we're sharing a Bookfair table with Solstice: A Magazine of Diverse Voices, another terrific Boston-area online literary journal. Throughout the conference, Table N33 will be hopping with literary talk and good feeling.
Stop by the table to meet editors from both magazines. For TW, it's east coast meets west, as we fly in from Boston and New York to join those from the San Francisco Bay Area in Seattle. On hand will be Editor-in-Chief Martha Nichols with Bianca Garcia, Lorraine Berry, Carol Dorf, and Karen Ohlson—all sporting "We're Talking Writing—Are You?" T-shirts.
We're looking forward to catching up with our contributors, literary partners, and the many authors and writing teachers who'll be attending AWP 2014. Drop by and see us whenever you can—at TW's panels, the Friday reception, and Bookfair Table N33.
Don't forget to pick up your complimentary bookmark!
Submissions Update
We're now soliciting theme essays for our Fall 2014 and Holiday 2014 issues. Note that TW will be reprising "Writing and Faith" this year.
Fall 2014: Money!
If money makes the world go round, then writers are out of the loop. This issue of TW will explore the complicated relationship authors have with getting paid. Does money corrupt creativity—or make creative life possible? Theme essays can range from practical advice to serious or humorous tales of woe. Submission deadline: June 2, 2014.
Holiday 2014: Writing and Faith
Back by popular demand!
How do you tackle life's Big Questions? During the holiday season, TW will examine why writing is such a powerful tool for soul searching, creating meaning, and defining one's spiritual beliefs. Submission deadline: September 15, 2014.
Feel free to query us first about a theme essay.
Please send all queries and submissions to TW at talkingwriting.submittable.com.
Management Changes at TW
A Fond Farewell to Elizabeth Langosy
Elizabeth Langosy, TW's redoubtable executive editor for the past four years, will be stepping down on March 15, 2014. Elizabeth will stay on the TW masthead as an editor at large—a title that can’t possibly capture all she’s done for TW but does nod to her lasting impact on the magazine.
As cofounder, Elizabeth shaped many areas of the magazine, oversaw the growth of TW's infrastructure, and was instrumental in the redesign of TW's website. Everyone at Talking Writing will miss her. Yet, Elizabeth's desire to focus now on her own writing is the kind of hard-fought goal that TW readers will no doubt understand in their bones.
A Change in Board Leadership
TW's previous board president, Michael Dornbrook, also stepped down at the end of 2013, completing a three-year term that saw Talking Writing through its first startup bumps. TW owes much to Mike and his entrepreneurial expertise and is very grateful for his generous donations, which sustained the magazine over the past year.
Now, we welcome TW's new president of the board, Mark Allen. Mark is an executive vice president at Physical Sciences Inc., a privately held R&D company in Andover, Massachusetts. He’s responsible for all business and funding aspects of the Applied Sciences division of the company.
When not editing or preparing grant proposals, Mark says, he's "a passionate consumer and supporter of literature and the arts. I've been a resident of Boston’s South End for nearly thirty years, and I'm committed to sustaining the artistic temperament in our city’s community."
Mark’s nonprofit experience includes his current service on the Board of Ambassadors for the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) organization.
TW's New Blog Manager
Senior Editor Lorraine Berry has also agreed to be TW's new blog manager. The addition of a blog on the TW site will allow Lorraine and other contributors to publish quick comments about current literary events or to post capsule reviews. Lorraine hopes to launch TW's blog later this year.
TW Session at the Muse 2014
The topic is "Digital Lit: Why Online Journals Deserve More Respect—Insider Info, Community, Submissions." TW's Martha Nichols and co-panelist Lee Hope Betcher of Solstice: A Magazine of Diverse Voices will run this session of Grub Street's "The Muse and the Marketplace" conference. The Muse 2014 in Boston runs from May 1–4.
The "Digital Lit" session is scheduled for Friday, May 2, 3:45 to 4:45 p.m.
Martha will also participate in a "Shop Talk" lunch from 12:00 to 1:15 p.m. on May 2.
For general information about The Muse and Grub Street, click here.
Apply for a TW Internship
Every semester, Talking Writing has openings for unpaid internships. We encourage student writers and others interested in learning about online literary magazines to apply. Interns are mentored by TW editors, many of whom teach writing at the college level or are seasoned publishing professionals. (Students enrolled at the Harvard University Extension School may also be eligible for course credit.)
We’re presently looking for social media, communications, and editorial interns. Experience with tweeting and a knowledge of the current literary industry is helpful but not required. A passion for reading and words is.
To apply for a TW internship, please contact us by email at editor[at]talkingwriting.com and include a resume.
This is the front of our TW bookmark, designed by Sheila Walsh as a complimentary gift for visitors to the TW Bookfair table at AWP. It includes a detail from "Physical Constants" by Susan Denniston, one of TW's featured artists in 2012.
