Discoveries at the AWP Bookfair 2013

Discoveries = Nifty things that need to be shared
AWP = Association of Writers and Writing Programs aka Writers Conference
Bookfair = A room full of booths for bibliophiles and writers
Location: Boston, MA
Note: I was trying to avoid the bookfair. It's a bit daunting as there are hundreds of booths and even more people. But I got sucked into the vortex. Here's the result.

Wordnik

As I was strolling past the Wordnik booth, the super friendly girls were passing out cute pocket-sized notebooks. For free. Which naturally meant I had to stop and take one. Or two. Or twenty. Later, I looked up the site and it is SO MUCH FUN! It’s an online dictionary that wants you to discover those crazy, never-heard-before words and pairs it with examples, related words, lists that use the word, comments, tweets, visuals, sounds, and gives a tally for the number of times the word has been looked up, loved, added to a list, commented on, AND its Scrabble score. Nerdy? Perhaps. Awesome? Definitely. Word of the Day: hemidemisemiquaver. Look it up on Wordnik.

Fairy Tale Review

OMG. As soon as I saw this booth, I made a beeline for it. Literary Re-Told Fairy Tales? Yes please! It seems as though each annual issue is based on a color, which is in turn based on some thematic references. I purchased the current Yellow Issue. Yellow isn’t my best color to wear, which has nothing to do with writing about it, but I’m curious to see what others did with it. Submissions are now open for the Emerald Issue, which, you guessed it, wants work based on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and green interpretation. Flying monkeys and witch battles, commence!

Hoot

They say it best on their site: A postcard review of {mini} poetry and prose. And that’s just what it is–postcards! Each month they select a few pieces for their online issue, but one of those lucky pieces has the honor of being printed on a postcard, accompanied by fitting artwork and mailed out to subscribers! 12 months, 12 issues. I subscribed. Had to. A little whimsy in the mail once a month? Sure! They also accept submissions year-round. Time to pull out some of my {mini} works!

Broad Street Magazine

Two of my undergrad professors (Susann Cokal and Greg Weatherford) are founding advisers for this New Magazine of True Stories.  Be ready for their debut issue in Summer 2013, which promises to tread on dangerous territory! It will include contributions from Robert Alter, Paisley Rekdal, Tama Janowitz, Chat Hunt, and Susann Cokal, as well as other prose, poetry, art, and photography. They are still accepting submissions and also looking for comic artists! I have several of Broad Street’s publicity postcards that has amazing artwork so if you’d like a postcard, send me your address and I’ll mail you one!

Makeout Creek 

Started in 2007 by my undergrad creative writing TA (Andrew Blossom), their new issue is retro-cool. It’s composition notebook style complete with images from an unknown journal from 1975! I even told Andrew that the main reason I was purchasing this new issue was because it totally made me flashback to fifth-grade and Amelia’s Notebook. There’s something about reading other people’s diaries (whether fictitious or real) that I find intriguing. Maybe because I’m a terrible journal-keeper. The issue also includes fiction, non-fiction, poetry, art, and photography. They’re accepting submissions!

Poet’s House: Poetic Voices of the Muslim World

The first time I walked by Poets House’s booth, I’ll admit: I ignored it. I’m not a poet so I just breeze past their booths. The second time, I saw a sign hanging behind the table with “Poetic Voices of the Muslim World.” I stopped. Turns out there is a whole initiative in trying to introduce poetry from the Muslim population to the rest of the world! Or at least, the United States. There are two traveling exhibitions in L.A. and Jacksonville this spring. They will then be in D.C. and Milwaukee in the fall followed by Detroit and Queens next spring. Poetry, you have finally captured my attention.

Manor House Quarterly

My friend and I stopped by their booth. Or rather, she stopped first as I was about to keep going, but I’m glad she took interest because this seems like a very savvy-artsy magazine. Their latest printed issue includes a piece on Phil Stern, a photographer who snapped Marilyn Monroe, Andy Warhol, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, and Frank Sinatra, just to name drop. The founding editor, Dane Cardiel, with whom we spoke to, sold me on this new issue because “It’s the prettiest.” And I’ll admit, it is indeed that. Each issue focuses on a particular theme. The next issue they are accepting submissions for is themed “Myth.” I can work with that.