Self-Reflection: On the Problem of Memory and Memoir

Only a few spots left in my next reading course at Hugo House:
http://encke.org/self-reflection-on-the-problem-of-memory-and-memoir/

Even the finest memories are incomplete. Fittingly, in this class we will examine the attempts of various authors to fathom memory and self-reflection by reviewing those attempts in bits and pieces. Readings will include short selections from Plato’s Republic, Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Wordsworth’s The Prelude (and Dorothy’s journals), Nietzsche’s “On Truth and Lying in the Nonmoral Sense,” Ashbery’s “Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror,” Borges’ Ficciones, and Proust’s À la recherche du temps perdu. Alongside these authors, or what they left of themselves on the page, we will explore the nature of individual and shared memory and its representation—a problem that sits at the center of all literary writing.

Meets: Saturday, October 09, 2010 – Saturday, November 13, 2010
Saturday, 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM at Richard Hugo House
General: $230.00
Members of Hugo House: $207.00

Click here for information on registration and financial aid.

Required Readings

Week 1
Plato, Phaedrus and Book VII of The Republic
Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book 3, “The Story of Echo and Narcissus”

Week 2
William Wordsworth, The Prelude (Books I, II, and XI)

Week 3
Jorge Luis Borges, “Funes the Memorious,” “The Library of Babel,” and “The Secret Miracle”

Week 4
Marcel Proust, À la recherche du temps perdu, selection from Swann’s Way (pages 1-64 in the Modern Library edition)

Week 5
Friedrich Nietzsche, “On Truth and Lying in the Nonmoral Sense”
John Ashbery, “The Painter” and “Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror”

Week 6
Selections from Memory, Brain, and Belief, including “Introduction” (Daniel L. Schacter and Elaine Scarry), “Mining the Past to Construct the Future” (Chris Westbury and Daniel C. Dennett), and “Autobiography, Identity, and the Fictions of Memory” (Paul John Eakin)

Poetry book contest: Philip Levine Prize

Philip Levine Poetry Book Prize
$2000 prize and publication by Anhinga Press
Final Judge: Brian Turner

Postmark Deadline: 9/30/10

2010 Guidelines
Manuscript should be original poetry, not previously published in book form, 48-80 pages, no more than one poem per page. Include two manuscript title pages: one with name and contact information and one with the name of the manuscript ONLY. Manuscripts are screened and judged anonymously. Multiple submissions are fine as long as the manuscript is withdrawn immediately upon its acceptance elsewhere.

The entry fee is $25. Checks should be made out to "CSU Fresno Levine Prize." Poets can submit more than one manuscript, but each will be considered a separate entry and must be accompanied by the $25 fee.
www.csufresno.edu/english/philip_levine
or Email Connie Hales at <connieh(at)csufresno.edu> (replace (at) with @)
Sponsored and administered by:
MFA Program in Creative Writing at California State University, Fresno

Open chapbook reading period: Tarpaulin Sky Press

Tarpaulin Sky Press Chapbook Reading Period

Deadline: September 30, 2010

During the month of September, Tarpaulin Sky Press ( http://www.tarpaulinsky.com/ ) is reading chapbook manuscripts of poetry, fiction, and cross-genre work. There is no need to query first; simply mail the manuscript according to the directions below.

In addition to publishing both perfect-bound and hand-bound chapbooks, Tarpaulin Sky Press publishes trade paperbacks and a literary journal that appears both online and on paper. Featured in venues as diverse as After Ellen, HTML Giant, and Poets & Writers, Tarpaulin Sky's titles are regularly reviewed in Publishers Weekly as well as American Book Review, Bloomsbury Review, Bookslut, Jacket, and Rain Taxi. Ranked among "Great Titles from Underground Presses," by Time Out New York, Tarpaulin Sky's books also routinely appear on the "Bestsellers" list at Small Press Distribution.

GUIDELINES IN BRIEF
Chapbook manuscripts should be emailed or postmarked between September 1 and September 30, 2010. Manuscripts should be in the vicinity of 18-28 pages (give or take a couple). Send one copy of your manuscript along with two copies of the title page (note: the reading process is not "blind"--we ask for two title pages only so that we may keep one with the manuscript, and the other for reference/notes, etc). Be sure that your title pages include your name, address, telephone number, and email address. Cover letters are read with interest. We like to know who your are, what you're up to, and where we can read more of your work.

Multiple submissions are OK. We also accept simultaneous submissions but ask that you let us know immediately if your manuscript is accepted elsewhere. Individual pieces from the manuscript may have been previously published in magazines and anthologies, but the collection as a whole must be unpublished. Manuscripts will not be returned; please do not send us your only copy.

Writers who have not been published in our literary journal should include a $10 reading fee. Past contributors to Tarpaulin Sky may submit their manuscript with a $5 reading fee. Reading fees may be paid online or by check.

Notification of decisions will be made in December 2010. Publication of accepted manuscripts will be in 2011 and 2012.

Please see our guidelines page for mailing addresses and payment details: http://www.tarpaulinsky.com/

Poetry book contest: Three Candles Press

http://threecandlespress.com/OB2010.htm

Three Candles Press is pleased to announce the third Three Candles Press Open Book Award for a best book of poems by a poet at any point in his or her career. The contest will be judged by Paul Guest, whose poetry books include The Resurrection of the Body and the Ruin of the World, Notes for My Body Double, and My Index of Slightly Horrifying Knowledge. He is also the author of a memoir entitled One More Theory About Happiness.

Award: Winner receives $500.00 and 25 copies of the winning book. Deadline Oct. 15th (post-mark date). The winner will be notified at the end of December. Runners up and two alternates will be posted on the website by January 15th, 2011. The book will be available through Small Press Distribution, online retailers such as Amazon and Barnes and Noble, and at fine booksellers in America and Europe. The winner will receive a standard royalty contract.

Guidelines: Manuscripts of 60-95 pages should have one cover page containing the poet's name, address, phone number, email address and title of manuscript, and another with only the name of the manuscript. Please include only one acknowledgements page.

How the Contest Works: Publisher Steve Mueske will read all submitted manuscripts and forward the finalists to the judge (around 12 manuscripts). The final round of materials will be judged anonymously (without coversheet or acknowledgements page). To avoid conflicts of interest, the following manuscripts will be ineligible: those from former students of the judge or from family members or friends of the judge; those who have workshopped with Steve Mueske or received comments from any poems contained in the manuscript; and those who have worked with the editor in a business capacity (an exchange of money for goods or services) prior to the opening of the competition.

Manuscripts should be printed on one side only and bound with a sturdy clip. Contest entry fee is $22.00. Make checks payable to "three candles press."

Send materials to:
three candles press
open book award
PO Box 1817
Burnsville MN 55337

Call for submissions: Timber

The MFA program at the University of Colorado at Boulder is proud to announce a new literary journal, Timber. Timber is dedicated to the promotion of cutting edge, truly innovative literature. We publish work that explores the boundaries of poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, and digital literatures. We produce both an online journal, in which we explore the potentials of the digital medium, and a semi-annual "book object," which is a venue for more traditional print-based work.

Our reading period is now open.

Please submit your work here:
http://timberjournal.submishmash.com/Submit

Baltic Writers Residency

Applications for the 2011 Baltic Writers Residency, a funded month-long annual summer residency in Riga, Latvia for poets, playwrights, and writers of fiction working in English are now invited. Though, neither the writer nor their project need be connected with Latvia.

Both emerging and established writers are encouraged to apply. Recent finalists and winners range from those who have yet to conceive of their first manuscripts, to writers who have extensive publication records, and have been finalists for the National Book Award and numbered in the New Yorker's "20 Under 40."

Emma Jones, author of one volume of verse, The Striped World (Faber & Faber, 2009), winner of the Forward Poetry Prize, is this year's resident, and we strongly encourage other young and emerging writers to apply. Previous winners include Salvatore Scibona and Amity Gaige.

The deadline is December 15th, and we are accepting applications now. Details about the residency, about Riga, and about the application process can be found on the website: http://www.balticresidency.com/

The Baltic Writing Residency in Latvia, PO Box 17184, Louisville, KY 40217
<balticresidency(at)gmail.com> (replace (at) with @)