Highly Recommended 9th June, 2013.

Sunday

BLOOMSDAY: Next Sunday marks the 109th celebration of Bloomsday - 

One of the earliest Bloomsday celebrations was a Ulysses lunch, organised by Sylvia Beach in France in June 1929. Joyce and thirty other guests were invited to a luncheon at the Leopold Restaurant near Versailles for the 25th anniversary, and also to celebrate the French translation of Ulysses. 

The term 'Bloomsday' was coined in 1954 when Irish writers Flann O'Brien, Patrick Kavanagh, Anthony Cronin, and John Ryan arranged for a horse drawn procession to follow the route of Paddy Dignam's funeral. They planned to travel round the city through the day, visiting scenes of the novel and ending in Nighttown but the pilgrimage was abandoned half way at the Baily pub in the city centre, which Ryan owned. 

The first Joyce Symposium took place in dublin in 1967 and has since taken place in many of the cities in which Joyce lived.

The JAMES JOYCE TOWER AND MUSEUM, the opening setting of the book, is once again hosting readings and events all this week: http://jamesjoycetower.com/

Here is a selection of the many events which will be hosted world wide this year:

DUBLIN:

Joseph O'Connor, one of the readers for the inaugral
GLOBAL BLOOMSDAY GATHERING

Novelist Joseph O' Connor confirmed to read in the Dublin leg of Globalbloomsday.com - 
25 worldwide cities across 4 continents read Ulysses live on globalbloomsday.com

http://globalbloomsday.com/

Participating cities for the Global Bloomsday Gathering

Also in Dublin: 

The Rocky Horror Show meets Ulysses - Special interactive screening of the famous 1950s film featuring Milo O'Shea. Active participants are welcome! Irish Film Institute - Bookings www.ifi.ie and 01 6793477 Thursday 13th June.
Bewley's Cafe Theatre - Noel O'Grady - 13th June - a special one-off performance of his show The Voice of Joyce: An Exile Sings, and Declan Gorman's One-man version of Dubliners will run for two weeks until the 22nd June.

Dublin will be innundated with events this week and the best site to keep track of it all is the Dublin James Joyce Centre: https://www.facebook.com/JamesJoyceCentre?fref=ts

New York: The James Joyce Society page is the one to keep in touch with:

http://joycesociety.org/sched_current.html

Philadelphia: The Rosenbach Museum continue their wonderful tradition of Bloomsday readings: http://www.rosenbach.org/learn/events/bloomsday
Paris: The Parish Bloomsday Group host readings and songs from James Joyce's work with poet Jean O'Sullivan as MC. Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris.

http://jamesjoyce.ie/ai1ec_event/bloomsday-in-paris/?instance_id=

London: the London Irish Centre are hosting a Bloomsday Cabaret 

    http://www.londonirishcentre.org/events/bloomsday-cabaret

New Orleans: Writers and artists will gather at The Irish House, Charles Ave. where there will be readings, pints and food to celebrate. All are welcome!

    http://www.nola.com/festivals/index.ssf/2013/06/new_orleans_book_lovers_toast.html

The James Joyce, writer page is one of the pages that will keep you up-to-date with happenings. (Let them know if you want to include your event). 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/James-Joyce-writer/332196660243207?fref=ts

Some great literary insults were hurled at us through fb and Flavorwire this week. Here's the link, along with some of our favourites.

“Barry, you’re over thirty years old. You owe it to your mum and dad not to sing in a group called Sonic Death Monkey.” – High Fidelity, Nick Hornby

“I desire that we be better strangers.” - As You Like It, William Shakespeare

http://flavorwire.com/328022/a-literary-insult-for-every-occasion

CONGRATULATIONS TO KEVIN BARRY 
on winning the IMPAC Literary Award 2013
 for his novel City of Bohane.
Here's a short snippet of Kevin reading from his novel at the Kilkenny Arts Festival   Followed by Belinda McKeon and Paul Murray.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-nPNOSpmg0

And here is Kevin being  interviewed after winning the The Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award 2012 for his short story 'Beer Trip to Llandudno'. Hours after winning, author and Booktrust web editor Nikesh Shukla met Kevin in an Oxford beer garden to discuss his win, how he writes short stories and what the best ale he's ever had is.  Even at this stage Kevin had been writing the film script for City of Bohane - so this new award should provide the impetus for finishing that project.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxPfnMVysb0

LITERARY EVENTS THIS WEEK:

BOSTON: Friday 14th, 6pm

Grolier Bookshop are hosting a reading of 'City of Angels' by Ben Mazer, to mark the publication of his NEW POEMS. The event is free, but space is limited so book early:  

http://grolierpoetrrybookshop.eventbrite.com/

BIRMINGHAM: Monday 10th, Open Mic Poetry Slam:
This month's special guest poets are Birmingham Slam Stars
PGR brings you not one but three outstanding slam poets. James, Jaden and Elisha took the Warwick Words Slam by storm. Their blend of wit poingnancy and lyricism left the audience cheering. Believe the hype!  https://www.facebook.com/events/196431360511890/

BELFAST: Monday 10th, 
Poetic Perspective: Through Artist' Eyes at the Belfast Book Festival, featuring the literary work of Geraldine O'Kane and live contemporary dance, painting and performance. Including artists such as
Colin Dardis, Amos Gideon Greig, Jenny Cleland, Peter Francis Fahy, David Armitage, Mimi O'Holloran, Anna Donovan, David Yates, Patricia Locker, Laura Kidd, Paul Kopal, Graeme McAllister and Stephen Millar. https://www.facebook.com/events/163186730523652/


Also in Belfast, on Wednesday 12th:
Poetry from Sam Riviere and Stephen Connolly.
https://www.facebook.com/events/191854887632500/

DUBLIN: The Ash Sessions:  Tuesday, 11th July.

The ladies from Bare Hands and the Ash Sessions combine to bring you a mini Electric Picnic in the heart of Dublin. Featuring Ireland’s leading performance poets Abby Oliviera, Andre K’por and John Cummins, hilariously dark and mischievous tales from Paul Timoney along with a dazzling array of alternative/indie/folk music from Sinead White, Ria Czerniak, Red Sail, Johnny Murphy, Pearse McGloughlin and Justin Grounds. Come. It will only be amazing.

Tickets €10/€8

http://www.10daysindublin.com/programme/baring-our-ashes/

TORONTO: Friday 14th June.
1001 Friday Nights of Storytelling. An Open Mike of storytelling, music and poetry. https://www.facebook.com/events/535074769864722/

Highly Recommended 2nd June, 2013.

SUNDAY:

William Carlos Williams Centre for the Arts

Wednesday, June 5th.
Great to see that
Philip Nikolayev and Katia Kapovich are reading from their English and Russian work here this week.

KATIA KAPOVICH reads here and in the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lpf4S6sI9A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzQ9xCYT5No

PHILIP NIKOLAYEV reads here at the Carol Novack Tribute Reading in NYC last December.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lR3ZyWAtT4U

Booking office: (201) 939 4902

Susan Millar DuMars,    Richard W. Halperin,       Noel King and John W. Sexton.

THURSDAY, 6th June. Irish Writers Centre

In Dublin, Salmon Press and the Irish Writer's Centre host the Dublin launch of four new collections by

http://www.salmonpoetry.com/event-details.php?ID=231

MONDAY:

The Carol Novack Tribute Reading mentioned above was organised by Larissa Shmailo and Marc Vincenz. Larissa will be well known to you from her work in translation, from her own poetry and the amazing poetry and music events which she and Mad Swirl organises. Here she is interviewed in POETRY THIN AIR, a great resource, interviewing important new poets.


Other poets in this series include Michael Graves, Eve Packer, Susan Scutti, Bruce Weber, Jee Leong Kohn / Miriam Stanley and Thomas Fucaloro….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7j8XEDPXCS0

TUESDAY:

Orhan Pamuk, Turkey's Nobel Prize Winning author.

Disturbing reports from Turkey this week in particular. A nation with such culture and history is being torn apart by threats to its democracy. To help us keep in mind what is at stake we look at some of the contributions which Turkey has made to world literature.

Jason Goodwin studied Byzantine history at Cambridge and has listed his top ten picks, encompassing poetry, history, and fiction, about this 'elusive and contradictory' country.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/aug/31/jason-goodwin-top-10-books-turkey

Here, Mark Lawson looks at an early work from Nobel prize winner Orhan Pamuk and was struck at how the author has consistently worked 'close to contentious politics and history'.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/oct/12/silent-house-orhan-pamuk-review

WEDNESDAY:

Robert Archambeau's indepth review of Prairie Style by C S Giscombe appears in the latest issue of  The Volta, and provides insights into the poet's work and the challenges facing modern poets today.

"In Giscombe’s hands, the emancipation of narrative dissonance becomes a means of emancipating himself—and, if we are attentive, us—from the kinds of narratives about race that perpetuate old inequities. And in using dissonance as a means of addressing race, he’s bringing to his poetry an attitude long-established in African-American music: As Duke Ellington once told a journalist for whom he played some of his recordings, “That’s the Negro’s life... Hear that chord! Dissonance is our way of life in America”http://www.thevolta.org/inreview-mainpage.html

Thursday:

Two important literary festivals to watch out for in Cork this summer:

Kinsale

A full programme of events is available here:  http://vimeo.com/67294356

Fermoy

Some of the featured poets in this year's festival include:
Tsead Bruinja, Noel King, Matthew Sweeney, Jan Glass, Michele Vassal and Gene Barry.
http://www.fermoypoetryfestival.com/Fermoy-Poetry-Festival-Guest-Poets-biographies-.html

FRIDAY

These two publications are now getting ready to publish their latest editions.
The Battersea Review, Issue 3. The Summer issue this year will include:

POETRY: Stephen Sturgeon, Philip Nikolayev, Pushkin and Mandelshtam tr. by Philip Nikolayev, Alfred Corn, Peter Robinson, Alexei Tsvetkov, Katia Kapovich, Geoffrey O'Brien, Greg Delanty, M.A. Schorr, John Hennessy, Mark Lamoureux, Whit Griffin, Elizabeth-Ashley Best, Adrienne Raphel, Kit Schluter, Sophocles tr. by U.S. Dhuga, Ben Mazer.

CRITICISM: An essay by Mandelshtam tr. by Philip Nikolayev, Stephen Sturgeon on Wallace Stevens, Robert Archambeau on T.S. Eliot and Class, Raymond Barfield on T.S. Eliot & F.H. Bradley, John Howard on Jonathan Edwards, Allison Vanouse on Aviation and Rockets, D.M. Stewart on Aesthetics, Cassandra Nelson on Screens, Thomas Graves on Edgar Allen Poe, Mario Murgia on Federico Garcia Lorca, Sean Campbell on Randall Jarrell and Robert Lowell, Ann Fallon on The King, Ben Mazer on Harvard & Yale Poetry Culture between the World Wars.
Website is here: http://thebatterseareview.com/
or keep in touch via their fb page here:  https://www.facebook.com/BatterseaReview?fref=ts



Poetry Bus 5 has secured funding for it's fifth print issue. An international literary magazine which publishes short stories, poetry, artwork and criticism as well as a cd of music and spoken poetry. Poetry Bus is becoming one of those magazines which you'll want to say you were involved with.

"The Poetry Bus has probably published more first time poets alongside well known ones than any other magazine. Now in its fifth incarnation with undoubtedly the best issue yet,(just wait til you see it!) it is perfect bound with full colour illustrations (including a graphic short story!) from amazing artists and crammed with poets new and not so new!

We have a truly eclectic selection of poetry from Irish and international poets regardless of age, sex, nationality, friendship or standing. The Poetry Bus continues to offer opportunities for all equally and never forgets that it was created to provide a top class showcase as well as a level playing field. This ethos remains vitally important to us."The Poetry Bus runs an open fb group which you can join and keep in touch with their shenanigans:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/125558570802681/?fref=ts

SATURDAY

The Guardian have been running a readers book blog section online since 2008. In case you haven't seen this you can take a look at some of the latest reviews here, and perhaps think of reviewing. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2013/may/31/reader-reviews-roundup

For example, this blog below, posted by Billy Mills last week, takes a look at the international poetry world, from publishing to poetry slams.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2013/may/30/poetry-new-territory-sales-salt-publishing

While this link gets you to the latest round up of reader's reviews.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2013/may/31/reader-reviews-roundup

June Publishing Deadlines: 2013.

 3rd June deadline:

An international short fantasy fiction competition, of between 350 and 500 words of previously unpublished work. One entry per person. Use the entry form below:

http://sjihollidayblog.wordpress.com/sjibfs-flash-fiction-competition/

Extended deadline - June 5th:

Short stories, Essays, Prose pieces for the Queer Grits Anthology.

https://www.facebook.com/grits.anthology

June 15th - extended deadline:

Houston and Nomadic Voices

Fiction, Flash Fiction, Poetry, 

Creative Nonfiction and, 

Cross-Genre hybrid work.

Based in Houston, but they accept work from international sources. Jeni McFarland is Fiction and Non-Fiction Editor while Colin James Sturdevant is Managing Editor. This is relatively new, but there's a real buzz about it so give it a go.

http://houstonandnomadicvoicesmagazine.com/2013/05/30/call-for-submissions-houston-nomadic-voices-magazine-issue-2-speaking-my-mind/

BLUE FIFTH REVIEW - June 30th is the final deadline for their next issue.
Unsolicited work is accepted, but no previously published work.Take a look at their latest issue - it's a great read and will give you a better idea of their needs.
Poetry: open to traditional or experimental forms of any length
Flash Fiction: open to works of prose – up to 1,000 words – emphasizing varying degrees of narrative, form, language, voice, and pacing
Art: The editors generally solicit art for the issues but will consider unsolicited submissions. Attach the work as a .jpg, .jpeg, or .gif file.http://bluefifthreview.wordpress.com/submission-guidelines/

30th June:

THE LITPOP AWARDS

Open to residents of Canada and the United States only. Poetry / Short Fiction competition:

The POP Montreal International Music Festival and Matrix Magazine have joined forces to rock your literary world with Canada's most innovative and exciting literary competition. They're looking for writing that really pops. So if you can bring the noise with poetry and/or short fiction, it’s time to smash some bottles and trash some hotels (but not really though). If you have what it takes, you will get your work published in Matrix, and get free travel to POP Montreal for a night in your honour.



http://www.matrixmagazine.org/litpop/

Short literary fiction. Under 500 words.
currently looking for submissions, read their new edition, just published.
"Apocrypha and Abstractions is an online only Literary Journal specializing in very short (flash) fiction, of 500 words or fewer. The stories represented here strive to say something without actually saying it. We leave the interpretation entirely up to the reader."
http://apocryphaandabstractions.wordpress.com/

The Piker Press accepts fiction, non fiction, essays and art on a broad variety of topics and genres. 

A weekly journal for arts, sciences, fiction and non-fiction, 'we like to think of it as an illegitimate, online child of Analog and National Geographic, but funnier.' No payment, but take a look at their journal and submission details.

http://www.pikerpress.com/submissions/submissions.php

The Santa Fe Writers Project 

Their mission statement is to discover one new writer per year. If you've never been published, or if you're self published, or published by a small press who have used less than $15,000. to promote your work, you are eligible for this international project. They are looking for writers of novellas, or short stories and want to publish one author per year, starting spring of 2014. Andrew Gifford is the publisher.   They tells us that this project is separate and unrelated to the contest which they run and which has an entry fee of $30. 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Santa-Fe-Writers-Project/283052815651

FICTION ATTIC PRESS

SHORT STORIES of 5,000 words or less.  Submissions open on 1st June, deadline 30th August.

Fiction Attic Press are now accepting submissions for their Short Story Contest. The winner will be published in their anthology and receive a payment of £150. (There's an entry fee of $7.)

http://fictionattic.com/first-novel-contest/

The Brooklyn Rail welcomes you to their web-exclusive section InTranslation, where they feature unpublished translations of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and dramatic writing. Launched in April 2007, InTranslation is a venue for outstanding work in translation and a resource for translators, authors, editors, and publishers seeking to collaborate. They regularly seek exceptional, unpublished English translations from all languages:

Sundog Lit seeks to publish active, vibrant, earth-scorching literature. They read year-round. One submission at a time and they do not consider previously published work. 

http://sundoglit.com/submissions/

Subterranean Blue 

have just published their third issue this month. They are looking for poetry and art  for the next issue. Take a look at their publication and submit here:

http://www.subterraneanbluepoetry.com/SubterraneanBluePoetry.Submissions.htm

iARTistas 
 the new iPAD/digital/print publication from the publisher of PoetsArtists. She is also now the FRESH look for MiPOesias Magazine. MiPOeisas (www.mipoesias.com) will stay online via the web site and the internet archives but all new work received will be published under the iARTistas title.

IARTistas seeks to publish authors and Visual artists who think outside of the box.

http://iartistas.wordpress.com/submissions/

Thumbnail Poetry Magazine launches its annual, guest-edited issues in January 2014. We are seeking original, unpublished poetry submissions in any style not to exceed 40 lines (though we might let an extra line or two sneak by). Series editor Beth Couture will be reviewing submissions for a guest editor that is still to be determined. The wait time on this will be exceptionally long. We're cool with simultaneous submissions, and we only ask that you let us know right away if your work has been published elsewhere.
https://thumbnailmag.submittable.com/submit/18780

DISTRICT LIT - publishes Art, Fiction and, Poetry on an ongoing basis:

http://districtlit.com/guidelines

Rufous City Review accepts on going submissions in original art, poetry, and poetic prose which surprises, unsettles, and excites. We want to experience writing that twists our expectations and reminds us what it means to be obsessed with language.

http://www.rufouscityreview.com/-the-fancy-submission-manager.html

PITHEAD CHAPEL:

Electronically publishes literary fiction and nonfiction - monthly. 

At present they are accepting submissions of under 4,000 words only.

Flash Fiction (under 1,000 words)

Short Fiction (under 4,000 words)

Non fiction - but no critical essays.

https://pitheadchapel.submittable.com/submit

http://ginoskoliteraryjournal.com/guidelines.htm

GINOSKO LITERARY JOURNAL:

Acceps short fiction & poetry, creative nonfiction, interviews, social justice concerns, spiritual insights.


Editorial lead time 1-2 months; accept simultaneous submissions & reprints; length flexible, accept excerpts.

Receives postal submissions & email—prefer email submissions as attachments in Microsoft Works Word Processor, Rich Text Format or Word. Copyright reverts to author. Read year-round.

SUNDAY:

Spanish artist Dino Valls, who trained as a doctor while developing his unique painting style, is interviewed in The Original Van Gogh's Ear Anthology.


http://theoriginalvangoghsearanthology.com/2013/05/23/an-interview-with-dino-valls/

Further examples of his work, can be found on his website:
http://www.dinovalls.com/en/gallery/102/

The Original Van Gogh's Ear Anthology:

The idea for starting an international anthology of prose, poetry and art from people of all walks of life, everywhere in the world, began with Allen Ginsberg. He said creativity is a great way to bring people together. We discussed giving a chance to never-before-known talents by publishing them alongside the famous. He said everyone’s a genius. It’s just a matter of how one’s genius is expressed. Since Allen was the inspiration for the anthology series, it seemed only right to read through all of the contents of Allen Ginsberg’s Collected Poems 1947-1980 for a title. When my eyes landed on his poem ‘Death to Van Gogh’s Ear,’ I immediately knew. The poem begins: ‘Poet is Priest / Money has reckoned the soul of America.’ Those first two lines pretty much sum up what the poem is about. And it was written in Paris, December 1957. I knew then that Van Gogh’s Ear would be the anthology’s title.”

~ Ian Ayres, creator of the original
Van Gogh’s Ear Anthology Series

MONDAY

SALT PUBLISHING - have announced that they are no longer publishing single author poetry collections.

The poetry publishing world has been rocked this week with the sad news that Salt Publishing have decided not to publish single author editions. They cite the fall of sales for such work as the cause. All the more reason to support the publishers still around.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/may/24/salt-poetry-market-slump

TUESDAY:

Fulcrum - the annual of poetry and aesthetics - seemed to have  been dormant over the last couple of years. However, there are significant signs of life and interest over at its new fb page.

 

One of the most significant spaces ever created for poetry interaction anywhere at any time, Fulcrum is a masterpiece.

—John Kinsella, Cambridge University

Fulcrum serves as a primary resource for anyone interested in diverse poetic practices not only from these States, but also from around our trembling globe.

—Michael Palmer

Just exactly that—poetry and aesthetics bound like a new literary bible telling me the prophecy of what seems to me this (to coin a phrase) New Literary Largess… I constantly had the feeling of being on the cusp of a great new movement, not only in literary journals, but in contemporary poetry and scholarship as well while reading Fulcrum. … Proximity with perfection, a feat of a journal!

—Literary Magazine Review

https://www.facebook.com/pages/FULCRUM-an-annual-of-poetry-and-aesthetics/19132964296

WEDNESDAY:

PL Travers, author of Mary Poppins on writing, on her meeting with AE, and the links between Mary Poppins and the Great Mother Goddess Kali!

"Æ’s reaction to Mary Poppins is very interesting. You report his saying, “Had [Mary Poppins] lived in another age, in the old times to which she certainly belongs, she would undoubtedly have had long golden tresses, a wreath of flowers in one hand, and perhaps a spear in the other. Her eyes would have been like the sea, her nose comely, and on her feet winged sandals. But, this age being the Kali Yuga, as the Hindus call it, . . . she comes in habiliments suited to it.” It seems that Æ was suggesting that your English nanny was some twentieth-century version of the Mother Goddess Kali."

http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/3099/the-art-of-fiction-no-63-p-l-travers

THURSDAY:

Erskine Caldwell, on writing and listening:

With more than eighty million books sold to readers in nearly forty different languages, Erskine Caldwell is one of the most widely read literary figures of the twentieth century. His novel God’s Little Acre has alone sold over fourteen million copies. His books have been made into three movies and three plays; the stage adaptation of Tobacco Road made American theater history when it ran for seven and a half years on Broadway. A versatile and prolific writer, Caldwell is the author of almost sixty books, including novels, short-story collections, autobiographical volumes, interpretive travel books, children’s books, and photo-essay volumes (such as the recently reissued You Have Seen Their Faces) done in collaboration with the photographer Margaret Bourke-White.

http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/3098/the-art-of-fiction-no-62-erskine-caldwell

FRIDAY:

RUTH JACOBS is a writer and researcher. Her books
 Soul Destruction and Soul Destruction Diary expose the dark world and the harsh reality of life as a call girl. "I draw on my research and the women I interviewed for inspiration. I also have firsthand experience of many of the topics I write about such as posttraumatic stress disorder, and drug and alcohol addiction."

She recently wrote a short story, Protection, which can be read online here, and plans to write some more shorts in the future. In addition to my fictional writing and the current charity publication, I also have a page on the Soul Destruction website dedicated to exited women. On the Voices of Prostitution Survivors page you can read firsthand accounts shared bravely by women who have lived through and survived prostitution.
You can take a look at the huge variety of interviews with other writers which Ruth has held over the last year on her site In the Booth with Ruth:
http://ruthjacobs.co.uk/in-the-booth-with-ruth-writer-interviews-list/

SATURDAY:

James Joyce, Writer - an exciting new page which publishes interviews and photographs of Joyce:

This is an example of one the lesser known photographs and quotes which the page will be carrying"

"Poetry, even when apparently most fantastic, is always a revolt against artifice, a revolt, in a sense, against actuality. It speaks of what seems fantastic and unreal to those who have lost the simple intuitions which are the test of reality; and, as it is often found at war with its age, so it makes no account of history, which is fabled by the daughters of memory."

-- James Joyce "James Clarence Mangan" (1902), a lecture on that Irish poet delivered at the Literary and Historical Society, University College, Dublin on February 1, 1902. It appeared in the college magazine St. Stephen's. Joyce also refers to Mangan in "Araby" in Dubliners, a rare self-acknowledged Irish literary influence on Joyce.https://www.facebook.com/pages/James-Joyce-writer/332196660243207

Highly Recommended 19th May, 2013.

Sunday:

The World's Largest Book Publishers, 2012 -  Publisher's Weekly have published their list of the world's largest book publishers.

Lead by Pearson Plc, who publish over 4,000 fiction and non-fiction books each year and has generated an extra 11% of total sales in markets in China, India, Africa and Latin America.

Interesting to see the change in ranking and in revenues. While there is some change, these companies continue their global sales.  Click on each company to view a profile of the publishing house:
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/financial-reporting/article/52677-the-world-s-54-largest-book-publishers-2012.html

Monday:

Show Us the Money:
The review review and Every Writers Resource have published lists of magazines who will actually pay you for your work. Keep an eye on these.  The lists are not exhaustive but are a good starting point:
http://www.thereviewreview.net/publishing-tips/show-me-literary-magazines-pay

http://www.everywritersresource.com/writingsense/2013/03/literary-magazines-the-pay/

I note that Descant has been overlooked in both lists above and so, to redress the balance here is a separate link to it.

Descant is a quarterly journal publishing new and established contemporary writers and visual artists from Canada and around the world. Begun in 1970 as a mimeograph, Descant has evolved into a journal of international acclaim. 

Over the years many ground-breaking special editions of Descant have been published, including issues focusing on single artists such as Dennis Lee, Michael Ondaatje and R. Murray Schafer, theme issues such as Male Desire, Romantic Love, Anatomy and Music, and issues exploring the culture of countries such as India, Australia/New Zealand, China, the former Yugoslavia and Japan.

Based in Toronto, it has been publishing literary fiction for five decades and also offers a payment for your work:  http://www.descant.ca/contact

Tuesday:

An exciting new collection from John W. Sexton was launched this week.

"In the poems of The Offspring of the Moon, John W. Sexton speaks to a tradition deeply rooted in the Irish literary imagination: from the oral tales and myths of pre-Christian times, through the gothic horrors of Sheridan Le Fanu and Bram Stoker, to the early science-fictional romances of Fitz-James O'Brien and M. P. Shiel. These are poems of the altered mind, the cosmic journey, the daemons and totems of the spirit world, the subversion of logic and science.

"More excitingly than any other poet presently writing in Ireland, Sexton thinks the world anew. His poems offer a unique, provocative adventure through a landscape surreal as a dream, lyrical and terrifying as a fairytale. Yet for all its absorbing forays into the visionary, his work remains anchored by a profound and often painful wisdom. Breathing the exotic into plainness, Sexton pushes back the flawed boundaries of ordinary life. He satisfies our desire for a world porous with imagination, potent with subconscious symbology readable on the surface of the quotidian like Braille."

"Unquestionably Sexton has the visionary power and imaginative reach of writers such as H. G. Wells, Ray Bradbury, Heinrich Hoffman and Edward Lear, but his most feverish scope for creative conjuring is matched by an equal and outstanding dedication to craft." - Grace Wells (Contrary)

"Sexton’s own sure hand with poetic craft is extraordinary, and he’s not afraid to put it to use, whether for delicate lyrics or for horror. Highly recommended." - Dr. Suzette Haden Elgin (The Linguistics & Science Fiction Newsletter)

"A lively and inventive poet." - Books Ireland

"A fine control of form and sureness of phrasing." - Knute Skinner

"Remarkable remintings of the dark fantasy inherent in much folktale and song and its abiding archetypal intrusion into our surface modernity in stress." - Steve Sneyd (Data Dump #90)"http://www.amazon.com/The-Offspring-Moon-ebook/dp/B00COQSRH6/ref=sr_1_1

Wednesday:

The Fenton Aldeburgh First Collection Prize - any first collection of poetry, of at least 40 pages with primary publication in the UK and Republic of Ireland between 1 August 2012 and 31 July 2013 is eligible. Submissions can be from publishers or individual poets.

The deadline for receiving three bound or proof copies with a note of the date of publication will be Friday 26th July 2013.

http://www.thepoetrytrust.org/site/aldeburgh-first-collection-prize/2012-the-winner/

Thursday:

Bradshaw Books have announced the Cork Literary Review Poetry Manuscript Competition 2013, aimed at giving emerging writers the opportunity to publish their first collection of poetry.

The prize includes: 1. The publication of a first collection by the winning poet. 2. The competition winner and two runners-up will also be featured in Volume XVI of the Cork Literary Review. (There is a hefty registration fee, £20., but this competition is worth looking at.)  This year’s judge is: Joseph Woods of Poetry Ireland. Deadline: 18th Jun 13.
For more details visit bradshawbooks.com

Friday:

Poetry International Festival Rotterdam:

11th - 15th June:

For the 44th time in a row, Poetry International brings you a selection of the best poets from all over the world for an annual poetry spectacle in the Rotterdam municipal theatre. 

Adonis, John Ashberry, Ken Babstock, Daniel Banulescu, James Byrne, Kwame Dawes, Elke Erb, Jan Glas, Karinna Alves Guilias, Roland Jooris, Ilya Kaminsky, Liu Waitong, Michele Metail, Emmanuel Moses, Ester Naomi Perquin, Qin Xiaoyu, Mustafa Stitou, Yang Lian, Knut Odergard.

http://www.poetryinternationalweb.net/pi/site/festival/index/en

Highly Recommended 12th May, 2013.

MONDAY

“To Autumn”: Keats’ Perfect Poem.

An essay by Steve Zelnick.

“To Autumn” is an adventure in language and its power to evoke feeling, reaching beyond reasoning to accentuate sensuous qualities – tone, rhythm, and the kinesthetic horizon of sound-sense. Keats’ poem explores the extent to which language can be both music and dance and also invite the speaker/reader to imitate the vital forces of nature. More than holding the mirror up to nature, “To Autumn” asks the reader to be it rather than simply to see it. Here he follows closely the desire of the speaker of Wordsworth’s sonnet who wishes to regain the primitive mind and the radiance of the chthonic gods. However, Keats by-passes his argument in order to accomplish what Wordsworth’s speaker only thinks about.http://drszellitessays.wordpress.com/2013/05/08/to-autumn-keats-perfect-poem/

TUESDAY:

Poetry Northeast was founded in 2012 as a private publication associated with the Boston Poetry Union and published by the Pen & Anvil Press. The journal has no particular thematic or regional emphasis; the editors seek only to publish poems which are effective, memorable, and worth reading. We are as eager to publish an author writing in Bora Bora as one from Boston, but we are not slavishly committed to a global scope. Given the nature of literary relationships—those ties woven from shared experiences, influences, temperament—we expect that the contents of our issues will tend toward a Northeast or New England contributorship. That tendency should not be mistaken for a regional focus. It is the editors' intention that PoNE will earn a reputation for publishing and promoting writers whose mastery of craft and artistic sensibilities combine in poems that have enduring quality.

Zachary Bos is the founding, and present, Editor. Jenna Dee is the Project Manager. Contributing editors do or have included Sean Smeland; Walter Smelt; Jenna Dee; Erin McDonagh; Matthew Kelsey; Robert Morris; Catherine Ahearn; Michael Healy; Adam Fitzgerald; Johanna Jacobson; and Ryne Hager.

http://poetryne.org/about/

Poetry Northeast publishes poetry, essays and reviews. Take a look at this essay by Yoby Henthorn on the poetry of Joan Kane, a writer concerned with the cultural integrity of the Inuit people.
Remembering Spirit: on the poetry of Joan Kane 

WEDNESDAY

Poethead - by Chris Murray.

 A blog which is dedicated to increasing the visibility of women poets, as well as the the odd male!
"The kernel of this blog is based in promoting and discussing women poets, editors, writers and translators. This blog came about because I could not access many women writers nor indeed adequate translations of women poets’ work. This is an academic and historic lack which is not readily acknowledged here in Ireland.

I wrote a note about publishing women poets here. The premise of it is simple enough : I use technology to increase the visibility of women writers and editors’ work through devoting a small part of this blog to platforming poetry written by women."

.http://poethead.wordpress.com/c-murray-the-poethead-site/

THURSDAY

Lawrence R. Smith, Editor and Founder of Caliban Online Magazinehas recently published an online edition of the magazine. 

In the mid-80s, American politics and writing took a turn to the right. The great American tradition of innovative, imaginative writing, from Whitman and Dickinson through the giants of the 20th century, was overshadowed by an obsession with literary formalism. Lawrence R. Smith founded Caliban in 1986 to counter this tendency. Writers who flourished in George Hitchcock’s legendary kayak magazine, which closed in 1984, moved to Caliban: Raymond Carver, Robert Bly, Colette Inez, James Tate, W.S. Merwin, Michael McClure, Charles Simic, Diane Wakoski, Philip Levine, Louis Simpson, Russell Edson, and many others. Writers who had never published in kayak also joined the Caliban scene: William Burroughs, Maxine Hong Kingston, Jim Harrison, Wanda Coleman, Louise Erdrich, William Stafford, among a host of others. Caliban was an immediate success, praised by Andrei Codrescu in a review of issues #1 and #2 on NPR’s “All Things Considered” and given a Coordinating Council of Little Magazines award for outstanding new magazine. The print Caliban was also awarded three National Endowment for the Arts grants. The Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley, purchased the Caliban archives in 1997. 

 In 2010, fourteen years after the physical magazine closed, Smith started a virtual version online: it has the same design, format, and even the same typeface. Along with the outstanding contributors that characterized the old magazine, the new Calibanonline features full color, high-resolution art reproductions throughout each issue, as well as short art videos and recordings of original musical compositions.

Calibanonline magazine is an internationally recognized literary and arts magazine featuring avant-garde writing, high resolution art reproductions, short art video, and musical compositions, under the leadership of founder and editor Lawrence R. Smith.

http://www.calibanonline.com/index.html

FRIDAY

Relics of Bion in Beckett: 

George Viszt, Samuel Beckett Faces Series, tempera.
Courtesy of the SAMUEL BECKETT fb page.

‘Attacks on Linking’ in Beckett’s letters; 

Closed Systems and a Mapping of the Mind in Murphy and ‘The Grid’

Between January 1934 and December 1935 Samuel Beckett underwent psychotherapy at the Tavistock clinic with the then little known psychotherapist, Wilfred Bion. Bion has become best known for his work on the psychology of groups, although much of his work, such as ‘The Grid’, focuses on the development of and capacity for thought.

This essay looks closely at the relationship between Beckett and Psychoanalysis:
  http://stetjournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Relics-of-Bion-in-Beckett.pdf

SATURDAY

ArtBeat  is an arts show that was broadcast from 1998 until 2007 in the Mid and Northwest region of Ireland. For almost a decade Artbeat highlighted the arts in the region and the many artists, performers and community arts projects both from here in Ireland and abroad.

Podcast.ie are currently placing the highlights of Artbeat on Podcasts.ie for your enjoyment. You can imagine this a major body of work with the best bits from almost 500 hour long shows.
There are some wonderful readings and reviews of artists here:
http://www.podcasts.ie/weekly-shows/the-artbeat-archive/

SUNDAY:

CYPHERS - one of Ireland's oldest literary magazines, has just released it's latest edition. Featuring work from:
Knute Skinner; Howard Wright; Hugh O'Donnell; the late Jean-Pierre Rosnay (whose café littéraire I visited in Pars); Macdara Woods; Tom French; Patricia O'Callaghan; Ainín Ní Bhroin; Ciaran O'Driscoll; Patrick Deeley; Rosemarie Rowley; with visual art and reviews. http://www.cyphers.ie/