Newport Review - Editor’s Blog

Judging is Complete in the 2011 Newport Review Flash Fiction Contest!

Our guest judge, flash fiction writer extraordinaire Meg Pokrass (Damn Sure Right, Press 53) has selected the first, second and third prize winners in a very close competition. The overall quality of this year’s work was probably the best we have ever received, making choosing only a few stories even harder. We are publishing a complete list of our prize winners and finalists below, and we thank all the talented writers who sent their work to Newport Review.

Winning Stories Chosen by Meg Pokrass

First Prize, $250:             “Necrotic,” Elise Blackwell

Second Prize, $150:         “Group,” Iman Carol Fears

Third Prize, $100:            “Once We Left Tampa,” Sophie Rosenblum

Honorable Mention:    “Lapse,” Katherine Davis

“Ash,” Matthew Di Paoli

“Home Free,” Gary V. Powell

“Miami Cafe,” Jeffrey Schneider

Finalists:                     “Earthward,” Henry Alley

                                    “La Donna della Finestra,” Mary Byrne

                                    “Bounce,” Jackson Connor

                                    “She Knows More Than I Know,” Wayne Cresser

                                    “Seven Eight Nine,” Elisabeth Dahl

                                    “Calypso Contemplates Odysseus,” Andrea Hahn

                                    “Penance,” Becky Haynes

                                    “London, Christmas 1987,” Sandra Jensen

                                    “Ira,” April Johnston

                                    “Latin Touch,” John Kotula

                                    “Feral” and “Neroli,” W. F. Lantry

                                    “Sandwich Generation,” Ruth Lehrer

                                    “Almost Gone,” Joseph Markman

                                    “Birthday” and “Avoidance,” Lisa Nikolidakis

                                    “The Immigrant,” Jeffrey Schneider

                                    “Tenagra,” Catherine Shelton

                                    “Sailing,” Peter Stine

                                    “Mid-Life in London Towers,” John Witt

Congratulations to all our winners and finalists, and thanks again to all the amazing writers who entered their brief, brilliant and bold works into our competition.

AHA! is New Bedford’s monthly celebration of the arts, and  Newport Review will join the festivities for the October 13th AHA! Night with a theme of “Fables and Folklore.”

Gallery 65 on William Street is hosting a reading by members of  Newport Review, an online journey of writing and art, beginning at 7:00 pm for the October AHA! Night.

AN EVENING In New Bedford WITH  NEWPORT REVIEW will feature poets and writers published in the magazine reading their work. Newport Review publishes established writers as well as those who are publishing their work for the first time. Featured writers include John Landry, a poet laureate of New Bedford; Lisa Borders, whose novel Cloud Cuckoo Land received fiction honors in the Massachusetts Book Awards; Kenneth Schneyer, a 2009 graduate of the Clarion Writers Workshop and member of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America; and Newport Review editor Kathryn Kulpa, a finalist in the Massachusetts Cultural Council artist fellowships. More readers will be announced.

The evening will include an open mic, and new and emerging writers are invited to sign up to share a poem or short fiction selection. Writers planning to read for the open mic should come by the gallery at 6:30 to sign up.

 … to dive right in and celebrate summer with a hot new issue of Newport Review. The Summer 2011 issue,  just released, features an amazing array of talent, including  poetry by Marge Piercy and Neeli Cherkovski, excerpts from a new novel by Bob Thurber, and photography by Sara Blazevic, a student who is also a featured writer in our New Voices section. With an expanded poetry section, short stories and a memoir, Newport Review can meet all your summer reading needs. 

  Calling all Rhode Island readers and writers! Meet authors and editors of Newport Review, now celebrating its fourth year as an online journal of writing and art, on THURSDAY, JULY 21 @ 7:00 p.m. at Books on the Square in Providence.

AN EVENING WITH  NEWPORT REVIEW will feature poets and writers published in the magazine reading their work. Newport Review publishes established writers as well as those who are publishing their work for the first time. The evening will include an open mic, and new and emerging writers are invited to sign up to share a poem or short fiction selection.

A reception with the writers and the magazine’s editors will follow.

Featured readers include:
Lori Bradley, artist and writer
Audrey Friedman, poet
Kirsten Hammerstrom, 2009 Newport Review Flash Fiction Contest winner
Bre Kidman, New Voices writer
John Landry, former poet laureate of New Bedford, MA
Kara Provost, poet
Alice Simmons, New Voices poet
Marybeth Rua-Larsen, poet and fiction writer

2011 Newport Review Flash Fiction Contest

$500 in Prizes

All Stories Considered for Publication

Guest Judge: Meg Pokrass, author of Damn Sure Right (Press 53, 2011)

Contest Guidelines:

Format: Original, unpublished flash fiction stories, including prose poetry and experimental forms.

Deadline: Opens June 1, 2011, at midnight; Closes October 1, 2011, at 11:59 p.m.

Word Count: Stories up to 1,000 words maximum; no minimum

Entry fee: $8 for one story; 3 for $21

• Writers may submit a total of six entries.
• The contest is open to all writers ages 13 and above, except writers who have close personal affiliations with Newport Review, its editorial staff, contest judges or advisory board. Past contest winners and those who have been published in past issues of Newport Review are eligible to enter.
• Winners will be notified and posted on our blog and web site.
• You can submit through our online submission manager. Choose “contest entry” as the category. Complete guidelines at http://newportreview.org/?contests.html.
• Questions about contest rules (NOT entries) may be addressed to edit (at) newportreview.org.

$500 in prizes, along with publication, will be awarded.

First Prize: $250 and publication in Newport Review

Second Prize: $150 and publication in Newport Review

Third Prize: $100 and publication in Newport Review

Honorable Mention: Publication in Newport Review

Prize-winning stories will be published in the Winter 2012 issue of Newport Review. Other stories may also be considered for publication.

What’s going on with Newport Review this spring? We’re putting together new projects and new features and working on what promises to be a great summer issue.

In the next few months, look for more readings, including open mic nights.

 Throughout the next year,  we’ll be hosting free writing workshops at libraries throughout Rhode Island.

In our next issue, we’ll premiere two new features: interviews with independent bookstores about the local literary scene and reviews of books, chapbooks and zines by local writers.

Can you help?

We’re looking for readers and writers to help launch our new features. Tell us about your favorite bookstores and what you’re reading. Let us know about what local writers are publishing. If you’ve read a good book by a writer from RI or southeastern New England, send us your recommendation. Maybe we’ll review it–or maybe we’ll ask you to review it.

We are applying for grant funding for Spring 2011. Given the current state of the Rhode Island budget, our funding is not at all guaranteed–but you can help.

Please make a donation to Newport Review today. It doesn’t have to be a large one. $5 will buy you a large latte drink–or a year’s worth of amazing art, poetry, fiction and memoir. And every contribution from our readers sends the message that the local arts community supports our efforts to bring new and local writing to the global online community.

There are two ways you can make a tax-deductible donation to Newport Review. The easiest is to click on the PayPal link on our home page. Or maybe you prefer to do it old school. We can do that. Just send your check to Newport Review, P.O. Box 336, Barrington, RI 02806. We’ll appreciate your donation, however it gets to us.

   The Midwinter 2011 issue of Newport Review, featuring the collage artwork of Lori Bradley and the winning fiction and poetry from the 2010 Bananagrams ® Writing Contest, has been released. We are proud of this excellent, varied issue, with a great mix of poetry, fiction and memoir pieces and some brilliant work from new writers. Please check out the new issue, let us know what you think, and show your support by making an online donation to Newport Review.

Now that all winners have been notified, we are thrilled to announce the results of the 2010 Newport Review Bananagrams Writing Contest. Congratulations to our lucky winners, who will receive cash prizes, Bananagrams games and publication in the Winter 2010/2011 issue of Newport Review.

Thank you to all the writers who entered; to our judges, fiction writer Jincy Willett and poet John Landry, and to our sponsors, Rhode Island’s very own Bananagrams game company.

FICTION
First Prize ($200, Bananagrams, publication) :Kim Henderson, Idyllwild, CA
Second Prize ($50, Bananagrams, publication) : Nicole Murphy, Brooklyn, NY
Honorable Mention (Bananagrams, publication) : Lauri Hedman, Cutler Bay, FL

POETRY
First Prize ($200, Bananagrams, publication) : Fern G. Z. Carr, Kelowna, BC, Canada
Second Prize ($50, Bananagrams, publication) : Judith Terzi, Pasadena, CA
Honorable Mention (Bananagrams, publication) : Jamie Leighton, Randolph, MA
Suellen Wedmore, Rockport, MA

FINALISTS

Fiction: 
Geoff Gardner, Asheville, NC
Samantha Leach, Providence, RI
Cyra Sherburn, Wilmington, NC
Rebecca Webber, Cranston, RI

Poetry:
Richard Garcia, James Island, SC
Arlene Cota Greco, Derby, CT
Grace Hobbs, Potsdam, NY
Vanessa Schwartz, Burbank, CA
Caroline Zarlengo Sposto, Memphis, TN
Jessica Young, Ann Arbor, MI

Newport Review’s Bananagrams Writing Contest is now in its final stage of judging.  Our guest judges, poet John Landry and fiction writer Jincy Willett, are now reviewing the finalists in poetry and prose. We will announce the lucky winners soon, and winning entries will be published in our Winter Solstice 2010/2011 issue.

Writing  Class/Workshop

Saturdays, September 11, 2010 - October 2, 2010
1:00 PM-3:00 PM

Rochambeau Library, Providence Community Library
708 Hope Street
Providence, RI 02906

Kathryn Kulpa and Susan Hradil, editors of the Newport Review, will be giving a Flash Fiction Workshop at the Rochambeau Library on 4 successive Saturday afternoons September 11 - October 2.

Kathryn Kulpa is editor-in-chief of Newport Review. Her fiction collection Pleasant Drugs won the Mid-List Press First Series Award, and her short stories have been published in Seventeen, Florida Review, The Pedestal, Monkeybicycle and other journals. She has taught writing at URI, The Learning Connection, and in public libraries throughout Rhode Island.

Susan Hradil, fiction editor of Newport Review, is a graduate of Hunter College and Brown University. Her teaching experience includes Oberlin College, RISD, and Brown, as well as elementary and middle schools. She has published work in Ontario Review, The MacGuffin, Amherst Review and other journals.

Newport Review is a biannual online journal featuring stories, poems and memoir from local, national and international writers.

The workshop will focus on generating new work and revising stories with the goal of publication.

To register please contact Tom O’Donnell :  todonnell (at) provcomlib.org

Cost: FREE!

Suggested Audiences: Adult

E-mail: todonnell@provcomlib.org

Phone: 401-455-8198

  Newport Review’s editors are excited to announce that we have had our first entry in the 2010 Bananagrams® Writing Contest. As promised, the first writer to send in her entry to the contest will receive a special thank-you package from Newport Review, including a book by one of our published authors, a matted print by one of our featured photographers and a Newport Review bumper sticker.

Our fortunate first entrant is Rebecca Webber of Cranston, RI. She submitted a creative nonfiction story for her entry.  Congratulations, Rebecca, and good luck in the contest!

If you haven’t submitted your entry yet, please take a look at our Bananagrams® writing prompt and take the plunge! $500 in prizes await the winners.

Remember, you can enter with poetry, prose or both. We have extended the deadline to the end of September to accommodate as many writers as possible. If you’re a writer, encourage your writing friends to enter; if you’re a teacher, encourage your students (the contest is open to all writers ages 13 and up). It’s a great opportunity to play with words for fun AND profit!

All of us at Newport Review were sad to hear of the death of Abraham Nathanson, inventor of Bananagrams®, in Bonnet Shores on Sunday, June 6. All of us at Newport Review are grateful for his generous donation of $500 to sponsor our Bananagrams® Writing Contest. So play a game of Bananagrams® in honor of Abe … and try our Bananagrams® writing prompt.

We have decided to extend the deadline to September 30 to allow more time for people to enter. Just a reminder: the contest is open to adults AND students (age 13 and up), and you can enter a story, poem, or both!