Interview With Jodi Picoult: Award Winning Author

Jodi Picoult: Award Winning Author

Famous for exploring the darker side of life, Jodi Picoult – second only to JK Rowling in the bestseller list – has turned the spotlight on the children for whom just a sneeze or a cuddle could crush their fragile bones.

Things break all the time. "You can break a record, a horse, a dollar. You can break the ice. There are coffee breaks and lunch breaks and even prison breaks. Day breaks, waves break, voices break. Chains can be broken. So can silence and fever," so says Charlotte, as she recalls the night her daughter Willow was born. She also notes that promises break. Hearts break.

Charlotte is the mother of a child born with a severe and progressively deforming condition: type III OI – medical shorthand for osteogenesis imperfecta, a collagen defect that causes bones so brittle they might break with a stumble, a twist, a sneeze or an over-enthusiastic cuddle. She is also the creation of the international best-selling author Jodi Picoult.

And the debate at the heart of Handle With Care is another of those emotional minefields Picoult has become famous for treading. Charlotte initiates a wrongful-birth lawsuit, hoping that the settlement will allow her to take care of Willow's needs. And as ever with Picoult, there's a twist and an ethical conundrum – the obstretician Charlotte is suing is also her best friend.

Read more of Jodi Picoult's interview here, or pick up a copy of her books now!

Annual Writing Competition: Writers Digest Competition Has $30,000 in Cash and Prizes

Writing Digest Annual Writing Competition

For 78 years, the Annual Writer’s Digest Competition has rewarded writers just like you for their finest work. We continue the tradition by giving away more than $30,000 in cash and prizes!

Win a trip to New York City !

GRAND PRIZE: $3,000 cash and a trip to New York City to meet with editors or agents.Writer's Digest will fly you and a guest to The Big Apple, where you'll spend three days and two nights in the publishing capital of the world. While you're there, a Writer's Digest editor will escort you to meet and share your work with four editors or agents! Plus, you'll receive a free Diamond Publishing Package from Outskirts Press.

Entry Deadline: May 15, 2009.

For entrants paying with a credit card, we will accept manuscripts submitted online. Manuscripts in the script categories must be submitted via regular mail.

Compete and Win in 10 Categories!

• Inspirational Writing (Spiritual/Religious)
• Memoirs/Personal Essay
• Magazine Feature Article
• Genre Short Story (Mystery, Romance, etc.)
• Mainstream/Literary Short Story
• Rhyming Poetry
• Non-rhyming Poetry
• Stage Play
• Television/Movie Script
• Children's/Young Adult Fiction

Entry Fee: Poems are $15 for the first entry; $10 for each additional poem submitted in the same online session. All other entries are $20 for the first manuscript; $15 for each additional manuscript submitted in the same online session.

Add $5 per manuscript to all entries postmarked after May 15, 2009. Entries postmarked after June 01, 2009, will not be accepted.

PRIZES

Grand Prize: $3,000 cash and a trip to New York City to meet with editors and agents.

You'll spend three days and two nights in NYC and a Writer's Digest editor will escort you to meet with four editors or agents of your choice! (Includes airfare within the U.S., meals, transportation and related expenses.)

First Place: The First Place Winner in each category receives $1,000 cash, a manuscript critique and marketing advice from a Writer's Digest editor or advisory board member, and $100 worth of Writer's Digest Books.

Second Place: The Second Place Winner in each category receives $500 cash, plus $100 worth of Writer's Digest Books.

Third Place: The Third Place Winner in each category receives $250 cash, plus $100 worth of Writer's Digest Books.

Fourth Place: The Fourth Place Winner in each category receives $100 cash.

Fifth Place: The Fifth-Place Winner in each category receives $50 cash.

Sixth through Tenth Place: The Sixth- through Tenth-Place winners in each category receive $25 cash.

First through Tenth Place Winners also receive a copy of the 2010 Writer’s Market Deluxe Edition and a one-year subscription (new or renewal) to Writer’s Digest Magazine.

11th through 100th Place: All other winners receive distinctive certificates honoring their accomplishment.

For entrants paying with a credit card, we will accept manuscripts submitted online. Manuscripts in the script categories must be submitted via regular mail.

Entry Deadline: May 15, 2009

Late Entry Deadline: June 01, 2009 (Add $5 per manuscript or poem to Entry Fee(s))

Find more Writing Contests and Book Award Competitions here.

Destination Wildlife: Saving Endangered Species In The World

Destination Wildlife

In the early 1990s the World Wildlife Fund published a series of hardcover guides to endangered species in North America. Even with just one continent to cover, the researchers filled thousands of pages, making doorstops that only strapping hikers might carry into the woods.

The National Wildlife Federation, which has slapped its brand on everything from Visa cards to organic coffee, has sponsored a far more practical guide.

Organized by continent and subdivided by the parks and nature preserves found there, the book spotlights animals you are likely to see on a visit. (To plot a trip around an individual creature, you must work backward and consult the index.) Mammals receive top priority here, with birds a close second.

This prejudice can be forgiven in a book aimed at tourists, although a wider ecological scope from an organization that protects endangered species doesn’t seem too much to ask for. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature says that amphibians are the animal group most under threat. Good luck to those 1,811 species, few of which rate a mention.

The writer, Pamela K. Brodowsky, described on the cover as a literary agent and “keen adventurer,” is smart enough to address one of the paradoxes of doing her job too well: Books like this can further endanger what they hope to defend. “Be warned that this park is very popular, and the 70,000 annual visitors may harm the ecosystem,” she writes of Jim Corbett National Park in India.

Read more of Richard Woodward's review here, or get a copy of Destination Wildlife now!

Romance Writers Contest: 2009 Get Your Stiletto In The Door

The 2009 Get Your Stiletto In The Door Contest

Has your manuscript been shredded in other RWA contests because it's not quite romance? Do you write fun, sassy, contemporary fiction centering around the journey of the heroine? (Maybe you don't even have a hero at all.) Do your manuscripts not play by the romance rules? Do you strongly believe that chick lit isn't a flash in the pan? That, despite what the publishing houses may say, it's hip, hot, happening and here to stay (even if it's called something else)?

If any of the above apply, then this is the contest for you!

The Get Your Stiletto In the Door Contest is open to all chick lit writers who have not signed a publishing contract for novel-length fiction with an RWA-approved publisher within five years of the contest deadline. The entry must have a projected minimum of 75,000 words (35,000 words for Young Adult).

Contest Details

Entries must be received by June 15, 2009. In addition to the special prizes for finalists, randomly selected entrants will receive a complimentary copy of Cathy Yardley's how-to book, WILL WRITE FOR SHOES.

Finalists will be notified by August 25, 2009 and will be given the opportunity to revise their entry prior to forwarding to the final judges. Winners will be notified by November 5, 2009.

Final Judges

In the preliminary round, entries will be judged by two (2) qualified judges - Chick Lit Writers members experienced in critiquing and/or published authors of the genre. Large score discrepancies will be sent to a third judge. All entrants will receive detailed score sheets and judges' comments from the preliminary round. Top four (4) entries in each category will move on to the final round.

The final judges will rank the top four finalists in each category: 1st, 2nd, 3rd and Honorable Mention. We have an impressive array of chick lit friendly agent and editor judges for the final round who are excited and anxious to read your entries. (Each finalist entry will be judged by an agent AND an editor!)

Classic Chick Lit/Lady Lit
Editor: Claire Baldwin, Little Black Dress/Headline Publishing, Ltd.
Agent: Kate Schafer Testerman, KT Literary

Chick Thrill
Editor: TBA
Agent: Holly Root, Waxman Agency

Paranormal Chick Lit
Editor: Latoya Smith, Grand Central Publishing
Agent: Michelle Wolfson, Wolfson Literary Agency

Inspirational Chick Lit
Editor: Beth Adams, Guideposts
Agent: Kelly Mortimer, Mortimer Literary Agency

Young Adult Chick Lit
Editor: Regina Griffin, Egmont USA
Agent: Tamar Rydzinski, Laura Dail Literary Agency
New this year!

"Best of the Best"
The 1st place winner in each category will be judged by author and agent Lois Winston of Ashley Grayson Literary Agency.

Plus, the 1st place winner in each category will receive a $50 Amazon gift card.
Category Descriptions

Classic Chick Lit/Lady Lit: We're talking "Bridget Jones Diary," "Flirting with Forty," and "The Devil in the Junior League." Send us your tired, your poor, your fashionistas-in-the-making. We welcome all ethnicities living a classic Chick's life.

Chick Thrill: Been "Spying in High Heels" or arguing that "Size 12 Is Not Fat" in between solving mysteries, catching the bad guy, or running from the do-badders? Then Chick Thrill is the place for Chick Lit mysteries and suspense.

Paranormal Chick Lit: If "Enchanted, Inc." or "Carpe Demon: Adventures of a Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom" describe your style, then your ghost-hunting, spell-casting (or repelling), time-traveling, and otherwise other-worldly Chicks belong here.

Inspirational Chick Lit: Sometimes you gotta have faith. Whether your Chick declares that "With This Ring, I'm Confused" or battles faith and weight issues in her personal version of "The Whitney Chronicles," she belongs here.

Young Adult Chick Lit: Teens can be Chicks, too. It's all about the attitude. If she's "Royally Jacked" or resorting to "Plan B," then she's a true Young Adult Chick.

Please note that this is a Chick Lit specific contest, not a romance contest. Our categories aren't suited for Regency entries. Contemporary Single Title, Paranormal romance, or Romantic Suspense won't do well unless the focus is on a plucky heroine with a true Chick Lit voice.

To fine other Writing Contests and Book Awards here.

Call for Authors: The Spatial Significance of Native American Stories and Ideology

We are now accepting submissions for a collection of stories, essays, and poems for a proposed book on comparative American spatial concepts, partially titled “Stories the Land Holds.” The editors are looking for texts variously addressing “stories in the land.” What are the stories the land tells? Vine Deloria has warned us of problems that result from a perspective that is not fundamentally spatial, and such has been the case for current problems that range from ecological disaster to fanatical environmentalism and bundled mortgages. We believe that these complex and problematic American events can be understood more fully from a Native American perspective. However, cultural amnesia after 1776 has obscured how fundamental Native American ideology is to who we are as Americans, and how vital this philosophy can be for redirecting the disastrous turn of events in American history by recovering and listening to the stories.

Are there truly American “stories” that have been lost or forgotten in colonial efforts to redefine the continent as a “New” or empty world and reshape these lands of Turtle Island with stories and perspectives from other places? Take, for example, the Diné who at one time performed 500 ceremonies but today only a handful of ceremonies remain. Beneath the current political and ideological structures that cover the surface of America, there is the land itself, and in the land the stories embedded there by Native voices that speak to us about who we are in relation to the natural surroundings that hold us. The natural sciences developed by Native Americans over the millennia across America included their reciprocal relationship with natural environments. This is a spatial and local view where both land and individual are visible.

A working structure of our book includes stories of the creation and stories of the encounter, from Emperor Charles’ and Spanish demands in the 1500s for vast acquisitions of land and rent from the Indians to a Susquahannough’s trading of stories in the 1600s with a Swedish Minister from “New Sweden” in Pennsylvania, and lastly to a view of the land as exorbitantly priced real estate with family homes no longer being local possessions but parts of the vast acquisitions of bundled mortgages by unknown international groups.

Please query by email first, or send abstracts, or completed manuscripts of up to 6,000 words to any of the editors: Anna Lee Walters at Anna_Lee@frontiernet.net -- Catherine Rainwater at cathernr@stedwards.edu -- Cristine Soliz at csoliz@csoliz.com or cristine.soliz@colostate-pueblo.edu.

Abstracts or manuscripts should be accompanied by a short biographical paragraph. Several presses have expressed interest, however no contracts can be made until the texts are selected. We will begin reviewing immediately and plan to complete our selections by July 31.

Cristine Soliz
Colorado State University-Pueblo
Department of English, Psychology Building
719-549-2346 (office)
928-707-2972 (home)
Email: csoliz@csoliz.com or cristine.soliz@colostate-pueblo.edu

South Africa: A Country At The Crossroads

Bring Me My Machine Gun: The Battle for the Soul of South Africa, from Mandela to Zuma

Fifteen years after its first nonracial democratic election, South Africa faces its "second struggle," in the words of Alec Russell. The former Johannesburg bureau chief of the Financial Times, Mr. Russell is the author of Bring Me My Machine Gun: The Battle for the Soul of South Africa, from Mandela to Zumaa wide-ranging new survey of South Africa since the end of apartheid, the overthrow of that system being the first "struggle" to which the country's current predicament is the successor.

Faced with one of the world's highest crime rates, 30 percent unemployment and a ruling party that often conflates its own interests with those of the state, South Africa is fast approaching the point, Mr. Russell argues, where it will have to choose between the disastrous path followed by most other post-colonial African governments or forge a more positive and productive way forward.

Mr. Russell doesn't underestimate the progress South Africa has made since 1994, when Nelson Mandela's African National Congress (ANC) was catapulted from armed liberation movement to governing party. Though many observers had feared a race war, Mr. Mandela, with his unparalleled charisma and genuine commitment to reconciliation, guided the new nation gracefully out of its brutal past.

While race relations are far from perfect (Mr. Russell observes that the country's continued vast economic disparities between blacks and whites have resulted in the "privatization of apartheid" as whites can afford to live their lives apart from the black majority), they are vastly better than what they were 20 years ago.

In contrast to the gracious Mr. Mandela is his successor Thabo Mbeki, who ruled the country for nearly a decade until he was forced to step down by his own party last year. Though Mr. Mbeki pursued free-market policies - much to the consternation of the ANC's left-wing base - his positions on HIV and AIDS (he questioned the link between the two), crime (he accused those who complained about it of being racist) and Zimbabwe (he propped up Robert Mugabe, who to this day remains in power) will ultimately tarnish his legacy.

Read the rest of James Kirchick's review here, or get a copy of Bring Me My Machine Gun: The Battle for the Soul of South Africa, from Mandela to Zuma now!

Call for Authors, Manuscripts, Writers: Giant List of Active Solicitations

Here is a giant list of active magazines and publishers seeking authors, manuscripts, proposals, and writers.

ALEHOUSE PRESS seeks submissions for Alehouse 2010. Now considering short essays (2,000-word maximum) on subjects related to poetry, especially California poets and poetry; plus book reviews of recent publications (750-word maximum). For more information, please visit http://alehousepress.com or query editor@alehousepress.com.

THE ALTRUIST is a new, online literary magazine seeking submissions for its inaugural issue. We accept fresh and innovative works of fiction, poetry, interviews, and more. There is no reading fee. For further information on what we accept, along with submission guidelines, visit www.altruisticword.com or e-mail us at thealtruisticword@gmail.com.

ANDERBO.COM. “Best New Online Literary Journal,” features writers in fiction, “fact,” and poetry. Always looking for new voices. For submission information and guidelines, visit www.anderbo.com.

ARS MEDICA, A Journal of Medicine, the Arts and Humanities is a new literary magazine looking for fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and artwork dealing with illness, the body, healing, and the culture of medicine. For submission/subscription info, see www.ars-medica.ca.

BLOODROOT Literary Magazine invites quality unpublished poetry, short stories, and creative nonfiction. Submit 3–5 poems. Prose: 5,000-word limit. We read March 1–September 1. Bloodroot Literary Magazine, P.O. Box 322, Thetford Center, VT 05075. For complete guidelines, visit www. bloodrootlm.com.

CAESURA, the journal of Poetry Center San Jose, seeks poems that deal with how superstition affects our lives, book reviews (please query), b&w photography, and art. Submit between February 16 and April 10. Send 1–3 poems, not to exceed 4 pages total, to caesura@pcsj.org. Full guidelines at www.pcsj.org/caesura/html.

CALL FOR POEMS of a decidedly liberal bent responding to the news, current events, and topical issues for the New Verse News, the online daily. (If the Guardian appeared in poetry, it might be the New Verse News.) See submission guidelines and timely poetry of enduring interest at www.newversenews.com.

CLARE, the literary magazine of Cardinal Stritch University, seeks short fiction (5,000-word limit) and poetry (3–5 poems). Include SASE. Deadline: March 15. Send to: David Riordan, Writing Program Director, Cardinal Stritch University, 6801 N. Yates Rd., Milwaukee, WI 53217.

DOS PASSOS REVIEW accepting fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry submissions February 1–July 31. Limit 3–5 poems, 3,000 words prose. Send to: Editor, the Dos Passos Review, Dept. of English, Longwood University, 201 High St., Farmville, VA 23909. SASE for reply only. See Web site for specific guidelines: www.brierycreekpress.org.

THE EDITORS of Blood Lotus want to read poetry, fiction, and anything in between! We read year-round, and our quarterly issues are packed with fresh language, memorable characters, and beautiful artwork. We refuse to believe that everything has already been written—let us promote your best writing as proof. Web site: www.bloodlotus.org.

THE EVENING Street Review is centered on the belief that all men and women are created equal. Reads poetry/prose submissions year-round. Often includes comments. Replies in 1 month. Send 4–6 poems or 1–2 prose pieces. 7652 Sawmill Rd., #335, Dublin, OH 43016-9296. E-mail inquiries may be sent to editors@eveningstreetpress.com.

GETTING SOMETHING Read is a small online publishing site. We publish short poems and short works of prose (fiction, nonfiction, essays, or commentary). For more information, go to http://shortworks.org or http://shortpoem.org for more information.

GOT POEM? Submit any subject, any style, any length, any number, any time by e-mail or by mail with SASE. Previously published poems and simultaneous submissions are welcome. The Great American Poetry Show, P.O. Box 69506, West Hollywood, CA 90069. E-mail: info@tgaps.net. Web site: www.tgaps.net.

HOSPITAL DRIVE, launched in Fall 2006, encourages original creative work that examines themes of health, illness, and healing. Submissions are open to anyone, but preference is given to those involved in providing, teaching, studying, or researching patient care. All work will be judged anonymously by reviewers and the editorial board. Poems, short fiction, personal essays, reviews, photography, visual art, audio, and video will be considered. Issues will be released at least once each year, and include invited work. Please see our Web site for more information: http://hospitaldrive.med.virginia.edu/home.html.

MAIN CHANNEL VOICES: A Dam Fine Literary Magazine seeks eclectic, accessible poetry that triggers an Aha! response. Deadlines: January 30, April 30, July 30, and October 30. To submit, send a 2–3 sentence bio and 3–5 poems in the body of an e-mail to mcvsubmissions@mainchannelvoices.com. See examples at www.mainchannelvoices.com.

MIDWAY JOURNAL is accepting submissions now through the end of May. Please visit www.midwayjournal.com for complete submissions guidelines. Direct all inquiries to editors@midwayjournal.com.

OFF THE COAST is seeking poetry submissions, any subject/style. 2009 deadlines: March 15—International/Translation issue; June 15—Open submissions; September 15—Food!; December 15—Open submissions. Send 1–3 poems, e-mail preferred, to: poetrylane@hughes.net. Postal submissions with SASE to: Off the Coast, P.O. Box 14, Robbinston, ME 04671. Web site: www.off-the-coast.com.

PALABRA. Print lit mag of Chicano/Latino writing invites submissions of fiction, flash fiction, poetry, novel excerpts, experimental/cross-genre work, and short plays that explore new directions in Chicano and Latino literary art. Some pay. Guidelines on Web site: www.palabralitmag.com. Queries: info@palabralitmag.com. Submit via USPS only to PALABRA, P.O. Box 86146, Los Angeles, CA 90086-0146.

THE PEDESTAL Magazine is currently seeking submissions of poetry and fiction. Please visit the Web site for additional information and to read the work of our many contributors: www.thepedestalmagazine.com.

PERSIMMON TREE: An Online Literary Magazine by Women Over Sixty. An exciting new magazine that can be found at www.persimmontree.org. We are looking for quality short fiction and nonfiction submissions. Send to editor@persimmontree.org.

POETICA Magazine: now considering submissions of poetry, short stories, and prose on the Jewish experience. Guidelines for our annual poetry contest, poet of the month award, annual chapbook award, and Ekphrastic award are available on our Web site: www.poeticamagazine.com. E-mail: poeticamag@aol.com.

THE RAMBLER wants your stories! Get inspired by the artwork we supply—nonfiction, fiction, and poetry welcome. Also seeking regular submissions for nonfiction, fiction, poetry, and photography. Paying market. For details, see www.ramblermagazine.com.

R-KV-R-Y, a Quarterly Literary Journal is now accepting submissions for its Winter 2009 issue. We seek poetry, fiction, and literary or academic nonfiction on the theme of recovery in its broadest sense, i.e., as the release from oppression of any kind, be it personal, political, or relational. See Web site for guidelines: www.ninetymeetingsinninetydays.com.

SHOOFLY: An Audiomagazine for Children is a unique semiannual publication on CD, dedicated to the celebration of contemporary children’s poetry and literature. Described by one critic as a moveable feast for the wee literati, this award-winning audio series features original and traditional stories, poems, and songs for children ages 3–7. The editors invite the submission of original poems, stories, and limericks suitable for preschoolers and early readers. Accepted works will be produced for audio presentation. Payment in copies and honorarium. Sample CD: $6.95. Submissions accepted by mail only. Guidelines: jack@shooflyaudio.com. Or send SASE to Shoofly, P.O. Box 339, Carrboro, NC 27510.

SOUTHERN California Review, published biannually by USC’s Master of Professional Writing Program, invites submissions of fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and one-act stageplays and screenplays from new, emerging, and established authors. For guidelines: www.usc.edu/scr.

TATTOO HIGHWAY, an online journal of prose, poetry, and art, seeks fresh, original material for TH18 (“The food issue,” deadline January 15) and TH19 (“Reflections/refractions,” June 15). New media and cross-genre work welcomed. See www.tattoohighway.org for complete guidelines, and please read some past issues before submitting!

THE TEACHER'S Voice has radically changed! We are now a free online magazine and teacher resource. We seek poems, short stories, creative nonfiction, and essays about the promise and hard truths of teaching in our schools and colleges. Chapbook and poetry contests too. The Teacher’s Voice, P.O. Box 150384, Kew Gardens, NY 11415. Query: editor@the-teachers-voice.org. Visit our Web site: www.the-teachers-voice.org.

TERRAIN.ORG: A Journal of the Built & Natural Environments—an award-winning international online publication—seeks poetry, fiction, essays, articles, and reviews for upcoming theme-based issues: “Borders & Bridges,” “Virtually There.” and “The Signal in the Noise.” View issues and submission guidelines, and submit online, at www.terrain.org.

THIRD WEDNESDAY, literary arts journal, seeks quality unpublished poetry, short fiction (to 1,500 words), b&w artwork and photography. Small payment. Poetry up to 3 pages. Any subject or style so long as it’s well crafted and polished. Prefer body of e-mail, but attachments accepted. Send to: submissions@thirdwednesday.org.

TWO HAWKS Quarterly is an online literary journal dedicated to exposing the world to the most challenging, edgy, and lyrical prose and poetry available. Well-written, compelling works are currently being accepted in the following genres: fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, memoir, and cross-genre. Submission guidelines can be viewed at http://aulapress.com/submission-guidelines.

WHITE PELICAN Review, a biannual, seeks insightful, imaginative, and carefully crafted poetry for coming issues. Outstanding poem in each issue awarded $100. Submit 3–5 poems. SASE and bio required. Name, address, phone, and e-mail on each page. Simultaneous submissions discarded. Subscription: $8 per year. White Pelican Review, P.O. Box 7833, Lakeland, FL 33813.

WITNESS SEEKS manuscripts for a special portfolio on literature and film. In addition to general submissions, we welcome work that addresses any intersection between these two genres. Reading September 1 to May 1. Submit online at www.witnessmagazine.org.