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The CLMP Newswire
A Biweekly Email News Dispatch on Independent Literary Publishing
A Project of the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses (http://www.clmp.org)

Table of Contents for October 1, 2002 (Volume 2, Number 18)

• Obituary: William Phillips, Editor, Co-Founder of Partisan Review
• Nimrod to Hold 24th Annual Writer's Workshop and Awards Presentation
• Bright Hill Press Celebrates 10th Anniversary with New Literary Center
• In Brief
• Events

OBITUARY: WILLIAM PHILLIPS, EDITOR, CO-FOUNDER OF PARTISAN REVIEW

William Phillips, who co-founded and edited Partisan Review, died of pneumonia on September 13. He was 94. "He was one of a kind," says Edith Kurtzweil, his wife of 12 years and the current Editor of the venerable journal. "What made him outstanding was he always cut to the core of the issue. He was always honest, even if it didn't make him popular."

The son of Russian-Jewish immigrants, Phillips was born in New York City. He studied at City College of New York and went to graduate school at New York University. In 1934 he joined a group of writers and painters associated with the Communist Party called the John Reed Club. He also met Phillip Rhav, and in 1934 the two started Partisan Review as an organ of the Communist Party. With $800 they kept the magazine afloat for a year, and the journal continued as part of the John Reed Club for the next two years. However, according to Kurtzweil Phillips and Rhav became disillusioned with the Communist Party and its insistence on using the publication to endorse its favorite writers, and so they ceased publication.

But in 1937, the journal was reinstated with a new concept and the famous Delmore Schwartz story, "In Dreams Begin Responsibilities." In the ensuing years, Partisan Review published a long roster of preeminent writers, including Franz Kafka, Mary McCarthy, Gertrude Stein, Doris Lessing, Ralph Ellison, and Susan Sontag. "He pulled together these very different strands of the art and literary scene," says Kurtzweil. "Sometimes he was called a reactionary, and sometimes those on the right said he was too left-wing. But he tried to find the middle ground, and you don't often make friends that way."

For more information on Partisan Review log on at http://www.bu.edu/partisanreview/.

NIMROD TO HOLD 24TH ANNUAL WRITER'S WORKSHOP AND AWARDS PRESENTATION

Nimrod will again celebrate its 24th Awards Issue by hosting its annual writer's conference--also 24 years old--on October 25-26. The conference takes place at the journal's home, the University of Tulsa, and features Edward Hirsch, Ron Carlson, and Rilla Askew. Nimrod Editor-in-Chief Francine Ringold sees the conference as part of the journal's responsibility to both the authors it champions and the authors it rejects. "I don't want to say what's right for someone else, but we have to send out so many rejections a year, and we can't possibly respond personally to every one," says Ringold. She notes that the conference is the journal's way "of making a connection with the writers."

This year's theme, "Writers in the World," examines the many worlds the writer lives in and how these different perspectives influence one's work. "The writer's world is multiple and diverse," says Ringold. "Often three or four worlds are experienced by the writer and thereby apprehended by the reader simultaneously." In keeping with this theme, the conference will feature Master Classes on such subjects as "The World of the Family," "Poetry, Fiction and World Affairs," and "Translating World Literature." "The purpose of the workshops is to provide professional example and counsel, to create and further dialogue among writers, and to augment the interest in writer's writing and books," says Ringold.

Nimrod's editors will also be holding one-on-one editing workshops designed not just to help writers improve, but to stimulate ideas and generate discussion on creative writing. Readings are scheduled to run throughout the conference as well. Each participant who pays the $50 tuition is entitled to attend all the readings and panel discussions, three master classes, and one private editing session. For those who can't afford the tuition, Nimrod provides scholarships.

The conference centers around the awards issue, the 113th in the Oklahoma-based journal's 46-year history, which features winners from the annual Nimrod/Hardman awards. According to Ringold, the issue not only celebrates the winning entrants, but emphasizes how each writer exists in and of several worlds. Stories in this issue take place all over the world including Hong Kong, Japan, Italy, Afghanistan, Nicaragua, Peru and Cuba. There are translations by Charles Hatfield of Cuban Poet Miguel Barnet and poems about 9/11 by Lynn Shoemaker. "Each of these writers offers something new and fresh, something that will help us see our individual stories as part of a greater and more promising whole," says Ringold.

For more information check out Nimrod on the web at http://www.utulsa.edu/nimrod.

BRIGHT HILL PRESS CELEBRATES 10TH ANNIVERSARY WITH NEW LITERARY CENTER

In honor of its decade-long publishing history, Bright Hill Press held a celebration bash in September at its brand-new literary center. The weekend-long festivities--celebrating both the opening of the center as well as the ten years of Bright Hill Press's existence--included three sets of readings, over 40 poets, and appearances by one of the center's funders as well as State Assemblyman Clifford W. Crouch. "It was a wonderful event," says Founding Executive Director and Editor Bertha Rogers. "We had a good turnout and many wonderful readings--and a ribbon cutting."

The center, purchased through funds provided by local agencies including the New York State Council on the Arts, is located in Treadwell, New York. It houses all of the press's many activities and contains three guest rooms for visiting writers. The center is also the location for the taping of Bright Hill's "Radio by Writers" series featuring 30-60 minute audio programs of poets and writers on their work. The series is heard on the Catskill NPR station and other local and regional broadcast stations.

Bright Hill Press got its start in 1992 as the publishing arm of the twice-monthly reading series "Word Thursdays"--a series that has featured more than 600 writers since its inception. Since then, the press has published books by Pam Bernard, Regina O'Melveny, and William Joliff, as well as anthologies of the work performed and written for the Word Thursdays reading series. In addition to publishing, the press (a nonprofit literary organization) sponsors the Word Thursdays Summer and Winter Literary Workshops for Kids and workshops for adults. Recently, Bright Hill launched the Word Thursdays "Share the Words Catskill Region High School Poetry Mentoring and Competition Program," which has served hundreds of area students.

Bright Hill's future plans include securing the funding to build a reading and research library with Internet access for its members and the community of Treadwell. "We want to model it after the reading and resource lab at Poet's House [in New York City]," says Rogers. "We don't want any self-help books, there will be no Danielle Steel. We want only literature and poetry." For more information on the many activities of Bright Hill Center please log on at http://www.nyslittree.org or email the organization at wordthur@catskill.net.

IN BRIEF

Indie Booksellers Report Gains

The results of a recent American Booksellers Association survey are in, and you might be surprised to hear the results. During the first six months of 2002, a majority of the indies sampled showed a respectable increase in sales, continuing a three-year trend in the independent bookstore industry. The survey shows that 55% of the bookstores that participate in the Book Sense marketing program (details are on the web at http://www.bookweb.org) had increases for the first six months of 2002. Over 40% of the stores reporting these increases showed sales gains of 5% or more.

Salon.com Article Exposes Impetuous New Writers

You all know how tough it is to get book review coverage for small press books. But take a look at a recent Salon.com article that reveals just what writers are willing to do in order to get their books reviewed! http://salon.com/books/feature/2002/09/16/publicity/print.html

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Publishing Workshops Start Oct. 3

The Small Press Center launches its fifth series of publishing workshops on Thursday, October 3 with "Today's Best Book Promotion Options--Online." Panelists include: Lyn Blake, Vice President, Vendor Group, Amazon.com; Oliver Broudy, Associate Editor, The Paris Review; Anne Kinard, publishing consultant and former Publisher of Granta; and M.J. Rose, novelist, co-author of How to Publish and Promote Online, and columnist for Wired.com. The moderator will be Richard Eoin Nash, Publisher of Soft Skull Press. The workshop will take place 6-8 PM at the Small Press Center, 20 W. 44th Street in midtown Manhattan. CLMP members may attend at the SPC membership rate of $15 to members (non-members may attend for $25). Subscription for the nine workshops in the Publishing Workshop series costs $85 to SPC/CLMP members, and $145 for non-members. For more information, or to make a reservation, contact the Center at info@smallpress.org or call 212-764-7021.

Pink Pony West Poetry Reading Series

Hosted by Jackie Sheeler at The Cornelia Street Café, 29 Cornelia Street (Bleecker and West 4th), 212-989-9319. 6 PM, $6 admission gets you a free drink! October 4--Tony Gloeggler & an open reading; October 11--Emily XYZ & Myers Bartlett & an open reading

Release Parties for Pindeldyboz, Volume Three

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 6th, 2 PM, Soft Skull Shortwave Bookstore, 71 Bond Street (at State St.), Brooklyn. Readings by Sarah M. Balcomb, Jud Laghi, Shauna McKenna, and Diane Vadino.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10th 8:00 PM, Brooklyn Brewery, #1 Brewers Row, 79 North 11th Street, Williamsburg. Reading with contributors from The American Journal of Print, Eleven Bulls, and Failbetter; representing Pindeldyboz will be Kenneth Calhoun and Jeffrey Ross.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 12th, 7 PM, Wordsworth Books Boston, MA. Readings by Peter Bebergal, Dave Reidy, Michael Russell, Jeffrey Ross, Diane Vadino, and Jason Wilson. Special appearance by cover artist Michael Ledbetter. Music by bluegrass band Red Rooster.

Celebration for the 26th Anniversary of Callaloo

In support of Callaloo, novelist Ernest J. Gaines and poets Brenda Marie Osbey and Natasha Trethewey will be reading from their works on Sunday, October 6, 2002, from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. at the Joseph Papp Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, Manhattan. This is the fifth annual installment of the Callaloo reading series at the Public Theater, and the event is free and open to the public.