Literary Mama Seeks Copy Editor

Would you like to join our editorial staff? We're looking for a copyeditor for our Reviews department. Please send a letter/resume expressing your interest/experience to Sybil Lockhart, Jen Lawrence, and Rebecca Kaminsky -- reviews@literarymama.com.

Bare-breasted Mama

At the close of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we're pleased to debut a new column called Bare-breasted Mama. Actually, we're more than pleased -- we're totally psyched. Written by Gail Konop Baker, it's a raw, intimate, and powerful look at her journey as a mother with breast cancer.

Personally, I have mixed feelings about National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. On the one hand, breast cancer has touched several women in my life. And who can argue with the need for more awareness? Research dollars? Treatment options? On the other hand, I have issues with corporations that wrap themselves in a pink ribbon and then giggle all the way to the bank. If buying a pink can of chicken soup makes you feel better, then go for it. But if you really want to learn more, feel more, and think more about what it's like to have breast cancer, check out Bare-breasted Mama.

In her first entry, Gail writes:

I'm sitting topless in the oncologist's office on Valentine's Day. Cancer is a bitch. It doesn't give a shit about holidays. Doesn't give a shit when the oncologist gently presses his thick hairy fingers near the wound above my nipple. Tears well, burn the raw edges of my puffy eyes, dribble down my cheeks and roll past blood-caked stitches, landing in a puddle in the space between the oncologist's cold wedding band and my warm flesh. "Still swollen," he says and I hate him, hate that I'm swollen, hate that I'm here on Valentine's Day instead of at Victoria's Secret buying the cleavage enhancing Miracle Bra that Redbook recommended for guaranteed flawless shape.

You can read more of Gail's writing at her Web site.

Call for Submissions: Mothering and Mental Health Mega-Zine

One of the fun things about being an editor here at Literary Mama is hearing about so many interesting writermama projects. Here's a Call for Submissions for a zine on Mothering and Mental Health.

Disclaimer: I'm passing this along to you with the usual disclaimer -- we're simply sharing information but we can't verify anything about the call or the person organizing it.

-----

It's a mega-zine, a ONE TIME issue on Mothering and Mental Health:
-How do you do it?
-Making it
-Meds/No Meds
-Support
-Alternatives
-Getting through the day
-Deep corners of depression/Embarrasing the kids with your mania
-Comfort food/shopping therapy etc...
-Sleep/insomnia
-On being "normal"
-Recipies for destruction/creativity
-Dealing with mentally ill parents
-Crisis management
-The back up plan/Emergencies
-Hospitalization
-One day at a time
-Coping with you for partners/coping with partners/family
-Activism
-PPDS
-Pregnacy: meds or no meds? what was your experience?

Get it off your chest (I'll even publish anonymous submissions).
Deadline December 15 2006
Email submissions and queries to Lindsey at chocobotkid at hotmail dot
com

Call for Submissions - Women and War

A Call for Submissions for a Special Issue of Kalliope

Throughout the course of history, women have worked and fought on the front lines of war, whether it be the war to end slavery, the war to end all wars, the war against discrimination and injustice, the war on drugs, the war against the exploitation of children, all wars in which the United States has deployed its military. In remembrance and celebration of the countless wars in which women have dedicated themselves, the Fall 2007 edition of Kalliope will be a special themed issue:

Women and War

We invite submissions of poetry and short fiction for this special issue that relate to the theme of women involved in or responding to war in its broadest or most specific context. We are pleased to announce that for this issue we will consider all submissions, regardless of the gender of the writer, provided the submission is grounded in the theme of women and war. All submissions should comply with Kalliope’s general submission guidelines and should be sent by April 1, 2007 to:

Dr. Margaret L. Clark, Editor-in-Chief
Women and War Issue
Kalliope
Florida Community College at Jacksonville
11901 Beach Blvd.
Jacksonville, FL 32256

Fathers' Turn

At Literary Mama , we turn our attention to the stories of fathers once a year in June, but two fathers have recently released books worth checking out.

First, a former Literary Mama contributor, larry bauer, has come out with his first collection of poems. Titled, Health Insurance and Other Matters of Death and published by Foothills, larry's poems take a darker turn. Each poem in the collection is an evocative mini-story. In one of my favorites, "kelsie," larry uses the voice of a child and creative punctuation in a brilliant illustration that draws the reader to the center of this heartbreaking poem.

"will i ever have a home of my own
?again"
...
"will i ever live with my mommy
?again"
..
"will that man ever do those things to me
?again"

His poem, "golgotha," about the death of his brother, combines the lyrical with the realistic, for a stunning result, beginning with a surprising, dramatic opening stanza "i will always remember our last supper at taco johns" You can find a copy of the collection at the Foothills publishing website.

Elisha Cooper has just come out with a memoir about the first year of fatherhood. Crawling is a funny, highly accessible series of vignettes and musings on the early stages of fatherhood. In one particularly amusing moment, Cooper discusses his obsession with his wife's breasts: "I've always liked them. Now I like them. I'm looking at them more than at Elise. I'm aware that she doesn't appreciate my attention since now there are two people in the house fixated on when next she's going to take off her shirt."

For all that books like Operating Instructions and Waiting for Birdy have done to make memoirs of motherhood truer, funnier and more engaging, perhaps Crawling will do for memoirs of fatherhood.

Call for Submissions: Gravity Pulls You In

Vicki Forman and Kyra Anderson (This Mom) are looking for essay submissions for their anthology, Gravity Pulls You In:

Gravity Pulls You In, a work in progress, is an anthology of beautifully written essays that describe the experiences of parents raising children on the autism spectrum. We are looking for the piercing truth that can be funny, irreverent, illuminating, tender, moving, but always deeply respectful. We invite all voices that will be at once familiar to any parent but also specific to those moving in the world of autism. When the reader picks up this book, it will be either out of recognition or curiosity but when they put it down, the simple and complicated details from these stories will create the possibility of greater connection and understanding among us all.

We are currently accepting submissions of prose and poetry, not to exceed 5,000 words. Deadline: January 15, 2007. Please send entire manuscript with SASE to K. Anderson, 53 Christopher Street, Wakefield, RI 02879. It will not be possible to return manuscripts.

Please see our website (www.gravitypullsyouin.com) for more details.

Feel free to direct any questions to kyra@gravitypullsyouin.com.

Book Deal: Congratulations to LM's Sybil Lockhart

Literary Mama Reviews Co-Editor Sybil Lockhart recently sold her memoir, Early Stages, to Simon and Schuster. Loosely based on the Mama in the Middle column she wrote for Literary Mama, Early Stages will tell the story of raising small children and caring for her mother who had Alzheimer's disease, from a neurobiologist's perspective.

Congratulations, Sybil!

Call for Submissions: Boston Fiction Festival

THE BOSTON FICTION FESTIVAL is accepting submissions for live reading at the Festival in summer of 2007 and subsequent publication in our annual review. Submitting authors should expect to read at the Festival in order to receive payment. New England residents are strongly encouraged to submit, but all writers are welcome. Looking for lively, literary fiction. This year, we are also accepting Sci-Fi.

Submissions should be 3-20 pages. There is no fee associated with submitting. Self-contained novel excerpts and multiple story subs are OK. Send submission, cover and SASE to: Attn: Armand Inezian, Faculty Building, Curry College 1071 Blue Hill Ave. Milton, MA 02186. For more info see: www.fictionfest.com

Last year, LM Editor Ericka Lutz read at the festival and had a wonderful experience.

LM Editor/Columnist to Read at Litquake's Lit Crawl

LM Senior Editor Ericka Lutz and columnist Rachel Sarah will be reading at San Francisco's LitQuake LitCrawl ("For those who like their literature served neat, on the rocks, or with a water back!")

Mommy Lit: The Pleasures, Perils, and Politics of Motherhood

Readings by: Ericka Lutz, Rachel Sarah, Joan Blades, Katherine Ellison, Kate Hodson, and Polly Pagenhart. Emcee: Peter Hartlaub (of the San Francisco Chronicle).

Saturday, October 14, 6:00 p.m

Location: Ti Couz Restaurant, 3108 16th Street (at Valencia)

Call For Proposals: Mothering and Popular Culture

CFP: Mothering and Popular Culture (collection)

I am looking for papers for an edited collection, under provisional contract with McGill-Queen's University Press, tentatively called Mediated Moms: Mothering and Popular Culture.

The proposed scholarly volume will examine the topic of mothers, mothering, and motherhood within and across all forms of twentieth and twenty-first century popular cultures. Possible areas to consider include, but are not limited to, the following:

-TV shows, including talk shows, family dramas, sitcoms, and cartoons;
-print and electronic journalism and celebrity rags;
-Internet sites including blogs and homepages;
-advertising;
-visual art including photography and mixed media;
-film;
-music;
-graphic fiction;
-magazines;
-best-selling literatures.

Please send 1-2 page abstracts via email to Liz Podnieks (Ryerson
University), lpodniek@ryerson.ca by November 1, 2006. Please
include your affiliation as well as nationality (for govt of Canada
funding purposes). Contributors will be notified by December 20, 2006;
completed papers (20 pages) will be due by April 1, 2007.

Enquiries welcome.