Normal Prize. Submit your work now!

The First Annual Normal Prize in Fiction and Nonfiction
Deadline for Submissions: Feb. 12, 2010

Fiction Prize: $1000 & Publication
Nonfiction Prize: $1000 & Publication

Final Judges

Fiction: Margot Livesey
Nonfiction: David Shields

GUIDELINES

1. All submissions must be no more than 10,087 words, double-spaced, 12 pt. font, with numbered pages and NO IDENTIFYING INFORMATION ON MANUSCRIPT.
2. Entry fee: $20 per submission. Checks MUST be made out to "The Normal School."
3. All submissions must include 2 cover sheets (PLEASE SEE #'s 4 and 5).
   
4. 1st cover sheet must include a) Title b) Genre c) Name of author d) 50 word biographical statement e) Mailing address f) Email address
5. 2nd cover sheet must include a) Title of Work b) Genre *NO OTHER IDENTIFYING INFORMATION CAN APPEAR ON THIS COVER SHEET
6. All submissions must be previously unpublished (print or electronic media).
7. Simultaneous submissions ARE allowed as long as you notify editors should your piece be accepted elsewhere. Multiple submissions ARE allowed, but each submission must be accompanied by the entry fee.
8. Manuscripts will not be returned. Please do not send your only copy. If you want verification that we have received your manuscript, please send a self-addressed, stamped postcard.
9. All submissions MUST be addressed as follows:

The Normal School
Normal Prize Contest - "Genre"
5245 N. Backer Ave
M/S PB 98
California State University, Fresno
Fresno, CA 93740

All submissions must be postmarked between 12/1/2009 and 2/12/2010.
Please be sure to specify genre on envelope and cover sheet.
All entrants will receive a complimentary issue of The Normal School.
Winners will be announced before the Fall 2010 issue via email.
All entries will be considered for publication.

Checklist:

• Payment of $20 USD made out to The Normal School.
• Your manuscript (double-spaced, 12 pt. font, 10,087 words or fewer, and NO IDENTIFYING INFORMATION).
• 2 cover sheets -- 1st with biography and address, 2nd with title and genre only.

Judging: All submissions will be read "blind" in an effort to ensure the most ethical contest possible. The final judge will not be sent the names of the finalists. Only their manuscripts, without identifying information, will be forwarded. The judge will then select 1 winner and 2-3 finalists in each genre. TNS will publish the contest winner and reserves the right to consider the finalists for publication as well.

In addition to abiding by the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses standards on ethical contests, The Normal School also specifically prohibits submissions from any current or recent students, staff, or faculty of California State University, Fresno. It also expressly prohibits submissions from family members of the outside judges.

If you have questions, please contact us at: normalprize@thenormalschool.com

Good luck!

Pushcart Nominations

Dear Friends,

The Normal School is happy to announce our nominees from 2009 for the Pushcart Prize:

Poetry:
"Chicago, 1988" by Beth Ann Fennelly
"Japanese Water Bomb," by Sandra Beasley

Fiction:
"The Accident," by Nick Arvin
"Assignment," by Rachel Cantor

Nonfiction:
"Where There Are No Doctors," by Jacqueline Lyons
"In Hickey's Havana," by Ben Miller

Please subscribe at www.thenormalschool.com or pick up a copy of TNS at your local bookstore (ask them to order it if they don't carry it) and read the pieces from Beasley, Miller, and Cantor. Our latest issue will be out in a few weeks!

Best Wishes,

Barry Normal

The Normal School Is Excited To Announce

The First Annual Normal Prize in Fiction and Nonfiction
Deadline for Submissions: Feb. 12, 2010

Fiction Prize: $1000 & Publication
Nonfiction Prize: $1000 & Publication

Final Judges

Fiction: Margot Livesey
Nonfiction: David Shields

GUIDELINES

1. All submissions must be no more than 10,087 words, double-spaced, 12 pt. font, with numbered pages and NO IDENTIFYING INFORMATION ON MANUSCRIPT.
2. Entry fee: $20 per submission. Checks MUST be made out to "The Normal School."
3. All submissions must include 2 cover sheets (PLEASE SEE #'s 4 and 5).
   
4. 1st cover sheet must include a) Title b) Genre c) Name of author d) 50 word biographical statement e) Mailing address f) Email address
5. 2nd cover sheet must include a) Title of Work b) Genre *NO OTHER IDENTIFYING INFORMATION CAN APPEAR ON THIS COVER SHEET
6. All submissions must be previously unpublished (print or electronic media).
7. Simultaneous submissions ARE allowed as long as you notify editors should your piece be accepted elsewhere. Multiple submissions ARE allowed, but each submission must be accompanied by the entry fee.
8. Manuscripts will not be returned. Please do not send your only copy. If you want verification that we have received your manuscript, please send a self-addressed, stamped postcard.
9. All submissions MUST be addressed as follows:

The Normal School
Normal Prize Contest - "Genre"
5245 N. Backer Ave
M/S PB 98
California State University, Fresno
Fresno, CA 93740

All submissions must be postmarked between 12/1/2009 and 2/12/2010.
Please be sure to specify genre on envelope and cover sheet.
All entrants will receive a complimentary issue of The Normal School.
Winners will be announced before the Fall 2010 issue via email.
All entries will be considered for publication.

Checklist:

• Payment of $20 USD made out to The Normal School.
• Your manuscript (double-spaced, 12 pt. font, 10,087 words or fewer, and NO IDENTIFYING INFORMATION).
• 2 cover sheets -- 1st with biography and address, 2nd with title and genre only.

Judging: All submissions will be read "blind" in an effort to ensure the most ethical contest possible. The final judge will not be sent the names of the finalists. Only their manuscripts, without identifying information, will be forwarded. The judge will then select 1 winner and 2-3 finalists in each genre. TNS will publish the contest winner and reserves the right to consider the finalists for publication as well.

In addition to abiding by the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses standards on ethical contests, The Normal School also specifically prohibits submissions from any current or recent students, staff, or faculty of California State University, Fresno. It also expressly prohibits submissions from family members of the outside judges.

If you have questions, please contact us at: normalprize@thenormalschool.com

Good luck!

Do you have the write stuff?

Okay. Forgive me for that perfectly predictable pun. But if you write fiction and feel particularly ambitious this fine day, Stanford University is hiring a fiction writer. So, dust off the CV, turn off the Pantera Behind the Music on Youtube, and get your application in by December 4, 2009. For more info--courtesy of Academic Careers Online--here is the listing.

Break a leg!

--julius.

Sneak Peak: Evolution of a Magazine Cover

Dear Normals,

Many of you have commented on how much you like our covers. Thanks. We like them a lot, too. Each one has been custom created for The Normal School by a different artist . Our Fall issue will be hitting the shelves soon. For a little sneak peak, take a look at the creative process of our latest cover artist, Jason Graham (a former Fresnite who now lives and works in Portland, Oregon). We're very excited to show Jason's work to the Normal masses. If you like what you see, let Jason know and support artists in your community. It matters.

And if you want to see the final cover, subscribe and see the Normal results!

Thanks. -- Barry Wayne Normal

"You don't actually read these, do you?"

This is an actual, hand-written comment we found on an author's cover letter last week. To be fair, we're going to assume the author meant, "You don't actually read [cover letters], do you?" Not, "You don't actually read these [stories, essays, poems], do you?" Because the latter would be utterly ridiculous.

So, to answer this bold question quite honestly -- no. And yes. Yes and no. We read them AFTER deciding whether or not we like a piece, and we'll admit that a small fraction of our decision is based on the contents of the cover letter. Say, 1/200%. The other 99 199/200% is based on the writing. So, if you're not very good at math, you might think that cover letters are really important. And if you are good at math, include them anyway. We don't want to hear about the litter of kittens your Tabby just gave birth to, but we wouldn't mind seeing where you've been published (if you've been published) and whether or not it's a simultaneous submission.

Will we think less of you for addressing your cover letter to the generic "Fiction Editor" or "Poetry Editor"? No. Will we think you're kissing up if you address it to Steven Church, Alex Espinoza or Connie Hales? No. (Although we like kiss-ups.)

In short: Yes, include a cover letter. No, it's not going to make any difference as to whether or not we like your manuscript. Yes, we like kiss-ups. Does that help?

If you want any additional logistical info as to what to include, you might want to check out About.com's "Cover Letter Advice." Thanks, About.com. We couldn't have said it better ourselves.

Happy submitting!

Why wouldn't you enter this contest?

All--

Came across this contest in The Writer's Chronicle and figured I'd share it: Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival Fiction Contest.

Air-fare, accommodations, public reading, and fifteen hundred bucks? I'm in. Maybe they'll even get Brad Pitt to build the winner a house. Here's the contest site for more information. Or, if you just have to be networky and social about it, the facebook page.

Follow that Editor

Hey Folks,

Check out the latest Best American Essays, where you will find an essay, "The Myopia of Scale" from our Editor, Matt Roberts, listed as Notable Essay for 2009. This piece was first published in the uber-cool lit mag, Ecotone. Congrats, Matt!

-- TNS

Follow that Contributor!

TNS #2 contributor Margot Livesey ("Only Plump the Pillows," p. 25) is featured in the current issue of Ninth Letter.

You will also find in this same issue an essay on gaming by former Normal School intern, J. Nicholas Geist.

Do yourself a favor and check this magazine out. You will not be disappointed.

Follow that Contributor!

The Normal School #2 contributors Beth Ann Fennelly ("Chicago, 1988", p. 93) and Ander Monson ("Ander Alert", p. 88) are both featured in the latest issue of the Oxford American. This is OA's Best of the South 2009 issue and should not be missed.

If you can't find it at your local newsstand or magazine rack, then please contact them at www.oxfordamerican.org. Buy a subscription. This is time and money well spent.

Normals at Bread Loaf

Dear Normals,

Two of our own will be attending the prestigious Bread Loaf Writing Conference in Middlebury, Vermont (or nearby) in August, 2009, a conference with which The Normal School has a long and happy history of connections. Several of our editors and contributors have attended. Now our fiction editor, Alex Espinoza, will be attending as a Fellow in Fiction; and one of our best interns, Rachel Jackson, has been invited as a participant in the Nonfiction workshops.

Congratulations, Alex and Rachel!

If you're a writer, editor, or agent and you'll be there too, please introduce yourself to our Normal friends.

TNS

Loss of Words

The editors of The Normal School extend their condolences to the family and friends of poet Craig Arnold.

Follow that Contributor!

TNS #1 contributor Aimee Nezhukumatathil ("The Sick Diet," p.31) has work in the Spring 2009 print edition of Narrative.

You may be one of the lucky ones who received a copy of "The Sick Diet" from the Vend-O-Prose machine at AWP in Chicago earlier this year. If you are, then go out and pick up the Spring 2009 issue of Narrative and support our Normal writers and fellow liteary magazines.

2009 PEN Literary Awards

Congratulations to the 2009 PEN Literary Award winners!

http://www.pen.org/page.php/prmID/1351

Normal Cover Artists

Normals,

I just wanted to take a quick moment to acknowledge the fine work of our cover artists.

TNS#1 featured the work of Matthew McFarren . . . unfortunately I've had trouble finding a good link to show you his work. If anyone can help me with this, please post. But Matthew did an amazing job with our "Something's Wrong Down on Pa's Farm" theme . . . I mean, there's a pig wearing a fez and evil corn!!

TNS#2, due any day now, features the work of San Francisco based artist, Chris Shaw. Check out some other examples of his work here, and please subscribe now and get your copy of TNS#2.

TNS#3, due this Fall, will feature the work of Darkhorse comic artist and Portland resident, Jason Graham. Check out some of his work here or on the front page of our blog. Yes, he's the one responsible for that bird-like creature . . .

We here at The Normal School are proud to feature the work of these artists and we hope you'll support them in any way possible.

-- Editors

TNS#3 Contributor Essays on Writing

Hey Normal Friends,

Check out this essay from TNS#3 Contributor, Patricia Henley, on the Glimmer Train site.

http://www.glimmertrain.com/henleyb20.html

Also be sure to subscribe www.thenormalschool.com so you can read Patricia's story in our Fall issue!!

Subscribe now, you'll also get our fantastic soon-to-be-released TNS#2, chock full of amazing work from writers like David Shields, Ander Monson, Beth Ann Fennelly, Lia Purpura, Adam Braver, Margot Livesey, Phillip Lopate, and others.

Stay Normal.

SWC

ABA Finds Sherman Alexie Most Engaging

From Publisher's Lunch:

GUERNSEY Tops Indie Choice Awards
The ABA has announced the 2009 Indie Choice Award winners:

Best Indie Buzz Book (Fiction)
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (The Dial Press)

Best Conversation Starter (Nonfiction)
The Wordy Shipmates, by Sarah Vowell (Riverhead)

Best Author Discovery
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, by David Wroblewski (Ecco)

Best Indie Young Adult Buzz Book (Fiction)
The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman (HarperCollins)

Best New Picture Book
Bats at the Library, by Brian Lies (Houghton Mifflin)

Most Engaging Author
Sherman Alexie

The Problem

Check out Lynn Neary's NPR piece about blockbuster publishing deals:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103127808

We here at The Normal School are incredibly thankful to our distinguished contributors who have willingly donated their work to our pages without the benefit of remuneration. The small press remains as one of the last places where new, undiscovered, and even underappreciated writers can be given voice.

Congrats to this year's Guggenheim Fellows

Final list of 180 out of over 3000 applicants. Nice work, y'all.

http://www.gf.org/fellows/current?page=4

Follow that Contributor!

TNS #1 contributor Patrick Madden ("Of Eagles, Goats, and Spacemen") would like you to check out his eBay auction:

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http://cgi.ebay.com%2Fws%2FeBayISAPI.dll%3FViewItem%26item%3D150335870168

Madden says, "I'm looking for more people to post 'Ask This Seller A Question' questions."

TNS#1 Review in New Pages

Hey Folks,

Check out the review of TNS#1 on New Pages.

http://www.newpages.com/magazinestand/litmags/#Normal

Thanks to these folks for their support of us and of all the little guys out there.

Never let it be said that the Normal gang is short on ambition.

-- SWC

Wanted: Director for the Rose O'Neill Literary House

K.A. Hays, one of our Normal friends, sent this interesting job opening:

Director of
The Rose O’Neill Literary House

The Rose O’Neill Literary House provides a haven for Washington College’s thriving literary community. Some of the nation’s most distinguished writers, editors, critics, and scholars have given readings, lectured and interacted with Washington College writers on the Literary House’s wraparound porch or within its poster-clad Victorian walls. Students handset their own poetry broadsides in the pressroom annex or perfect their prose in one of the student writing rooms. The Literary House is both a physical space and programmatic center at a small college where written expression and independent thinking are at the heart of our mission.

To direct the Rose O’Neill Literary House, the College is seeking a person with administrative and teaching experience and a distinguished record of publications in creative writing (genre open; non-fiction preferred). M.F.A or Ph. D required. The successful candidate will demonstrate expertise in designing co-curricular programs in writing that function in support of the liberal arts mission of the College. Evidence of teaching excellence on the college level is expected as the director will teach writing courses on both the upper- and lower-level. 1/1 load.

Major responsibilities include the development and promotion of co-curricular literary and creative writing programs in support of existing academic programs; management of the Literary House and Literary House Press; public outreach; student recruitment; and fund-raising and grant writing.

Washington College is located in historic Chestertown on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, enrolls approximately 1,300 students, and is within easy driving distance to Washington D. C., Philadelphia, and Baltimore. Applicants can learn more about the Rose O’Neill Literary House, the minor in creative writing, and the Sophie Kerr prize at http://lithouse.washcoll.edu/.

This is a twelve-month administrative position that reports to the Provost and Dean of the College. Tenure or tenure-track appointment negotiable depending upon qualifications. Anticipated starting date: July 1, 2009. Salary competitive. Applications should be submitted electronically. Please send letter of interest, cv, and writing sample as word documents or pdfs to lithouse_dir@washcoll.edu . Please have three letters of recommendation sent electronically to the above address or by mail to Christopher Ames, Provost and Dean of the College, Washington College, 300 Washington Avenue, Chestertown, MD 21620.

Review of applications will begin March 16, 2009, and will continue until position is filled. Washington College is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Minorities and women are strongly encouraged to apply.

Juan Felipe Does it Again!!!

Hey Folks,

Our friend, TNS#1 contributor, Juan Felipe Herrera does it again! He just won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry. What a year, huh?

Give it up for JFH!!! You'll always be Normal in our book.

-- Eds.

Wagonful of Pushcarts

Hey Normalistaz,

The Board of Contributing Editors for the Pushcart Prize (a veritable "who's who" in the writing world) just nominated 4 more poems from TNS#1 for inclusion in their 2009 Anthology.

"Lost Earring," by Elizabeth Langemak
"Somewhere a Dog," and "Foster Child," by Dorianne Laux
"Social Security," by Joe Millar

Way to go, Normal Contributors!!

-- SWC

Thanks!

We had a blast at AWP in Chicago this year, and it wouldn't have been as much fun without all of you.

Thanks to all of you who stopped by the table and bought a mag, a subscription, a t-shirt, or just came by to say "Hi," pick up a tattoo, and turn the crank of the Vend-O-Prose machine. Extra special thanks to those contributors who stopped by and graced our table with their presence, and to those submittees who appreciated their sticker. Keep those submissions coming!

Thanks to all of you who elbowed us in elevators and bars to tell us what you think of the mag and to brandish your mercurial ink at us.

We hope to see you all next year in Denver, and we promise to bring more mags with us.

The Normal School No. 2: Lopate, Shields, Arvin, Braver, Fennelly, and Livesly. Coming soon.

Nash leaves Counterpoint, Soft Skull Press survives

From Publisher's Lunch:

Well-known indie publishing spark plug Richard Nash is leaving Counterpoint, where he is currently executive editor, as well as editorial director of Soft Skull Press, on March 10. CEO Charlie Winton indicates the company will maintain the Soft Skull Press imprint and an editorial office in New York.

Nash notes 2008 was Soft Skull's "best financial year ever, even though just two years ago, prior to Soft Skull's merger with Counterpoint, it was weeks from liquidation." He adds, "having succeeded even in the face of the worst downturn the industry has ever experienced, I now feel it is time to let Soft Skull move onto the next phase of its existence, and to allow me to take on the new challenges our industry is facing."

Juan Felipe Herrera is on Fire!

TNS #1 contributor Juan Felipe Herrera's Half the World in Light has been nominated for a National Book Critics Circle award for poetry. Buena Suerte!

Contributor Kudos

Hey Normals,

Check out the new book by TNS #1 contributor, Austin Ratner, coming out from the very cool new Bellevue Literary Press, a press dedicated to books at the "intersection of art and science"

http://www.blpbooks.org/books/jumpartist.html


"THE JUMP ARTIST is a beautifully scrupulous, intricately detailed novel about joy and
despair, anti-Semitism and assimilation, and like a great photograph, it
seems to miss nothing, and to catch its subject in all his complexity."
--Charles Baxter, author of Feast of Love and The Soul Thief

THE JUMP ARTIST is based on the true story of Philippe Halsman, a man who Adolf Hitler
knew by name, who Sigmund Freud wrote about in 1931, and who put Marilyn Monroe on
the cover of Lifemagazine. The story begins in September 1928, when Halsman and his father were hiking in the Tyrolean Alps. Halsman's father was murdered and Halsman
stood trial for patricide. He endured prison and exile and, while haunted
by the tragedy, he ultimately transformed himself from a victim of
history into the world-famous Life photographer
who defined American post-war optimism. However, he kept his tragic past
a secret.

Emergent Normal

Normals,

Our good friend, Dan Wickett over at the Emerging Writers Network, posted a nice little plug for The Normal School. If you haven't spent some time on EWN and seen the good things Dan and his merry band have done, please do. He's a great guy who has done a lot to help literary writers.

He's also incredibly Normal.

TNS

Contributor Kudos

Hey Normals,

Our contributors to TNS #1 continue to rack up the successes. Check these out:

Erinn Batykefer's new book of poems Allegheny, Monongahela is coming out from Red Hen Press and debuting at AWP!!

Laura Pritchett's new book, Going Green: True Tales from Gleaners, Scavengers, and Dumpster Divers will be released on Earth Day from the University of Oklahoma Press. You can see more about it here: http://www.oupress.com/bookdetail.asp?isbn=978-0-8061-4013-1

Congrats Normal Contributors. We love you!

Barry Normal

Barnes & Noblelicious

Hey Gang,

Check out these apples: The Normal School was just picked up nationally by the book behemoth, Barnes & Noble. They ordered a staggering number of copies . . . That means we'll be rubbing spines with the likes of Harper's, McSweeney's, Tin House, and the select few other lit mags that make their rack.

If you live near one of these places (and I know you do), please visit them weekly, stand just inside their wide glass doors, and scream at the top of your lungs, "I want to be Normal!" It's kind of like the Bat Signal. We'll do our best to get copies to you if the staff can't help.

Believe it or not, but we're in danger of selling out of #1! Get yours now by subscribing through the website.

Peas.

SWC

Grantabulous!

TNS #1 contributor Aimee Nezhukumatathil ("The Sick Diet," p. 31) has been awarded an NEA grant in poetry. Congragulations to Aimee!

Follow that Editor!

Adam Braver's Nov 22, 1963 was recently reviewed on the Emerging Writer's Network:

40. Nov 22, 1963 by Adam Braver
2008 Tin House 208 pages
Review copy supplied by Tin House at BEA

Adam Braver has done something that might have seemed impossible not long ago - he's created a fresh look at the events of November 22, 1963, and the assassination of John F. Kennedy. He's done so by avoiding the main incident in his writing, and instead looking at some of the quieter events surrounding the day - Jackie's getting dressed that morning, the dealings with the local funeral home, the story of Vaughn Ferguson, who, working with the White House garage, was in charge of getting the car cleaned and back up to speed. Braver has found a way to once again dip into this event that shattered a nation, and reminds us of how devastating a day it was without simply re-hashing what others have written before. It's a bold task for a writer, begin to write about something that every reader picking the ball up already thinks they know the ending to, but Braver was more than up to the task.

4.5 stars