The Normal School

GET NORMAL NOW! We're open for submissions!

2010-09-03T17:42:00.000-07:00

My Fellow Freaks,

Get Normal by submitting your work to us. We're open and ready to read . . . btw, here's a little secret of the lit mag world: the stuff you send at the beginning of the submission period often gets read more carefully than the stuff you send at the end, when we're slammed with submissions. Do it now. Submit. Be Normal. It's fun.

-- SC

Announcing Judges for 2011 Normal Prize

2010-07-31T06:04:00.000-07:00

Ahoy mates,

We here on the good ship Normal are just busting with happy stuff over the announcement of our judges for the 2011 Normal Prize AND to announce the addition of a Poetry Prize!

Drum roll, please . . . . The judges are:

Poetry: Nick Flynn
Fiction: Susan Straight
Nonfiction: Eula Biss

We're proud and honored to have such dynamite writers judging our contest. Get your writing ready! Stay tuned here for more details on the deadlines

-- Cap'n Barry Wayne Normal

Normal School at AWP

2010-07-31T05:30:00.001-07:00

Hey Normals,

Get your tickets and reservations for AWP 2011 in D.C. The Normal School will be there in full force, slinging mags and our every-popular T-Shirts. We'll also be throwing a truly Normal party and hosting this panel:

What's Normal in Nonfiction?

Steven Church, Debra Marquart, Ander Monson, Bonnie J. Rough, Bob Shacochis, David Shields

Moderated by Editors of The Normal School, the panel will feature a discussion of the polarizing questions concerning the ethics and aesthetics of nonfiction writing today. Is the nonfiction writer’s obligation to the art or to the subject? The audience? Can you conflate time, use composite or fictionalized characters, or borrow material from other sources without citing it? Panelists will consider what the role of the nonfiction writer is today and how that role is defined by ethical concerns for subject and audience, and/or aesthetic concerns for art, genre, form, and technique.

Hope to see you all there!

-- SC

SHOWDOWN: David Shields and Bob Shacochis, spurs jingling

2010-07-08T10:03:00.000-07:00

Hey Normals,

In case you haven't seen our latest issue of The Normal School (Spring, 2010), we're offering up a special summer extravaganza for your reading enjoyment. You can now download PDF versions of essays from David Shields and Bob Shacochis for FREE right here and here.

If you like what you see and read, please consider subscribing to The Normal School. At $20 for 2 years, you REALLY can't beat the price.

Trust Us. We're Normal.

-- SC

Sticker Love

2010-05-20T06:26:00.000-07:00

Sometimes people send email to The Normal School and say nice things about our magazine or even our rejection sticker. Sometimes they take pictures of the sticker and send it to us.

Here's a recent email:

Hey, Editors!

I put my badge of rejection on my car and I wanted you to know that's one
of the most unique, un-normal denials yet received.

Picture attached. I'll try for a matching one next year. Have a good summer.

We're glad this writer appreciates our efforts to lighten things up a bit with our TNS rejection sticker. Thanks for being Normal! We're all writers, too and we thank you for your support of our magazine and for sending your writing our way.

Write on.

SEND US A PICTURE OF YOUR TNS STICKER TO EDITORS@THENORMALSCHOOL.COM AND WE'LL POST IT ON OUR BLOG!

TNS

Normal Prize Winners Announced

2010-05-10T15:49:00.000-07:00

Hey Normals,

We're proud to announce the winners and finalists of our 1st annual Normal Prize Contest in Fiction and Nonfiction.

Nonfiction: Judged by David Shields

Winner: Karen Hays for her essay, "Clockwise Detorsion of Snails"

Finalists: "Father of Disorder," by Jessica Wilbanks, and "Quality is Your Right," by Anthony DiRenzo

Fiction: Judged by Margot Livesey

Winner: Robert Glick for his story, "In The Room/Memory is/White"

Finalists: "Reality TV" by Sarah Durham, and "Confession of the Ugly Girl" by Cynthia Reeves

Check back with us for news about our 2nd Annual Normal Prize. Deadlines and judges will be announced soon.

Thanks to ALL of the wonderful writers who submitted to our contest and made it a smashing success.

Normal Editors

AWP'd

2010-04-12T16:14:00.000-07:00

Heyo Normals!

Thanks for stopping by the table at the AWP Bookfair and saying, "Hey," or for attending our Normal Nonfiction Reading or our Low Down Writers' Bash with The Pinch, Colorado Review, and the Colorado Art Ranch. It was great to meet all of you.

EXTRA special Normal thanks to those of you who subscribed at the conference and joined our merry band, as well as to those of you who purchased one of our issues (nearly 200 sold!!!) or our SOLD OUT Shark Bear t-shirt. Some of you asked to take some submission guidelines and we didn't have them out. Sorry about that. See them here. And send us your best fiction, nonfiction, and poetry now, before our April 30 deadline hits.

Stay tuned also for the announcement of our inaugural Normal Prize Contest, judged by David Shields and Margot Livesey.

And now for a quick favorite AWP moment at the Normal School table: Several of us are gathered around talking and laughing, enjoying the buzz of the bookfair, when we hear a voice, "I LOVE The Normal School!" and look up to see Sherman Alexie standing at our table, praising the design and production of the magazine, talking about how he thinks of it as one of the best magazines in the country.

Needless to say, we were quite proud. We're also proud to say (and I think it speaks volumes about Mr. Alexie's support of young writers) that he was a subscriber to The Normal School before he became a contributor to our 3rd issue.

Stay Normal,

Barry Wayne

Normal Things at AWP

2010-04-01T07:17:00.000-07:00

Hey Normals,

The TNS crew is getting all psyched for AWP next week. We can't wait to show off our new issue, #4 and our new limited edition "Shark Bear" t-shirts. Stop by the table (Exhibit Hall A, K-18), check out the Vend-O-Prose Machine, pick up a copy of the magazine, subscribe, do a little dance, get down tonight. And please don't miss these Normal School events. We know there's a lot of other things to grab your attention. We'd love to see you, even if you just stop by and say hi:

-- AWP Kickoff Bash, co-sponsored by The Pinch, Colorado Review, the Colorado Art Ranch on Thursday, April 8 from 8:00 - ???? at the Wynkoop Brewery (see attached flier).

-- Normal Nonfiction: A Reading from The Normal School Literary Magazine featuring
contributors, Dave Griffith, Abraham Brennan, Oz Spies, Patrick Madden, and Duncan Murrell on Friday, April 9 from 4:30 PM to 5:45 PM in Room 111 - CCC

-- Normal Editor, Steven Church reads on Saturday, April 10 from 12 - 1:15 in CCC 303 with Normal Contributor, Wendy Rawlings and George Kalamaras, Bill Tremblay, Mary Crow, and his dear friend and mentor, John Calderazzo.

Hope to see all of you there!

- SWC

Follow that Contributor!

2010-02-26T12:49:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Sherman Alexie on being named a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for his War Dances (Grove Press). You can read Alexie's "Verminators" and "Blood In. Blood Out." in the current issue of The Normal School, available on the magazine rack at your local Barnes & Noble Bookstore where you will be buying War Dances.

http://www.penfaulkner.org/news_media.php?id=595">PEN/Faulkner News

The Normal School is proud to say that in its first three issues, it has featured three PEN/Faulkner nominees: Ron Rash, Steve Yarbrough, and, now, Sherman Alexie. We are thankful to have these incredible voices among our list of contributors.

Follow that Contributing Editor!

2010-02-26T12:45:00.001-08:00

Steve Yarbrough ("In the Shadow of a King" p. 85, TNS #3) is on his way to Mississippi to receive the Richard Wright Award. Congratulations!

http://www.colin.edu/nlcc/nlcc-richard-wright-award

"March Fourth" and Submit!

2010-02-12T09:27:00.000-08:00

We've extended our contest deadline! With the holidays in December and school starting again in January, February 12 came around too fast. So, to stop our heads from spinning, we've extended the deadline to March 4, 2010. (Oh, who are we kidding? We just wanted the opportunity to say "March Fourth and Submit.")

So if you're one of those people who's perpetually late for everything, there's hope for you yet. March fourth and submit! For guidelines, please visit our website.

PS -- Thank you very much to everyone who has already submitted. Your entries are already being processed and read. You make us proud.

Follow that contributor!

2010-01-30T12:35:00.001-08:00

TNS #3 contributor, Steve Yarbrough, has just released his latest novel. Safe From The Neighbors, published by Knopf, has been described as a "novel of unusual richness and depth," a "tense, spellbinding narrative of marital betrayal written against a background of Deep South racial angst." Do yourself a favor and buy a copy. You won't be disappointed.

Congratulations, Steve!

Only two weeks left! $2000 in prizes!

2010-01-30T12:20:00.000-08:00

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

We're interested in everything from the mainstream to the avant-garde. Just send us your best!

GUIDELINES

All submissions must be no more than 10,087 words, double-spaced, 12 pt. font, with numbered pages and NO IDENTIFYING INFORMATION ON MANUSCRIPT.
Entry fee: $20 per submission. Please make checks out to "The Normal School."
Manuscripts should be accompanied by a cover sheet with the following information: title, genre, word count, author's name, address, phone number and email address. Of this information, only the title should appear on the manuscript itself.
All submissions must be previously unpublished (print or electronic media).
Simultaneous submissions are permitted as long as you notify editors should your piece be accepted elsewhere. Multiple submissions are also permitted, but each submission must be accompanied by the entry fee.
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.
Postmark submissions by FEBRUARY 12 and send to:

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

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.

Judging: All submissions will be read "blind" in an effort to ensure the most ethical contest possible. 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!

Mr. Dinty goes Viral.

2010-01-21T12:24:00.001-08:00

Hey Normals,

Our good friend, Dinty Moore and his google-maps essay from our current issue of The Normal School have gone viral. Check him out on Twitter. Search for "Dinty" and hear the buzzzzzzzz . . . Thanks, Dinty for letting us publish this piece. Be Normal. Subscribe. Submit.

Trust us. We're Normal.

Normal Prize. Submit your work now!

2009-12-08T08:11:00.001-08:00

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

All submissions must be no more than 10,087 words, double-spaced, 12 pt. font, with numbered pages and NO IDENTIFYING INFORMATION ON MANUSCRIPT.
Entry fee: $20 per submission. Checks MUST be made out to "The Normal School."
All submissions must include 2 cover sheets (PLEASE SEE #'s 4 and 5).
1st cover sheet must include a) Title b) Genre c) Name of author d) 50 word biographical statement e) Mailing address f) Email address
2nd cover sheet must include a) Title of Work b) Genre *NO OTHER IDENTIFYING INFORMATION CAN APPEAR ON THIS COVER SHEET
All submissions must be previously unpublished (print or electronic media).
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.
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.
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

2009-11-29T20:41:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-18T09:42:00.000-08:00

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

All submissions must be no more than 10,087 words, double-spaced, 12 pt. font, with numbered pages and NO IDENTIFYING INFORMATION ON MANUSCRIPT.
Entry fee: $20 per submission. Checks MUST be made out to "The Normal School."
All submissions must include 2 cover sheets (PLEASE SEE #'s 4 and 5).
1st cover sheet must include a) Title b) Genre c) Name of author d) 50 word biographical statement e) Mailing address f) Email address
2nd cover sheet must include a) Title of Work b) Genre *NO OTHER IDENTIFYING INFORMATION CAN APPEAR ON THIS COVER SHEET
All submissions must be previously unpublished (print or electronic media).
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.
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.
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

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.

Do you have the write stuff?

2009-11-13T14:36:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-06T10:29:00.000-08:00

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?"

2009-11-05T15:28:00.000-08:00

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?

2009-10-06T19:58:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-13T14:12:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-06-21T13:04:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-06-04T13:55:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-18T06:35:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-09T11:49:00.000-07:00

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

Follow that Contributor!

2009-05-09T11:36:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-07T09:12:00.001-07:00

Congratulations to the 2009 PEN Literary Award winners!

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

Normal Cover Artists

2009-05-03T15:25:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-03T09:18:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-17T12:05:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-16T07:44:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-09T12:01:00.000-07:00

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

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

Follow that Contributor!

2009-04-03T07:17:00.001-07:00

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

2009-03-21T11:19:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-16T12:47:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2009-03-13T14:19:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-06T14:57:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-02-25T11:08:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-25T11:04:00.001-08:00

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!

2009-01-26T12:21:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-18T07:38:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-15T08:38:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-15T08:19:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-14T10:28:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-01-11T08:43:00.000-08:00

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

Follow that Editor!

2009-01-05T10:15:00.001-08:00

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

Pushcart Time

2008-12-02T12:18:00.001-08:00

The Normal School announces its nominees for the Pushcart Prize:

Laura Pritchett's story "Painting the Constellations," page 15.

Michael Schiavo's poem "from The Mad Song: Kansas Is the Same Everywhere You Go," page 19.

Dorianne Laux's poem "Somewhere a Dog," page 52.

Abraham Brennan's essay "One of the Seven Deadly Sins (Or, Proud To Be an American)," page 65.

William Bradley's essay "Dislocated," page 78.

Carol Test's story "The West in You," page 90.

(All pieces are from our inaugural issue. Being nominated for a prize is fun. Please seek these folks out and offer them your congratulations and wish them luck.)

Normalistas Acquire NYT Notability

2008-12-02T12:00:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Juan Felipe Herrera on having his Half of the World in Light: New & Selected Poems (Univ. of Arizona Press) named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year for 2008.

Critic Janet Maslin also named contributor Ron Rash's Serena (Ecco) as one of her top ten books of 2008. She says, "A stunningly effective novel that is stark, fierce, dramatic and gripping from its unforgettable opening paragraph. A woman of frighteningly indomitable ambition wreaks havoc on her husband’s Appalachian business empire. Equal parts myth, poetry and folklore." Click here for Maslin's October 5, 2008 review.

Way to keep it Normal, fellas.

Interview with TNS Contributing Editor, Adam Braver

2008-12-01T14:12:00.000-08:00

Our Story: An Interview with Novelist, Adam Braver
By Miguel Jimenez

Adam will read on Thursday, Dec. 4 at 7:30 in the Alice Peters Auditorium (in the University Business Center/Peters Building) to celebrate the launch of The Normal School.

ADAM BRAVER is the author of Mr. Lincoln’s Wars, Divine Sarah, and Crows Over the Wheatfield. His books have been selected for the Barnes and Noble Discover New Writers program, Border’s Original Voices series, and twice for the Book Sense list. His work has appeared in journals such as Daedalus, Ontario Review, Cimarron Review, Water-Stone Review, Harvard Review, Tin House, West Branch, and Post Road. He teaches at Roger Williams University in Bristol, RI, and at the NY State Summer Writers Institute.

MJ: It's a great coincidence that we have this opportunity to discuss your work at a time when the word “historic” is being used quite often when discussing the current United States' presidential administration and the one to come in 2009. I say this because you have taken on historic figures in your novels. I'm particularly thinking of “Mr. Lincoln's Wars” and your most recent novel, “Nov. 22, 1963”—both are fictional accounts on the lives of U.S. Presidents, Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy. What drew you to these important figures of American history?

AB: Somebody said to me not that long ago something about writing about those two presidents, and I have to say that I didn't think about it in those terms for some reason. But you know, in “Nov. 22, 1963”, it was more about letting people know what went on in the head, to know the traumatic moments. Most of what it is I did, is that I tried to wonder what went on inside Kennedy as a human being not just as a politician. And it was also much more thematic, based on this idea, question, of what is our mythology? Of myth making and the making of our stories...about the facts and memories of people that all come together to create this history, this story. And there are a lot of books that are coming out where people are really trying to figure out history through literary means as opposed to just biographical means.

MJ: You also wrote two other novels—“Divine Sarah” based on the classic French actress, Sandra Bernhardt, and another on a Van Gogh scholar in “Crows over the Wheatfield”. How do you go about writing novels on such popular figures?

AB: I guess partly naively. Certainly, the Kennedy Assassination was the biggest, the one I knew the most about going into it. But I'm always interested in the off-camera moments because those are just like great photographs that often tell more about a situation with those kind of broad stroke moments. As a reader, I'm always attracted to those kind of books.

MJ: What are the challenges? And do you worry how well you've fictionalized the lives of those popular figures?

AB: On a narrative level, just assuming the small aspects of a life in a day, I have the risk of 'is this going to be interesting enough?' It's a really tricky ethical question about the fictionalizing parts of peoples' lives. For the most part, I try to do it in a respectful and believable way. I try to create people in some sort of honest way where there's a truth. I would not try to make people what they weren't. I would never make somebody cruel in a way that may never have been cruel.

All of these figures, and so many other figures, are a part of who we are. Yet, we really don't know anything about them as human beings. They become just sort of mythic figures. I'm interested in people as humans. It makes me appreciate them more when I see them as being humans.
MJ: Let's talk about your most recent book, Nov. 22, 1963. It is described as a fictionalization of the day of JFK's assassination—is that a good description? I mean, how much of Nov. 22, 1963 is written with fact and how much is written with fiction? How would you describe it?

AB: Oh, it's definitely a hybrid. A hybrid of fiction and creative non-fiction and some straight up journalism. For the most part in the book we're in someone's head, somebody like Jackie Kennedy—that's when the real fiction takes over. So there are narratives that are dramatized and fictionalized, and the book also introduces people who are not real. But for the most part, the people who appear in the book are based on real people. I spoke to a couple of people who are in the book, and some others are based on, for example, old transcripts. This is all from the idea that I mentioned earlier—a story based from other peoples' stories and other peoples' memories. I'm really intrigued by that. It's typically more of a memoirists' intrigue than a fiction writer's intrigue, in terms of the idea of memory and how we remember things and how they really happened.

MJ: What were some of the challenges writing these novels?

AB: They have their own sets of challenges. But one of the advantages, if you will, with something like the Kennedy assassination is that we have an inherent understanding of what happened. Everyone coming into that book has a sense of the story, a mental image of what it's all about. They're already working with peoples' preconceived notions.

When writing fictionalized characters you have to really develop them in a different way, develop the situation, and familiarize, as opposed to borrowing. So they're different approaches. With somebody who is real, like Jackie Kennedy, there is a sense of 'how do you enter into this person?' or 'How do you enter somebody who just had her husband killed next to her?' It entails stripping away all the celebrity and the politics and everything else. It's just trying to get into the basic and emotional state. That was really the entry point. This takes us back to what I was talking about earlier on trying to find the human side of people who don't seem human to us.

MJ: You've said that you hope some truth comes out of your books—a truth larger than the figures themselves.

AB: I mean truth in terms of literary truth. This idea that this story, the assassination, in “Nov. 22, 1963,” it's so many people's story—the people who will tell you they were sitting in a classroom when it happened or such as some of the people in the book, like the motorcycle policeman getting blood on his face. It has become so many peoples' stories. Then all those stories come together to become our story. It is our story.

TNS Contributing Editor reviewed in LA Times

2008-11-12T11:58:00.000-08:00

Hey Normals,

Check out this review of TNS Contributing Editor, Adam Braver's new novel:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/arts/la-ca-adam-braver9-2008nov09,0,3552930.story

Peas and blubber,

SWC

TNS #1 Contributor Juan Felipe Herrera wins PEN/USA Award for Poetry

2008-11-12T09:16:00.001-08:00

Congratulations to Juan Felipe Herrera for winning the PEN/USA Award for Poetry for his 187 Reasons Mexicanos Can't Cross the Border.

You can read Juan's "The Return of Jake Condor" in our inaugural issue. Get it at www.thenormalschool.com.

Joseph Boyden wins Canada's Giller Prize

2008-11-12T09:09:00.000-08:00

The Normal School congratulates Joseph Boyden on winning the Giller Prize.

From Pulisher's Lunch:

Giller to Boyden
Joseph Boyden won Canada's Giller Prize for his second novel THROUGH BLACK SPRUCE, after having been favored to win the award three years ago for his debut, THREE DAY ROAD. Juror Margaret Atwood praised the book "for its spare prose style that ranges from lyrical to brutal ... and that shows us unforgettable characters and a northern landscape in a way we have never seen before." Viking has the book scheduled for March 2009 release in the US.

Globe and Mail

Island of Amazonia Names TNS #1 Contributor Sevenacious

2008-11-04T11:18:00.000-08:00

Amazon's Best of 2008 puts TNS #1 contributor Ron Rash's novel, Serena, at #7. Congratulations, Ron!

Amazon's Best of 2008
Amazon has picked their top 100 books for the year. Here's the first part of the list:

1. The Northern Clemency, Philip Hensher
2. Hurry Down Sunshine, Michael Greenberg
3. Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America, Rick Perlstein
4. The Forever War, Dexter Filkins
5. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel, David Wroblewski
6. The Likeness: A Novel, Tana French
7. Serena: A Novel, Ron Rash
8. So Brave, Young and Handsome: A Novel, Leif Enger
9. The Lazarus Project, Aleksandar Hemon
10. The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America, David Hajdu

(Courtesy of Publisher's Lunch).

Whiting Award Winners

2008-10-30T11:02:00.000-07:00

From Publisher's Lunch:

This year's Whiting Awards, worth $50,000 each, for "writers of exceptional talent and promise in early career," have gone to:

Mischa Berlinski, fiction
Rick Hilles, poetry
Donovan Hohn, nonfiction
Douglas Kearney, poetry
Laleh Khadivi, fiction
Manuel Munoz, fiction
Dael Orlandersmith, plays
Benjamin Percy, fiction
Julie Sheehan, poetry
Lysley Tenorio, fiction

Congratulations to all! The Normal School has had its eye on Donovan Hohn for some time now...

Q&A with Los Angeles novelist Nina Revoyr

2008-10-29T12:55:00.000-07:00

Q&A with Los Angeles novelist Nina Revoyr

By: TNS editorial intern, Olivia Muñoz

NINA REVOYR is the author of “The Necessary Hunger,” and “Southland.” Her latest book, “The Age of Dreaming” follows the story of a Japanese silent film star who looks back on a career that ended abruptly during the changing social and racial tides in California in the 1920s. In the “The Age of Dreaming,” the story fallows the character back and forth between the 1960s and the height of the silent film era as he deals with the death of his favorite director, tries to please both his Japanese and American fans, and comes to terms with his past.

OLIVIA MUÑOZ: You are inspired by real people, and incorporate places and history into your novels. Tell me a little bit about your research process: do you dig first and then write? Or do you write as you go along?

NINA REVOYR: I use real life situations in my first two books, but as really use real life as jumping off points only. I don’t look to tell those stories, but instead let them trigger a work of fiction. In “The Age of Dreaming,” what was important to me was that there really was at one point a silent film star of color – not only a star but a sex symbol. In my book, the story deals with what fame costs my character, Jun Nakayama, personally. Real life gave me permission to create that character but I very consciously stop at an early point of getting interested in a subject. So, something will spark, I’ll stop, and then research to fill in any holes.

OM: What hooks you?

NR: An issue or theme that is intriguing enough to sustain me for the years it takes to write a book. For example, in “Southland,” I was interested in the organic mix of African-American and Asian residents of a Los Angeles neighborhood. I remember very vividly as a kid hearing about killing during the Watts riots – hearing people actually brag about killing kids. So, race dynamics are interesting to me.

“The Age of Dreaming” came about because I work in a building that has some silent film history. After learning more about that, and about a real life Japanese silent film star, I began to explore the question of what happens to someone when they don’t do what they were supposed to do in their life.

OM: Was that a question you were grappling with? How much of your work is you?

NR: I think it is all autobiographical in a sense. I was dealing with being a writer, and whether I wanted to continue doing that, and what that would take. “The Age of Dreaming” is my most autobiographical work to date even though I’m obviously not a 73-year-old man, not a former silent film star – but all of my concerns and obsessions are the same. I was dealing with making the right choices, creative blocks, and it was easier to address those themes in a work of fiction than any other way.

OM: You deal with the interplay of race in your novels. Is that something you feel you will continue to touch on in the rest of your career?

NR: Absolutely. The book I am working on now is set in the Midwest and deals with race quite directly. I spent my childhood years in Wisconsin thinking about those years – and even looking at election news coverage now – I am surprised at what people are willing to say.

OM: You’re often praised for your portrayal of male characters. What helps you write from that point of view? Is it difficult for you?

Thank you for saying that. No, I don’t find too difficult. I was raised by a single dad and my grandfather is my hero. I think my love for my grandfather comes through in “The Age of Dreaming,” for sure. I grew up surrounded by men and knew them as nurturers.

People do comment on the accuracy with which I depict men’s relationships and their silly mistakes with women. Being gay, I know something about making mistakes with women.

OM: On Oct. 30 you’ll be visiting us here at Fresno State, which offers a MFA in Creative Writing. What kind of advice would you give to aspiring writers?

NR: Read as much as you can. Write as much as you can. I know that sounds simple, but that’s really it. There are no excuses – you can say, “I’m too busy,” but if you really need to write and want to write, you’re going do it.

Also, being in an MFA program is a very unique experience. Create a community that is portable – take relationships with you. You need that support and it’s not always there once you’re done with school.

Also – this is going to sound cheesy, but it’s true – write for yourself. Frankly, there’s no guarantee for what’s going to happen on the publishing end, so you’ve got to take your joy from the process.

NINA REVOYR will do a Q& A at Fresno State on Thursday, Oct. 30, at 3 p.m. in Alice Peters Conference Room (PB 194) and then do a reading later that evening at 7 p.m. in Alice Peters Auditorium (PB 191). Parking is available in the UBC Lot.

http://www.ninarevoyr.com/

TNS Editor Acquires Notability

2008-10-17T10:26:00.000-07:00

Our esteemed editor Steven Church's essay "I'm Just Getting to the Disturbing Part", from the Fall 2007 issue of Fourth Genre, has been been selected as a Notable Essay by Robert Atwan for Houghton Mifflin's Best American Essays 2008.

Fourth Genre

Dinty Moore is the Grubbiest!

2008-10-17T08:52:00.000-07:00

TNS #1 Contributor Dinty Moore wins the 2008 Grub Street National Book Award in Nonfiction. You can read Dinty's "44 Reasons Why You Should Absolutely, Positively Never Write That Book" in our newly minted inaugural issue. Congratulations, Dinty!

www.grubstreet.org

Juan Felipe Herrera on NPR's OnPoint

2008-10-16T10:33:00.000-07:00

TNS #1 contributor Juan Felipe Herrera is featured today on NPR's On Point.

OnPointradio.org

National Book Award Finalists

2008-10-15T18:36:00.001-07:00

From Publisher's Lunch:

National Book Award Finalists
Fiction nominees range from the 81-year-old Peter Matthiessen for a book the AP calls "an 890-page revision of a trilogy of novels he released in the 1990s" to debut novels from Rachel Kushner and Salvatore Scibona. The winners will be named November 19:

Fiction
Aleksandar Hemon, The Lazarus Project (Riverhead)
Rachel Kushner, Telex from Cuba (Scribner)
Peter Matthiessen, Shadow Country (Modern Library)
Marilynne Robinson, Home (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
Salvatore Scibona, The End (Graywolf Press)

Nonfiction
Drew Gilpin Faust, This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War (Alfred A. Knopf)
Annette Gordon-Reed, The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family (W.W. Norton & Company)
Jane Mayer, The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals (Doubleday)
Jim Sheeler, Final Salute: A Story of Unfinished Lives (Penguin)
Joan Wickersham, The Suicide Index: Putting My Father's Death in Order (Harcourt)

Poetry
Frank Bidart, Watching the Spring Festival (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
Mark Doty, Fire to Fire: New and Collected Poems (HarperCollins)
Reginald Gibbons, Creatures of a Day (Louisiana State University Press)
Richard Howard, Without Saying (Turtle Point Press)
Patricia Smith, Blood Dazzler (Coffee House Press)

Young People's Literature
Laurie Halse Anderson, Chains (Simon & Schuster)
Kathi Appelt, The Underneath (Atheneum)
Judy Blundell, What I Saw and How I Lied (Scholastic)
E. Lockhart, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks (Hyperion)
Tim Tharp, The Spectacular Now (Alfred A. Knopf)

Normal is Now!!

2008-10-14T10:34:00.000-07:00

Hey Normal People,

TNS#1 has hit the pavement or the newstands or the hands, backpacks, pockets (really big ones), bathrooms and briefcases of America. Yes, America. We're an American magazine. Or something. But I'm telling you, this thing is so beautiful. When I opened my office door to find 31 boxes piled up against the back wall, the whole room smelled like magazine--that kind of wet, inky smell that sometimes, if you bury your nose in the binding, can remind you of the ditto machine in Mr. Dillehay's 4th grade class, his toupee, and the way he flapped his arms in a yellow shirt to the "Chicken Dance" song on LP . . . Or something like that. If you can't get your hands on one (and we're working hard to make that happen), go to the website www.thenormalschool.com and subscribe. We'll send you a copy. You'll love it. You're children will love the art. Tell them there's a 3-headed chicken fighting a grasshopper somewhere in the magazine and they'll dive right in . . . tell them to "find everything abnormal" in the picture of idyllic farm life and it will entertain them for hourse on airplanes . . . Or not. But you will love what you read in these pages. I promise. You will laugh. I can almost guarantee that . . . Just trust me. Subscribe. Read. Pumas.

SWC

Nobel Prize for Literature goes to Le Clezio of France

2008-10-09T08:36:00.000-07:00

While The Normal School congratulates M. Le Clezio, it is interesting to note that much of the discussion this week about why NOT an American hinged on the fact that only a relatively small amount of American writers' work finds its way into translation.

Yet, Publisher's Lunch reports that "Very few of [Le Clezio's] works are currently available in US editions, though the NYT says that 12 of his 40 works have been translated at some point. Among them, the University of Nebraska Press published The Round and Other Cold Hard Facts in 2003, and Onitsha in 1997; Curbstone Press published Wandering Star in 2004. But Agence France Presse assures that he 'is one of the French writers best known outside his country and one of the most wide-ranging in his choice of subject matter. He is an avid traveller, and his fictions are as likely to be set in Mexico or the Sahara as in Paris or London.' He lives part of the year in New Mexico and is reported to have taught at the University of New Mexico."

www.nytimes.com

Good News about our Normal Friends

2008-10-08T09:21:00.000-07:00

UNO Writer-in-Residence Joseph Boyden nominated for Canada's Giller Prize. Congratulations, Joseph!

http://www.nationalpost.com/arts/story.html?id=866176

TNS#1 Contributor Ron Rash in NY Times, y'all!

2008-10-06T11:32:00.000-07:00

Hey All,

Check out Janet Maslin's review of TNS#1 Contributor, Ron Rash's new novel, Serena.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/06/books/06masl.html?_r=1&ei=5070&emc=eta1&oref=slogin

I think that makes 2 contributors in the NY Times Recently. How you like 'dem apples?

-- SWC

R.I.P. D.F.W.

2008-09-17T09:24:00.001-07:00

[1]

[1] David Foster Wallace was a seminal influence on The Normal School. To hear of the passing of such a monumentally talented and darkly comic mind, one so unabashedly unafraid to speak truth to power while at the same time investigating not only that mind’s own motives for doing so but also at the same time our own complicity in any gross abuses of power, leaves us trembling for the future. However unsettling this death is, David Foster Wallace was a writer who left behind a corpus of work that will always be with us. The Normal School takes solace in books, and David Foster Wallace’s books are some of our favorites. A book may be of little consolation to family and loved ones left behind, but for those of us unfamiliar admirers from afar, David Foster Wallace is immortal.

2008-08-14T19:49:00.000-07:00

Normalistaz,

Juan Felipe Herrera, contributor to TNS#1, was recently featured in the New York Times Book Reviews.

For your enjoyment:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/10/books/review/Burt2-t.html

Barry Normal

Normal Fiction Editor Reviews for LA Times

2008-08-14T19:42:00.001-07:00

Normals,

Check out this review in the LA Times by TNS Fiction Editor, Alex Espinoza.

www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-ca-stephanie-griest10-2008aug10,0,5827102.story

Barry Normal

You Want a Sticker, Don't You?

2008-08-14T18:53:00.000-07:00

You want one. You know you do. Our stickers are like the stiff black stitches you proudly display as you tell the story of how you got them.

http://www.debbieyee.com/2008/05/19/rejection-ooh-a-sticker/

So come and get some. Our next reading period opens on September 1st. Show us what you've got.

www.thenormalschool.com

Nofiction.
Poetry.
Stories.
Critique.

Follow that Editor!

2008-08-14T18:30:00.001-07:00

Normal Poetry Editor Brian Turner's whereabouts were recently triangulated using the latest in echo-location technology: listening to National Public Radio.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92771250&sc=emaf

Follow That Contributing Editor!

2008-05-27T08:35:00.000-07:00

This from _New Pages_:

Virginia Quarterly Review
Volume 84 Number 2
Spring 2008
Quarterly
Review by Rav Grewal-Kök

The fiction in this issue of the VQR offers “Superhero Stories.” But none of the protagonists of the short fiction that opens the magazine – a discharged sailor who suffered psychic and physical wounds in the 1946 Bikini Atoll atomic bomb test; a masked vigilante who comes across as “a slurring crackpot taking a momentary break from a barbiturate triathlon” in his only public appearance; and a homebody in boxer shorts who commandeers the voices of televangelists – are paragons of virtue. Instead, Scott Snyder, Tom Bissell, and George Singleton give us blackly comic portraits of the flawed and fallen. These are men forged and broken in violence, antiheroes for our own times.

Editor Ted Genoways notes in his preface that broadcast evangelism arose during the Depression from the same national longing that produced the first comic book superheroes. Bill Sizemore’s long essay on the unlikely career of Pat Robertson, the most influential later-day peddler of charismatic religion, suggests that our thirst for the miraculous has yet to be exhausted. Robertson claims to have spoken to God, battled Satan, diverted hurricanes, and has argued for the assassination of foreign leaders, used charitable donations to fund a diamond-mining operation in the Congo, and unleashed an army of graduates of a fourth-tier Christian law school to pack the Justice Department. Sizemore’s essay is a fascinating and chilling look at an American phenomenon.

Themes of impermanence and mortality run through many of the poems in this issue by Charles Simic, Charles Wright, Ted Kooser, Billy Collins and others. Simic’s “What He Said,” whose speaker describes the aftermath of the war in Europe sixty years ago, also bears witness to our own endless wars: “Seeing a young man in a wheelchair / Pushed by his mother / Who kept her eyes averted / So she wouldn’t see what the war did to him.” Michael Bishop’s understated elegy for his son, an instructor murdered in the Virginia Tech massacre, is composed with a lucid dignity that testifies to a vast paternal love and grief.

There is much more of note here, including Kwame Dawes on HIV and AIDS in Jamaica, Matthew Power on sailing to the Galapagos, Lawrence Weschler in conversation with Robert Irwin, and a comic from the great Chris Ware. The VQR is at the forefront of contemporary literary journals, offering journalism, fiction, poetry and criticism informed by a cosmopolitan and humane sensibility. This rich volume deserves to be read in entirety.

[vqronline.org]

Oscar Nod for TNS's Brian Turner

2008-02-24T20:55:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to our own Brian Turner for his role in the Oscar Nominated _Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience_ by Richard E. Robbins.

You can learn more about this film and Brian's role in it here:
http://www.oscar.com/nominees/?pn=detail&nominee=Operation%20Homecoming:%20Writing%20the%20Wartime%20Experience%20-%20Documentary%20Feature%20Nominee#

Click on "About the Nominees."

AWP Madness

2008-02-07T09:28:00.000-08:00

Normal People,

Well, AWP New York marked the burst onto the scene of The Normal School and our world famous Vend-O-Prose Machine . . . it was a crazy few days filled with little sleep and much handshaking. To all of you who stopped by the table . . . THANKS!! It was great meeting you. Hopefully you bought a T-Shirt or one of our supercool comic books (thanks, Eric Parker!) and you've already gone online and subscribed . . . No? You haven't? . . . Do it now. All the cool kids are doing it.

TNS #1 will feature new work by Tom Bissell and Steve Almond . . . Yes, seriously. Not to mention a collection of other great stuff by our contributors.

We're still actively looking for submissions . . . especially some really great nonfiction. Go to www.thenormalschool.com for our guidelines . . .

And if you have a second, leave a comment and tell us your favorite TNS related memory of AWP NYC . . . .

At about 3:30 on Saturday a large longhaired man with fantastic facial hair, wearing a rain slicker and a cowboy hat that dangled from a string down his back bought a piece from the Vend-O-Prose Machine and proceeded to regale Matt and I with an impromptu performance of the piece . . . good stuff.

SC

2008 Annotated Experiential Recipe Contest

2008-02-07T09:21:00.000-08:00

The Normal School
2008 Annotated Experiential Recipe Contest
Deadline: March 1, 2008

Assignment: Annotate a standard (nor not so standard)recipe, conveying some form of narrative in your notations, footnotes, asides, etc. 750-word limit. Winners will be published in our premiere issue in Fall 08!!

Wow us with your best recipe. Tell us a story. Make us laugh, cry, spit, scream and collapse in a heap.

* * * * *

Hey Folks, we gave out 75 copies of our guidelines for this contest at AWP. We're waiting for those submissions!!