We’re excited to announce that Kaitlyn Teer will be joining us as our newest copyeditor with Issue 20 (Winter 2015)! Kaitlyn is tremendously talented and we’re excited to be working with her!
Kaitlyn Teer grew up 60 miles due west of Chicago. Her favorite t-shirt is a terrible pun: “Born to be wILd.” She recently graduated with an M.F.A. in creative writing from Western Washington University, where she received the “Outstanding Graduate Student Award” and served as managing editor of Bellingham Review. Her essay “Ossification” was a finalist in the Passages North essay contest and winner of Fourth Genre‘s 2015 Michael Steinberg Essay Contest. Other work has appeared in Midwestern Gothic and Camas.
We are so excited at the new staff joining us starting this month: returning intern Hannah Bates, and new interns Giuliana Eggleston and Rachel Hurwitz!
We’re thrilled to welcome them to the Midwestern Gothic family!
Hannah Bates is a senior at the University of Michigan studying English, pleasantly dreaming about her post-grad career in publishing, journalism, or perhaps academia. In addition to her studies, she is active on campus in multiple literary-based student organizations. She loves writing poetry and over-sharing, which tend to go hand in hand. She’s also a true grammar nut, fostering a love/hate relationship with the Oxford comma. As a native Michigander, she has always enjoyed the change of the seasons and spending time on Lake Michigan with her family.
Giuliana Eggleston is a sophomore in the Residential College at the University of Michigan. She loves reading and writing short stories, and has read an embarrassing amount of Young Adult paranormal fiction. She is addicted to coffee, but survives by bankrolling her addiction with various barista jobs. Working in book publishing is her dream, but whatever she does she hopes it takes her all over the world and involves many adventures.
Rachel Hurwitz is a sophomore in the Residential College at the University of Michigan. She has a passion for meeting new people, collecting unique journals and learning anatomy. Like most small children, she has a strong adoration for animated movies, animals—especially her two large, black shelter dogs—and nap-time. In her scarce free moments, she can often be found with headphones on, coffee in hand, sitting under a nearby tree reading, or composing poetry and short fiction and dreaming about adventures she has yet to partake in.
Well, Summer came and went in a blur, but we here at Midwestern Gothic are excited about Fall: sweater weather, coffee and hot coco, color tours. And to do our part easing into the season, we’re excited to debut the cover for Issue 19 (Fall 2015)—which is entirely devoted to Nonfiction!
Cover image copyright (c) Alec Josaitis.
And check out this world-class line-up:
We’re so excited for this Nonfiction issue, and hope you will be too. It is slated to release October 1, 2015—mark your calendars!
Randy Brown, who had work featured in Issue 17 (Spring 2015), recently had a selection of poems under one title, “10 haiku about a state fair,” published in The Corn Belt Almanac by The Head & The Hand Press. He also recently received the inaugural Madigan Award for humorous military-themed writing from Negative Capability Press, for his essay “Coming Home on a Bungie Cord,” which you can read here.
Emily Corwin, who has work coming up in Issue 19 (Fall 2015), recently had her chapbook, My Tall handsome, selected for publication by Brain Mill Press.
Matthew Fogarty, who had work featured in Issue 9 (Spring 2013), had his book of short fiction, Maybe Mermaids & Robots Are Lonely: Stories, selected for publication by Stillhouse Press, and is forthcoming in September 2016.
Scott Koertner, who recently had work in Issue 15 (Fall 2014), recently saw his story “What Doesn’t Kill You” published by the journal Extract(s), which you can read here.
Alex Mattingly, who had work most recently in Issue 18 (Summer 2015), is now volunteering with a nonprofit in Indianapolis called Second Story, and contributed to an anthology called Mythic Indy, the proceeds of which will all go toward supporting the organization. You can read about it, and help support it, here.
Brian Petkashis, who won the 2014 Lake Prize in fiction, has been shortlisted for the Novella Award, a collaboration between Liverpool John Moores University and Manchester Metropolitan University, as well as partners Sandstone Press, Time to Read, and NAWE.
Midwestern Gothic co-founder Jeff Pfaller was invited to participate in an Editors Panel in Chicago put on by Poets & Writers Magazine. Hosted by P&W associate editor Melissa Faliveno, the panel featured editors of literary magazines and small presses talking about the work they publish, advice for writers, and how to establish successful working relationships with editors.
It’s a great watch, and we hope you’ll check it out!
Are you a stickler for grammar? Do you love to read literature? Then check it out: Midwestern Gothic is looking for a new copyeditor to join our staff!
What exactly are we looking for? People with editing/copyediting experience + a connection to the Midwest.
If you’re interested, or you know someone who is, send us an email (at mwgothic@gmail.com) with a resume and cover letter, making sure to include what your connection to the Midwest is, and we’ll get back to you with more details about the job.
And, as always, let us know if you have any questions!
In addition, we’re still reading for the 2015 Lake Prize, which you can read about here.
Haven’t submitted before? Please take a few minutes and read through our Submissions Guidelines—they’ll fill you in on what Midwestern Gothic is all about and exactly what we’re looking for. Or you could check out one of our previous issues to get a sense of our aesthetic.
Please make sure you submit through Midwestern Gothic‘s Submittable page. (All the relevant details are there, too.) And remember: Submissions are only open until August 31, 2015.
Monica Berlin, who had work featured in Issue 18, recently saw the publication of her poetry collection along with Beth Marzoni, called No Shape Bends the River So Long, which is now available from Parlor Press.
Marianne Chan, who had work featured in Issue 18, recently saw her poem “Personalized Wedding Vows for the Twenty-First Century [No 1]”, published in the Summer Issue of the Indiana Review, which is now available.
Nikki Kallio, who had work featured in Issue 16, saw her story “Geography Lesson” win first prize in the Wisconsin People & Ideas fiction contest sponsored by the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters.
We are excited to host a reading at People’s Books Cooperative in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Saturday, July 25! Details below, and we hope to see you there!
MG @ People’s Books Cooperative When: Saturday, July 25 @ 3 PM Where: 804 E Center St, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53212 Who’s reading: Ron Austin, Susan K. Maciolek, Mark Magoon, David Mathews Additional details
We are so excited that submissions for this year’s Lake Prize are now open!
The Lake Prize offers annual awards for fiction and poetry that best represents the Midwest. The prize seeks to reward those who see the beauty of the region, whether that be quiet forests, gutted industrial wastelands, small towns or vibrant urban neighborhoods.
This year’s judges are Charles McLeod (Fiction) and Marcus Wicker (Poetry). Winning pieces (Fiction and Poetry) will receive $500 each + publication, while two runners-up in each category will receive $100 each + publication.
Guidelines
Writers should have lived in the Midwest at some time, and contest entries should be set in the Midwest.
$5 fee per entry (one story or group of up to 3 poems). Stories should not exceed 5,000 words.
All entries should be submitted through Submittable.
One entry per person. Judges will be reading and ranking finalists blind to determine the winners and runners-up.
Prizes awarded on publication.
Each category will award a single 1st prize and two finalists. Poetry will be awarded to a single poem in your submission.
Simultaneous submissions are welcome, but please notify us as soon as possible if a submission is taken elsewhere.
Friends, family and close associates (including students) of Midwestern Gothic editorial staff, contest readers and judges are ineligible. If you aren’t sure if you qualify, send us an email and ask.
Kaitlyn Teer grew up 60 miles due west of Chicago. Her favorite t-shirt is a terrible pun: “Born to be wILd.” She recently graduated with an M.F.A. in creative writing from Western Washington University, where she received the “Outstanding Graduate Student Award” and served as managing editor of Bellingham Review. Her essay “Ossification” was a finalist in the Passages North essay contest and winner of Fourth Genre‘s 2015 Michael Steinberg Essay Contest. Other work has appeared in Midwestern Gothic and Camas.
Hannah Bates is a senior at the University of Michigan studying English, pleasantly dreaming about her post-grad career in publishing, journalism, or perhaps academia. In addition to her studies, she is active on campus in multiple literary-based student organizations. She loves writing poetry and over-sharing, which tend to go hand in hand. She’s also a true grammar nut, fostering a love/hate relationship with the Oxford comma. As a native Michigander, she has always enjoyed the change of the seasons and spending time on Lake Michigan with her family.
Giuliana Eggleston is a sophomore in the Residential College at the University of Michigan. She loves reading and writing short stories, and has read an embarrassing amount of Young Adult paranormal fiction. She is addicted to coffee, but survives by bankrolling her addiction with various barista jobs. Working in book publishing is her dream, but whatever she does she hopes it takes her all over the world and involves many adventures.
Rachel Hurwitz is a sophomore in the Residential College at the University of Michigan. She has a passion for meeting new people, collecting unique journals and learning anatomy. Like most small children, she has a strong adoration for animated movies, animals—especially her two large, black shelter dogs—and nap-time. In her scarce free moments, she can often be found with headphones on, coffee in hand, sitting under a nearby tree reading, or composing poetry and short fiction and dreaming about adventures she has yet to partake in.
