Spring is here (really, it is!), but summer is, officially, just under a week away, so let’s get into the season: here it is, the cover for Issue 18 (Summer 2015)!
Cover image copyright (c) David J. Thompson.
And we know we like to brag about our line-ups, but really, can you argue with this?
We’re so excited for Issue 18, and hope you will be too. It is slated to release July 1, 2015—mark your calendars!
Christopher Merkner, who has work upcoming in Issue 18 (Summer 2015), will see his story “Cabins” featured in the 2015 O’Henry Prize Story Anthology, due out in September.
Lia Swope Mitchell, who has work upcoming in Issue 18 (Summer 2015), recently saw her short story “Slow” published in the April issue of Apex Magazine, which you can read here.
Darci Schummer, who most recently had work featured in Issue 12 (Winter 2014), recently saw her collaborative prose and poetry book Hinge (written in tandem with poet Liza Docken) published by Broadcraft Press. You can find out more about Hing here.
Congrats, all!
We are thrilled to announce that the Lake Prize for 2015 will be open for submissions from July 1 – August 31, 2015. Entries will be a flat rate of $5—only one entry per person. One winner will be selected for each category, and they will receive $500 and publication in Issue 20 (Winter 2016). Two runners-up will be selected for both categories, and they will each receive $100 and publication in Issue 20 (Winter 2016).
We are also excited to announce our 2015 judges:
2015 Fiction Judge: Charles McLeod is the author of a novel, American Weather, and two collections of stories, National Treasures, and Settlers of Unassigned Lands. His fiction has received a Pushcart Prize and appeared in publications including Alaska Quarterly Review, Conjunctions, The Georgia Review, The Iowa Review, The Southern Review, and Washington Square.
2015 Poetry Judge: Marcus Wicker is the author of Maybe the Saddest Thing (Harper Perennial), selected by DA Powell for the National Poetry Series. Wicker’s awards include a 2011 Ruth Lilly Fellowship, Pushcart Prize, as well as fellowships from Cave Canem, and The Fine Arts Work Center. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Poetry, Oxford American, American Poetry Review, Third Coast, Ninth Letter, and many other magazines. Marcus is assistant professor of English at University of Southern Indiana and poetry editor of Southern Indiana Review. He serves as director of the New Harmony Writers Workshop.
For additional details, plus all guidelines, please visit the official Lake Prize page.
Looking forward to reading your work!
Some cool stuff on the horizon, and we hope to see you at some of these wonderful events!
Printer’s Row Lit Fest 2015
When: Saturday-Sunday, June 6-7
Where: Book Fort: Tent D, Quadrant 1
Additional details
Printer’s Row Lit Fest – After Party
When: Saturday, June 6 @ 7 PM
Where: Beauty Bar Chicago
Additional details
North American Review‘s Bicentennial Conference
When: Friday, June 12 @ 4:15 PM
Where: Bartlett Hall 2055, University of Northern Iowa, W 23rd St, Cedar Falls, IA 50614
Panel name: Many Americas: Discussions on Regional Writing’s Universal Importance
Who’s involved: MG’s Jeff Pfaller will be joining in a discussion with Eric Boyd, Jared Yates Sexton, and Sarah Shotland
Additional details
Poets & Writers Panel: Chicago Agents and Editors
When: Saturday, June 20 @ 11 AM
Where: Instituto Cervantes, 31 W. Ohio Street, Chicago, IL
Who’s involved: MG’s Jeff Pfaller will be discussing editing with some great Chicago peers
Additional details
We’re excited to welcome our new summer interns, Morgan Dean, Hannah Gordon, and Michelle Torby! Each will be doing some incredible and exciting things over the next few months, and you can get to know a little about each of them below!
  Morgan Dean loves chai bubble tea and archery. She is a senior at Oakland University, studying Cinema and Creative Writing. She yearns to spend her days playing with kittens, traveling the world, and watching anything with James Cagney. She loves fantasy adventures, has an intimate relationship with food, and adores anything British. Her hope is to one day work for Disney/Pixar, fabricating brilliant and timeless stories, all while advancing the portrayal of women. She is currently working on her first feature length screenplay and continuing her fabulous lifestyle as a broke filmmaker. |
 Hannah Gordon is a senior studying Communications and Creative Writing at the University of Michigan. She enjoys writing (obviously), reading (obviously), and watching funny videos of cats on the Internet. She is interested in going into book publishing and hopes to someday write her own books, but until then, she’s going to read, write, and watch cat videos. |
 Michelle Torby is a senior studying English and Museum Studies at the University of Michigan. She has a passion for the novel Jane Eyre, feminist theory, and anything purple. Michelle can often be found in small bookstores or wandering through museums. She hopes to enter the publishing field after graduation. |
READERS
Jon Michael Darga
Melissa Durante
Graham Dethmers
Benjamin Rosenstock
Ally Wright
Meg Johnson, who had work featured in Issue 6 (Summer 2012), recently saw her book The Crimes of Clara Turlington win the 2015 Vignette Collection Award, to be published soon by Vine Leaves Press. Read all about it here.
Alisha Erin Hillam, who had work featured in Issue 16 (Winter 2015), recently had a poem titled “I Slipped Through a Shadow” published in Issue 1.2 of The Tishman Review. In addition, she had a poem titled “If I Had Had Twitter in 1998” featured as a bonus poem with Passages North,
Congrats, Meg and Alisha!
The North American Review, the longest-lived literary magazine in the United States, will be celebrating its bicentennial this June 11-13 with a creative writing and literature conference to be held at the University of Northern Iowa.
In addition to a packed few days of superstar keynote speakers and some absolutely wonderful events, Midwestern Gothic co-founder Jeff Pfaller will be appearing on a panel entitled Many Americas: Discussions on Regional Writing’s Universal Importance along with Eric Boyd, Sarah Shotland, and Jared Yates Sexton. This panel will be on Friday June 12, from 4:15-5:30.
For more information on this panel, and directions, click here.
For more information on the conference in general, click here.
We are so pleased to announce that after a (long!) two year hiatus, we’re bringing back something we love dearly: Issue 19 (Fall 2015) will be dedicated solely to nonfiction!
While we love fiction and poetry, we’re so excited to see your nonfiction pieces—we feel it’s another fantastic way to gain some perspective on the region. Also like fiction and poetry, we’re looking for pieces that embody the Midwest—good, bad or ugly—pieces that represent the people or places here, your own experiences, things you’ve seen or witnessed—all in the name of helping to catalog the region in a way never done before.
Submissions will be open May 1 – May 31, and we’re looking for creative nonfiction, essays, and anything and everything in-between.
Check out our previous nonfiction issue, Issue 11 (Fall 2013).
For more details about what we’re looking for, check out our Submissions page.
Minneapolis here we come! We are so excited to be attending this year’s AWP Conference and Bookfair!
We’ll be there (booth #2032) Thursday – Saturday, April 9 – 11, hawking Issues of Midwestern Gothic (at a reduced price), as well as all of our MG Press titles. In addition, MG Press authors Scott Dominic Carpenter, Eric Shonkwiler, and Julie Babcock will all be on-hand throughout the event to sign copies of their books (schedule below). Not only that, but we’ll have a table full of free swag to give away (some really cool NEW postcards, stickers, etc.).
Last, Midwestern Gothic will be teaming up with BULL, Dock Street Press, and Split Lip Press to host a reading at Lyon’s Pub in downtown Minneapolis on Saturday, April 11 at 8:00 PM. This is your chance to step away from the mammoth halls of AWP and check out some talented readers in a more intimate setting—sure to be a good time.
For more information on the event and the venue, as well as readers, check out our Facebook event.
Table Schedule (Authors)
Thursday 4/9
11:00 am – Noon: Scott
1:00 pm – 2:00 pm: Julie
3:00 pm – 4:00 pm: Eric
Friday 4/10
11:00 am – Noon: Eric
1:00 pm – 2pm: Julie
3:00 pm – 4 pm: Scott
Saturday 4/11
11:00 am – Noon: Julie
12:30 pm – 1:30 pm: Eric
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm: Scott
This is not an April Fools’ Day prank: Midwestern Gothic Issue 17 (Spring 2015) is here!
Issue 17 is available in hardcopy ($12) and eBook formats ($2.99), including Kindle, iPad, Nook, and PDF. Pick up a copy
Issue 17 features fiction from Sara Crow, Ben Hoffman, Matt Hurley, Anna Lea Jancewicz, Leonard Kress, Lisa Mecham, Todd Mercer, Jillian Merrifield, Linda Niehoff, Nick Ostdick, Rachel Proctor May, Corey Mertes, Rachel Richardson, Alysia Sawchyn, Wendy A. Skinner, Sam Slaughter, Lindsey Steffes, and Greg Walklin. Poetry from James Barnett, Scott Beal, Randy Brown, Lisa J. Cihlar, Lee Colin Thomas, Gary Dop, Ryan Dzelzkalns, Chris Haven, Henry Heidger, Marianna Hofer, Jesse Janeshek, Elizabeth Kerper, Charlotte Pence, and Marcus Wicker.
Shop for Midwestern Gothic Issue 17 (Spring 2015)
(And don’t forget we offer some great deals on subscriptions too!)
