Jim Shepard to teach at Sirenland

Fiction writer Jim Shepard, subject of the author interview in upstreet number one, will be one of three workshop leaders at the 2009 Sirenland Writers Conference in Positano, Italy, from March 15-22. This is the third year for the conference, whose centerpiece is a mid-morning two-hour workshop. Workshops will be mixed-genre, fiction or memoir, with nine participants who were chosen based on their submitted manuscripts. Each of the 27 workshop participants will also have a private conference with Jim or one of the other workshop leaders—Peter Cameron and Dani Shapiro—over the course of the week. Evenings will be devoted to readings and discussions. upstreet editor/publisher Vivian Dorsel will be one of the workshop participants at this year’s conference.

Jim Shepard, the J. Leland Miller Professor of English at Williams College, is the author of six novels, the most recent of which is Project X (Knopf, 2004), and four short story collections, including Like You'd Understand, Anyway (Knopf, 2007), a National Book Award finalist and winner of the 2007 Story Prize. Five of his books have been named Notable Books of the Year by The New York Times. His essays and short stories have appeared in many journals and anthologies, including The Paris Review, The New Yorker, Fiction, McSweeney’s, The Atlantic Monthly, Tin House, and Best American Short Stories 1994 and 2002.

upstreet nominates Ackerman and Meltz for Best New Poets 2009

The annual Best New Poets prize anthology allows eligible literary magazines to nominate two emerging poets (poets who have not published a book-length collection) each year. We have submitted two nominations from upstreet number four for the 2009 anthology: Stephen Ackerman, “How to Touch a Woman,” and Daniel Meltz, “Ode to the Xes.”

Stephen Ackerman works as a lawyer for the New York City Law Department. His poems have appeared in The Antioch Review, Boulevard, Columbia Review, Mudfish, Partisan Review, Seneca Review, and upstreet. He lives in Dutchess County, NY, with his wife, Laurie, and their sons, Nicholas and William.

Daniel Meltz is a technical writer at Google who lives in New York City. His poetry has been published in American Poetry Review, Mudfish, and Columbia Review. He is co-writing the book of a musical, titled “Too Hot for Hollywood,” about the 1934 Hays Code.

The guest editor for Best New Poets 2009 is Kim Addonizio, who will select 50 poems from nominations made by literary magazines and writing programs, as well as an open internet competition. The upstreet selections were made by Poetry Editor Jessica Greenbaum and Editor Vivian Dorsel. We wish both nominees the best of luck in the competition.

upstreet is having a party—and you're invited

upstreet will host an off-site party/ reading during the 2009 AWP Conference, which will take place in Chicago from February 11-15. Our party will be held at The Book Cellar, 4736-38 North Lincoln, beginning at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday 12 February. This event is free and open to the public.

The readers, poets and prose writers from upstreet number four, will be Sybil Baker, Jennifer Barber, Jeanie Chung, Michael Martone, Elaine Sexton, and Kip Zegers. upstreet Editor/ Publisher Vivian Dorsel will emcee the festivities.

Some wine and other refreshments will be provided by upstreet, and after that runs out, plenty more will be available for purchase. Come help us celebrate AWP 2009 in Chicago—and don’t forget to visit upstreet’s table (#311) in the Bookfair.