Sybil Baker story collection to be released in December

Talismans, a short story collection by Sybil Baker (“Cape of Good Hope,” upstreet number four), will be released on December 7 by C&R Press. In a series of linked short stories, this collection follows the journey of the protagonist, Elise, as she comes to terms with the deaths of her first love, her mother, and especially her father, and learns what she must hold onto, and what she must leave behind.

“Sybil Baker’s Talismans is a contemporary Heart of Darkness.”
—David Jauss, author of Black Maps

“Sybil Baker writes beautifully, with such keen honesty.”
—Patricia Henley, author of Hummingbird House

A graduate of Virginia Tech, Sybil Baker holds an MA in English from the University of Colorado at Boulder and an MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She has traveled extensively around the world, especially in Asia, and for twelve years lived and taught English in South Korea. She has been to more than thirty countries, including Mongolia, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), Cambodia, Indonesia, Peru, and Turkey. During her travels, she became increasingly interested in the allure and alienation of American travelers and expatriates, and this has heavily influenced her writing. Her work has appeared in a variety of journals, and her novel, The Life Plan, was published by Casperian Books in 2009. Sybil is an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where she teaches creative writing. She and her husband, Rowan Johnson, live in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Nadelson article published in December 2010 Writer’s Chronicle

“What about the Suffering?: The Quiet Power of Minor Characters,” an essay by upstreet author Scott Nadelson, appears in the December 2010 issue of The Writer’s Chronicle, a publication of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP). Scott’s short story “Oslo” appeared in upstreet number six, and was listed as a Distinguished Story in Best American Short Stories 2010, edited by Richard Russo.

Scott’s Chronicle essay discusses the importance of minor characters in fiction, both as examples of what a protagonist’s life might have been or might be in the future, and as catalysts who cause a protagonist to change his attitude or behavior in some way. To demonstrate this, he analyzes minor characters in two fictional works, the David Malouf short story “A Trip to the Grundelsee” and Anton Chekhov’s novella “Three Years.”

Scott Nadelson is the author of two story collections, The Cantor’s Daughter, recipient of the Reform Judaism Fiction Prize and the Samuel Goldberg & Sons Fiction Prize for Emerging Jewish Writers, and Saving Stanley: The Brickman Stories, winner of the Oregon Book Award for short fiction and the Great Lakes Colleges Association New Writers Award. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Glimmer Train Stories, American Literary Review, Arts & Letters, Puerto del Sol, South Dakota Review, and elsewhere. He lives in Salem, OR. “Oslo” will appear in Scott’s third story collection, Aftermath, which is due to be released by Hawthorne Books in the Fall of 2011.

Glover to read at Brooklyn Railtenth anniversary celebration

upstreet author Douglas Glover will be one of fifteen poets and prose writers reading at the tenth anniversary celebration of The Brooklyn Rail, a print and online literary journal that features critical perspectives on arts, politics, and culture. The event, hosted by Brooklyn Rail Fiction Editor Donald Breckenridge, will take place Friday, October 22, at 8:30pm in the ISSUE Project Room, Old American Can Factory, 232 Third Street, Brooklyn. Admission is five dollars; advance tickets may be purchased online.

Glover, a Canadian who lives in upstate New York, is the author of five story collections, four novels, a book of essays, and a book about novel form. He won the 2006 Writers’ Trust of Canada Timothy Findley Award. His novel Elle won the 2003 Governor-General’s Award for Fiction in English, and was a finalist for the 2005 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. His essay “Don Quixote, Rosemary’s Baby, Alien, and The French Lieutenant’s Woman: Meditations on the Ideology of Closure and the Comforting Lie” was published in upstreet number four, and another essay, “Before/After History and the Novel,” in upstreet number six. His stories have also appeared in Best American Short Stories, Best Canadian Stories, The New Oxford Book of Canadian Stories, and other anthologies. He has taught at Skidmore College, Colgate University, Davidson College, and SUNY/Albany, and is currently on the faculty of Vermont College of Fine Arts.

upstreet nominates six for 2011 Pushcart

The editors of upstreet have nominated six works appearing in the journal’s sixth issue for this year’s Pushcart Prize. The nominees are two short stories, “Depositions,” by David Jauss, and “The True Story of Yu Tien,” by Erik Wennermark; two creative nonfiction pieces, “That Furrowed Brow,” by Andrew D. Cohen, and “The Barest Shapes of Light,” by Nina Feng; and two poems, “The Ballad of Trash and Meat,” by Daniel Meltz, and “The Card Reader,” by Frances Richey.These six works were submitted to compete for inclusion in the 2011 issue of The Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses, the only annual anthology to showcase work from America’s alternative, literary presses. This is the fifth year that upstreet has made Pushcart Prize nominations.

upstreet congratulates its nominees, and wishes them the best of luck in the competition.

Nadelson story cited as ‘Distinguished’by Best American Short Stories 2010

“Oslo,” a story by Scott Nadelson in upstreet number five, has been listed as one of “100 Other Distinguished Stories” by the editors of Best American Short Stories 2010, edited by Richard Russo.

This is the fifth time an upstreet work has been mentioned in one of the prestigious annual Best American anthologies. Earlier this year, Phyllis Barber’s upstreet number five essay, “Sweetgrass,” was cited in Best American Essays 2010. Last year, Frank Tempone’s essay, “Everlasting,” was listed in Best American Nonrequired Reading 2009, and Katherine Lien Chariott’s “Vocabulary Lesson” and Michael Martone’s “Hermes Goes to College” were cited in Best American Essays 2009; all three essays were from the award-winning upstreet number four.

Scott Nadelson is the author of two story collections, The Cantor’s Daughter, recipient of the Reform Judaism Fiction Prize and the Samuel Goldberg & Sons Fiction Prize for Emerging Jewish Writers, and Saving Stanley: The Brickman Stories, winner of the Oregon Book Award for short fiction and the Great Lakes Colleges Association New Writers Award. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Glimmer Train Stories, American Literary Review, Arts & Letters, Puerto del Sol, South Dakota Review, and elsewhere. He lives in Salem, OR.

“Oslo” will appear in Scott’s third story collection, Aftermath, which is due to be released by Hawthorne Books in the Fall of 2011.

We congratulate Scott, and thank him for helping to make upstreet Distinguished.

Glover to judge 2010 FreeFall writing contest

upstreet author Douglas Glover will be the judge and editor for this year's prose and poetry contest conducted by FreeFall, “Canada’s magazine of exquisite writing.” The contest is open to Canadians living in Canada or abroad. Prizes for the contest total $1,100, and winning entries will be published in Volume XXI, No. 1 of FreeFall. The entry fee is $20, and includes a one-year subscription to the magazine. For the contest rules and entry form, go here.

Glover, a Canadian who lives in upstate New York, is the author of five story collections, four novels, a book of essays, and a book about novel form. He won the 2006 Writers' Trust of Canada Timothy Findley Award, and his novel Elle won the 2003 Governor-General's Award for Fiction in English, and was a finalist for the 2005 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. His essay “Don Quixote, Rosemary’s Baby, Alien, and The French Lieutenant’s Woman: Meditations on the Ideology of Closure and the Comforting Lie” was published in upstreet number four, and another essay, “Before/After History and the Novel,” in upstreet number six. He is currently on the faculty of Vermont College of Fine Arts.

New Creative Nonfiction Editor

Beginning with the upcoming seventh issue, Richard J. Farrell (above, with Maggie, 9, and Thomas, 5) of San Diego, CA, will be upstreet’s Creative Nonfiction Editor. He replaces Harrison Candelaria Fletcher, who held this position for the previous four issues.

A 1991 graduate of the US Naval Academy, Rich earned an MA in Secondary Education from Webster University, St. Louis, MO. Following his career as a Naval aircraft pilot, he taught science, math, and history at Cathedral High School in San Diego. He is currently a candidate for an MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts, Montpelier, where he has worked with authors Jess Row, Ellen Lesser, Douglas Glover, and Philip Graham, among others. He has been a submission reader for the literary journal Hunger Mountain, and for its Howard Frank Mosher Short Fiction Prize, and is a Contributing Editor for Glover’s literary blog, Numéro Cinq.

Asked to comment on what he would look for in a creative nonfiction submission, Rich said: “Good writing allows a reader to explore different worlds, to inhabit different bodies, and to understand different minds, but in the end always takes us home to ourselves. For upstreet, I want to find that careful writer who crafts the mysterious mixture of thought, emotion, and soul. The creative nonfiction genre encompasses so much, but is unified by an attention to, and a love of, language. I don’t believe in boundaries. In the end, good writing always finds a way to transcend whatever restrictions hold it down.”

Submissions for upstreet number seven opened September 1, and will close March 1, 2011.