Poetry Update

A quick follow-up to Ryan's recent post-
We got a bit backlogged during the Spring and are still reading poetry submissions from March and April. I hope to have all of those done before the start of the Fall semester, if not sooner, and will send notifications as we get stuff read. Anything we read now will be considered for our next issue (Spring 2008). We have received several withdrawal notices, which have been taken into consideration. If you've sent a submission query in recent weeks, expect a reply soon. As Ryan pointed out, we do not read over the summer (and our office is "officially" closed) but we are taking some time to catch up with reading - just expect a longer response time if you do send a query or other email.

Also, any poems received this summer (before Sept 1) will be returned unread. Please consider resubmitting in the fall.

Thanks for your patience and support.

Summer Reading, Submissions, Mailing

On the fiction side of things, we've just about gotten through our submissions (though Regan has a few packets of as-of-yet unread stories that she took with her on vacation to read through). We're at the stage now where Nat and I are passing around a lot of the stories that made it through the initial stages of review. These are stories that have caught our eye for one reason or another, and so we're reading them again and again to see what we think.

I saw that Wade is starting to get into the poems from March and April. So he's working hard to get those read as well.

So far, we've accepted one story that we're really happy with and we're about to accept another probably later today. These are stories that we absolutely had to have, that we were really moved by, and we can't wait to print them.

A quick note: we're not currently reading new stories. In other words, stories that come into us over the summer, we'll have to return unread (if they have enough postage) or we'll have to send a note asking the author to resubmit when our reading period reopens in the Fall. I know some journals take in submissions year round, but I think this little breathing period is important for us; we have a small staff, and we do a lot of catching up over the summer.

Nat's currently working to get the mailing taken care of (the Fall issue we just printed), and we're looking at possibly getting the issue into some local bookstores, so we'll see how that goes.

7/15 Celebrating the Poetry Chapbook

Recent Phoebe contributor (and GMU MFA alum) Melissa Tuckey reads in DC on July 15, as part of a chapbook release event at Busboys and Poets. Check it out...

Sunday Kind of Love: Celebrating the Poetry Chapbook
With E. Louise Beach, Michael Gushue, Alan King, and Melissa Tuckey
Sunday, July 15, 4-6 pm
Followed by an open mic
Hosted by Sarah Browning of DC Poets Against the War and Regie Cabico of Sol & Soul.

Busboys & Poets
14th & V Streets, NW
Washington, DC
U Street/Cardozo on the Metro green line
Wheelchair accessible
Free and open to the public
For more info: 202-387-POET, womenarts2 (at) aol (dot) com
www.busboysandpoets.com

Featured Withdrawals

I've noticed here at Phoebe we get quite a few withdrawals from authors who've had their stories and poems accepted elsewhere. This probably isn't rare; I expect it happens at other journals as well, but I thought it would be interesting to try to give those authors a public congratulations for their continuing success and point out where their new stories will be featured and/or printed (I feel sort of like it's a good thing to do, since we encourage simultaneous submissions after all).

So anyhow, I'll try to keep a running thing going and post these withdrawals (acceptances!) as they happen, or as we find out about them, so that you (our dear and few blog readers) can find these stories and poems, read them, and be happy.

(Our knowledge of these works will vary, depending on how far along they traveled in our review process)

Here are some that immediately come to mind:

• Amy Knox Brown sent along a wonderful story called "Why We Are The Way We Are" last year, and we wanted to print it for Fall 2007, but she withdrew it because the Beloit Fiction Journal had accepted it before we got to it. I tried to find out more at the journal's website, but there's little there to see. Here's a quick blurb I found online though. Pick up the hard copy to read her work.
• Luke Geddes recently withdrew a story from us. It was picked up by Wandering Army, an online journal. You can read it here.
• And finally, Carl Peterson withdrew a story that was picked up by DIAGRAM back in late winter.

That's all I've got, maybe we'll post some poems too.

Greg Grummer Poetry Contest, 2008

Phoebe is again sponsoring its annual Greg Grummer Poetry Award contest. The author of the winning poem will receive $1000 and publication in the Fall 2008 issue of Phoebe. Peter Gizzi will judge. We will be accepting entries until December 1, 2007. The entry fee is $15. You can find contest guidelines here.

PETER GIZZI's books include "The Outernationale" (Wesleyan, 2007), "Some Values of Landscape and Weather" (Wesleyan, 2003), "Artificial Heart" (Burning Deck, 1998), and "Periplum and Other Poems 1987-1992" (Salt Publishing, 2004). His honors include the Lavan Younger Poet Award from the Academy of American Poets (1994), and fellowships in poetry from the Howard Foundation (1998), The Foundation for Contemporary Arts (1999), and The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (2005). He is also the editor of "The House That Jack Built: The Collected Letters of Jack Spicer" (Wesleyan, 1998). He currently teaches at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Postage, Computers, Fiction Submissions, Fall Issue, and other thoughts

I can't sleep, and I don't want to wake up my wife by rattling submissions around out here in the living room, so I figured I'd add a few thoughts to this newsreel for anyone that's interested:

• It's no secret that the USPS raised their rates recently and added some confusing regulations on top of that mess, so we've stocked up on 2cent stamps. Those of you who submitted to us before this crazy rate increase, do not worry, we'll be able to respond. Though I will be honest here, a few of you who asked that we return your manuscripts (and provided us with a full-sized, stamped manilla folder), I must warn you, some of those envelopes will have quite a lot of 2cent stamps on them.
• This information is for our international authors: we're having trouble with the International Return Coupons. I don't know what it is really, some of them have been coming to us postmarked and some haven't. We can't use the ones that aren't postmarked, since, according to the postman, they haven't been paid for (in other words, we'd have to pay). And basically, everytime we get an IRC, we have to go the post office to send back our response. This isn't a huge problem, but it needs some attention. I guess what I'm saying is for international authors, 1) I want to apologize for taking so long to handle this, and 2) we might be able to save a lot of hassle if we just respond to you by email in the future. Now this isn't an official change of submission guidelines, but I'll have to talk it over with everyone else, since I'm just fiction.
• I don't know about poetry, but we're now getting into the fiction submission packets that we received in February and March. I can't promise anything concerning decisions, when they'll be made, etc, since the Spring 08 Issue print deadline is a while off yet, but I will say that we're reading those stories now. As far as our summer process goes, it's a bit more relaxed (read: slow, sorry), since we have a smaller staff. Nat's reading, I'm reading, and I think one or two of our fiction readers will stay on board to help out. Our assistant fiction editor will be out of town this summer, but I'll be in touch with her to talk about what we've been seeing. But we're taking our yearly break from reading incoming submissions so we can catch up on what we already have.
• And our Fall 07 issue just came in a few weeks ago (all 1,200 copies of it, I think) and it's cluttering up our tiny cubicle. We can't wait to get it out to everyone, especially our contributors, but we're having a little trouble with the bar code; we have to wait for stickers or something like that. But I will say, it looks great. I'll post the new cover when we get our new computers up and running.
• Yes, maybe not exciting for you, but definitely for us: we've got two new machines that Nat's setting up this week. Our old ones were about ready to conk out (we were scared of losing all our submission records, money stuff, artwork, blah blah blah), but now we'll be safe and sound.

That's it for me. Have a good weekend.

Poetry Contest Judge

I'm pleased to announce that Peter Gizzi will judge Phoebe's 2008 Greg Grummer Poetry Contest. Peter is the author of four books of poetry, including, most recently, The Outernationale. I'll post a formal bio soon. Contest guidelines and more information can be found via the Phoebe website.