Carey McHugh’s Essay on Owls Featured on LitHub

An essay by our forthcoming author Carey McHugh (American Gramophone, 2015) has recently been featured on Literary Hub. The essay, “Aliens Among Us: A Brief History of the Owl,” examines the many cultural views of owls, giving some context to its often mysterious reputation, connecting various points through time and space. Such subjects as The Exorcist, Winnie the Pooh, and The Owl Pages, a heavy influence on McHugh’s most recent book, find connections through her treatment of this creature.

To read the full essay, visit Literary Hub online.

 

 

Six Days Left to Submit: Gulf Coast’s Barthelme Prize and Prize in Translation

By Maksym Kozlenko (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0] via Wikimedia Commons

There are only a few more days to submit work to Gulf Coast‘s Barthelme Prize for Short Prose and 2015 Prize in Translation.

The Barthelme Prize is open to pieces of prose poetry, flash fiction, and micro-essays of 500 words or fewer. Established in 2008 after American postmodernist author Donald Barthelme, the contest awards its winner $1,000 and publication in the journal. Two honorable mentions will be awarded $250. All entries will be considered for online publication. Prose author and journalist Steve Almond is this year’s judge.

This season, the 2015 Gulf Coast Prize in Translation is open to fiction and nonfiction in translation. Akin to the Barthelme Prize, one winner will receive $1,000 and journal publication; two honorable mentions will receive $250; all will be considered for online publication. This year’s judge is Ammiel Alcalay, the poet, critic and translator, among many other titles.

For more information on these summer prizes, see Gulf Coast‘s guidelines.

 

Kate Angus in New Poetry from the Midwest

Augury’s Michigan-born editor Kate Angus has recently been featured in the 2014 edition of New Poetry from the Midwest, published by New American Press. New American Press is an independent literary publisher focusing on contemporary fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and translations from across the United States and around the world. Also featured in this anthology are Nin Andrews, David Baker, Karen Craigo, Lee Upton and Joe Weintraub. 

Check out the anthology on Amazon!

__

Augury Books’ spring/summer 2015 reading period is now open for submissions in poetry and prose. For guidelines and general information, please visit our submissions page.

Halina Duraj’s The Family Cannon Nominated for CLMP Firecracker Award

From E. Weiß’s Bilderatlas der Sternenwelt (1888), courtesy of the Public Domain Review

The Community of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP) released the nominees for their new Firecracker Awards. Inspired by the Firecracker Alternative Book Awards, CLMP’s awards strive to honor and support literary works from independent publishers and self-published writers.

The finalists are divided into six categories: creative nonfiction, fiction, poetry, young adult, graphic novels, and literary magazines. Among them is Augury author Halina Duraj for her book of short stories, The Family Cannon. Other finalists across categories include Jeffery Renard AllenMartha Baillie, Bonnie Friedman, Allen Crawford, and Ransom Riggs, as well as several literary magazines, including 6 x 6, A Public Space, and Mosaic. Tin House, Graywolf Press, Ahsahta Press, and Tender Buttons Press are all among the publishers that have titles shortlisted. The winners in each group will be announced on May 27th at powerHouse Arena in DUMBO.

To see the complete shortlists for the Firecracker Awards, view CLMP’s press release.

For more about Halina Duraj and The Family Cannon, click here.

Literary Hub Set To Launch April 8th

Utagawa Hiroshige’s The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō (1848), courtesy of the Public Domain Review

Literary Hub, a website which will gather literary content from across the internet and combine in one place, is set to launch on April 8th. Emily Firetog, the managing editor of the site, spoke to Augury about the new website and its goals.

Augury: How did you get involved with Lit Hub? Do you have a particular role within the organization?

Emily: There is a small daily team at Lit Hub: editor in chief Jonny Diamond, managing editor (me) and assistant editor Blair Beusman. We have a part time assistant editor Ben Philippe, six contributing editors (Roxane Gay, Alexander Chee, Rebecca Wolff, Adam Fitzgerald, Ashley Ford, and Oscar Villalon), and John Freeman is our executive editor/features editor.

A: What is Lit Hub’s mission? How does it see itself within the literary community?

E: Lit Hub is investing in the future of literary culture and its readers. It’s a site designed to be a destination for readers to discover the very best literary content on the web. Our partners include large publishers, small presses, university presses, print and digital journals, bookstores, and nonprofits, because we want to be inclusive, reflecting the reality of literary publishing today.

A: What sorts of things does Lit Hub have planned for the future? (Do you envision any events or readings?)

E: We’re a website. We’re going to focus on bringing the best content to readers every day.

Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks Re-opens

From J.J. Grandville’s The Flowers Personified (1847), courtesy of the Public Domain Review

One of the few independent bookstores left in Manhattan, Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks recently reopened at a new location on 28 East Second Street. The store’s owner, Bonnie Slotnick, sat down with Augury to discuss her shop and the recent changes it has undergone.

Augury Books: How did you decide to start selling books?

Bonnie Slotnick: I had begun collecting cookbooks when I was in my twenties. When I was thirty, I saw a store selling new cookbooks in the city. I ended signing up to become a book scout for them. After a while, I was sick of being under somebody else’s sphere of influence and I opened my store. That was 17 years ago.

A: What made you decide to focus on cookbooks in particular?

B: I used to look at my mother’s cookbooks when I was a kid. She didn’t have a lot, but there was one that I was just particularly taken with. I used to look at it all the time. It was my favorite book when I was ten or eleven. When I started seeing the books in stores, they really resonated with me. I found old cookbooks and they really struck a chord with me. The old ones are much more interesting; there’s so much history. The new ones all look the same to me.

A: What are some of your favorite books you’ve sold?

B: I like books from the 20s, 30s, 40s. I like books that are in the format of conversations. Some books at the start of the 19th century were written as a conversation between an older woman and a new bride or young girl who has to take care of her family. I like that the conversation isn’t just comprised of instructions. They’re in the form of letters.

A: How has the move been?

B: It was very traumatic to lose the lease on my store after all these years. I was very lucky to find someone who wanted to rent to me. And now I’m a tenant and I have a much bigger spot for the same rent. And it has a backyard. It’s really unbelievable. They really wanted a bookstore as their tenant.

A: Do you have any plans for the new space?

To restock. I’m now certain to buy again. And I have enough room that I can have events here – author events. Because I have a nice space in an interesting neighborhood, people are already getting in touch with me. If somebody wants to have a talk or a book club, I have space for that. Classes can come. Professors would bring their classes to the old shop, and we’d be packed in. Now I feel like I can have a square dance in here!

For more on Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks, visit the website.

Randall Horton Featured on Poetry Society of America

Image from James C. Watson’s A Popular Treatise on Comets, courtesy of the Public Domain Review

Randall Horton‘s poem “When Winter is a Transitional State” was recently featured on the Poetry Society of America‘s website. The Poetry Society of America is the oldest poetry organization in the country, and its mission is to foster an interest in poetry and to support poets nationwide. Horton discussed his thoughts on the poem:

I wanted to explore what an unconventional love looks like. To most of the outside world, this kind of love would seem abnormal. I worked within the freedom and constraint of the couplet form, going for the duality of thought within the speaker’s mind.”

To read the full poem and Horton’s commentary, click here.

Horton’s second memoir is forthcoming from Augury Books in 2015.

More on Randall Horton

Our Manuscript Selections for 2015

Photo by Dave Bledsoe, FreeVerse Photography

Augury Books is delighted to announce our selections from this summer’s open reading period. We are honored and humbled to have received so many wonderful manuscripts. It was difficult to come to a final decision. All of the work we received this year has helped to renew our faith in the high quality of independent literature.

Our next three titles will be:

Letters to Lxxxx by Randall Horton
American Gramophone by Carey McHugh
Hiccups, or Autobiomythography II by Joe Pan

We are also happy to highlight the works of our finalists:

A Love Supreme by Jeremy Townley
Children Left Breathing by Jeanne Althouse
Missionaries by David Ebenbach
True Love and Other Dreams of Miraculous Escape by Micah Perks
You Don’t Seem Happy Enough by Stephanie Austin
Hotel Grand Abyss by Robert Glick
Certain Registers by Thomas Cook
Snow Farmer by Benjamin Gantcher
A Miss by Marina Blitshteyn

Thank you again to everyone who submitted their work. We are truly grateful for your work and patience. Check back in the upcoming weeks and months to read selections from our three upcoming titles and our finalists!

For updates, follow this blog, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.