August 2009 Archives

As of September 1, 2009, Copper Nickel will no longer accept unsolicited submissions via e-mail or snail mail. All submissions must be tendered via the Submission Manager system accessible at http://www.copper-nickel.org/submissions/.

First-time users will be required to create a user account; authors may then check the status of the submission review at any time, without e-mail query. This will, hopefully, also enable authors to discover the status of their submissions when e-mail responses are captured by spam filters.

If you need to query about work submitted before September 1, 2009, please write us at element29 [at] copper [dash] nickel [dot] org. We will respond to your query within 10 days. We will complete review of submissions received prior to the system changeover before October 15, 2009.

Editor Brian Barker contributes today's "Poet's Choice" column in the Washington Post, introducing his poem "Elegy with a Mute Bell."

Maybe now more than ever, literary journals and university and independent presses are poised to fill the void created by the major publishing houses that are primarily driven by the bottom line. A few years ago, I attended a writing conference where, at a panel discussion, I listened to a New York agent say that literary prose and poetry were no more important than a tube of toothpaste. "It's all about the marketing," she said. "End caps at Barnes & Noble, Oprah's Book Club, and The New York Times best-seller list—if you can't guarantee one of those, there is no market and there is no hope because there is no audience."

No. That's not true. At The Southern Review, we know we have a diverse and engaged audience interested in the best new prose and poetry being written by the world's establish and emerging authors....

Read more in the Summer 2009 issue (v45 n3) of The Southern Review

New editor Nicky Beer will take the stage tonight in Opium Magazine's latest Denver installment of Literary Death Match at Forest Room 5. Doors at 7:30, the fight at 8pm. Cost is $10.

You can now pre-order Copper Nickel 12 for a discounted price of $10 (postage included).

The issue—which includes fiction by Andrew Farkas and Carolyn Keubler, poetry by Tarfia Faizullah, John Gallaher, James Hoch and others, as well as debut fiction by Ashlie Schweitzer, and photography by Joann Brennen and Chris Morris—should be ready for consumption by September 17th. (If you live in Denver mark your calendars for a party.)

Meanwhile, issues 5, 6, and 7 have sold out, but we still have a few copies of issues 8, 9, and 10 left, so get them while you can.