An Indian-American filmmaker wants fans to help 'fix' Simpsons character Apu
digitalspy.com – Friday May 4, 2018
Indian-American filmmaker Adi Shankar has come up with a solution to the problem of The Simpsons' character Apu: he wants to hand the character over to the fans for a rewrite.
The character has become the subject of controversy in recent months, especially after the release of 2017 documentary The Problem With Apu, which discussed the way the long-running TV series has helped to perpetuate the (negative) stereotypes of Indian-Americans, as well as the problems of having a white actor putting on a heavy accent to voice the character.
Use a Placeholder in Your Writing to Keep From Getting Stuck
lifehacker.com – Friday May 4, 2018
Sometimes the hardest part about writing isn’t finding ideas or knowing how to begin, it’s maintaining a flow so you actually finish what you started. It’s not quite total writer’s block since you’re already on the move, but a writer’s road block, if you will. This trick that Star Trek: The Next Generation staff writers used can help you keep on truckin’.
The writers of TNG were great at coming up with interesting plot lines for the crew of the Enterprise, but they weren’t actual scientists or experts in space travel. So, when that kind of stuff came up in the script, they often used a placeholder word for the science-y things and worried about fixing it later. Writer Ron Moore explains the process to Syfy:
New Literary Agency Listing
firstwriter.com – Friday May 4, 2018
Handles: Fiction; Nonfiction
Areas include: Arts; Autobiography; Business; Cookery; Crafts; Culture; Film; Gardening; Health; Historical; Hobbies; Humour; Photography; Science; Self-Help; Spiritual; Sport; Technology; Travel; Women's Interests
Markets: Adult; Children's; Youth
Preferred styles: Commercial; Literary
Seeking new and existing authors across all genres. Particularly interested in narrative, memoir, prescriptive nonfiction (including sports, health, wellness, business, political and parenting topics), commercial fiction, young adult and middle grade books. No screenplays, scripts, poetry, or picture books. Submit online through online submissions system or by email. See website for full details.
New Magazine Listing
firstwriter.com – Thursday May 3, 2018
Publishes: Essays; Fiction; Nonfiction; Poetry;
Areas include: Arts; Autobiography; Culture; Current Affairs; Historical; Literature; Media; Philosophy; Photography; Politics; Science; Short Stories; Sociology; Travel;
Markets: Academic; Adult; Professional;
Preferred styles: Contemporary; Experimental; Literary; Popular; Progressive; Satirical; Traditional
University-affiliated quarterly online literary arts journal showcasing creative work. We publish short fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and essays, as well as art and photography. The goal of our publication is to assemble a variety of literary and artistic styles and a broad range of voices, perspectives, and life experiences.
The theme of our Fall 2018 issue is “Home.†We are interested in your perspective relating to ideas such as the meaning of home, immigration, marginalization, nationalism, ownership, comfort, security, displacement, boundaries, and identity.
Please include a brief author bio of no more than 100 words. Limit submissions to no more than 2,500 words of prose, five poems, or five artworks or photographic images. Works previously published elsewhere cannot be submitted. Simultaneous and multiple submissions are fine. Please notify if work gets accepted for publication elsewhere.
For additional guidelines and to submit, please visit our website.
New Literary Agency Listing
firstwriter.com – Thursday May 3, 2018
Handles: Fiction; Nonfiction
Areas: Crime; Thrillers
Markets: Adult
Treatments: Literary
Send query by post or by email, with synopsis and first three chapters (or fifty pages) (fiction); or proposal (nonfiction). If submitting by email, send material in Word or PDF attachment. If submitting by post, do not include SAE as material will be recycled once read. Include email address for response. Aims to respond within six weeks.
New Literary Agency Listing
firstwriter.com – Wednesday May 2, 2018
Handles: Fiction
Areas: Erotic; Fantasy; Romance; Sci-Fi
Markets: Adult; Children's; Youth
Treatments: Contemporary; Dark
Actively seeking new clients for middle grade, young adult, and adult categories. See website for individual agent interests and contact details and query one agent at a time. See website for full details.
New Publisher Listing
firstwriter.com – Monday April 30, 2018
Publishes: Fiction; Nonfiction; Poetry;
Areas include: Arts; Cookery; Humour;
Markets: Adult; Children's
Accepts electronic submissions of complete manuscripts only (except in the case of cookbooks, which may be submitted as complete mss or proposals). Not currently accepting poetry submissions. See website for full details.
If Shakespeare were alive today, would he be writing crime novels?
telegraph.co.uk – Sunday April 29, 2018
There is no surer way to make yourself sound like a fatuous idiot than to speculate on what famous writers of the past would be doing if they were alive today – to suggest that Dickens would be scripting soap operas, Jane Austen would write chick lit, Blake would be penning hip-hop lyrics, Oscar Wilde would be a preening vlogger, and so on. And yet there is a part of me – the fatuously idiotic part, presumably – that nods along in agreement when people say that if Shakespeare were around today, he would be writing not plays but crime fiction, and we’d find him on the bestseller lists up with Ian Rankin, Lee Child and Val McDermid. The crime novelist Peter James made this point repeatedly as chairman...
New Magazine Listing
firstwriter.com – Friday April 27, 2018
Publishes: Fiction; Nonfiction;
Areas include: Short Stories;
Markets: Adult;
Preferred styles: Literary
Accepts fiction and nonfiction of any length. Submit via online submission system.
Lovegrove launches magazine for Caribbean writing
thebookseller.com – Monday April 23, 2018
Sharmaine Lovegrove has launched an online magazine dedicated to Caribbean literature.
Pree offers new contemporary writing from and about the Caribbean, including fiction, non-fiction, essays, interviews and experimental writing giving the authors “international visibility far beyond the islands”.
Lovegrove is publisher of the magazine and also publisher at Little, Brown imprint Dialogue Books, which is dedicated to inclusivity. Joining her at the online magazine is editor-in-chief Annie Paul, who is based at University of the West Indies, and editors include Jamaican writer and environmental activist Diana McCaulay, cultural analyst Isis Semaj-Hall and New York-based essayist Garnette Cadogan. The magazine’s creative director is designer Nerys Hudson.
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