Wigleaf’s Top 50
Dan Chaon has selected “Penned Up,” first published in The Collagist, for Wigleaf’s Top Fifty short-shorts of the year. Check it, and the others, here: http://wigleaf.com/.
Penned Up at the Drum
Check out the audio version of “Penned Up” over at The Drum.
Wanna take a fiction class with me? For free. Online. Through U Iowa.
Hello all.
Just wanted to shoot this out there.
I’d like to invite you to apply for a short, upcoming course in fiction writing through the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program. Funding for this program is provided by the US Department of State, so it is FREE for students. Ghada Abdel Aal, an acclaimed Egyptian novelist, screenwriter, journalist, and former resident of the IWP, will be my co-instructor for this course. We hope that you consider joining us in this interesting opportunity to work with writers throughout the world. We only have 11 spaces open so, if you are interested, it is important that you respond in a timely fashion—preferably within a week.
Some details: The topic for the course is “Fiction Writing.” We’ll work together to develop and improve pieces of short fiction. Every student in the course will have the opportunity to present and receive feedback on one short story of about 5-10 pages. Additionally, we’ll discuss published works of short fiction and, at the end of the course, publishing in US literary magazines. We’ll use Skype and a specially designed website to interact with one another. The course will commence during the week of February 20th and run until the week of March 26th—a total of six weeks. If needed we will extend the course by up to two weeks. Students are expected to read and respond to one another’s work, and participate in video chat sessions. All writing and course activities will be conducted in English. Time commitment for each student will be about 2-3 hours per week.
If you are interested, please complete the short application form and return it to Ghada and I at your earliest convenience. Our email addresses are: james-obrien@uiowa.edu and Ghada.abdelaal@yahoo.com.
Penned Up Redux
Keep an eye on “The Drum” for the audio version of “Penned Up” in the coming weeks.
Harpur Palate and trnsfr
Look for my story, “Shelter,” to appear in the upcoming edition of Harpur Palate. Check out the magazine here Harpur Palate. And look for “The Word, the Flesh,” a piece from my in-progress apoctalyptic story cycle, to appear in the upcoming issue of trnsfr. Find out more here: trnsfr.
Check out the Newpages Review of The Colorado Review. My story, “The Bones Inside Your Skin,” appeared in it.
Two pieces shine brightest in the Summer 2011 issue of the Colorado Review—Diana Wagman’s nonfiction piece “Mess”and James O’Brien’s fiction piece “The Bones Inside Your Skin.”
http://newpages.com/literary-magazine-reviews/2011-11-15/#Colorado-Review-v38-n2-Summer-2011
A New Piece in Stymie
Check out my essay on the rugby years here: http://issuu.com/stymiemag/docs/stymiemagaw11_final
“This is Blood”
Look for “This is Blood” to appear in Arts & Letters this Spring.
