|
|
|
|
CLASSROOM VISITS
Independent literary publishers produce . . . the majority of literature in translation and works of fiction by emerging writers.
Jeffrey Lependorf, Executive Director
Council of Literary Magazines and Presses
You don’t have to spend too much time at this web site to know that, in spite of some playing around, we’re serious about our mission to promote great fiction by new and emerging writers. Publishing Orchid may be the largest part of this mission but we’re interested in many avenues of outreach to the writing community.
Over the past two years, Orchid's editors have addressed creative writing classes at high schools, colleges, universities, and writers’ conferences in an effort to demystify the process of submission, acceptance, and (of course) rejection. Eleanor Shelton of Washtenaw Community College said, “After a semester of learning craft my students were hungry to discover what happens in the real world of literary fiction. Keith Hood brought in examples of cover letters that worked and those that didn’t; first paragraphs that caught his eye and those that made his eyes roll. He was frank about the industry of literary journals and yet let my students know that he would look forward to considering their works of fiction in the future.”
Orchid's editors would love to address your class, conference, or local writers’ group. Please contact us for further details. You can e-mail us at editors@orchidlit.org or send us mail via the US Postal Service at Orchid: A Literary Review, P. O. Box 131457, Ann Arbor, MI 48113-1457. (also see the Other Programs section at
Critical Connection Fiction Workshops)
|
|
“Keith Hood and Amy Sumerton have an amazing gift for explaining the complicated processes of the publishing world of literary journals in a way that makes this information accessible to writers of all experience levels. Challenged with a class that had a variety of levels of sophistication concerning the writing world, they delivered an excellent presentation that left the students with a realistic and hopeful view of publishing their work.”
Michelle Brooks
Director of Creative Writing
Macomb Community College
|
Keith Hood fields a question.
|
“A teacher can stand before a class for fifteen weeks and talk about writing, character and structure but when an editor from a highly-regarded literary journal visits there is a spark, an energy that is infused in the class. Keith Hood helped my class see the reality of the fiction industry that no amount of lecture could have. That afternoon, I know that several of my students entertained thoughts of writing for real for the first time.”
Eleanor Shelton
Creative Writing Instructor
Washtenaw Community College
|
|
ORCHID AS CLASSROOM TEXT
We were going to start by listing major writers of contemporary literature whose work first appeared in literary journals. However such a list would have been too long. It is a fact that most major writers of contemporary literature first saw his/her work published in small circulation literary journals like Orchid. Teachers of literature or creative writing are well aware of this. Teachers, students, and writing groups can read tomorrow’s great writers by using Orchid: A Literary Review as a teaching text or as supplemental reading. Please contact us for special deals and group discounts. You can e-mail us at editors@orchidlit.org or send us mail via the US Postal Service at Orchid: A Literary Review, P. O. Box 131457, Ann Arbor, MI 48113-1457.
|
|
What the heck. We have a little space on this page. We might as well list some great authors whose work first appeared in small lit journals: Flannery O'Connor, Charles Baxter, Sherman Alexie, Ann Beattie, Joyce Carol Oates, Sarah Gerkensmeyer, Richard Russo, John Edgar Wideman, Lorrie Moore, Rick Bass, Amy Bloom, Peter Ho Davies, Tobias Wolff, Annie Proulx, Richard, Ford, Stephen Dixon, Susan Minot, Alice Adams, and Colum McCann.
|
A few more: David Leavitt, Ha Jin, Amy Hempel, Raymond Carver, Michael Cunningham, Francine Prose, Jane Smiley, Russell Banks, Stuart Dybek, Mary Gordon, Daniel Mueller, Julia Alvarez, Sherwood Anderson, Richard Wright, Elizabeth Spencer, Bonnie Jo Campbell, Cindy Dale, Paul Graham, Monica Wood, Dan Chaon, Charles Johnson, Greg Johnson, Lan Samantha Chang, Edward P. Jones, Ron Hansen, Shirley Jackson, Andre Dubus . . .
|
Amy Sumerton reads a cover letter.
|
|
|
