Category Archives: Articles of Import

The Poetry Foundation offers some poems, articles and insights relating to Father’s Day:

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/journal/article.html?id=239488

After 100 years, Mark Twain’s (Samuel Clemens) autobiography will be put into print.

In my short time as an assistant teacher for Intro to Poetry, one of the questions that kept popping up with my students was whether or not poetry had to be autobiographical. There seems to be a general assumption that whatever a poet writes is truthful.

This article discusses that assumption: “The Poet Never Affirmeth” by Travis Kurowski

http://therumpus.net/2010/05/the-blurb-17-the-poet-never-affirmeth/

Joyce Carol Oates discusses what it is to “be a writer” in her article “I Am Sorry to Inform You,” from 2010 fiction issue of The Atlantic.

Also, via the internet, to you.

Poetry Foundation (poetryfoundation.org) posted a lovely little article on Charles Bukowski last week. I thought it was worth sharing with all of you.

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/journal/article.html?id=239168

Speaking of articles, Two-Bit Magazine is eventually going to be looking for short articles on literature and the world related to literature to expand the Two-Bit Blog. If article writing is something you’re interested in, get on it, since Two-Bit Magazine will be looking for submissions in the not-too-distant future.

If you haven’t heard, the latest Pulitzer Prize for Fiction has been awarded to Paul Harding, whose debut novel was published by a small, not-for-profit publisher. This is something of a notch in the belt of small presses, I think. It’s also a reminder that impressive work can appear anywhere, so keep reading!

http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2010-04-13-pulitzer13_ST_N.htm

We open for submissions again April 1, no fooling.

I know you’re chomping at the bit—in the meantime, read this article about Brooklyn Poet Laureate Tina Chang.

I hope for the rest of you out there, the afternoon is considerably less rainy than it is here. It isn’t a very nice rain today, though it is a touch warmer than I was expecting. I heard on the radio that Maine got its first dusting of snow.

Per the (albeit small, but unanimous) response to the last poll regarding whether or not one would like a response to one’s submission from the editor, starting on Monday this coming week all submissions will receive an email confirmation of receipt. Two-Bit won’t be doing responses to past submissions.

A note on turnaround time of submissions: The earlier you’ve submitted and the longer it takes to hear from us, the better. Because the deadline for Two-Bit isn’t until November 30, and because we’ve decided to limit the writers in the first issue to ten (give or take), if you haven’t heard from us in awhile, it probably means that your work has made it to the second stage of consideration, and we’re holding it until the deadline. If you’re concerned that we’ve forgotten you and its been two months, feel free to send an email to the editor notifying us of such.

Other business:

The Poetry Foundation (poetryfoundation.org) posted an interview with Nicholson Baker in regards to his new novel The Anthologist. It addresses some notions of the movement between poetry and long prose, and is, overall, an interesting conversation worth at least a glance, if not some prolonged consideration. You can check it out here: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/journal/article.html?id=237670

P.S. Happy October!

Very early this morning we received our thousandth page view, hurrah! Of course, this doesn’t correspond to a thousand unique persons, but we will take our victories where we can. So far we’ve had an overwhelming response to Two-Bit Magazine, almost exclusively positive, with good feedback and a number of questions that have helped us refine our mission and guidelines.

Earlier this month, we posted the front cover of the first issue of Two-Bit Magazine. We mentioned that we would post more info and examples on the upcoming issue, and in accordance with that, here is the mock-up of our mast, featuring the heading font and general font for the issue; keep in mind that this is a dummy, and will be subject to change (you will notice some minor formatting issues).

Two-Bit Magazine Dummy Mast

Also, we encourage you to take a look at the latest episode of public radio show Studio 360, featuring an entertaining and fascinating interview with writer James Ellroy – his novels include L.A. Confidential and The Black Dahlia. He edited Best American Mystery Stories 2002. Check out the interview here.