Eastlit Live

The latest addition to Eastlit live is Pangolin by Usha Kishore. It includes and introduction followed by a reading of Pangolin by poet Usha Kishore. Pangolin was first published in Eastlit May 2015 with a collection of poems.

In Empty Places

In Empty Places is a collection of short stories and artwork. It raises money and awareness for the Bantuan Coffee Foundation. They help victims of child prostitution in Indonesia.

 In Empty Places was published last year. Now there are only a few copies remaining. So it is last chance to get one. Follow the link in the picture for more information.

Sanjeev Sethi

Sanjeev Sethi’s third volume of Poetry, This Summer and That Summer has recently been released. You can read all about it by clicking on the link in the cover picture.

You can also read one of the new poems there.

If you would like to read more of Sanjeev’s poems from Eastlit, Sanjeev has had the following poetry published in Eastlit:

• Karma and Other Poems appeared in Eastlit March 2015.

Sanjeev has also recently been working on our editorial board.

Tom Sheehan

Multiple published author Tom Sheehan, who has featured in Eastlit several times, has a new book out. This one, A Collection of Friends, pays tribute to the people who have flowed through Tom’s life.

You can read more about Tom on his Amazon page by clicking on the picture.

Apart from his published books, Tom has hundreds of pieces of work poublished on the internet. He also has quite a collection that have been published on Eastlit over the past three years.

Some of Tom’s previous pieces in Eastlit are:

• Old Man With a Broken Walking Stick in Eastlit January 2013.
• The Pearl Necklace published in Eastlit March 2013.
• At the Lake published in Eastlit May 2013.

Tse Hao Guang

Singaporean writer Tse Hao Guang has recently had his collection of poetry, Deeds of Light published by Math Paper Press.

You can get more information by clicking on the link in the picture.

Tse Hao Guang has had work previously published in Eastlit.

This includes:

• Midautumn which was featured in Eastlit Novenber 2013.

Eastlit November News

Eastlit December 2015 will be out in early December. This will be the last of the recent bimonthly issues. From January Eastlit will revert back to a monthly publication.

I am looking to add possibly one more person to the editorial board. I would like someone focused on East or Southeast Asia this time. If you are interested contact Eastlit admin.

And finally, thanks to all our readers out there.

Cheers

Graham

The post Eastlit November News appeared first on Eastlit.

While finalizing the January 2014 issue, I decided to do a quick New Year review of the most popular pieces to have been published in Eastlit. Below are the most read pieces in the whole of 2013. I have not included covers, content pages, contributor lists or editorials. There is a direct link to each piece this time. Oh and why no take a look around some of the older issues? You may find a less read piece of work that is your favorite in Eastlit during 2013.

Eastlit January 2014 will be out on January 3 or 4. OK, so without further ado or comment here is the 2013 top twenty.

2013 Top Twenty:

1. Common Filipino Funeral Superstitions Rebutted by Reynold P. Macaranas.
2. Bluebird Island by Pauline Lacanilao.
3. Eastern Poetry by Graham Lawrence.
4. Going Home by Steve Rosse.
5. The Puppet Tree by Andrew J. West.
6. Going Back to Emerald Hill by Chew Yi Wei.
7. The Mansion by Andrew J. West.
8. The Debt by Kritika Chettri.
9. Five Poems by Rose Lu.
10. When the Holy Ruled the Middle Kingdom by Jean Luc-Bouchard.
11. Struck by T-net Quiring.
12. Art of Evil by Andrew J. West.
13. A Few Thin Jackets by Steve Tait.
14. The Voice by Piya Chakrabarti.
15. Midautumn by Tse Hao Guang.
16. The Battle of Mianzi by Nichole Reber.
17. Artwork by Bruce Gundersen.
18. Shadows in Rooms by Anita Gill.
19. Perseverance by Binita Bhattacharya.
20. Two Poems by Cesar Polvorosa Jr.

Other News

Thanks to everyone for your support over the past year. I hope you will continue to find a place for Eastlit in 2014. I have aso been toying with the idea of a Southlit. This would be a sister journal to Eastlit. It would be aimed at South Asia/Indian subcontinent. If anyone has any comment on this please get in touch with the editor. I also continue to appreciate any feedback at all! We are also looking for guest editorials and a volunteer for the editorial board. If anyone wants to be interviewed for Eastlit, let me know. Oh and if you like us, linking to our site is always appreciated!

Happy New Year.

Cheers.

Graham.

The post 2013 Top Twenty appeared first on Eastlit.

• That their work will not be read much.
• That over the months their work will disappear and not be seen again.
• That the publication will cease to exist.

At Eastlit we try to address these post getting published issues. After getting published we do as much as we can for you by use of contacts and social media to make sure your work will be read. We also encourage every writer to publicize not only their own work but also the Eastlit issue in general. If you have a second piece of work published we always link your previous work as a reminder to readers. Plus occasionally I do a news item that will link to previously published pieces of work in a certain category. The piece on Eastern poetry is an example.

The other good news is that the Eastlit website is now paid up for another two years. We do not intend to cease publication any time soon! Thanks to those who helped out with donations. It is appreciated.

We also recognize that over time a piece of work disappears into the archives and is maybe harder for readers to run across. However, there are a number of advantages to being published online. One of these is that you are there as long as the website exists. Another is that it is easier for people to find what they are looking for via an online search than by scouring libraries and newsstands for magazines. Plus you also come up in random searches!

However, we at Eastlit do not think this is enough and want to improve what we offer. We know it can be hard enough getting published in the first place. Then it is even harder to have your work stay in the limelight over time. We have plans to do something about this.

Getting Published – The Future at Eastlit

In the future we are going to republish random pieces of work from previous old issues of Eastlit in a current issue. We will initially republish one each month starting in our December issue. That will be the first issue of our second year. It seems like a good time to start new things.

Eastlit E-Books

We also plan on converting old issues into E-books that can be read on anything from a Tablet to a Smartphone to an iPad to a Kindle. These will be downloadable. There is no timeframe for this to become regular. However, the inaugural December 2012 issue is now in a common e-book format (epub) and I am just working on editing out aberrations that occur in converting digital material. I will also be converted to the other common form (mobi). This e book issue will be launched as a trial issue to see what feedback we get. We hope to improve this as we go along. We also hope that by getting published in e book format your work will be more widely read. Also it should have more longevity than in a paper magazine.

Support

Thank you to all those who have supported us in terms of literary contributions, advice, editorial support, guidance and more recently via donations. It is all appreciated. Please keep those contributions coming in. Also if you can spare a donation of a dollar or two to help support some of these new initiatives, which do cost money, it will be appreciated.

I am also looking for another person or two to add to the editorial board. If you are interested you can contact the editor.

iPhone/iPad App

We are now also ready to launch an Eastlit app for iOS (Apple) devices. This will happen when I have available funds. We hope in the coming year to improve on the quality of the apps. We also have a plan to streamline them, and possibly have a little different content more specific to mobile viewing. More on that later.

Art

Coming issues will see a little more colour with both photographs and digital versions of art from a few new contributors. I am pretty excited at making a move to where we can integrate more visual art into what is a fairly solid written art offering already. We hope to see a few more artists getting published. If you are a visual artist or know one who may be interested, please send something in through the usual submissions channel. If you have questions contact the editor.

OK that is enough on getting published and Eastlit.

But before I go I will mention our Eastlit Live channel again! We hope to have a new interview up soon. You can also send us some live material to publish! If you want to be interveiwed, please contact us.

Cheers.

Graham.

The post Getting Published appeared first on Eastlit.

Eastlit Journal – How it Works, Submission.

Every morning an administrator, usually me, checks the submissions and editors e-mail accounts. New submissions come through the submissions route, while amended ones or bio’s usually come through the editor’s e-mail. Let’s take a look at what happens when a submission comes in.

Each morning there may be several submissions. The first thing that happens is they are checked against our submission criteria.

If they meet the criteria, they will be assigned to a folder for consideration. There are separate journal folders for each month of the year. They usually go into consideration for the next month. However, before doing this, we do have to check whether an author has been previously published. If they have, we must make sure they are not being considered for consecutive issues of Eastlit. The final check will be to see whether a bio was included or not. Then the administrator will e-mail the author to confirm receiving the piece and letting them know which issue they are being considered for. If necessary we will also request a bio at this point.

If they do not meet our criteria, there are several things that may happen:

1. Overt erotica will be deleted. The author will receive no response. We make it clear in our journal guidelines, that we do not accept erotica.
2. Submissions from outside the regions with no obvious connection to the region will receive a response. The administrator will request a short justification from the author as to what the connection to East and/or South East Asia is. If this request is met and we accept the justification, we will then assign the piece for consideration and notify the author. Each case is individually considered.

Eastlit Journal – How it Works, Editorial Board and the Decision to Publish or Not.

On the 21st of each month the pieces for consideration for the month after next are assigned to several editorial board members. They then have until the 21st of the month, before the issue will be published, to vote on each piece they receive. For example, for the December issue board members will receive the pieces on 21st October and have until the 21st November to read and vote. The December issue will then be put together and published for December 1.

Board members have wide latitude on how to judge things. We want to have as much variety as possible in the Eastlit journal. Not every piece goes to every member of the journal’s board. We divide the pieces for consideration up and make groups of board members. Each group receives some pieces, but not all, to decide on. The make up of groups is varied by issue. Each group member has one vote. They can vote yes, no or not sure. The vote is completely secret. The administrators add up the scores to see if the piece is rejected or will be published. If there is no clear result then a long term Eastlit journal member, usually not me, will get a casting vote.

Eastlit Journal – How it Works, Notifying Authors.

When all the votes and decisions are in, there are only 9 or ten days until publication. Things get a little crazy. This is when I get very busy as I am the one who puts the journal together. After we are sure what will be published and what will not, all authors are sent an e-mail. They are either told they will be published or they have been rejected. If to be published, and they haven’t sent a bio in, then we will request one again. If rejected, we will usually encourage them to keep writing and to feel free to submit more work. There are also another couple of cases:

• Non-native writers whose work needs editing. We may offer free editorial help with publication in a future issue.
• Writers who have more than one piece of prose or more than 5 poems that we want to publish. We will publish some now and some in a future issue. The authors will be informed of this.

Eastlit Journal – How it Works, Making an Issue of Eastlit.

Then it is time to put the issue together. This means making a cover page, contents page, contributors page, a page for each piece or poetry collection, an editorial page (if we do one), and a page for any special series such as Steve Rosse’s How not to Write series.

The page for each piece is fairly straightforward is it has been submitted with no weird html formatting, has no pictures with it and has no spacing/indentation requirements. Some poetry has this. Inserting pictures is easy enough, getting rid of odd html formatting is easy but hard on the eyes. The hardest thing to do is actually insert html to create formatting for poems. It takes time. However, to date we have managed to always get this done when needed. Or at least nobody has complained! We also do individual SEO work on every piece of writing page to try and make sure your work is as visible as possible in searches. This takes a little time. We also do individual SEO work on every picture in a piece too.

The editorial, special series and contributors pages are fairly easy to make. They also have individual SEO work done on them.

The contents page is easy enough to make, but as it contains many links, we have to check them all!

The last made is usually the cover page. The picture is the one thing, I always choose. If we have pictures sent in by either writing or photographic contributors, it will always be selected from these. If not, it will usually be one of mine. Then there is the Photoshop work to actually create the cover. This takes a while as it needs care. I have learnt to double check spellings as changing them on the cover is a pain after the actual release of the Eastlit monthly journal. When the cover is designed the actual creation of the page is easy. Very careful SEO work is done on this page including SEO work on the picture to get it into picture searches too.

Eastlit Journal – How it Works, Publishing the Journal.

Then when the issue is ready, the home page needs to be updated, and an issue removed from the page tabs into the archive. We always keep the current issue plus the previous two months issues in the navigation bar. Then we can publish the issue.

It doesn’t all end there as when the issue is published we market it through social networks, e-mail list and via things such as Line. We hope our authors, editors and supporters push Eastlit this way too. And then I wait to see if anyone has spotted a typo, misspelt name or broken link. I usually hear of this within 48 hours of publication. Changes are made as soon as possible.

OK I will leave it there. There are many other cases, but this gives an idea of the basics of publishing an issue of Eastlit journal. And remember this is repeated every month!

If you made it this far, thanks for reading.

Cheers.

Graham.

The post Eastlit Journal appeared first on Eastlit.

Editorial Board

Since Bryn has departed, I have added some extra members to our editorial board. They are Iain Maloney, Xenia Taiga, Arkava Das and Stuart Coward. There a few others still under consideration.

The board will read and decide on publication of all submitted pieces that meet Eastlit guidelines. Not every board member will be involved every month.

Eastlit Published Writers

It is great to be able to say a couple of our more regular contributors have recently had books published.

Anna Yin

Anna has just seen the publication of a collection of her poems by Mosaic Press. We wish her all the best and hope that her exceptional poetry gets the attention and recognition it deserves. It is always nice to see work that takes the influences of the region get published. Well done Anna. You can find interviews, news and events on her website.

Here is some promotional information:

Inhaling the Silence is another of Anna Yin’s fine collections of poetry (Mosaic Press 2013). It includes 57 poems and is grouped into two sections: Night Songs and This Blue Planet. Anna brings many qualities of classic Chinese poetry into fluent, distinctive English and reveals a truly trans-national voice and sensibility, nourished by landscapes and cultures across the globe.  The merging of Oriental East and Occidental West is woven together on a delicate tapestry in this book. Anna has a receptive and meditative soul and what she has inhaled in the silence, she generously breaths back in life giving speech—this poetic missive is oxygen for the soul in an age when the contemplative approach to life is desperately needed as a corrective the addictive hyper-activism of many in the west in which many see but see little.

Anna Yin had four poems published by Eastlit in March, and another three poems published in May.

Tendai R. Mwanaka

Tendai, although writing primarily of Africa, was featured in Eastlit earlier this year with some poems touching on Asian issues and feeling. His third book Zimbabwe: The Blame Game has just been published by Langaa RPCIG of Cameroon. It is a collection of interlinked creative non-fiction pieces on Zimbabwe. It can be ordered from Langaa or the African Books Collective. A sample is available on Google. Congratulations Tendai. We wish you well.

Here is what the back cover Synopsis says:

Zimbabwe: The Blame Game is a cycle of creative non-fiction pieces, pulling the readers through the politics of modern day Zimbabwe. 

Like in any game, there are players in this game, opposing each other. The game is told through the eyes of one of the players, thus it is subjective. 

It centres on truthfully trying to find who to blame for Zimbabwe’s problems, and how to undo all these problems. Finding who to blame should be the beginning for the search of solutions. It encourages talking to each other, maybe about the wrongs we have done to each other, and genuinely trying to embrace and forgive each other. 

In trying to undo the problems in Zimbabwe, it also offers insight or solutions on a larger platform – Africa: particularly South Africa; that it might learn from other African countries that have imploded before it, how to solve its own problems.

You can also read an interview and see what Tendai says about his book at Kubatana.

Tendai had three poems published by Eastlit in April and has another four poems in the current (June 2103) issue.

Other News

We would still like to add some more locals to the editorial board. If you are interested, please contact admin.

I hope to have an e-book downloadable issue of Eastlit ready for trial soon. The first one will be the inaugural issue. It is easier enough to convert to a PDF, but I am actually looking at creating an e-pub file so that it can be easier read on a tablet or smart phone.

I would also like to mention a French language online journal Vents Alizés run by Károly Sándor Pallai whose poetry was featured in the current (June) issue of Eastlit. They are currently accepting submissions on the theme of Time. They will consider pieces outside of the theme. So if you have work in French, or are a French reader, give it a look. They will also accept pieces in other languages.

Well that is enough for now. I am off to enjoy some unseasonal cooling breezes coming in from the Gulf.

Cheers.

Graham.

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