Tag Archives: English literature

Writer’s Group

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A bit of a conversation has started on the Google+ Eastlit account. This has been about the writers’ group we have mentioned a few times. The aim of this group is not to be an Eastlit writer’s group, but an independent online international group based on democratic principles rather than having a leader. The writers’ group would also be based on members being as much or little involved as they want, and bringing to the group what they wanted.

The group would be there for writers and others to support each other, offer advice on work, read and maybe edit. However, away from that it could also be a place to discuss literature, books, poems and even become a place for like minded people to discuss what they wanted. From my perspective, I would also love it to be a place that warmly welcomes non-native writers, and provides the support and assistance to help them write or say what they want.

At the moment it is early days, but there is discussion of what platform to use. At the moment using Google+ seems favourite. This is because Google documents is an excellent platform for sharing and commenting. The only downside, is that members need a g-mail account. Other possible options are a WordPress.com or similar blog platform. Yahoo and Facebook seem to not be popular as they offer less.

I guess at this stage, though, it would be great to hear from you our readers and writers. I think it should be open to both readers and writers. Are you interested? If so, please let us know. What would you like to see in a group? What would you like to bring to bring to a group if anything?

Please contact us if interested, so we can get an idea of initial numbers. You can also find us on Facebook or Google+ (no more!) and leave messages on these. And if you have any questions, please ask!

Cheers.

Graham.

March

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The complete list of contents for the Eastlit March Issue is below. Please click on a link to go to the page. Eastlit Cover. The picture is Lifetime by Sinlaratn Soontornviset. The cover design is by Graham Lawrence. Editorial by Bryn Tennant. Mirage by Xenia Taiga Four Poems by Anna Yin. The poems are: My Father's Family Tree, The Bodhi Tree, Raspberries and Root Carving. South East Asia: Patterns and Paradoxes by Quimar Yazima The Colors of the Wings by Richard Lutman. This is the second chapter of the novella The Iron Butterfly. The first chapter was published in Eastlit's January issue. Four Poems by Afzal Moolla. The poems are: Port of Call, The Whispering Leaf, Warning: Soppy Love Scribble! and The Swaying of the Grass. The Gibbon Rehabilitation Project by James Austin Farrell. Common Filipino Funeral Superstitions Rebutted by Reynold P. Macaranas Oil by Donald R. Vogel. An extract from a novel tentatively titled Father John. Five Poems by Dawnell Harrison. The poems are: Loneliness, The Sunrise Burned, The Mirage, Icy Waves and The Great Taproot. Viva La Difference by Alex Pithie The Pearl Necklace by Tom Sheehan Contributors. An alphabetical list of all the contributors to the March issue of Eastlit complete with biographies of all the writers and poets. Note on Work. Please note that we publish work as received. We do not edit work for minor errors. We regard these as decisions made by the author. The one exception is that we may work with second language writers to help them say what they want to say. Please note all work whether writing or pictures remains the copyrighted work of its authors. Subscribe to our newsletter for all the latest on upcoming issues, competitions, incentives, contributors and news in general.Well as the temperature rises here in Thailand, the flow of submissions seem to be increasing. It is great to get so much original work to read and to be able to publish what we can. It is also humbling that not only do we see so much submitted but also the number of readers from around the world is on the increase. It sometimes surprises me the places that we get interest from.

The March issue also seems to have gone down well, so thanks to all of the contributors to that. We really appreciate your work and support of Eastlit. It is also wonderful to see an increase in submissions from locals.

Photographs

I know I keep mentioning this, but photos for the cover are the one area we are short of supply. Please if anyone can help out, send them in. If you have a friend who can, please ask them. You do retain full rights as with your stories, You will also be credited and given an entry in our contributors section.

Submissions

We are now taking submissions for our April, May and June issues. So send them in. We usually get back to you very quickly to acknowledge receipt. We then contact you in the week before our issue goes out to let you know if you are in or out. Please remember to read our submission guidelines before sending things in.

Archives and Older Issues

Now we have published four issues, we are creating an archive of older issues. Sometimes when pieces go into an archive, they get “lost” over time. We will try to mention and highlight our older published pieces form time to time in this latest section and other releases.

Editing

Let us know if you would like your work looked at and suggestions for edits made. We cannot offer an exhaustive service for this, but want to increase what we do offer. We do expect submissions to be at least close to finished pieces.

Other March News

There is little news from us this March. However, it would be nice to hear from you of anything you would like to see in Eastlit. What do you think of the colour and slight tagline change? What is your favourite piece of poetry or prose? Do you like the longer pieces? All this helps us to know how to best balance things and keep Eastlit interesting for you the reader. You can contact us by e-mail here or on our contact form.

Oh, remember you can also get all this news from our newsletter. Sign up now to have the news sent to you.

Cheers

Graham

February

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The complete list of contents for the Eastlit February Issue is below. Please click on a link to go to the page. Eastlit Cover. Picture by Graham Lawrence. Design by Graham Lawrence. The cover shows buildings from Vientiene and provides the backdrop for the February 2013 issue of Eastlit. Editorial by Graham with a poem by Afzal Moolla. Hitoshi and the Orange Peel Mystery by Iain Maloney: This is an an extract from the novel Dog Mountain. Santubong Haiku by Colin W. Campbell. Going Home by Steve Rosse. Five Poems by Kislay Chuahan. The poems are: Afternoon Desert, An Old Age, Seashore Witness, Face of the Nature and Heart of Wood. Gip by Julien Headley. Two Poems by Terry Scott Niebeling. The poems are:Tender Thought and We See but We Don't (Easter Love). Flashing Police Lights Missing by Kersie Khambutta. Three Poems by Linda Woolven. The poems are: November Storm, Night Time Lovers and Laundry Day. Finding a Vein by Steve Tait. Contributors. An alphabetical list of all the contributors to the February issue of Eastlit complete with biographies of all the writers and poets. Note on Work. Please note that we publish work as received. We do not edit work for minor errors. We regard these as decisions made by the author. The one exception is that we may work with second language writers to help them say what they want to say. Subscribe to our newsletter for all the latest on upcoming issues, competitions, incentives, contributors and news in general.

In spite of being a smaller issue, the Eastlit February issue is getting a lot of views. The number of readers is increasing every month right now. Thank you to our readers. Thank you also to the contributors for the poetry and prose that is attracting people.

After three issues, it feels like things are settling down a little. The crazy rushed feeling of November through January has now gone. It is now a time when we can consider new developments. While we do this, we will stick to the current format. Hopefully we can keep a nice mix of poetry and prose and writers new and experienced while adding something new as we go.

March and April Issues.

These will continue in the slimmer format for now. We are taking submissions for both of these issues now, so send them in! Please read the submission guidelines before submitting. We encourage non-native writers to submit work and will give assistance where needed.

Photographs

If you have photos, pictures or artwork from or connected to the region, we are very interested in using it on our front covers. As usual you retain all rights, and just grant us a license to publish it by submitting to us. We would also consider publishing artwork or pictures linked to a story if authors want this.

Previously Published Writers

If you had work published by Eastlit in the December or January issue, you are clear to submit more for the March issue. Writers and poets published in the February issue can submit work for the April issue. You can send it in at any time as we mark it for the next issue you can appear in, so don’t delay!

Chinese New Year

We at Eastlit would like to wish everyone who celebrates it, a Great Chinese New Year, and a wonderful year of the snake.

Other February 2013 News

We are still working on getting more involvement from the few places that are yet to feature in Eastlit. Indonesia remains top of that list, and we may have a development for one of the next issues. Fingers crossed.

There are a few things we at Eastlit will now put more energy into. The first is the writers’ group. The others are the Eastlit app and the possible greater involvement of some of our more regular contributors. More news on these as they arise. If anyone wants to volunteer for anything from writers’ groups to editing assistance, let us know.

You can also get all this news from our newsletter. Sign up now to have the news sent to you.

Finally

I would like to say a personal thank you to all of you who have had contact. After three or four months and looking back, it has been a great experience from my perpsective.

Cheers.

Graham.

 

News

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The complete list of contents for the Eastlit December Issue is below. Please click on a link to go to the page. Eastlit Cover. Picture by Jiawen P. Design by Graham Lawrence. A View of Hong Kong provides the backdrop for the January 2013 issue of Eastlit. Editorial by Bryn. The Prostitutes' Cat by Xenia Taiga. Good Morning, Good Night by Jiawen P. Two Poems by Valerie Wong. Old Man with a Broken Walking Stick by Tom Sheehan. A Misunderstanding by Tony Concannon. A Western Dao by Zach Wilson. Perfect Attendance by Gale Acuff. Three Poems by Afzal Moolla. The Butterfly's Body by Richard Lutman. Two Poems by Zack Lyon. Broken China by Lynda Majarian. No Mans Whore by John McMahon. Three Poems by Valentina Cano. Beaten to Death by John Pickavance. Two Poems by Brenton Rossow. Box by Kalpana Negi. Contributors. An alphabetical list of all the contributors to the December issue of Eastlit complete with biographies of all the writers and poets. Note on Work. Please note that we publish work as received. We do not edit work for minor errors. We regard these as decisions made by the author. The one exception is that we may work with second language writers to help them say what they want to say. Subscribe to our newsletter for all the latest on upcoming issues, competitions, incentives, contributors and news in general.The January issue seems to have received some positive feedback which is nice. Thanks for all the excellent contributions. It was a bit of a rush getting it all finished, and a lot of hard work. Because of this, we are aiming at slightly smaller issues over the next few months. We do want to keep Eastlit a monthly publication if possible. However, sometimes time and resources are stretched. Please bear with us if the next few issues are a little smaller.

February Issue.

This will be out on February 1. It will include at least one review. This will be a first for Eastlit. If you submitted work, you will start to hear if it is to be published in the next week or so. We are still looking for a cover photo for this issue. Send them in if you would like to have your pictures considered. We are also still open for submissions for the February issue for a few more days.

Future Eastlit Issues.

We will continue with smaller issues for the time being. However, we hope to publish some additional forms of writing over the coming months. We are taking submissions for our March and April issues now.

Previously Published Writers

Eastlit positively encourages writers we have published before to submit more work. The only policy is that you will not be published in consecutive issues. You can be in 1 and 3, but not 1 and 2.

News on our Contributors

Richard Lutman whose The Butterfly’s Body was published in Eastlit’s January issue is allowing us to publish the rest of his novella The Iron Butterfly. This will be done in parts starting in the April issue. It will be our first serialization of a longer piece of writing.

Kyle Hemmings has a new collection of prose and poetry out titled Void and Sky. It is available in both paperback and e-book format.

If any of our other contributors have news, please let me know. I will mention it in a future news article.

Other News

There are still a few places that have yet to feature in Eastlit. One of these is Indonesia. We would love to get a few more submissions from such an important part of the regions we cover. That is not to say we do not welcome work from other places!

Work on the app continues, slowly.

Not mush else for now!

OK that is the end of the news for now. I hope 2013 is going well for you all.

Cheers.

Graham.

 

New Year

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We at Eastlit would like to wish all our contributors  readers and partners a very happy holiday season and a happy New Year. We wish everyone the best in 2013. In 2013 we hope that Eastlit will continue to bring readers an interesting variety of East and South East Asian based writing. We also hope we will be able to give an opportunity to new writers to establish a published foothold. Let’s hope 2013 is a good one for us all. Peace.

Eastlit New Year (January) Issue

The January or New Year issue will be out on 3rd January. We are very excited by this one. It includes more pieces from within the region. It also covers more countries and cultures. This issue will include fiction, non-fiction, poetry and at least one novel extract. We hope it will be as well received by our readership as the first issue of Eastlit. We also hope you enjoy the pieces as much as we did.

Writers Based Outside the Region

Eastlit will always consider writing from anyone based outside the region. We do, however, ask these writers to tell us how their work connects with the region. Please do this if submitting from outside East or South East Asia. As from 2013, we will not read or reply to  submissions not doing this. Eastlit is a monthly publication with few staff. Time to read, discuss, reply and decide is limited, so please help us in this case.

Photographs

Any photographers out there? We are accepting photograph submissions. These photos will be considered for our journal front cover. Copyright will remain with the photographer. You will just be granting us a non-exclusive licence to publish your photo when you submit it. Full credit will be given.

February Issue

We are now taking submissions for Eastlit’s February issue.  Please send them in over the New Year or after. We may though take a little longer to reply over the New year period.  Eastlit is also now looking for book reviews for this and later issues.

Remember

We now have an Eastlit newsletter. If you want news sent direct to you, Sign up for our free newsletter!

Finally

I would like to thank everyone again for the support they have given Eastlit. Have a great 2013

Cheers.

Graham.

 

News

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There are a number of announcements in this news issue. I have tried to organize them under headings for ease. We are fast approaching a time of holidays, and we intend to start marking submissions for our February issue very soon. Then hopefully we will get through all the reading and still enjoy New Year. The next issue will be out in early January.

Information for Writers Published in Eastlit

Any writer published in an issue of Eastlit will not be published in the next issue. For example, if you were published in issue one, the next one you can be considered for will be issue three. Of course you can submit work at any time. We will just decide what issue to consider it for. Please keep those submissions coming in!

Eastlit Newsletter

We now have an Eastlit newsletter ready to launch soon. If you want news sent direct to you, Sign up for our free newsletter! Of course, if you prefer to follow us on social networks or by checking the site, that is great. From time to time the newsletter may contain unique information.

February Issue

This issue will see the launch of book reviews. We are accepting submissions of these now.

Writers Group

We are looking to launch a writers group around February or March 2013. This will be associated with Eastlit. However, we do not want it to be an Eastlit exclusive. The group will be open to anyone. We want this group to be an active group. We also want this group to be a place where writers can feel free to express themselves, and where everyone will be regarded as an equal. We also encourage non-native writers to join. More on this as we get nearer the time. However, if you are interested contact us and we will keep you informed.

Other News

We would like to add another editor to read submissions. If you are interested contact admin. We would ideally like to have a non-native editor from within our region. However, we realize this may not be possible. We are also open to the idea of guest editors who cover only one month each.

I am still working on the app. Finding time is not easy.

We hope to start sharing news and updates from our contributors, too. This will be in these news segments or in our newsletter.

Contributors for the January issue will start to hear if they will be published in the next seven to ten days.

And that is enough for this one.

Cheers.

Graham.

Eastlit Issue One

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Eastlit Issue one is now out. Take a look. You can go the front cover. Then click the cover for the contents. You can also go to current issue at the top of each page.

We have eleven contributors for this issue. There are 9 poems and 8 pieces of prose.

We appreciate your feedback. Let us know what you think of it. You can go to the contact page or e-mail us.

Other News.

We are now listed on the writers resource site Duotrope. We also are in the poetry listing of Andromeda Rutgers. Plus we are on Litlist. It is nice to see referrals from these sites. It is nice to be listed.

We get asked if Australia is in our region. Technically it is not. But the connection between Australia and the region is strong. It is growing too. We welcome Australian based writers to send work in and if there is connection, we will consider it.

Don’t forget submissions for issue two are open. Visit our submissions page to send work in. Issue two is out in January 2013.

Anyway, today is not about news. Issue one is out. It is out one day early too! We hope you find something interesting. We did. You can find it here.

Cheers.

Graham.

News

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Eastlit news this week:

News on Issues 1 and 2:

It is only a week until the first issue is out. For this issue we were aiming at a maximum of 12 pages. It looks like the December 2012 issue will come in at either 10 or 11. We are still waiting on a change to one piece. It is a pretty exciting time for us.

We are now taking submissions for the January issue. We already have a number and so far they are all from within the region! In issue two we will have completely different writers and poets. In this January Issue we also hope to have more pages. We have more time and less distractions for this one. So keep those pieces coming in!

News on Submissions:

The submission guidelines have been changed. We have learnt we need to tighten things up to avoid having to reject too much from outside the region. Most changes affect writers outside East and South East Asia. We want writers to explain how their work connects now. We still encourage writers outside especially those from regional ethnic roots living abroad, or those writing about the region. However, there can be many ways of seeing connection to East our region, and we encourage writers to explain how. We are pretty open minded.

Other News:

I am still working on the mobile app. The plan is to trial it after the first issue. This will be for Android. If it successful, we will move to iOS and Windows.

We are planning an Eastlit writers group. This will be announced fairly soon.

We are not planning a forum. We are also not planning open comments at this point.

These news posts will be weekly.

Cheers.

Graham.

 

New Writers

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We get asked about new writers a lot. The main question is will new writers be considered? Of course they will. We intend to include some work by new writers in every issue.

However, we cannot publish everything. We have an editorial policy. We cannot publish work by everyone. But there will always be space for the best work by new writers. We also cannot have every piece on the same topic in an issue. We must keep things varied for our readership. This is what we must think about. Our aim is to help new writers, though. This policy will not change.

Everything submitted will be read by several people. If we find it interesting, we will try to publish it. If we think it will interest our readers, we will try to publish it. Sometimes we will take risks.

So new writers please keep sending the work to submissions.

If you do not get published first time, do not give up. It happens to most. It can be difficult for new writers. Like everything writing is hard work. Getting it right is, too. Keep writing. You only get better.

Get accepted first time. Don’t stop working. Nobody is the perfect writer.

We are enjoying all the reading. We look forward to even more to read!

Thanks for your support.

Please remember to bookmark or follow us. Check here for news. The first issue is out December 1. Check the site for this.

Cheers.

Graham.

Our Aim in the First Issue

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Our aim in the first issue is to bring you an interesting and varied collection. This will be short stories, poetry and flash fiction. It’s exciting that this is so close now. The first issue will be on its own new page. The rest of the site will stay as it is now. We have Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr pages set up. You can follow us on them to get updates if you want. Just click on the links, or the follow us button on the left. We will update you with what is happening regularly.

The first issue will appear on the site on December 1. We are working on East Asia time, so for most it should be up when you wake up. However, if you are in Australia or Japan, please be a little patient!

Other News on First Issue:

I am currently working on apps for mobile viewing. We hope to have an app before the first issue. More on that later.

Thanks for the support for the Facebook event.

Writers can still send us work. See our submissions page.

Please remember to bookmark or follow us. Check here for news. Check the site for the first issue.

Cheers

Graham