Tonight is the official release party for MaLa – The Chengdu Bookworm Literary Journal Volume 2 Issue 1. If you happen to be in Chengdu or passing nearby, please stop in at the Bookworm and say hello. We’ll be starting the release party from 21:00. If you can make it earlier come by at 19:30 and listen to Brian Castro and Kate Jennings discuss – Money or the Muse.
To find out where the Bookworm Chengdu is located visit www.chengdubookworm.com. For information on the annual Literary Festival please visit http://bookwormfestival.com.
And of course don’t forget that on Saturday, March 12th MaLa and HALiterature will duke it out in a slam poetry competition.
See you at the Bookworm!
MaLa has been written up in the China Daily by the lovely Chitralekha Basu. Her piece “Bookish Magazine Serves up Spice of Life” features our Editor in Chief, Peter Goff, and another one of our Eds, Catherine Platt. If you want a preview of our second issue, Ms. Basu has given you a little spoiler.
She also snuck a mention of us into another piece, “The Write Stuff”, which talks a bit about the publishing industry in China.
Hopefully, with a little luck (and an offer of a drink or dinner) we can talk Ms. Basu into including our little publication in even more articles.
Things are slow in Chengdu between Christmas and Chinese New Year with everyone using the holiday sandwich to flee Chengdu’s “nuclear winter” views. So the writing group will be back up and running properly from February 16th.
If you care to join us in person, we’ll be meeting at the Bookworm Chengdu from 19:30 in the back corner. The Bookworm staff like to keep us hidden away so we don’t scare the other customers.
If you’re keeping up with us and our prompts, the prompt for the 16th is (and because I’m feeling cheesy – drum roll!):
write something Chengdu focused that takes place no more than 10 minutes from your apartment
In other news, MaLa’s 2nd unveiling approaches! It will be released into the wild in March.
Mala, a wasted death, her body poisoned by pride and envy… and so ended issue 1 of MaLa in a short piece by Guy Bojesen-Trepka. Fortunately for us Eds, the cheeky author’s prediction has not come to pass and MaLa is still moving onwards and forwards into her terrible twos – also known as issue 2.
We have received an incredible number of submissions for the second issue of MaLa (to be released in March 2011) from around China and across the globe. The overwhelming response to our second issue has left us Eds somewhere near Cloud 9. If we had a microphone we might be tempted to pull a Meryl Streep at the Oscars and mutter something about how writing is the bravest profession; as we sit alone in dark rooms with only the glow of our laptop screens for company. But, as CCTV cameras have proof that we actually hang out together and drink copious amounts of wine, we’ll refrain.
Don’t forget to reserve your copy of MaLa Issue 2 – coming March 2011.
The next issue of MaLa will be a big one as it will be the second issue. “The second issue is important?” you might wonder. It is important as the second issue can be telling about a publication’s survival.
The first time anything is published there is a bit of goodwill and a bit of camaraderie that carries it to some sort of success. So with the second issue, questions abound – Will it be as good as the first one? How will it be received as it begins to get more scrutiny? Can it hold its own against the other mainland China based literary magazines? The number of questions could be enough to keep the Editorial Board awake most nights as the submission deadline approaches.
Submissions for MaLa Literary Journal Vol. 2 Issue 1 are due December 1st, 2010. Submission guidelines are listed under the Submissions tab on this website.
When considering what to submit for the coming issue, don’t forget that there is a theme that approximately 1/3 of the publication will focus on – fault-lines. There are many types of fault-lines and this issue hopes to examine the numerous lines and cracks that intersect, bisect, divide, and complicate our lives.
The MaLa Eds have decided to move the submission deadline for the next issue of MaLa to December 1st, 2010. The theme is still fault-lines and all of our other conditions and requirements still apply. See our Submissions section for details.
And don’t forget that we do accept high contrast, black and white photos, illustrations, and other visuals for possible publication in MaLa. So please tell your friends, family, and strangers on the street to send us images related to the theme, or other items they think might work for MaLa. For ideas of what to submit, take a look at the previous issue of MaLa, which you can download from the link on the Home page.
The fault-lines issue will be published in time for The Bookworm’s annual literary festival in March 2011. Plans for the actual release of issue two will be revealed closer to the date, so watch this space.