What's Going On

Attention writers and readers: We are now accepting poetry, fiction, and nonfiction submissions for our Issue 7 reading period, July 15 to November 15, 2010. This year we have transitioned to an online-only submission policy: submit your work via Submishmash. This will streamline our reading process and expedite responses to our prospective contributors.

Didn't get a chance to attend dislocate's annual shindig, celebrating the new issue release and the launch of the website whose site tracker statistics you are at this very moment improving? We made a slideshow for you so that you would make sure to clear your calendar and book plane tickets to Minneapolis for next year.

dislocate Party Celebrates New Issue, Website Launch

What: The Contaminated Issue release & dislocate.org launch: Books, art, food, drinks, DJ!

When: Thursday, May 6, 2010, 8pm-Midnight

Where: West Bank Social Center: 501 Cedar Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55454, above Nomad World Pub

One more way to keep in touch: dislocatemag.tumblr.com.

PLUS: now taking (and encouraging!) comments on all our articles and columns.

Fellow AWP attendees, snag a free copy of dislocate issue #5--featuring Kevin Wilson, Nin Andrews, Peter Johnson, and an interview with Ethan Canin--by answering these four easy questions and bringing the correct answers to dislocate's table (A-4) at the AWP 2010 bookfair! (Answer sheets are available at the table.)*

* While supplies last. Come early to make sure you get yours!

We dislocators are excited to be attending this year's AWP conference in Denver, CO.

We'll have a table in the bookfair, where you can enter a free raffle to win a signed copy of Kevin Wilson's short story collection, Tunneling to the Center of the Earth. We'll also be reporting on panels and exhibitors via Twitter--check out our feed for sound bites, literary gossip, and tips about the best giveaways at the bookfair!

Fellow AWP attendees: Take the dislocate.org quiz to get your free copy of dislocate #5 (retail price $10). Come to our table to claim your prize. See you there!

What a great time for the essay! Our Contaminated Essay Contest, judged by Lia Purpura, had more than double the submissions from our last reading period, and we're fortunate enough to highlight a wide range of styles and themes in the issue: we have form exploration (as is the case in our winning submission, "Reticulation" by Lehua Taitano, among others); we have hybrid forms that push against the boundaries of nonfiction (as seen in Brian Oliu's "C:\run iliad.exe"); we have personal essays that show us new ways to think about how we react to life's experiences.

We're delighted to receive such exciting, innovative essays, and we're excited to present you with a wide range of what the genre has offer. Thanks to all who submitted.

Winner: "Reticulation" by Lehua Taitano

Honorable Mentions:
Josh Garrett-Davis, "Pratincole"
Katie Jean Shinkle, "Air Hunger"
Nick Neely, "Tidewater"

by Colleen Coyne

Welcome to the new dislocate online!

We've been hearing it for years: the publishing world is undergoing significant changes, and literature as we know it--both its material form and its content--will never be the same. This news is both exhilarating and slightly terrifying to most literary-minded folks, us included.

Do you sometimes fantasize about how cool it would be to write a stupefyingly popular blog, column or article for an online magazine? It is time, my friends, to turn those dreams into reality. dislocate.org is looking for contributors to write articles about books, writing, the "industry," and all things remotely related to a writer's life (art, fashion, pop culture, sex(!), etc.).

When even the Minnesota winter stops in it's tracks, yielding a fine week of warm, sunny weather, you know something big is happening. Michael Dennis Browne, poet and teacher extraordinaire, is retiring after 38 years at the University of Minnesota. In honor of Browne's long service at the University, dislocate is hosting a reading this Wednesday, November 11th, at 7 pm in 150 Lind Hall on the University of Minnesota East Bank. Browne will read from his poetry, alongside MFA candidates Colleen McCarthy (poetry), Josh Morsell (nonfiction), and Swati Avasthi (fiction). Books will be for sale, and refreshments, (good ones, I hear) will be served.

If you still haven't submitted to dislocate's Contaminated Essay Contest, here's one more reason to get your submission in: the contest will be judged by award-winning essayist and poet Lia Purpura.

dislocate is pleased to welcome all our Twin City fans to our first reading of the year, taking place this Tuesday evening in Lind Hall on the University of Minnesota campus.

Headlining is David Treuer, author of the novels Little, The Hiawatha, and The Translation of Dr. Appelles. Treuer will be joined by three University Minnesota MFA candidates: Meryl DePasquale (poetry), Patrick Hueller (fiction), and Wilson Peden (nonfiction).

by Colleen Coyne, Editor-in-Chief

In the middle of a sticky, bumpy bus ride this afternoon, I overheard a girl on her cell phone complaining that it was going to snow soon. Today it hit 82 degrees, but this is Minnesota, and it's almost fall - so anything is possible. Far more exciting than the imminent threat of nasty winter weather, fall also brings a new school year and (drum roll, please) a new year of dislocate. We held our first full staff meeting of the year last week, and we can now add ten new lit-loving grad students to our masthead.

DISLOCATE #6 & THE CONTAMINATED ESSAY CONTEST

Reading Period: July 15 - December 1, 2009

What do we want?
Send us your best work, of course. But send us your best work befitting the spirit of dislocate. Tear us out of our cushiony comfort zones. Ignore "no trespassing" signs; push the limits of form, genre, and subject matter. Dissolve extant boundaries and suggest new ones. Make us question our beliefs about what writing can and cannot do. Give us a little pain with our pleasure. Don't confuse us. Enthrall us, engage us, surprise us. Be innovative and experimental with your ideas, form, and process. In short, blow our minds.

dislocate's Featured Author of the Summer: Kevin Wilson

You've seen him in the New York Times; now you can see him in dislocate!

The literary journal dislocate launches its fifth issue on Saturday, May 9, 2009, from 8pm to midnight, at the Bedlam Theatre in Minneapolis. The event celebrates creative work from international writers and artists on the subject of political, social, geographic and cultural transitions with food, drink, a reading by local poet Todd Boss, Twin Cities band Run at the Dog, and New York City DJ Jason Baker on the dance floor! T

Transitions Issue Emphasizes Migration Narratives, Transitional Forms

The literary journal dislocate launches its fifth issue on Saturday, May 9, 2009, from 8pm to 11pm, at the Bedlam Theatre in Minneapolis. The event celebrates creative work from international writers and artists on the subject of political, social, geographic and cultural transitions with food, drink, and New York City DJ Jason Baker!

dislocate is getting ready for another fabulous and our final reading for the year, featuring award-winning poet and non-fiction writer WANG PING! Ping will be joined by our very own MFA students Brian Laidlaw, Michelle Livingston and Laura Owen.

Good news, writers! We're extending our flash fiction contest till February 6, 2009! Send us your very best flash fiction, along with a check for $10, and you could win our first prize of publication and $400!

As we've mentioned in the last few posts, this is busy, exciting time for everyone at dislocate. Issue #4 rolls off the presses this week, our reading period for Issue #5 is underway, and to celebrate both issues, we're throwing a launch party--Thursday, September 25th, 7pm at the Loft. Local writers Dylan Hicks and Katrina Vandenberg will be reading, and of course the dislocate staff will be there. Come pick up a copy of Issue #4. Come and listen to the readings. Come talk to the staff--you might even convince some of us to go out for a drink afterwards. There will be snacks. If you live in the Twin Cities area and you love good writing and/or snacks, then come on out, because this party is our little gift to you.

Cara Blue Adams has reviewed dislocate's second issue for Newpages, an online repository of news and information about literary magazines. Check it out!

We'll be sure to send her Issue #3.

dislocate, a literary journal at the University of Minnesota, announces its first dislocated Poetry Contest: Poems on the theme of Dislocation.

The Winner will receive $500 and publication in the 4th print issue of dislocate.