Tap into the Back-to-School Energy (Aditya Intro) (09/07/2019)

This letter is a recap of the week at

Atticus Review

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Recently, SELF magazine health editor Anna Borges tweeted, “september has so much back to school energy that i literally have no idea what to do now that i’m not in school.” Like a lot of tweets, it’s a fun comment that will coast as aphorism for a day. But in that, there is truth — you can feel it, can’t you? It’s there, isn’t it? Kids scrambling to find their backpacks, teaching-artists scrambling to make their syllabi, and the rest of us scrambling to get a pumpkin-spice latte.As someone who went from college to graduate school and directly into teaching, I’ve never known a life without the momentousness of September. But still I don’t see the passing of summer as a time of lament. It’s become its own new reason to shake off the malaise of muggy hot days and get back into shape — mentally, at least. Curiously, in the time of year that signifies a cooling downturn in the weather, I become that much more energized towards chasing new horizons. To me, September feels just as rejuvenating as Spring. With new academic years, come open subs for many sought-after journals. The promise of fewer outdoors activities preps the mind for barricading indoors, perhaps at a desk, or rolled up with a notebook. And yes, that back-to-school energy — no matter how old we are or how far away we’ve grown from hallways and backpacks, there is still that fall buzz of getting busy, getting productive, right?We certainly are feeling that energy at Atticus Review. This weekly letter is imbued with forthcoming opportunities to get those creative gears churning — new calls for submissions, contest winners, and some great reviews. It might feel like things are getting busier, but looking at it another way — perhaps you are rising to the many occasions on the horizons to get those words down and send them off to awaiting readers.So whether it’s in the classroom, or at the writing desk, I’m going to tap into that energy and look ahead to the next few weeks as one of creative beginnings. Come, grab a PSL (or autumnal beverage of choice) and join me.Thanks for reading. We’re glad you’re here. Aditya DesaiBook Reviews Editor 

ATTICUS NEWS

ANNOUNCING THE ATTICUS REVIEW 2019 FLASH CNF CONTEST WINNERS! 

Congratulations to Dorian Fox (First Prize), Signe Land, Jennifer Brown,and Tim Maddocks! Thanks to Ira Sukrungruang for his judging powers.READ ON

CALL FOR COVER ART FOR ISSUE 3 OF OUR PRINT ANNUALAre you an artist or illustrator?Would you like to be featured on the cover of our next Print Annual?Send us your finished work or sketches of ideas. READ ON

THIS WEEK AT ATTICUS

BOOK REVIEWA THEMATIC TRILOGY FROM MASON JAR PRESS EXPLORING AGE AND LOSSReviews of Three Novellas from Mason Jar Press @masonjarpressby Jaime Fountaine, Tomas Moniz, and Nicole CallahanGET THE BOOKSREAD THE REVIEW

FICTIONGENESISby Adam McOmber"Two men live inside the Paradise. They live alone. They eat the flowers that look like flesh."READ ON

POETRYWINDING DOWNby Mercedes Lawry"I have a window full of trees,the straggly apple like so manyballetic arms in curves,interspersed with sparse, red orbscharming the birds."READ ON

CREATIVE NONFICTIONHIBERNATION TRIPTYCHby Dorian Fox*Our 2019 Flash CNF Contest 1st prize winning entry"For years afterward, as my nerves slowly healed and re-webbed, all I saw in the faces of others was machinery."READ ON

INTERVIEWMUSIC, IMAGE, AND MEANING: VINCENT TORO ON REVISING A POEM"I think with poetry, we’re creating a thing we hope will get the readers swept up into a dream, into a mood, into an idea, into a notion."READ ON

MIXED MEDIABOMBS AWAY by Joe Johnston"I happened to have a camera and by the time we got home from our annual bittersweet adventure, I had the piece I wanted to make pretty much written and edited in my head. It’s a reminder to do all the summer you can before the clock runs out."READ ON

FILM REVIEWAMBITIOUSLY EDGY, SURFACE-LEVEL DIVERSITYA review of HBO's EUPHORIA created by Sam LevinsonReview by Olivia Funderburg"The perfect balance between what should be represented on screen and how it should be represented is difficult to achieve, to say the least, but it is especially difficult to achieve when the creator-writer's experiences wholly misalign with the characters they’re crafting."READ ON

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