Saturday Newsletter: April 1, 2023

A note from Caleb Berg

Hi Friends,

Happy April Fools Day! (Though I promise everything in this newsletter is 100% true.)

I know that those of you living in California have seen more than enough rain, but here's to hoping that the rain brings flowers as vibrant as those in Shaivi Moparthi's beautiful painting Longhorn in Bluebonnets, the cover photo for our April 2023 issue. Having moved from California to Texas, this painting is particularly resonant; it reminds me of the longhorns and fields of flowers Tayleigh and I drove past as we made our way to Houston.

A few notes on the blog. I wanted to remind everyone that we no longer accept fiction or poetry for publication, unless they're apart of our COVID-19 blog, which is still alive and well! The fact is that we are still living with the effects of COVID, and we want all your art — prose, poetry, non-fiction, visual art, etc. — that explores how you have navigated and/or are navigating a world forever changed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Please check out some recent publications on the COVID-19 blog, "Home Sick," a poem by Carolina Ulloa-Compton, 12, and "Out of It," a poem by Madeline Male, 14.

We also receive a vastly disproportionate number of book review submissions, so if you're looking for a way to get involved as a regular blogger, I'd suggest sending us movie, game, or album reviews, as well as general writing about the world. Get involved! Send me your blog proposals directly at caleb@stonesoup.com, and send me your work via Submittable.

Lastly, I'd like to spotlight the work of a Stone Soup alum, Tara Prakash. Tara is a tenth grader who created her own non-profit, Write to Right, in order to teach creative writing to underserved communities in the scope of social justice. Via Write to Right, she has also launched the online literary journal, Between the Lines. Between the Lines is looking for previously unpublished submissions related to any and all social justice issues (gun reform, climate change & the environment, race & identity, etc.) from writers of all ages and geographic locations. They welcome all kinds of written submissions: creative, academic, and journalistic. You can submit to Between the Lines here. For those of who approaching the age cut-off for Stone Soup (and anyone interested in this kind of work), Tara's initiative is a great one to consider. The world needs more writers and it needs more journals to publish those writers, so why not consider starting one yourself!

Regarding our classes:

• Our spring session is also now open for enrollment. You can purchase tickets here. We decided to cap enrollment at 20 students and to increase tuition accordingly. While we would love to work with as many students as possible, our instructor has found larger class sizes limit his ability to connect to his students and offer feedback. This was the reasoning behind our registration cap. And to make the change sustainable, we needed to increase tuition. Subscribers will now pay $22 per session and non-subscribers will pay $27.50. Please write to stonesoup@stonesoup.com with any questions or concerns.

Regarding our book contest:

• Our 2023 Book Contest has officially launched! If you haven’t already started working on your manuscript, now is the time!
• If you’d like some help kickstarting the project, we encourage you to sign up for the Design a Novel workshop, run by our partner, Society of Young Inklings.

Till next time,