The &NOW Awards: Shop Early!

What, you ask, are the &NOW Awards, and what has this new anthology got to do with them? Excellent questions! I'm glad you asked!

The awards were the brain-child of members of the board of the &NOW Festival of Innovative Writing, soon to kick-off its fouth iteration, this time at the University at Buffalo. Essentially, they were conceived as a kind of anti-Pushcart Prize, meant to recognize poetry, prose, and cross-genre writing from outside the mainstream. The first of a planned series of biannual anthologies (edited by Steve Tomasula, Davis Schneiderman, and the present humble blogger) will be launched at this year's festival, but I know you can't wait that long. Don't fret! You can pre-order it now from Amazon.com. It makes a great gift! And the cover of this first one is particularly appropriate for the coming Halloween season.