Lit Mags, Grants and Residencies: a best-we-can how-to for an always changing but more approachable than we imagine world. Episode 339 with Patrice Gopo

<p></p><p>Ever feel like some things are just outside your ken? I’m that way with literary magazines. And I’ve never found the right retreat or residency, or applied for a grant, and I know sometimes it’s just that I don’t think I belong in that world.</p><p>But worlds don’t usually just reach out and drag you in. That’s a fave theme of ours around here—you can’t be published unless you write something, etc. If you want to be part of a literary world you have to find it and start looking around for a door. </p><p>This podcast is ALL about finding doors. And knocking, and however you want to extend the metaphor—and it was great. As I’ve said before, you can tell a practical podcast by the number of links that end up in there, and there are a ton of useful links below. </p><p>And let me add to all of it my favorite old school book on a similar topic, <a target="_blank" href="https://bookshop.org/a/1183/9780345440464">Making A Literary Life</a> from Carolyn See. I hope this talk with Patrice inspires you to get OUT THERE.</p><p><strong>About our guest: Patrice Gopo</strong> is an award-winning essayist and the author of books for adults and children. Her essay collection, <em>All the Colors We Will See</em>, was Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection. Her debut picture book, <em>All the Places We Call Home</em>, was inspired by one of the essays in her collection. She’s the child of Jamaican immigrants, but she was born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska—which gives her a pretty unique perspective on everything from racial identity formation and immigration to weather and life in the great outdoors. She’s had essays in a ton of publications, including <em>Catapult</em>, <em>Charlotte Magazine</em>, <em>Creative Nonfiction</em>, and<em> AFAR Magazine</em>, and her essay “<a target="_blank" href="https://www.charlottemagazine.com/that-autumn-an-essay/">That Autumn</a>” received a notable mention in the <em>Best American Essays 2020—</em>which is HUGE<em>. </em> She’s also the recipient of a North Carolina Ar