"Those are always going missing." New York Daily News reported that more than 70,000 books were not returned to the Brooklyn Public Library system in 2012. (For what it's worth: That's more than seven times the number of e-books stocked in what the Los Angeles Times called the "Nation's first bookless public library system.") We bet Thomas Kennedy feels Brooklyn's pain; follow his frustrated search for a glossary in "Aggravated Bibliophilism," at the New Yorker's Page Turner blog.
"The point was that showing your pain was a choice." But the choice is as different as the person who bears it. We recommend you read Will Boast's essay—about a family's decisions to communicate or silence the pain experienced by its members—at the Virginia Quarterly Review.
Before that (fellow)ship sails... Applications for Vermont Studio Center fellowships are due February 15. Gulf Coast posted its deadline for its annual fiction, nonfiction, and poetry contests. And, while you're considering submissions for contests and fellowships (or drafting an e-mail to alert CutBank to deadlines we should share with our readers), don't forget: We close submissions for our print issue on February 15, and for our contests one month later. Best of luck, folks!