New York City’s media elite gathered at Michael’s New York to honor the winner and finalists of The Saturday Evening Post’s first-ever Great American Fiction contest.

Last Tuesday, January 8, I had the opportunity to attend The Saturday Evening Post’s event at Michael’s restaurant in New York City. The purpose of the event, which was co-hosted by Publishing Executive, was twofold: to toast the winner and finalists of the Post’s first annual Great American Fiction Contest while also celebrating the recent redesign of the magazine.

Michael’s Garden Room was packed with people when I arrived a little after 6 p.m., a palpable sense of excitement already hovering in the air. Writers, editors, agents, and reporters were crowding around the oversized reproduction of the Post’s Jan/Feb cover, complimenting the vibrant painting of Shirley MacLaine and—inspired by one of the magazine’s cover lines—debating the U.S. prison system. Servers were navigating the crowd, delivering plate after plate of hors d’oeuvres while the lines for both bars snaked around the room.

Ignoring the tempting food (and alcohol), I decided to wade into the fray to talk to some of the short story writers in attendance. As a graduate of an MFA creative writing program myself, I was anxious to talk to some other “storytellers.”

The first writer I talked to was a fellow named Jonathan Blackwood. (Good name for a writer.) He had written a short story called “Kin,” which was selected as one of the contest finalists and is also being published in the print collection. We talked about the craft of writing for quite a while. For such a young writer (he’s a recent college graduate) he certainly seemed to have a lot of the basics figured out. He also told me that “Kin” is his first published story. Starting out in a collection from The Saturday Evening Post is a pretty good place to begin a writing career!

Of course, I also spent some time talking with the amazing Lucy Jane Bledsoe, the author of the winning short story, “Wolf.” I particularly enjoyed her comments on the state of contemporary short fiction and literary journals. She made an interesting observation about happy endings, and how she feels that it’s easier (from a writer’s standpoint) to have everything go to crap at the end of the story because it’s inherently more dramatic to indulge in tragedy. In her view, crafting a positive or even neutral ending that doesn’t smack of sentimentality is a much tougher achievement.

The night ended with comments from Steven Slon, editorial director and associate publisher of the Post, as well as from Ms. Bledsoe.

All in all, the evening as a tremendous success, setting the stage for the Post’s future and launching the magazine’s 2014 Great American Fiction Contest, which is already accepting submissions now.

Photos from the event:

The Post Honors American Fiction Contest Finalists The Saturday Evening Post

If I’d known as a 9-year-old that those delicious, bite-sized berries were actually good for me, I probably would have refused to eat them. Today blueberries are hailed as a kind of super food. Chock full of antioxidants, dietary fiber, potassium, and other nutrients, blueberries are purported to improve brain function and lower the risk of Alzheimer’s, diabetes, dementia, heart disease, and even cancer—all for just 80 calories per cup.

Fish and blueberries. Both are delicious on their own, but can they work together in a single dish? Certainly they can, says Marc Meyer, chef and proprietor of three New York City restaurants, Five Points, Cookshop, and Hundred Acres. “In many cases we labor under the tacit rule that fruit is a sweet, not to be mixed with savory,” says Meyer. “But in this recipe, the mild flavor of the trout calls for something like blueberries with their off-sweet tart and rich flavors. The bitterness of the arugula, the enriching of the olive oil, and the aromatic quality of the mint rounds out the entire dish.”

Blueberry and Grilled Trout Arugula Salad

(Makes 4 servings)

Photo Courtesy U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council.

Ingredients

• 4 4-ounce trout fillets
• 6 ounces (11 cups) arugula
• 1 ½ cups fresh blueberries
• 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon coarsely chopped fresh mint leaves
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ⅟₄ teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions

1. Grill trout fillets skin-side-up over medium heat until lightly brown, about 1 ½ minutes. Turn over and grill another 2 minutes or until fully cooked. Remove fillets from heat, skin, and break into medium-sized pieces.

2. In bowl, combine arugula, trout, and blueberries.

3. In small cup, combine oil, vinegar, mint, salt, and pepper.

4. Divide salad onto 4 chilled plates; drizzle each serving with dressing.

Nutrition Facts

Nutrition analysis per serving (including dressing)

Calories: 363

Total Fat: 26 g

Saturated Fat: 3.8 g

Sodium: 352 mg

Carbohydrate: 14 g

Fiber: 2.4 g

Protein: 19.45 g

Diabetic Exchanges:

1 Carbohydrate

3 Lean Meat

5 Fat Exchanges

Angling for Blueberries The Saturday Evening Post

The turkey on top of the crate
Cared not that delivery was late.
Though his daring escape
Caused the townsfolk to gape,
He refused to end up on a plate!

Of course, Gayla’s limerick wasn’t the only one that tickled our fancy! Here are a few of our favorite runners-up, in no particular order:

Thanksgiving Day is just ahead.
It’s a time that all turkeys dread.
But this Tom found a way
To escape from the fray
By using—not losing—his head!

—Claire Levitt, Lawrence Twp., NJ

He broke free, but his friends raised a clatter.
The boss came to see what was the matter.
In the midst of the city
He could not raise much pity.
He still graced someone’s Thanksgiving platter.

—Bette Killion, Greencastle, IN

This old Tom won’t take the bait.
He has an inkling of his fate.
Thanksgiving is near
It brings out his fear.
He’s afraid he’ll end up on the plate!

—Jean Muyskens, Au Gres, MI

When they said they would have her for dinner
The hen turkey felt like a winner.
But learning the truth,
She flew from the coop,
And did her best to look thinner.

—Ms. D. L. Brown, Buffalo, WY

Tom turkey looked at the bait,
Aware of his predestined fate.
He was all set to fly;
He did not want to die
Like his fellow fowls in the crate.

—James Faucette, Durham, NC

While everyone gaped at the sight,
The turkey prepared for a fight.
The scared driver drew near;
He had only one fear—
What if that birdie should bite?

—Dorothy Iseral, Burnside, KY

A stubborn old turkey named Max
Had a dreadful fear of the axe.
So he broke loose and fled,
Became road kill instead
After several more years to relax.

—Gerald R. Seifert, North Manchester, IN

It looked more than a little absurd;
As folks stopped to watch man-versus-bird.
The scene was so graphic,
It tied up the traffic,
While a truckload of gobbling was heard.

—B. A. Lightfoot, Hanston, KS

My feathers are ruffled—oh, gee!
’Twas a scuffle, but now I am free.
I’m on top of the crate
That you said was my fate.
I dare you, “Just try to catch me.”

—Susie Swaim, Fairbanks, AK

Limerick Laughs Contest Winner and Runners-Up for Nov/Dec 2011 The Saturday Evening Post

Kick-Off Kabobs The Saturday Evening Post

Sweet Hawaiian Mini Burgers The Saturday Evening Post

Scan of original Cook Recipe note from Norman Rockwell

Norman Rockwell’s Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 stick butter
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 cup water and 2 eggs well beaten
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup flour, sifted
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• About 1 cup oatmeal
• Chopped nuts (walnuts preferred)

Directions

Mix in order and drop on baking sheet. Bake 400° 7 to 8 minutes. Then run under broiler to brown.

Norman Rockwell’s Oatmeal Cookies The Saturday Evening Post

Two warnings:

• 1. Obviously, this is not a particularly healthy dish, so don’t overdo it.
• 2. Because the whiskey in the cake is not cooked out, the dish is alcoholic, which means you won’t want to serve it to any kiddies (or teetotalers). Still, if you’re looking for an interesting and impressive new dish to serve adults this holiday season, give Aunt Mary Ann’s formerly confidential dessert a try!

Aunt Mary Ann’s Four-Layer Whiskey Cake The Saturday Evening Post

Herbed Egg Salad The Saturday Evening Post

As the title suggests, the principal draw of the book comes from the more than 350 (primarily black and white) family photos, many of which have never before been published. There are interesting and surprising pictures of the author from every stage of his life, starting with photos of him as a child dressed in girl’s clothing, moving on through his time as a wounded young soldier in WWI, stopping to explore his five years in Paris, and, finally, settling on the older, white-bearded “Papa” that most of us probably picture when we hear the name “Ernest Hemingway.”

Ernest Hemingway in 1906: a tiny hunter in the grass. (From Hemingway: A Life in Pictures.)

Aside from photos, the book also reproduces letters and other historical documents such as Hemingway’s birth certificate and his war correspondent card. One of the most revealing documents is the letter from Agnes von Kurowsky—Hemingway’s first love and the basis for the character Catherine Barkley in A Farewell to Arms—in which she tells him, basically, that she doesn’t love him. Nearly as fascinating is a hand-corrected page of text from the manuscript of A Moveable Feast in which he expresses admiration for F. Scott Fitzgerald. These kinds of personal artifacts help humanize the writer, allowing the reader a glimpse through the “man’s man” persona that he tried so hard to cultivate.

As great as the pictures and artifacts are, the confusing structure of the book lets them down a bit. Instead of being set up chronologically straight through (from the beginning of Hemingway’s life to its end) the book is broken into eight thematically specific sections—“An American Childhood,” “Africa, the Last Frontier,” and so on. The information in each section is, indeed, presented chronologically; however, each section only contains information that is linked to that section’s theme. The divisions cause problems when, for example, we’re introduced to Hemingway’s third wife, Martha Gellhorn, on page 52 (in the section on Hemingway’s attraction to war) before we meet his first wife, Elizabeth Hadley Richardson, who doesn’t pop up until page 65 (in the section about Paris). As a relative novice on the life of Hemingway, the text’s scattershot presentation of biographical details left me scratching my head (and pulling up Wikipedia) on more than one occasion.

Ernest Hemingway writing in Paris, 1944. (From Hemingway: A Life in Pictures.)

Personally, I’ve never been a big Hemingway fan; nevertheless, the informative text and candid photos in this book succeeded in making even me feel connected to the man. Learning about—and seeing—his domineering mother and Puritanical, repressed father, for example, helped me understand why he grew into the person he became. And his childhood idolization of Teddy Roosevelt certainly explains a lot about him, too! Devotees of Hemingway will undoubtedly appreciate the treasure trove of previously unseen photos in this engaging tribute to an American literary icon.

Hemingway: A Life in Pictures, a 208-page, oversized paperback book, is available now from Firefly Books.

Hemingway: A Life in Pictures The Saturday Evening Post

Hearty Shepherd’s Pie The Saturday Evening Post

Lemon Rosemary Chicken

Lemon Rosemary Chicken

(Makes 8 3-ounce servings)

“Thanksgiving for a few? Give the gobbler a break with this simple and flavorful baked chicken recipe. It’s perfect when you’re only feeding part of the clan!” —Elise Lindstrom, Dietitian

Ingredients

• 1 3-pound chicken
• 4 sprigs fresh rosemary
• Salt (optional)
• Pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 small lemon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Chop two sprigs of rosemary and toss in olive oil with pepper and optional salt. Brush oil mixture all over chicken, including inside.
2. Pierce lemon several times with fork then place inside chicken cavity with two whole sprigs of rosemary. Loosely tie bird closed with string.
3. Place chicken in pan, breast down. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, then turn chicken over and cook for another 30 to 35 minutes. Increase temperature to 400° and cook for 20 minutes more.
4. Remove from oven and let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Nutrition Facts

Per serving
Calories: 140
Total Fat: 8 g (Sat. Fat: 2.5 g)
Sodium: 330 mg
Carbohydrate: 0 g
Fiber: 0 g
Protein: 17 g
Diabetic Exchanges: 2 medium-fat

Minnesota Wild Rice Stuffing

Minnesota Wild Rice Stuffing. Photo by Elise Lindstrom.

(Makes 10 ½-cup servings)

“Because my family is from Minnesota, our Christmas always includes this Midwest take on a traditional side dish. Made with long-grain, wild rice, this stuffing will keep you warm even on the coldest winter day.” —Brittany Seaburg, Circulation Coordinator

Ingredients

• ⅟₂ cup chopped celery
• ⅟₃ cup chopped onion
• 3 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 1 egg
• 1 ⅟₂ cup chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
• ⅛ teaspoon pepper
• ⅟₄ teaspoon salt (optional)
• 3 cups torn whole-wheat artisan bread
• 1 ⅟₂ cups cooked wild rice

Directions

In skillet, sauté celery and onion in butter until tender. In large bowl, combine egg, broth, parsley, pepper, and optional salt. Mix in celery/onion, torn bread, and rice. Spoon mixture into greased 1-1/2-quart baking dish. Cover with foil and bake at 350°F for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake 15 to 20 minutes more or until set.

Nutrition Facts

Per serving
Calories: 142
Total Fat: 5.6 g (Sat. Fat: 2.3 g)
Sodium: 278 mg
Carbohydrate: 30 g
Fiber: 3.7 g
Protein: 8.1 g
Diabetic Exchanges: 2 carbohydrate

Pancetta & Parm Brussels Sprouts

Pancetta and Parmesan Brussels Sprouts. Photo by Elise Lindstrom.

(Makes 6 ½-cup servings.)

“My siblings never thought they liked Brussels sprouts—until I introduced them to this recipe last Thanksgiving. Now they want sprouts for Christmas and New Year’s, too!” —Corey Michael Dalton, Associate Editor

Ingredients

• 1 pound Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
• ⅟₂ teaspoon kosher salt
• ⅟₄ cup finely chopped pancetta (about 1 ounce)
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 3 minced garlic cloves
• 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

Boil 2 quarts of water. Add kosher salt and halved Brussels sprouts to water. Boil sprouts for 4 or 5 minutes until bright green. Drain and set aside. In pan, cook pancetta over medium heat until it releases its juices, then add olive oil. Sauté garlic and pancetta in olive oil for several minutes. Add sprouts and cook for 5-6 minutes, stirring often. Serve sprouts with Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.

Nutrition Facts

Per serving
Calories: 65
Total Fat: 1.9 g (Sat. Fat: 0.7 g)
Sodium: 302 mg
Carbohydrate: 7.9 g
Fiber: 3 g
Protein: 6 g
Diabetic Exchanges: 1.5 nonstarchy vegetable

Lemon Pound Cake with Raspberry Sauce

Lemon Pound Cake with Raspberry Sauce. Photo by Elise Lindstrom.

(Makes 12 servings.)

“The sweet yet tart flavor of the lemon cake paired with the red raspberry drizzle makes this the perfect dessert for any holiday meal. Add a dollop of whipped cream to really push it over the edge.” —Jeff Slavens, Special Projects Coordinator

Ingredients

• 1 ⅟₂ cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ⅟₂ teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 extra-large eggs
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
• ⅟₂ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ⅟₂ cup canola oil
• 12 ounces frozen raspberries
• ⅟₄ cup sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8 1/2-inch loaf pan. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt into medium bowl. In large bowl, whisk together yogurt, sugar, eggs, lemon zest, and vanilla. Slowly whisk dry ingredients into wet ingredients. With rubber spatula, fold canola oil into batter until all incorporated. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick stuck into the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and slice.
2. To make raspberry sauce, place raspberries and sugar in saucepan and bring to boil. Pour through sieve to remove seeds. Drizzle sauce over cake slices.

Nutrition Facts

Per serving (cake)
Calories: 247
Total Fat: 10.6 g (Sat. Fat: 1 g)
Sodium: 197 mg
Carbohydrate: 36 g
Fiber: 0.5 g
Protein: 4.3 g
Diabetic Exchanges: 2 carbohydrate, 2 fat

Per serving (sauce)
Calories: 30
Total Fat: 0.2 g (Sat. Fat 0 g)
Sodium: 0 mg
Carbohydrate: 7.5 g
Fiber: 2 g
Protein: 0.3 g
Diabetic Exchanges: ⅟₂ carbohydrate

For more holiday recipes from the Post staff, go here.

Favorite Holiday Recipes from the Staff of the Post The Saturday Evening Post

Shaved Brussels Sprouts with Frizzled Ham The Saturday Evening Post

Coffee-Cured Chicken The Saturday Evening Post

Oh, he’s dead, all right; Vonnegut, the author of 14 novels and numerous short stories, passed away in 2007. But like Billy Pilgrim—the World War II soldier and protagonist of Vonnegut’s masterpiece, Slaughterhouse-Five—the writer has come “unstuck in time,” popping on and off the world stage, influencing culture from beyond the grave.

Take this summer’s book banning, for instance. The school board in Republic, Missouri, voted unanimously to remove Slaughterhouse-Five from its high school library for allegedly teaching principles contrary to the Bible. The move backfired, prompting protests and a surge in demand for the novel at the town’s public library.

“To hell with the censors!” Vonnegut once said. “Give me knowledge or give me death!”

Seeing the developing situation in Missouri, volunteers at the not-for-profit Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library in his hometown of Indianapolis offered to send every student at the high school a free copy of the writer’s science fiction novel.

No, Kurt Vonnegut isn’t going to go away so easily. This year has also seen the opening of the Vonnegut Library, paperback reissues of his books, and two new biographies in celebration of what would have been his 89th birthday on November 11.

But why do people still care about Vonnegut’s writing? What makes him still relevant? According to Charles J. Shields, author of And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut: A Life, one of the two biographies, it comes down to the universality of his message: “His writings, which come from the center of the most violent century in human history, simply ask, ‘Why are we here?’”

For Vonnegut, that was always a loaded question. In The Sirens of Titan he wrote, “A purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is around to be loved.” But this love was tempered by random obstacles thrown in man’s way. Vonnegut viewed man’s struggle as the attempt to find (and give) kindness and love in an otherwise uncaring universe—a world-view shaped by his life experiences.

Born in 1922, Vonnegut was part of a prominent German-American family—until the stock market crash in 1929 forced them to scale back. After struggling for years to come to grips with the family’s reduced circumstances, Vonnegut’s mother committed suicide on Mother’s Day, 1944. The writer later confessed that his greatest fear was that he, too, would commit suicide; indeed, the chronically depressed author would attempt to kill himself 40 years after his mother’s death.

Around the time of his mother’s suicide, a fresh-out-of-college Vonnegut went to Europe to fight in World War II. Captured almost immediately during the Battle of the Bulge, he was held as a prisoner of war in Dresden, a German city known for its art, culture, and architecture. On the night of February 13, 1945, the Allies firebombed Dresden, destroying the historic city and killing between 25,000 and 35,000 people, primarily civilians. Although Vonnegut and his fellow POWs survived the bombing holed up in an underground meat locker-turned-prison nicknamed “Slaughterhouse Five,” they were devastated by the experience. The soldiers were forced to spend the next several weeks collecting the remains of the dead while the local people threw rocks at them.

“Both the Depression and the war taught Vonnegut that we are not nearly as in control of our destinies as our egos and the mythology of the ‘American Dream’ would have us believe,” says Gregory D. Sumner, author of the second recent biography, Unstuck in Time: A Journey Through Kurt Vonnegut’s Life and Novels.

After the war, Vonnegut began writing for magazines, including The Saturday Evening Post. “The No-Talent Kid” (reprinted in our Mar/Apr 2011 issue and available online) was the first of nearly a dozen short stories that he wrote for the Post. Although Vonnegut’s magazine short stories were primarily melodramas and romances, he was also drawn to science fiction. “Vonnegut was convinced he couldn’t write about the issues facing Americans during the Cold War—hydrogen bombs, conformity, materialism—in conventional ways,” Shields says. “But in science fiction, a writer can ask, ‘What if?’ and take a concept to the limit of credibility.”

In the early 1960s, Vonnegut decided to write about his experiences in World War II. But he faced a problem. “When he took shelter in the slaughterhouse, there was a city,” Shields explains. “When he came up again, the city was gone. How could he write a war novel with no middle? The solution, he discovered, was time travel.”

In Slaughterhouse-Five, the main character, Billy Pilgrim, finds himself bouncing uncontrollably through time, living his life out of sequence—including his experience as a POW during World War II and his time as an exhibit in an alien zoo on another planet. Despite the conceits of the sci-fi genre, the book grapples with the very notion of war. Released in 1969 at the height of the Vietnam War, Slaughterhouse-Five resonated profoundly with the American public, reaching number one on The New York Times best-seller list and pushing Vonnegut to the forefront of pop culture.

“Young people in particular embraced its deglorification of war and experimental style,” Sumner says. “But its universal themes transcend period or place. The book is very popular, for example, with solders and veterans of the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Vonnegut used his newfound fame to transform himself into what he called a “responsible elder,” speaking at peace rallies and becoming an opponent of war in all its forms. In an age where the U.S. is still embroiled in conflicts across the globe, his message remains relevant, especially with the young; a new crop of Vonnegut fans enters college each fall.

Again, why do people—young and old—still read Vonnegut?

“Because of his honesty, wit, and faith in people, despite their flaws and the tragedies of life,” Sumner replies. “Because the seemingly ‘childish’ questions he asked, the apparently ‘simple’ style of expression he used, hold a profundity that the critics often missed.”

When released, some prominent critics did, indeed, mistake Slaughterhouse-Five’s simple prose style for plain simpleness, but history sides with Vonnegut’s legion of fans; the book is included in both Time magazine’s and Modern Library’s lists of the 100 best novels of the 20th century.

Not that Vonnegut would have been concerned about his legacy, mind you. “I don’t console myself with the idea that my descendents and my books and all that will live on,” he told a Post reporter in 1986. “I honestly believe, though, that we are wrong to think that moments go away, never to be seen again. This moment and every moment last forever.”

Kurt Vonnegut is dead.

Long live Kurt Vonnegut.

Click here to read “Miss Temptation,” one of the 11 stories that Vonnegut wrote for the Post. To view the writer’s personal artifacts on display at the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library, go here.

Vonnegut Lives! The Saturday Evening Post

Amelia’s Italian Pork Pita Pockets The Saturday Evening Post