GLO

Oh, and: MFA READINGS!

2010-05-05T10:05:00.000-07:00

As you may or may not know, every year GLO and the English department get together to celebrate the writing students who are graduating. This year is no exception, and we have extra reason to celebrate -- in the past, it has been Master of Arts in writing, and this year rolled out the Master of Fine Arts program. Very fancy.

Our non-fiction readers will be:

Lisa Ekman
Carla Feinstein
Haili Graff
Ron Horton
Merilee Karr
Jan Kurtz
Jenny Tatone

Our poets will be:

Wendy Bourgeois
Michael Achterman
Chris Cottrell
Wendy Noonan

Our fiction readers will be:

Bob Balmer
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD

The dates for the readings are:

May 17 - Poetry
May 19 - Fiction
May 21 - Non-fiction

All readings will begin at 7:30 p.m., and there will be a little time beforehand to mingle and have some hors d'oeuvres. Catering will be provided by Elephants Deli, so it will be delicious.

All of the readings are at Blackfish Gallery, located at 420 NW 9th Ave., on 9th and Glisan. It's a really nice space.

This is a great opportunity to see what PSU's up-and-coming writers are doing! We are going to have a great night of food, reading, hopefully a little wine and beer, and a celebration of all the hard work that our MFA comrades have done.

See you there!

This just in from Ooligan!

2010-05-05T09:57:00.001-07:00

Hey all! I just got this info from Chloe over at Ooligan:

Ooligan is having a flash fiction contest! Winners will receive various passes to the Write to Publish conference on May 22 and 23. The deadline is listed as May 7 on the site, but they will likely be extending that.

Here's the info from the site:

To further the dialogue in this striking genre, we are now accepting submissions for our 2010 Write to Publish Flash Fiction Contest. The deadline is May 7, so please get writing.

First Prize: 1) workshop of your choice on Day 1 of Write to Publish conference, 2) two passes to Open House Day, and 3) a copy of You Have Time for This, Ooligan’s book of flash fiction.

Second Prize: 1) two passes to Open House Day and 2) a copy of You Have Time for This.

Third Prize: 1) one pass to Open House Day and 2) a copy of You Have Time for This.

All three winning stories will be displayed on the Ooligan Press website.

Guidelines:

Please submit one flash fiction piece of fewer than five hundred words. There is no specific theme, but we are not seeking genre-specific work (i.e. romance, western, sci-fi). Work can be previously published if you let us know where. All submissions should be sent as an attachment to events@ooliganpress.pdx.edu, with a note about your interest in the Write to Publish conference and an optional brief bio in the email body. Please include “Flash Fiction Contest” in the subject line.

Here's the link to the contest page.

Get out there and write.

Rigoberto Gonzalez Reading

2010-04-20T14:17:00.000-07:00

I've been told that people actually read this blog, so I figured I should start updating again. And what better way to start posting again than this event? What follows is the forwarded e-mail that I got. If you have any questions, please follow the contact info down there. I don't know anything!

Please, please, please get your tickets for this wonderful event! This is a trial run in the Portland area. PEN is testing the Portland waters, deciding whether or not to put us on their map. Let's pack the house for this and insure that we'll be part of the itinerary for upcoming PEN offerings.

Thanks to an exciting collaboration between Literary Arts and the Miracle Theatre Group, Portland will participate for the first time in the PEN World Voices Festival this month. In 2004, PEN President Salman Rushdie decided that the organization needed to do more to create cultural understanding in post-9/11 America. The result was PEN World Voices, a festival of international literature that gathers hundreds of writers from around the globe to participate in panels, conversations, and readings in New York City.

Now, six years later, Portland begins what we hope will become an annual tradition when Literary Arts and the Miracle present Rigoberto González on Monday, April 26 at 7:30 pm at the Miracle Theatre. Rigoberto is an acclaimed poet, memoirist, novelist, and critic. He is also the author of young adult and children’s books. For this event, Rigoberto will be reading from his memoir Butterfly Boy, winner of the American Book Award, and from his poetry collection, So Often the Pitcher Goes to Water until It Breaks,selected by Ai as part of The National Poetry Series. In an in-depth on-stage conversation, he will also discuss his life, his creative process, and his work, including Fifteen Years of Latino and Latino Writing, the recently released (March, 2010) Camino del Sol anthology of poetry, nonfiction and fiction which he edited for The University of Arizona Press.

I hope you will join us for what will be a unique literary evening. And please spread the word. (Tickets are $10 and can be purchased online at HulaHub or at 503.236.7253.

Paulann Petersen
Please note e-mail change to paulann@paulann.net
Visit my web site at www.paulann.net

MFA Q and A

2009-11-16T11:12:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you guys, but I'm pretty well flummoxed by this whole thesis thing. I know I have to write something, and that I have to make it good, as opposed to letting my dog run over my keyboard and then correcting his punctuation and turning it in for class, which is what I do now. But beyond knowing I have to write something, I'm lost.

Theoretically, all the information is on the web site, I suppose. But unfortunately, web sites aren't great about answering questions. Lucky for us, though, Paul Collins and Michele Glazer ARE great about answering questions, which is why they are going to be our official question answerers at this little thesis Q&A coffee klatsch I'm planning!

So here are the details (or "deets" as the young kids say):

What: MFA Thesis Question and Answer Session
Where: NH 407, a.k.a. the English Department Conference Room
When: Thursday, December 3, from 3:oo p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

I am also compiling a list of questions ahead of time so that I can let Paul and Michele know what to expect. So send your most burning questions to gradlit@pdx.edu or respond to this post, and I'll make sure to include them.

Support Your Local Authors!

2009-11-02T10:22:00.000-08:00

This Wednesday night, Loggernaut will be presenting three authors, two of which teach here at our very own Portland State!

Here are the details:

WHEN: Wednesday, November 4, 2009. Doors open at 7 and the reading begins at 7:30.
WHERE: Urban Grind, at 2214 NE Oregon St.
ADMISSION CHARGE: $3-$5 (A bargain at any price!)
WHO: Joel Bettridge, poet and teacher; Tom Bissell, fiction writer and teacher; and Peyton Marshall, fiction writer and Portlander.

~ JOEL BETTRIDGE is the author of two books of poetry, That Abrupt Here (2007) and Presocratic Blues (2009), as well as the critical study Reading as Belief: Language Writing, Poetics, Faith (2009). He co-edited, with Eric Selinger, Ronald Johnson: Life and Works (2008). Currently he is an Assistant Professor of English at Portland State University.

~ TOM BISSELL is the author of the books Chasing the Sea, God Lives in St. Petersburg, and The Father of All Things. His work has appeared in Harper's Magazine, the Virginia Quarterly Review, the New Yorker, and McSweeney's, among other magazines. His new book, Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter, will be published in June. He teaches fiction writing at Portland State University.

~ PEYTON MARSHALL is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop and the recipient of a Maytag Fellowship and the Richard Yates award for short fiction. Her story “Bunnymoon” was published in the Best New American Voices 2004. Her work has appeared in A Public Space, Etiqueta Negra, and fivechapters.com. She lives in Portland.

Poetry Reading

2009-10-12T10:53:00.000-07:00

If you are looking for something to do this Friday evening, here is another item to add to the menu!

Joel Bettridge, one of our assistant professors here in English Department Land, is bringing two fabulous poets to our campus this Friday, October 16, 2009.

Who: Kate Greenstreet and Linda Russo
What: Reading poetry
Where: Neuberger Hall 407, a.k.a. the English Conference Room
When: Friday, October 16, 2009 at 6 P.M.
How: Not sure, but probably by car.
Why: Because that's what English majors do.

Here's some background about the poets, if you are curious:

Kate Greenstreet:

Ahsahta Press published Kate Greenstreet's first book, case sensitive. Her second, The Last 4 Things, will be out from Ahsahta in September 2009. This is why I hurt you, her most recent chapbook, is available from Lame House Press. New work is forthcoming in journals including jubilat, Court Green, Hotel Amerika, Practice, Saltgrass, and MAKE.

Linda Russo:

Linda Russo is the author of MIRTH (Chax Press, 2007) and o going out
(Potes & Poets, 1999), and her poems appear in recent issues of Bird Dog and Fence. She wrote the preface to Joanne Kyger's About Now: Collected Poems (National Poetry Foundation, 2007), and is currently writing an essay on writing that braids journal writing,literary criticism, & biography. A graduate of the Poetics Program at SUNY Buffalo, she currently teaches creative writing at Washington State University.

If you have any questions, e-mail GLO HQ at gradlit@pdx.edu or e-mail Joel at jmbette@pdx.edu.

Return of the Blog!

2009-10-12T10:35:00.000-07:00

Well, English department, here we are! The school year is upon us.

Here at GLO HQ we've had a changing of the guards. Your new Graduate Literary Organization coordinators are Nicole Herbert and Dinah Sheehan (hey, that's me!). Amber and Jennifer left quite a legacy in GLO, and if we can do half as great a job as they did, I'll feel like this year was a raging success. Hats off to them!

I'll be your blogger this year, so please make sure your seat belts are securely fastened, and you are ready for the mind of Master Blogger, Dinah Sheehan.

A little about me:

I was born and raised in Las Vegas (no, I do not know how to play poker) and got my B.A. in education from a Cracker Jack box I found on the side of Las Vegas Blvd. I taught for a year, then alighted to Oregon with every intention of settling down and becoming a barista at a coffee shop. Life had other plans, and I ended up here at PSU getting an MFA, which I will probably use to write ad copy on the back of cereal boxes.

A little about Nicole:

I just met Nicole, so I might have to make some stuff up. Let's see, I know she went to school in North Carolina at some point. There was a stint in Chicago somewhere. She has a three-legged cat named "Beast" that came with the house she lives in. She rides a green bike. She's in her second year as an MA student in literature here at PSU, and she hopes to someday teach women's literature.

I'll keep this short, but before I go, I leave you with a link to the most amazing thing on the internet.

Hear ye, hear ye: Geoffrey Chaucer Hath a Blog

This blog started in 2007, I think, and caused quite the stir among Medievalists, as one might imagine. I'm not sure if the identity of the Chaucer blogger has ever been discovered, but whoever he is, he is brilliant. It's a blog written in the style of Chaucer. What's not to love?

Congratulations to Dee Anne Finken!

2009-07-13T16:53:00.000-07:00

With newly acquired MFA from PSU proudly tucked under her arm, Dee Anne recently accepted a full-time temporary assignment at Clark College in Vancouver. She will be teaching journalism courses and advising the student newspaper for 2009-2010. Most recently Sbe was the student media director at the University of Portland.

Congrats Dee Anne!

John R. Milton Writers' Conference: Writing about the American West--deadline Aug 15

2009-06-18T09:36:00.000-07:00

Please join us for the biennial John R. Milton Writers' Conference, held October 29-31, 2009, at The University of South Dakota in Vermillion, South Dakota.

We are seeking panel and round table proposals, scholarly papers, and creative writing related (either explicitly or implicitly) to the theme of Frontier Technology/Techno-Frontiers: Technology and the American West. Possible topics or approaches might include, but certainly aren’t limited to:

• Frontier Technology/Techno-Frontiers in Western American literature, history, and culture;

• Frontier Technology/Techno-Frontiers in American Indian literature, history, and culture;

• Frontier Technology/Techno-Frontiers in the American West in relationship to environmental issues and ecocriticism;

• The railroad and the American West;

• The American West as a site or fantasy space of anti-technology;

• Representations of Frontier Technology/Techno-frontiers in popular culture (including, but not limited to, HBO's Deadwood and Joss Whedon's Firefly, Westerns (both film and television), graphic novels, and science fiction); and

• The American West in cyber-space.

Please submit a 250-word abstract, along with a brief biographical note, postmarked by August 15, 2009. Panel and proposals should include individual paper abstracts and biographical notes for all of the participating panelists, in addition to a 250-word justification for the panel. Round table proposals should include a 250-word justifi cation for the round table session, along with biographic
al notes for the participating round table session members.

For creative submissions, please submit either 8-10 pages of poetry, or no more than 25 pages of creative prose writing, along with a short biographical note, postmarked by August 15, 2009. While creative work that either explicitly or implicitly addresses the conference theme, or is related in some way to landscape are particularly welcome, all types of creative work on any theme and in any style will be gladly considered for readings at the conference's creative writing panels.

All submissions should be sent to:

Lee Ann Roripaugh
Department of English
University of South Dakota
414 East Clark Street
Vermillion, SD 57069

Alternatively, you may submit your proposals/creative writing samples in MS Word or RTF format, via e-mail, to:
(replace (at) with @)

MARGARET REID POETRY CONTEST FOR TRADITIONAL VERSE--deadline June 30

2009-06-18T09:34:00.000-07:00

MARGARET REID POETRY CONTEST FOR TRADITIONAL VERSE

www.winningwriters.com/margaret

6th year. Fifteen cash prizes totaling $5,350. Top prize $2,000. Submit poems in traditional verse forms, such as sonnets and free verse. Winning entries published online. Both published and unpublished work accepted. Entry fee is $7 for every 25 lines, payable to Winning Writers. Postmark deadline: June 30. Judges: J.H. Reid, D.C. Konrad. Submit online or mail to Winning Writers, Attn: Margaret Reid Poetry Contest, 351 Pleasant Street, PMB 222, Northampton, MA 01060. Winning Writers is proud to be one of "101 Best Websites for Writers" (Writer's Digest, 2005-2009). More information: www.winningwriters.com/margaret

Poetry Prize--deadline Sept 1

2009-06-18T09:33:00.000-07:00

RHINO: THE POETRY FORUM

FOUNDERS’ PRIZE

A POETRY CONTEST OPEN TO ALL POETS

WITH A DISTINCTIVE VOICE

One winning poem will receive $300 and publication in the next issue. Two runners up will receive $50. The poems selected will be posted on our web site.

Send up to 5 unpublished poems (no more than 5 pages total).

GUIDELINES: Submissions must include a cover letter listing your name, address, email address and/or telephone number as well as titles of the poems. No identifying information should appear on the poems. Manuscripts will not be returned. Include a SASE for notification of results.

Enclose a $10 entry fee (make checks payable to RHINO).

Label your contest submission: “Founders’ Contest.” Submissions must be

postmarked between June 1 -September 1. No electronic submissions please.

All contest submissions will also be considered for regular publication in the 2010 edition of RHINO. Mail submission to:

RHINO, The Poetry Forum

P.O. Box 591

Evanston, IL 60204

Winners and runners up will be announced on our web site: www.rhinopoetry.org

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS OF ORIGINAL POETRY--deadline Aug 1

2009-06-18T09:31:00.000-07:00

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS OF ORIGINAL POETRY

CHOPIN IN POETRY
Anthology of Contemporary Poetry
Edited by Maja Trochimczyk

Forthcoming in March 2010 to honor the 200th Anniversary of Chopin’s Birth.

Moonrise Press
www.moonrisepress.com

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

§ Original poetry about any aspect of music and life of Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849),
Polish pianist and composer

§ Deadline – August 1, 2009

§ Language – English

§ Length – maximum 39 lines per poem, 3 poems

§ Format – email (replace (at) with @)
with the poem both in the body of the message and attachment in MS Word or rtf

§ Address and contact information of the author included in the body of the message

PUBLICATION DATA

1. The book will be published by Moonrise Press, with an ISBN number.

2. The authors will retain individual copyright, granting permission to print in the
anthology only.

3. The book will be distributed by online print-on-demand company and available
through a network of partners, including Bowkers Books in Print, lulu.com, Amazon,
etc.

4. The authors will receive an off-print of their submission, and a 30% discount on
the book price.

Writers Contests - Houston Writers Guild--Deadline July 30

2009-06-17T12:53:00.000-07:00

Writers Contests - Houston Writers Guild

http://www.houstonwritersguild.org/Contests.htm

(visit website to get entry blank)

FALL 2009 WRITERS CONTESTS - $500 First Prize Novel!

Entry Deadline Postmark July 30, 2009 or Hand Delivery to Meeting

go to

http://www.houstonwritersguild.org/Contests.htm

for Entry Blank

Contest entry Fees:

Novel: Members -- $15 for first entry, additional entries $12 each.

Non Members -- $18 for first, additional $12 each.

Lifetime award Novel for published authors $20 each.

No nonmember surcharges on the following:

Short stories $10 per entry

Personal Essays, $10 per entry

Poems: 3 poems for $10, 6 poems: $15

Entry Blank

GENERAL RULES APPLY TO ALL ENTRIES

Contest #1: Novel - Any Genre

Mainstream, Literary, Romance, Romantic Suspense, Historical, Saga, Mystery, Thriller, Spy, Action, Adventure, Sci-fi, Fantasy, Non-Fiction, Memoir

PRIZE: $500 FIRST PLACE

In case of ties, prize money will be divided among tie holders

First 10 pages your Novel, Book, or Screenplay + Synopsis

Contest entries in English only

Open to all unpublished and not under contract novelists & screenwriters anywhere in the world

Submit TWO COPIES of the first 10 pages of your novel or screenplay and TWO COPIES of a 1 page synopsis - Do not send the entire manuscript!

Contest #2 Short Story - Any Genre

PRIZE: $50 FIRST PLACE

Want to win? Make sure your story has a

Beginning, a Middle and an End and Opens With a Hook

Limit: 2500 WORDS (more or less)

Submit TWO COPIES

Contest #3 Personal Essay

PRIZE: $30 FIRST PLACE

Inspire us! Make us Laugh or cry! Something Personal -- your opinion on any subject or a character study or a slice of life piece.

Limit: 1,500 words

Submit TWO COPIES

Contest #4: Poetry

PRIZE: $30 FIRST PLACE

3 poems or 6 poems

Only one poem per page

Submit TWO COPIES each poem

Contest #4: Lifetime Award Novel - Any Genre

PRIZE: $100 FIRST PLACE

The exception to the rule - Previously published novelist may enter

Rules applicable to novel Contest #1 apply

Submit TWO COPIES of each entry

Financial Awards in each category will depend on a minimum of ten entries in that category. Categories may be combined. Prize money for each category will be divided among tie winners for that category and prize.

Winners announced at workshop on September 12, 2009

Winners will also be posted to this website mid-October, 2009

Entry Blank

GENERAL RULES

You do not have to pay/attend the workshop in order to enter the contest. Membership is not required to attend workshop or enter contests; however, a $10 fee is charged non-members in addition to the workshop and/or contests entry fees (only one $10 fee for both workshop and all contests).

YOU MAY ENTER MORE THAN ONE CONTEST, AND YOU MAY SEND MORE THAN ONE ENTRY TO ANY CONTEST.

SEND TWO (2) COPIES

OF EACH ENTRY.

No limit to number of entries.

All entries must be in English and from unpublished writers anywhere in the world who are not under contract to any publisher anywhere EXCEPT entrants in the short story contests may have been previously published in periodicals, but the entry cannot have been published.

Unpublished writers who have previously won first place in a novel contest may submit another novel. Unpublished writers may resubmit any novel that has not won first place in a previous FBWG contest. Our judging factors have changed slightly and so have the judges.

If you are not attending the Workshop, include adequate postage on SASE for return of score sheet and manuscript.

You do not have to pay for the workshop in order to enter the contest.

Leave your name off the manuscript. Use the "header" to install like this: Great American Novel/Contest #1 (Insert page # on right). Substitute the title of your novel or other work for "Great American Novel." (The title counts as part of the scoring. It should not be banal.)

Your name should only appear on the cover page. One cover page is sufficient if you detail all your entries on it.

Novels should include a brief synopsis no more that one page, single-spaced (two copies). Less is better. Give us the two-sentence dramatic statement (see Dwight Swain, Techniques of the Selling Writer. State your genre. The synopsis is not judged. Send two copies of the one-page, single-spaced synopsis

All entries must be double-spaced in Times New Roman or Courier 12-point font. Do not use a smaller font in order to crowd more words on the page as our judges are already half blind. Be sure to number the pages and include title in the header, but omit your name. The title page does not count as a page.

Margins should be at least 1 inch (22-24 lines per page).

Pages must be numbered.

No staples. Paper clips only.

Discounts may be available for students and others. Send email to learn if you qualify:. (replace (at) with @)

2009 Robert Frost Award --deadline Sept 15

2009-06-17T12:52:00.000-07:00

13th Annual Robert Frost Foundation

Annual Poetry Award

Guidelines for the 2009 Robert Frost Award

http://frostfoundation.home.comcast.net/~frostfoundation/wsb/html/frostsite1215/home.htm

Poems should be postmarked (or emailed) between March 1, 2009 and September 15, 2009 to be considered for the 2009 award.

Please send two copies of your poem written in the "spirit of Robert Frost" (whatever you feel that may be). One copy should have your name, address, email and phone #. The other copy should not have this information on it.

Poets may submit up to three poems on plain paper of not more than three pages for consideration.

Prior published work may be submitted; for all work submitted to the Robert FrostFoundation, you retain copyright and the Robert Frost Foundation will request your permission if we choose to publish your work on our web site or in other foundation publications.

Original manuscripts should have your name, address, email and phone #; please include a second copy of each page that will be sent to the judges and therefore should not have any information that identifies you as the author.

Please note: Email submissions are acceptable in the following fo

rmats:

--a single MS. Word document attached that presents one page per poem. For example, page 1 should have your name, address, email and phone #; page 2 should other should not have this information on it.

--the text from any word processing document pasted into the body of the email. Email submissions to should be sent to (replace (at) with @)

Manuscripts will not be returned.

If you wish to receive information regarding the winning poet, enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope or include your email address.

Deadline for submission is

Please enclose a $10.00 per poem entry reading fee made payable to The Robert FrostFoundation. In the case of electronic submissions, manuscripts submitted via email will be held until reading fees are received via regular mail.

Officers and Directors of The Robert Frost Foundation as well as festival organizers are not eligible to enter the award.

Mail entries to the foundation's address:

Attention: Poetry Award

The Robert Frost Foundation

51 Lawrence Street

Lawrence, MA 01841

Lawrence Public Library -- 3rd Floor

Attention: Poetry Award

The Robert Frost Foundation

51 Lawrence Street

Lawrence, MA 01841

Lawrence Public Library -- 3rd Floor

Missouri State Poetry Society Summer Contest 2009--deadline Sept 1

2009-06-17T12:51:00.002-07:00

Missouri State Poetry Society Summer Contest 2009

http://www.nfsps.com/mo/summer.htm

Deadline:

Postmarked September 1, 2009

Format:

Submit two copies of each entry, category number and name in upper left-hand corner of both copies, poet's name and address in upper right-hand corner of one copy. If you are a member, put "Missouri State Poetry Society" below your address. Put "Non-member" if you are not.

Limits:

Poems may be 40 or fewer lines. They may be unpublished or previously published if the poet retains the rights to the poem. Poets may enter each category as many times as they wish. No poems will be returned.

Categories:

Rhymed verse or blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter), any subject, serious or humorous

Free verse, any subject, serious or humorous

Humorous verse, any subject

Any form, summer subject, serious or humorous

Poet's choice: any form (including open-field, shaped, or concrete poetry), any subject, serious or humorous

Fees:

Non-members pay $1.00 per poem. Members pay $1.00 for two entries in the same category. Make money order or check payable to MSPS and mail to

Billy Adams

12600 McKinstry Road

De Soto, MO 63020

Include an SASE or your e-mail address on a 3x5 index card for a list of the winners.

Prizes:

$25, $15, $10, and three honorable mentions in each category.

The Warren Adler Short Story Contest--deadline July 13

2009-06-17T12:51:00.001-07:00

The Warren Adler Short Story Contest

2009 Contest Theme: Short Fiction in Varied Genres

to submit story and pay entry fee, visit

http://www.warrenadler.com/contest09.shtml

The Warren Adler Short Story Contest is fast becoming the most prestigious online short story contest thanks to the extraordinary literary quality of our submissions. We are pleased to announce our next contest. The theme is simply short fiction in all of its varied genres. We are looking for original, imaginative pieces featuring compelling characters and creative plots. Whether you specialize in mainstream fiction, romance, horror, fantasy, science-fiction, satire, mystery, or any of their subcategories, we want to read your work.

Entries must not exceed 2,500 words and we will only accept stories submitted using our web form (see Pay Now button below), no exceptions. Stories from all the points of the globe will be considered provided that they are written in English. Mr. Adler will select which story will be awarded the Grand Prize of $1,000.

The People's Choice winner will be determined by public voting. Warren Adler's top choice, along with the People's Choice winner, will be announced in July.

Submissions will be accepted from April 13, 2009 to July 13, 2009. The entry fee is $15. Five cash prizes will be awarded.

1st Prize: $1,000

People's Choice Prize $500

Remaining finalists receive $150 each

Authors retain worldwide publishing rights.

Contest Rules:

Contest is open for worldwide entries from April 13,

2009 until July 13, 2009

A $15 fee in advance is required for each story submission.

When you are ready to submit your story, make your payment below to proceed to the story submission form.

Each story can be no longer than 2,500 words and must be written in English and previously unpublished

[Non-text portions of this message have been r

2009 Inspirit Poetry Contest--deadline Sept 15

2009-06-17T12:50:00.001-07:00

2009 Inspirit Poetry Contest

http://www.gbgm-umc.org/baughmanumc/

THE FOURTH Annual National Inspirit Poetry Prize. $500 prize and publication in the journal Inspirit for the best unpublished poem (limit 100 lines, no translations) exploring issues of Christianity, culture, faith, and/or nature. Submit SASE, $10 reading fee drawn to Rabbit Press, and 2 copies each of up to 3 poems (one set with author identification; one without). Deadline: August 15; winner announced September 15. Submit to Inspirit, c/o Baughman Memorial UM Church, 228 Bridge St., New Cumberland, PA 17070.

Green River Writers Annual Contest--deadline July 31

2009-06-17T12:49:00.000-07:00

Green River Writers Annual Contest

Multiple fiction and poetry categories

Deadline: July 31, 2009

Visit links below for contest guidelines and entry instructions

http://www.greenriverwriters.org/contest.html

http://www.greenriverwriters.org/pdf/2009%20Contest%20Flyer.pdf

The Dogs and the Women Who Love Them True Story Contest--deadline Sept 30

2009-06-17T12:48:00.000-07:00

The Dogs and the Women Who Love Them True Story Contest Official Entry Form

can be found at

http://www.angelanimals.net/contestrules.html

Dogs and the Women Who Love Them True Story Contest Rules:

The Angel Animals Network (AAN) is accepting story submissions about dogs and the women who love them. The stories should demonstrate the benefits for a woman who fulfills a life purpose by partnering with a dog to perform extraordinary physical, emotional, or spiritual service.

Stories must be original, based on real dogs, people, and events. Preference will be given to emotionally evocative and well-written creative nonfiction stories. Please do not submit journalistic articles, profiles, testimonials, essays, or fiction for this contest.

Story submissions must be no more than 2,000 words in English. They should be typed or legibly handwritten. Each story submission must be accompanied with an Angel Animals Network official entry form (below), completed by the contestant submitting the story.

Contest story submissions will not be returned. Please do not include photographs. You may view the list of 1st place and 2nd place winners on the Angel Animals Network Website after winners are announced. You can also subscribe to the free weekly, online Angel Animals Story of the Week Newsletter and look for winners to be announced there.

To be eligible, contest entries must be postmarked no later than September 30, 2009.

If stories are selected as w

inners of the Dogs and the Women Who Love Them True Story Contest and later found to contain distortions or falsehoods, the AAN is not responsible for any incorrect or inaccurate entry or story information.

Any contest entries, but especially those of the winners, will be considered for possible publication in the new book Dogs and the Women Who Love Them by Allen and Linda Anderson to be published by New World Library in Fall 2010. However, the contest and the new book are separate projects. Entering or winning the contest doesn’t mean the story will be published in the book. Allen and Linda Anderson will contact entrants if they are considering a contest story for possible publication in the book. Previous books in the Angel Animals series have included many stories that were contest entries.

Entry Fee:

There is no entry fee to submit a story for the contest.

Number of Entries:

Each individual is limited to submit three separate entries.

Eligibility:

Employees/volunteers and the immediate family (spouse, mother, father, sister, brother, daughter or son, regardless of where they live) or members of the same households (whether related or not) of such employees/volunteers are not eligible. There are no citizen status or resident country restrictions for contestants.

Judging:

Judging the stories for this contest will be based on the exceptional nature of the dog(s) who demonstrates partnering with a woman to fulfill a life’s purpose including a dog who performs some

type of extraordinary physical, emotional, or spiritual service. Other categories on which stories will be judged are: readability, spiritual connection between human and animal, dramatic/emotional appeal, inspirational, and represents good practices for animal health and welfare. A panel of judges, who are known for their service to animals, will select the finalists.

All Dogs and the Women Who Love Them True Story Contest decisions are final.

Prizes:

Grand Prize

One grand prize of $250 will be awarded to the first-place winning contestant.

2nd Place Prize

A second place prize of $25.00 will be awarded to 5 contestants.

Honorable Mentions

There will be 5 entries chosen as Honorable Mention

NAUGATUCK RIVER REVIEW FIRST ANNUAL NARRATIVE POETRY CONTEST--deadline Sept 1

2009-06-17T12:47:00.001-07:00

NAUGATUCK RIVER REVIEW FIRST ANNUAL NARRATIVE POETRY CONTEST!

Contest Submission Period: July 1st through September 1st

Judge for 2009 Contest: Lesléa Newman

Lesléa Newman is the author of over 50 books including Heather Has Two Mommies,

A Letter To Harvey Milk, Writing From The Heart, In Every Laugh a Tear, The

Femme Mystique, Still Life with Buddy, Fat Chance and Out of the Closet and

Nothing to Wear. She has received many literary awards including Poetry

Fellowships from the Massachusetts Artists Fellowship Foundation and the

National Endowment for the Arts, the Highlights for Children Fiction Writing

Award, the James Baldwin Award for Cultural Achievement, and two Pushcart Prize

Nominations. Nine of her books have been Lambda Literary Award finalists. She is

Poet Laureate of Northampton, MA.

First prize is $1000 and publication in Naugatuck River Review

Second prize $250 and publication

Third prize of $100 and publication

Winners will be published in the Winter 2010 Issue of Naugatuck River Review.

All entrants will receive one issue of Naugatuck River Review.

All poems will be considered for publication in the Winter 2010 Contest issue

(Issue 3).

Contest deadline is September 1st, 2009.

Electronic submissions ONLY will be accepted through our Submission Manager.

Contest submission fee of $20 includes an issue of the journal.

Links to Submission Manager and Paypal will be up July 1st.

Electronic submissions ONLY of 3 poems per poet of no more than 50 lines each.

Payment of $

20 on Paypal or send a check to

Naugatuck River Review Contest

P.O. Box 368

Westfield, MA 01085

http://www.naugatuckriverreview.com

SHAKESPEAREAN/PETRARCHAN SONNET CONTEST -- deadline Sept 1

2009-06-17T12:46:00.001-07:00

HELEN SCHAIBLE INTERNATIONAL

SHAKESPEAREAN/PETRARCHAN

SONNET CONTEST

http://www.illinoispoets.org/pdf/2009schaibleannounce.pdf

Sponsored by Poets & Patrons of Chicago, Illinois

Open to all. Submit only one entry of either a

Shakespearean or Petrarchan sonnet. The entry must

be original and unpublished.

Submit 2 copies, typed double-spaced, on standard

8 ” X 11" paper with name and address on one copy

in the upper right corner, but no ID on second copy.

First Prize $50.00. Second Prize $35.00. Third prize $15.00.

Three Honorable Mentions Unranked

Three Special Recognitions Unranked

There is no fee. Winners will be notified by November

1, 2008. The poet keeps all rights. No entries will be

returned. Enclose a SASE for the winner's list. All

rules printed here. Rules do not change from year to

year, but the chairperson may, so check the latest

listings in e.g., chicagopoetry.com, illinoispoets.org,

poetsandpatrons.net, Poet’s Market, Writer’s Market, or

Strophes.

Mail entries, postmarked by

September 1, 2009

Barbara Eaton

416 Gierz Street

Downers Grove, IL 605

Poetry contest: IL State Poetry Society--deadline Oct 30

2009-06-17T12:45:00.001-07:00

Illinois State Poetry Society

16th Annual Contest

Categories; 1) free verse, 2) formal verse, 3) a poem related to Abraham Lincoln and/or Charles Darwin. Prizes $50, $30, $10. 3 HM. Maximum length: one poem page. Type size 11 pt or higher; no columns. Poems in English only. Submit two copies of each poem, first copy with ID (name/address/e-mail) and category in upper left hand corner; second copy without ID but with category. Entry fee: Non-members, $6.00 for up to 3 poems, $1.00 each additional poem. Members ISPS, $3.00 up to 5 poems, $1.00 each additional poem. Simultaneous submissions accepted. No poems which have won monetary awards or been published. Poems not returned. One out of state judge per category. Send submissions to Marvin Young, ISPS Poetry Contest Chair, 2382 Kildeer Street, Woodridge, Illinois 60517. Winners' names posted on ISPS website, illinoispoets.org. Deadline: must be postmarked October 30, 2009.

Job Opportunity: Seton Hill University

2009-06-17T12:44:00.001-07:00

Seton Hill University seeks published novelist of popular fiction (preferably mystery/suspense), to teach and to mentor novel-length theses in the graduate low-residency Writing Popular Fiction program (half-load), and to teach undergraduate courses in creative writing and first-year composition. This position will start January 2010. Background in journalism, publishing, and/or editing a plus. Teaching experience at graduate level desirable. MFA required (Ph.D preferred). 4/4 course load.

Seton Hill University is a Catholic, liberal arts University, serving undergraduate, adult and graduate students. Seton Hill is located 35 miles east of Pittsburgh. Visit www.setonhill.edu for more information.

Send a letter, C.V., official transcripts, statement of teaching philosophy, sample publications, and three letters of reference.

The review process will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled.

Application Information

Postal Address:

Michael Arnzen

Division of Humanities

Seton Hill University

Seton Hill Drive

Greensburg, PA 15601

Email Address:

(replace (at) with @)

The Calvino Prize--Prose--deadline Oct 15

2009-06-17T12:42:00.000-07:00

The Calvino Prize

Submission Guidelines

http://louisville.edu/english/creative-writing/contests/calvino-guidelines.html

Submit up to 25 industry standard (double-spaced, 12-point font, pages numbered) pages of a novel, novella, short story, or short collection. Entries which use a smaller font or are single-spaced in order to make a longer work appear to be only 25 pages will be trimmed to approximately 25 industry standard pages. Work previously published is eligible and simultaneous submissions are accepted. An excerpt from a larger work is allowed; however, remember that the selection will be judged on its own merit and so should be able to stand on its own.

Please submit TWO copies of your submission bound by a paper clip, binder, or single staple. DO NOT USE MULTIPLE STAPLES. The author's name should not appear on the work. All entries will be read anonymously.

Please send two cover pages: one listing only the title of the manuscript; the other listing the title, author's name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address.

Please tell us in what magazine you learned of this contest.

Please do not send publication history of the author.

Submit anytime between July 1 and October 15, 2009.

Deadline: October 15, 2009.

Winner announced December 15, 2009.

The entry fee is $25 and should be made payable to: The University of Louisville.

Mailing Address:

The Calvino Prize

English Department

Room 315, Bingham Humanities Bldg.

University of Louisville

Louisville, KY 40292

If you would like confirmation of receipt of manuscript, please enclose a self-addressed, stamped standard US Postal Service post card.

All results will be posted to the University of Louisville's website following the announcement on December 15, 2009. Finalists and winners will be notified via email.

For questions, email Paul Griner, Director of Creative Writing at pfgrin01(at)louisville.edu (replace (at) with @)

Faculty and employees of the University of Louisville and the University of Syracuse may not enter the contest.

The judges reserve the right to withhold the award if no entry is deemed worthy.

Previous first place winners may not enter for three years after winning. Second place winners have no restrictions.

Final Judge 2009: Harold Bloom

The Patricia Bibby First Book Award 2010--deadline Oct 31

2009-06-17T12:41:00.000-07:00

Tebot Bach announces

The Patricia Bibby First Book Award 2010

$1,000 and Book Publication

http://www.tebotbach.org/tebot_ad.html

Patricia Bibby was a beginning poet whose poems expressed her love of life while living with cancer. Her kindness, humor, and optimism inspired the love of many new friends in the poetry community. She died in 2004, at 43, without having been published. In naming the First Book Award after Patricia Bibby, Tebot Bach honors the aspirations and spirit of all beginning poets. Gail Wronsky serves as judge for this competition that looks for a fresh, new voice in poetry.

Competition Guidelines

Winner will receive $1,000 and book publication

Judge: Gail Wronsky

The competition is open to all poets writing in English who have not committed to publishing collections of poetry of 36 poems or more in editions of over 400 copies.

Entries of 50–84 pages of original poetry in English must be postmarked by October 31, 2009. Entries postmarked after October 31, 2009 will not be read. Manuscripts will not be returned. Manuscripts must be bound with a binder clip. No staples, folders, or printer-bound copies. No photographs, images, or illustrations. Please do not include acknowledgements at this time. Please do not include any identifying information anywhere in the manuscript. Submit two title pages. The first, not fastened with the manuscript, should include the title of the manuscript, author’s name, address, telephone number, and email address in upper right corner. The second,20fastened with the manuscript, should include only the title in upper right corner. Entries should be fastened in this order:

1. Title page

2. Table of contents

3. Collection of poems

Items 1 and 2 are not included in the 50–84 page count.

Manuscripts should be letter-quality, typewritten, and single-spaced. Photocopies are acceptable. Please do not submit your only copy, as manuscripts will not be returned.

Tebot Bach assumes no responsibility for damaged or lost manuscripts.

Manuscripts must be previously unpublished.

Translations and multi-authored collections are not eligible.

Past and current students and employees of the Loyola Marymount University are not eligible. Past and current volunteers and employees of Tebot Bach are not eligible. Poets who have studied with Gail Wronsky in more than 2 workshop settings are not eligible.

Simultaneous submissions are acceptable, but Tebot Bach must be notified immediately if a collection is accepted for publication via email: info@tebotbach.org

Please include a non-refundable reading fee of $25, check or money order, made out to Tebot Bach. Include a business-size SASE (self-addressed envelope) for notification. Include a SAPC (self-addressed postcard) for notification of receipt of manuscript. Postcard should include title of manuscript.

Mail manuscript, check or money order payable to Tebot Bach, SASE, SAPC in one envelope to:

Patricia Bibby Award

Tebot Bach

Post Office Box 7887

Huntington Beach CA 92615-7887

Job Opportunity: Loyola

2009-06-17T12:38:00.000-07:00

Affiliate Instructor, Writing

Full-time Affiliate Instructor in Writing to teach first-year core writing course and upper-level course(s) in area(s) of expertise. One year contract, with possibility of renewal. Must be ABD in English/Writing OR have MFA in Writing (with national publications) by hire date. Must have appropriate academic credentials and demonstrated ability to teach first-year composition. PhD with two-years college-level teaching experience; course work in Composition & Rhetoric; and demonstrated ability to teach upper-level courses in creative writing, rhetoric, and/or professional writing highly desired. Demonstrated engagement with scholarly community through recent presentations and/or publications and experience using Blackboard and other teaching technologies preferred.

For more information about this position, and to apply, please go to www.loyola.edu/careers to complete the online application. Electronic submission of a cover letter, curriculum vita, and list of references required and may be attached at the appropriate prompt on the application. Paper applications will not be accepted. Review of applications will begin immediately.

Loyola College is a dynamic, highly selective Jesuit Catholic institution in the liberal arts tradition and is recognized as a leading independent, comprehensive university in the northeastern United States. Loyola enrolls over 3,200 students in its undergraduate programs and 3,000 students in its graduate programs. The College welcomes applicants from all backgrounds who can contribute to its educational mission. Loyola is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer, seeking applications from under-represented groups. Additional information is available at www.loyola.edu.

Oregon Writers Colony Annual Contests--deadline July 15

2009-06-11T10:33:00.000-07:00

Oregon Writers Colony Annual Contests are now open. Go to oregonwriterscolony.org for full details. Deadline for submissions for both contests is August 15, 2009.

http://www.oregonwriterscolony.org/contest.htm

Short Stories Both True and Imagined (fiction and non-fiction)

Awards: 1st place-$200, 2nd place-$100, 3rd place-$50, 1st Honorable Mention-Certificate of Achievement, Additional Honorable Mention credited in Colonygram and on the website oregonwriterscolony.org

First place winners of both fiction and non-fiction are feature on the cover of Colonygram. All winners are listed in Colonygramand on our website.

All winners are invited to read from their winning entry at the awards ceremony at OWC Presents! in October, 2009.

The Elizabeth Bolton Poetry Contest.

Awards: 1st place-$100, 2Nd place-$50, 3rd place $25. First, second and third prize poems will be published in Colonygram. All winners will be listed inside Colonygram and on the website oregonwriterscolony.org.

All winners are invited to read their winning entry at the awards ceremony at OWC Presents! in October, 2009

Postmarked deadline is August 15, 2009. Please see our website for complete details: oregonwriterscolony.org

Call for submissions about ART: Modernist Press -- deadline July 31

2009-06-11T10:32:00.000-07:00

Art from Art Anthology

deadline 7/31/09

http://www.modernistpress.com/

This collection of short fiction by literary writers aims to feature stories that are connected directly to—or inspired by—a work of art. It could be a song, a painting, a museum, an architectural monument, a blueprint, a piece of writing—a play, novel, poem, letter, etc. The art in question needs to be a major component of the story—a character—within the fabric of the story. Perhaps the idea will be inspired by an event from life or maybe it will be something completely fabricated.

All genres welcome. ART from ART will bring new and established voices and ideas to a fine collection of fiction. I aim to have the art featured on a page either at the beginning or the end of each story—a visual correlative that will enhance the experience. Submit your story and a brief bio via email to Stephen Soucy at (replace (at) with @). Please follow standard submission guidelines (Microsoft Word Document with 12-point font).

UPDATE: Payscale for this project is $100 for the right to publish each author’s story in the anthology, and two copies of the finished book. I’m finding that stories between 2000-5000 words are working best. I’m really looking for a story with a completely developed narative and with finely drawn characters. I’m not looking for a brief 2-page piece, and I’m not open to poetry at this time.

ALSO: DUE TO THE OVERWHELMING RESPONSE TO THIS COLLECTION, ANYONE SENDING A SUBMISSION AFTER 4/13/09 – PLEASE MAIL ME A HARD-COPY VERSION OF YOUR STORY, WITH YOUR BRIEF BIO, TO STEPHEN SOUCY, 1733 N OGDEN DRIVE, LOS ANGELES, CA 90046. IF I FIND YOUR STORY A MATCH, I WILL E-MAIL YOU, ASKING FOR AN ELECTRONIC VERSION. THANK YOU!!

"The Malahat Review" Open Season Awards--deadline Nov 1

2009-06-11T10:30:00.000-07:00

2010 Open Season Awards

The Malahat Review, Canada’s premier literary magazine, invites entries from Canadian, American, and overseas authors for the first-annual Open Season Awards. An exciting spring showcase of literary excellence, Open Season bestows a prize of $1,000 in each of three marquee categories: poetry, short fiction, and creative non-fiction.

http://www.malahatreview.ca/open_season/info.html

2010 Deadline

The deadline for the 2010 Open Season Awards is November 1, 2009 (postmark date).

Guidelines

Poetry: up to three poems per entry; maximum length for each poem is 100 lines.

Short fiction and creative non-fiction: one story or article per entry; with a maximum length of 2500 words. Please indicate word count on the first page.

Entry fee required for all categories:

$35 CAD for Canadian entries;

$40 US for American entries;

$45 US for entries from Mexico and outside North America.

Entrants receive a one-year subscription to The Malahat Review for themselves or a friend.

Entrants may submit to any or all categories more than once; however, each entry must be accompanied by its own entry fee.

Entrants’ anonymity is preserved throughout the judging. Contact information (including an email address) must not appear on the submission, but on a separate page, along with entry title (or titles in the case of poetry entries).

Entries already published, accepted, or submitted elsewhere are ineligible.

No entries will be accepted by email.

No entries will be

returned, even if accompanied by an SASE.

The winner and finalists will be notified via email.

Other entrants will not be notified about the judges’ decisions even if an SASE is enclosed for this purpose.

The winner and finalists in each category will be announced on the Malahat web site, and in Malahat lite, the magazine’s electronic newsletter, in April 2010.

Winning entries will be published in The Malahat Review’s Spring 2010 issue.

Inquiries to .(replace (at) with @)

Send entries to:

The Malahat Review

Open Season Awards

University of Victoria

P.O. Box 1700

STN CSC

Victoria, B.C. V8W 2Y2

Canada

fiction chapbook contest: Flume Press--deadline Dec 1

2009-06-11T10:28:00.000-07:00

Fiction Chapbook Competition — Guidelines

http://www.csuchico.edu/engl/flumepress/

Eligibility

You may submit stories that have been published previously as long as your manuscript has

never been published. If your manuscript is currently under consideration elsewhere, you must

be prepared to withdraw it from the other press immediately if accepted by Flume Press. Please include the appropriate acknowledgements for any published stories.

Rules

Manuscripts should be 10-12,000 words, not including title, contents, and acknowledgements pages. A single story or a collection of short shorts is acceptable. Please include a cover sheet

with your name, address, phone, and e-mail address and total word count. Do not put your name on each manuscript page.

A self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) is necessary for results notification. The editors provide comments for all semifinalists and finalists.

The $20 (US) Reading Fee will be used to provide the cash prize to the winner and help to produce the winning chapbook. Flume is a nonprofit press.

Deadline for submission: December 1, 2009. All manuscripts must be postmarked by this date. Manuscripts with SASE will be returned and the winner announced by June 2010.

Final Judges

The winner will be selected by final judges Rob Davidson, author of Field Observations, and Paul Eggers, author of Saviors and How the Water Feels.

Prize

The winner will receive $500 and 25 copies of the chapbook. (Authors may purchase additional copies at a 50% discount.) Average print run is 500 copies. Flume advertises the winning chapbook in national literary magazines following publication.

Biases

We are interested in serious literary fiction only, contemporary work that is well-crafted and emotionally engaging. No “genre” fiction (e.g., sentimental romance, sci-fi, horror) please.

Sample Copies

If you would like a sample copy, please mail $8 plus $2 shipping to

Flume Press at CSU, Chico, 400 W. First St., Chico, CA 95929-0830.

Poetry chapbooks: At Dusk on Naskeag Point, Tina Barr; Concentric Circles, Gayle Kaune; Follower of Dusk, Luis Omar Salinas; Shovel Point, Judy Lindberg; Staving Off Rapture, Ava Leavell Haymon; Cinnabar, Martha M. Vertreace; Whetstone, Joanne Allred; As Close As Possible, Mary Matthews; The Corner of Absence, Lynn Kuderko, Eating Nasturtiums, Mary Makofske; Stutter Monk, David Graham; The Way Water Moves by John Brehm; The One Blue Thread by Naomi F. Chase; Bad Girl at the Altar Rail by Sharon Charde; And Still the Music, Alison Townsend.

Fiction chapbooks: I Call This Flirting, Sherrie Flick; The Sheep Breeders Dance by Aine Greaney; Mad to Live by Randall Brown.

Thanks for your interest in our competition.

2009 Fiction Chapbook Contest – Deadline Dec. 1.

Minnesota Magazine 11th Annual Fiction Contest--deadline Feb 8

2009-06-11T10:26:00.000-07:00

Minnesota Magazine Fiction Contest

http://www.alumni.umn.edu/fiction.html

Our 11th-annual fiction contest is now accepting submissions.Charles Baxter, professor of creative writing at the University of Minnesota and author of National Book Award-finalist The Feast of Love, will judge the finalists.

Please read the directions below for submitting entries.

How to enter:

• All University of Minnesota alumni and students are eligible to enter.

• Submit a double-spaced, typed manuscript, 3,000 words or fewer. Submissions must not have been previously published. Past winners of this contest must wait five years before entering again. Poetry, children's stories, plays, and screenplays are not eligible.

• Include a cover sheet that bears your name, year of graduation (or years of attending the University), day and evening phone numbers, address, story title, and word count of the manuscript. To ensure anonymity, please do not put your name on the manuscript itself. Manuscripts will not be returned.

The winner will receive $2,000, and the winning story will be published in the summer 2010 issue of Minnesota magazine and on the magazine's Web site. The editors reserve the right not to name a winner.

Submissions must be postmarked by February 8, 2010.

Send to:

Minnesota Magazine Fiction Contest

University of Minnesota Alumni Association

McNamara Alumni Center

200 Oak St. SE, Suite 200

Minneapolis, MN 55455-2040

fiction contest: Delfino Prize for Queer Genre Fiction--deadline Oct 15

2009-06-11T10:25:00.000-07:00

http://collectivefallout.com/contests/

Delfino Prize for Queer Genre Fiction

Winner receives $50 and publication in the January issue Collective Fallout

Finalists will all be published in the January or following July issuesCollective Fallout

Eligible stories must be queer-themes, between 3,000 and 10,000 words and fit into one or more of the following genres: Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, or Science Fiction.

Entry fee is $5 per story. Multiple submissions up to 3 stories are accepted. Make payments via Paypal to

(replace (at) with @)

Reading period is June 15 – October 15.

Finalists will be announced on the blog between November 1 & 15.

The winner (selected from those finalists) will be informed early in December, and announced in the January issue

Alehouse Press Poetry Contest

2009-06-11T10:23:00.000-07:00

Alehouse Press

www.alehousepress.com

presents the 2009 Happy Hour Poetry Awards.

$1000 Best Poem. Four $100 Honorable Mentions. Any topic. Any form.

Deadline: July 1st, 2009. For contest rules and writer guidelines,

please send an SASE to Jay Rubin, Alehouse Press, PO Box 31655, San

Francisco, CA 94131.

Or visit: www.alehousepress.com.

Call for Submissions: Chickenpinata--deadline June 26

2009-06-11T10:22:00.000-07:00

Call for Submissions for Issue 3: Chickenpinata, a journal of poetry

www.chickenpinata.com

Inspired by a recent trip across the Mississippi River, the editors of Chickenpinata are accepting poems for the "Bridges" theme until Friday, June 26.

We want to see poems that take both literal and metaphorical approaches to bridges--what do they mean? What is crossed over? Where are you once you've crossed? Etc. Writers may interpret this theme broadly. Please indicate the theme in your subject heading: e.g. "Submission--Your Name--Bridges."

Any poetry received that is not bridge-related in some way will be kept in the slush pile for consideration for Issue 4, due in October.

Please see the complete guidelines for submission at www.chickenpinata.com/ Guidelines.html

Deadline: June 26

Publication: July 15

www.chickenpinata.com

Robert & Adele Schiff Prose and Poetry Prizes--deadline July 31

2009-06-11T10:21:00.000-07:00

The First Annual Robert & Adele Schiff Prose and Poetry Prizes

http://www.cincinnatireview.com/

The Cincinnati Review will award a single poem and a prose piece (fiction or creative

nonfiction) with publication and a prize of $300 each.

Writers may submit up to 8 pages of poetry or 6,000 words of prose, per entry. Previously

published manuscripts, including works that have appeared online (in any form), will not be

considered. There are no restrictions as to form, style, or content; all entries will be

Entry fee is $15, which includes one copy of the Summer 2010 prize issue.

Checks should be made payable to The Cincinnati Review.

Submissions will be accepted by mail from June 1st to July 31st 2009 (postmarked). Entries

must include a cover letter with the writer’s name, mailing address, telephone number, email,

and the title(s) of the work(s) submitted. Please do not include the writer’s contact info on the

manuscript, as submissions will be judged blindly.

Schiff [Poetry or Prose] Prize

The Cincinnati Review

P.O. Box 210069

Cincinnati, OH 45221-0069

Winners will be notified October 1st, and an announcement will appear on our website and

in the Winter 2010 issue.

Wilhelmus Award: Poetry chapbook contest--deadline July 15

2009-06-11T10:19:00.000-07:00

2009 Thomas A. Wilhelmus Award

http://www.usi.edu/RopeWalk/Wilhelmus%20Award.asp

Guidelines

RopeWalk Press will award a prize of $1000 for a poetry chapbook written in English submitted under the following guidelines.

Each submission must:

Be available for exclusive book-length publication by RopeWalk Press. Poems published individually in journals or magazines may be included. Previously self-published chapbooks and translations are not eligible. Simultaneous submissions are acceptable, but if the manuscript is published/accepted by another press while under consideration, the author must promptly notify RWP in writing to withdraw the entry.

Include an entry fee of $15 ($5 for each additional manuscript submitted). This non-refundable fee includes a copy of the winning chapbook. Make check or money order payable to RopeWalk Press.

List the author’s name, street address, phone number, email address (if applicable), title of manuscript(s), and individual poem titles (table of contents) on a cover page.

List only the title of manuscript and poem on each page thereafter.

Consist of no more than 35 pages (no more than one poem per page) per each individual submission.

Be addressed to Thomas A. Wilhelmus Award, RopeWalk Press, University of Southern Indiana, 8600 University Boulevard, Evansville, IN, 47712.

Be postmarked by July 15, 2009.

Include SAS postcard for receipt acknowledgement and/or SASE for contest results. All manuscripts will be recycled. Results will also be posted on the RWP web site.

All submissions will be considered for publication. All themes and/or subject matters are eligible. All rights revert to the writer upon publication.

2009 Flatmancrooked Prize for Excellent Writing Done During a Period of Great Fiscal Renewal--deadline Aug 15

2009-06-11T10:17:00.000-07:00

We are pleased to announce the

2009 Flatmancrooked Prize

for Excellent Writing Done During a Period of Great Fiscal Renewalaimeebender

Aimee Bender (author of The Girl in the Flammable Skirt, An Invisible Sign of My Own, Willful Creatures, recipient of the Pushcart Prize and professor of creative writing at University of Southern California) is our guest judge.

1st place receives $1000.00 and publication in the final anthology of ‘08/’09 season.

Top 10 finalists will also be published in the final anthology and get special recognition on the website.

The entry-fee is $15 and the first 50 people to enter get a copy of Flatmancrooked’s First Winter, which features new fiction from Jorge Luis Borges and National Book Award-winner, Ha Jin.

See contest details and enter below. Sign up for our mailing-list below if you don’t have a story ready but want updates and reminders about the contest.

__________________________________________________________

2009 Flatmancrooked Prize for Excellent Writing Done During a Period of Great Fiscal Renewal

Summary: Flatmancrooked will award to the 1st place story under 7,000 words the following: The designation of 2009 Flatmancrooked Prize recipient, $1000.00, print publication in the succeeding Flatmancrooked anthology, online featured publication, and a first edition of the Flatmancrooked anthology in which the story appears.

Flatmancrooked will award to the 10 finalist stories under 7,000 words the following: The designation of 2009 Flatmancrooked Prize finalist, print publication in the succeeding Flatmancrooked anthology, online featured publication, and a first edition of the Flatmancrooked anthology in which the story appears.

The visiting judge, Aimee Bender, will choose the 1st place winner from the 10 finalists. The 10 finalists will be determined by the interns and editorial board of Flatmancrooked. The entry deadline is prior to 12:00AM, August 15th, 2009, and the entry fee is $15. Winners will be notified by October 15th, 2009.

The first 50 entrants will receive a print-copy of Flatmancrooked’s First Winter.

All entrants receive an e-book version of the newest anthology.

RULES and GUIDELINES:

1. The first fifty entrants will receive a copy of Flatmancrooked’s First Winter to be shipped after the contest deadline closes.

Entries must be submitted via the online form between now and midnight (PST) on August 15th, 2009. Paper entries will not be read, only recycled.

Payment must be submitted via Flatmancrooked’s PayPal gateway, found at http://www.flatmancrooked.com/contest, prior to any entry being submitted. All entries will be cross-referenced against payment records. Those submissions not accompanied by payment are automatically deleted.

A writer may submit as many pieces as he or she would like; each submission is $15.

Entries must be original, primarily in English, previously unpublished and unawarded, and not accepted by any other venue at time of submission or at any other point when the contest is open.

6. Flatmancrooked staff, interns, volunteers, board members, and immediate family members of the aforementioned are not eligible to enter this contest.

Winners will be notified via e-mail. If you don’t hear back by October 15th, 2009, most unfortunately, you didn’t win.

At least ninety entrants must participate by the contest deadline or the contest is void. Entry fees will be refunded minus $0.80 for portal processing.

Flatmancrooked retains first time publishing rights and reserves the right of first refusal. After publication, all rights revert to the author.

10.

All entries will be read by the Flatmancrooked editorial staff. The top three stories and the first place story will be selected by our guest judge.

11.

Submissions are not limited to any particular theme, genre, or style.

PLEASE NOTE: After you complete the payment process you will be redirected to the Entry Form where you can upload your entry. Again, you must complete the payment process and then you will be redirected to the entry form.

"Two Review" Poetry Contest--deadline July 31

2009-06-11T10:15:00.000-07:00

2009 POETRY CONTEST

http://tworeview.googlepages.com/TwoReviewPoetryContest2009Color.pdf

JUDGE: SHOLEH WOLPÉ

1ST PRIZE: $100 2ND PRIZE: $50 3RD PRIZE: $25

Prizes include publication in the 2010 issue of Two Review. All submissions considered for publication.

Sholeh Wolpé is a poet, visual artist and playwright. She is the author of Sin – Selected Poems of Forugh Farrokhzad (University of Arkansas Press), The Scar Saloon (Red Hen Press), Rooftops of Tehran (Red Hen Press), Shame (a play in three acts), and has a Poetry CD featuring poems read by the author and set to traditional Persian music (Refuge Studios). She is the associate editor of The Norton Anthology of Modern Literature from the Muslim World (Norton, 2010), the editor of The Atlanta Review – Iran Issue (2010), and her poems, translations, essays and reviews have appeared in scores of literary journals, periodicals and anthologies worldwide, and have been translated into several languages.

Wolpé was born in Iran but spent most of her teen years in the Caribbean and Europe, ending up in the U.S. where she pursued Masters degrees in Radio-TV-Film (Northwestern University) and Public Health (Johns Hopkins University). She lives in Los Angeles. Learn more about Wolpé by visiting www.sholehwolpe.com.

Submission Guidelines: Send up to five (5) unpublished poems, bio-sketch, SASE, email address, and a $10.00 check

made out to Cold Press Publishing to: Two Review Poetry Contest, P.O. Box 200639, Anchorage, Alaska 99520.

Deadline: July 31, 2009.

Two Review is a journal of international poetry and creative nonfiction published annually. Traditional and modern forms, lyrical and narrative approaches, and conventional or experimental styles are all welcome. All subject matter is considered as long as the attention to craft is high and the language is grammatically strong, syntactically unique, and illuminates in some way the human experience. Writing about the modern world, its inhabitants, and the events that shape them, from the personal day-to-day experiences of work and family life to worldwide events that affect us all, is preferred. During the course of 2008 the editors reviewed 7,000+ submissions from more than 1,000 poets and writers. The 2009 issue represents the work of poets and writers from 21 U.S. states and 6 countries.

Two Review is featured at select independent booksellers across the U.S. Copies are also submitted to non-lending libraries at national poetry centers including The University of Arizona Poetry Center, Richard Hugo House in Seattle, The Poetry Center of Chicago, The Stadler Center for Poetry in Pennsylvania, and Poets House in New York City.

"Elixir" Poetry Contest--deadline Oct 31

2009-06-11T10:13:00.000-07:00

Tenth Annual Poetry Contest

http://www.elixirpress.com/guidelines.html#poetrycontest

Elixir Press is sponsoring a poetry contest open to all poets writing in English. There will be a Judge’s Prize of $2,000 and an Editors’ Prize of $1,000. Both winning manuscripts will be published by Elixir Press. All entries will be considered for publication. An outside judge, to be announced later, will make the final decision for the first prize. The editors will make the final decision for the second prize.

Manuscripts should be typed on one side of the page and on standard paper. No dot matrix unless letter quality.

Send a business size SASE for reply only; manuscripts cannot be returned. An SAS postcard for receipt of manuscript is optional.

Please use a 12 to 14 point font.

Do not send the only copy of your manuscript.

Do not send biographical material, photographs, CDs, videos, or illustrations.

Enclose a cover sheet stating the name of the manuscript and the author's name,address, and telephone number and a cover sheet with the title alone.

Manuscripts must be paginated and include a table of contents and and acknowledgments page if appropriate.

Simultaneous submissions are welcome, so long as Elixir is notified immediately if a manuscript is accepted elsewhere.

Manuscripts must be at least 48 pages in length.

Please secure your manuscript with either a binder clip or file folder. Do not otherwise bind your manuscript.

The entry fee is $25.

The postmark deadline for the contest is October 31, 2009.

Submit to:

Elixir Press

P. O. Box 27029

Denver, CO 80227

Tamarack Award--deadline July 1

2009-06-11T10:12:00.000-07:00

Tamarack Award Submissions

Official Rules and Entry Guidelines

http://www.minnesotamonthly.com/media/Minnesota-Monthly/Join-In/Tamarack-Award-Submissions/

Minnesota Monthly is now accepting submissions for the 2009 Tamarack Award, the magazine’s annual fiction contest. Entries will be accepted through July 1, 2009. The winning story will appear in the November 2009 issue.

ELIGIBILITY

The competition is open to residents of Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Proof of eligibility will be required of the winning entrant.

Note: previous Tamarack winners are not eligible to enter the contest again for five years. Other previous winners are eligible. As always, however, employees of Minnesota Public Radio and its affiliated companies are not eligible.

MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION

Maximum length: 4,000 words. Must be an original, unpublished work of short fiction.

Send two clean copies of your entry. Manuscripts must be typed and double-spaced, with pages numbered. Judging is anonymous; please do not put your name anywhere on your manuscript. Include two copies of a cover sheet with the following information: your name, address, day/evening phone numbers, and e-mail address, along with the title of your entry and its word count.

THE FINE PRINT

There is no entry fee. Because of the volume of submissions, the editors are unable to contact entrants individually regarding the outcome of the competition.

Mail your entry to:

2008 Tamarack Award

Minnesota Monthly

600 U.S. Trust Building

730 S. Second Ave.

Minneapolis, MN 55402

No e-mail submissions will be accepted.

The author of the winning manuscript will, upon signing Minnesota Monthly’s standard publication contract, be published in the November 2008 issue. Minnesota Public Radio will reserve the right to broadcast a reading of the winning story.

Ronald Sukenick/American Book Review Innovative Fiction Prize--deadline Nov 1

2009-06-11T10:09:00.000-07:00

Ronald Sukenick/American Book Review Innovative Fiction Prize

Sponsored by Fiction Collective Two (FC2) and American Book Review

http://americanbookreview.org/contest.asp

Announcing the Winner of the 2008 Prize:

Museum of the Weird

by Amelia Gray

The 2009 contest will be open from August 15 - November 1.

Eligibility

The Ronald Sukenick/American Book Review Innovative Fiction Contest is open to any writer of English who is a citizen of the United States and who has not previously published with Fiction Collective Two. Submissions may include a collection of short stories, one or more novellas, or a novel. There is no length requirement. Works that have previously appeared in magazines or in anthologies may be included. Translations and previously self-published collections are not eligible. To avoid conflict of interest, former or current students or close friends of the final judge for 2009, to be announced, are ineligible to win the contest. Employees and Board members of FC2 are not eligible to enter.

Judges

Finalists for the Prize will be chosen by the following members of the FC2 Board of Directors: Kate Bernheimer, R.M. Berry, Brian Evenson, Noy Holland, Lance Olsen (Chair), Susan Steinberg, and Michael Martone.

The winning manuscript in 2009 was chosen from the finalists by Lidia Yuknavitch, a member of the FC2 Board of Directors.

Selection criteria will be consistent with FC2's stated mission to publish "fiction considered by America's largest publishers too challenging, innovative, or heterodox for

the commercial milieu," including works of "high quality and exceptional ambition whose style, subject matter, or form pushes the limits of American publishing and reshapes our literary culture."

For contest updates and full information on FC2's mission, history, aesthetic commitments, authors, events, and books, please visit the website at:http://fc2.org.

Deadlines

Contest entries will be accepted beginning 15 August 2009. All entries must be postmarked no later than 1 November 2009. The winner will be announced May 2010.

Prize

The Prize includes $1,000 and publication by FC2, an imprint of the University of Alabama Press. In the unlikely event that no suitable manuscript is found among entries in a given year, FC2 reserves the right not to award a prize.

Manuscript Format

Please submit either TWO hardcopies of the manuscript, or ONE hardcopy and one Word file of the manuscript on a labeled CD.

The manuscript must be:

— anonymous: the author's name or address must not appear anywhere on the manuscript (the title page should contain the title only); include a separate cover page with your name and contact information;

— typed on standard white paper, one side of the page only; paginated consecutively; bound with a spring clip or rubber bands; no paper clips or staples, please.

Please include a self-addressed, stamped postcard for notification that manuscript has been received, and a self-addressed, stamped, regular business-sized envelope for contest results.

We strongly advise that=2

0you send your manuscript first class.

Please retain a copy of your manuscript; FC2 cannot return manuscripts. Submission of more than one manuscript is permissible if each manuscript is accompanied by a $25 reading fee. Once submitted, manuscripts cannot be altered; the winner will be given the opportunity to make changes before publication. Simultaneous submissions to other publishers are permitted, but FC2 must be notified immediately if manuscript is accepted elsewhere. FC2 will consider all finalists for publication.

Submission Address

Full manuscripts, accompanied by a check made out to the American Book Review for the mandatory reading fee of $25, should be sent to:

Ronald Sukenick/American Book Review Innovative Fiction Prize

American Book Review

School of Arts and Sciences

University of Houston-Victoria

3007 N. Ben Wilson

Victoria, TX 77901-5731

CLMP Contest Ethics Code

CLMP's community of independent literary publishers believes that ethical contests serve our shared goal: to connect writers and readers by publishing exceptional writing. We believe that intent to act ethically, clarity of guidelines, and transparency of process form the foundation of an ethical contest. To that end, we agree to:

conduct our contests as ethically as possible and to address any unethical behavior on the part of our readers, judges, or editors;

provide clear and specific contest guidelines—defining conflict of interest for all parties involved; and

make the mechanics of our selection process available to the public.

This code recognizes that different contest models produce different results, but that each model can be run ethically.

"Umbrella" Call for Submissions--deadline Aug 10

2009-06-11T10:08:00.000-07:00

Call for Submissions: Umbrella

Umbrella, the "supremely rereadable electronic journal," is now reading for our fall issue, online September 1st, 2009.

For fall, we are reading both unthemed and themed poetry and prose. For the themed section, we are looking for poems that have something to do with school subjects, e.g., history, geography, science, math, languages, Psych 101, whatever and et cetera. Understand, we are not looking for retrospective poems that deal with your school days, but rather poems that encounter the subjects themselves. We welcome your submissions.

Please see the submit page for complete guidelines and specific needs and preferences.

http://www.umbrellajournal.com/submit.html

Deadline: August 10, 2009

Writers Alliance of Gainesville 2010 Contest--deadline Oct 31

2009-06-11T10:04:00.000-07:00

Contest Submission Guidelines

Writers Alliance of Gainesville (WAG)

Bacopa

Annual Literary Journal

2010 CONTEST Submission Guidelines

http://www.bacopaonline.com/

Contest Submission Period

July 1 through October 31, 2009

Prizes (Each Genre)

First Place–$350.00

Second Place–$75.00

Honorable Mention–Authors and Titles listed in Bacopa.

First and Second Place winners and selected Honorable Mention winners will be published.

All authors whose work is published in Bacopa will receive one free copy.

Notification

First, Second and Honorable Mention winners will be notified via email.

All Winners will be posted on the WAG website as soon as selection is complete.

Categories and Word Limits

Fiction—3,300 words

Non-Fiction—3,300 words

Poetry—50 lines per poem

Poetry—Submit up to three poems per contest submission

Submissions that exceed the word or line count will not be considered.

No limit to the number of submissions a person may submit in any category

Each separate entry requires an Entry Fee

Each entry requires a separate Entry Form (see below)

Eligibility

Manuscripts in English and Unpublished at the time of submission

(Please notify Bacopa via email if your submission is accepted elsewhere.)

WAG Membership is not required

Method of Transmission

Email Attachment(s) ONLY—NO mailed, paper manuscripts

Subject Line should read: CONTEST Fiction, or Non-Fiction, or Poetry

Name

the attached manuscript file with the GENRE/TITLE of the manuscript (e.g. Poetry/Love Note in the Snow)

Save the file in .rtf or .doc ONLY

Email the file as an attachment using our online Entry Form

Complete an Entry Form for each submission (See link below and follow instructions in the form.)

Manuscript Format—Fiction and Non-Fiction

Double-spaced

One inch Margins, all sides, .05 Paragraph Indent, Right justified

12-point type in Arial or Times New Roman ONLY

Cover Page: The first page of our document should contain your Name, Address, Email, Phone, Title, Word Count

Page 1 and following: Title/Page Numbers Upper Right

Page 1: Word Count under Title/Page Number

Save the File in .rtf or .doc ONLY

(NOTE: Author’s name must not appear on the manuscript.)

Manuscript Format—Poetry

You can send up to three poems per submission. Up to 50 lines per poem.

Poems need not be double-spaced

12-point type in Arial or Times New Roman ONLY

Cover Page: The first page of your document should contain your Name, Address, Email, Phone, and the Title and Line Count for each poem.

Subsequent Pages: Put line count in upper right corner for each poem.

Save the file in .rtf or .doc ONLY. Name the file “Poetry Contest Submission.”

(NOTE: Author’s name must not appear on the manuscript.)

Entry Form

available at

http://www.bacopaonline.com/

Fill out a separate Entry Form for each submissi

on. Follow instruction on the Entry Form.

Entry Fees

Writers Alliance of Gainesville (WAG) Members in good standing, your first submission in any genre is FREE. You will also receive a Free copy of Bacopa.

WAG Members–Additional Submissions are $9 each

All Others–$11 each submission

To join WAG,

visit

http://www.bacopaonline.com/

Payment

You can remit payment by two methods: PayPal or Personal Check. After filling out the online entry form, you will have an opportunity to use PayPal to submit your payment. This is our preferred method.

To pay by Personal Check. Make your check payable to: Writers Alliance of Gainesville.

Mail to:

WAG Contest

PO Box 358396

Gainesville, FL 32635

Submissions not following all the above guidelines will not be considered.

Payment must be received by the contest submission deadline, 10/31/09, in order for entries to be considered.

Think and Drink with "Oregon Humanities" June 17

2009-06-09T11:42:00.000-07:00

Think & Drink with Ursula K. Le Guin and Lani Roberts
Join OCH for a discussion on morality and self-deception.

We hope you'll join us for the next Think & Drink happy-hour discussion on Wednesday, June 17, 2009, at 6:30 at rontoms, 600 E. Burnside, Portland. This event is free and open to the public.

In the acclaimed short story "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas," writer Ursula Le Guin (photo at left by Eileen Gunn) describes a utopian society whose citizens' happiness is bought at the cost of one child's suffering. Join Le Guin and Oregon State University philosophy professor Lani Roberts for a conversation exploring individual morality and self-deception--when, how, and why we deceive ourselves about our moral choices. If you haven't yet read Le Guin's powerful story, you can do so at the Think & Drink web page.

Think & Drink is a bimonthly discussion series that sparks provocative conversations about big ideas. Mark your calendars for the August 12, 2009, program that will feature Congressman Earl Blumenauer and Portland State University president Wim Wiewel.

For more information about Think & Drink, please contact Director of Programs Jennifer Allen at (503) 241-0543, ext. 118, or by e-mail.

Declaration Editing Flash Fiction Challenge July 1 -31

2009-06-09T11:38:00.000-07:00

What happens when you cross

flash fiction with serialized fiction?

To find out, participate in The Super-Short Summer Serial Challenge (S4C), July 1–31.

What You Do: Tell an original serialized story in nine to twelve installments, with each installment being fewer than five hundred words. Regularly post installments to your personal website or blog throughout July. At the end of the month, submit your completed story to Declaration Editing to be considered as one of five serials published in a special e-journal.

What We Do: We will provide a link to your writing on our blog (wordpress.declarationediting.com) so that readers can find your work and read your story as it unfolds. Once the challenge is over, our staff will pick our five favorite serials and publish them in a special e-journal.

How to Sign Up for the Challenge: Use the online registration form at wordpress.declarationediting.com or send the following information to s4c@declarationediting.com:

* Your name

* Your e-mail address

* A link to your personal website or blog

* A fifty-word description of the story you plan to tell

Be sure to sign up by June 30. Participation is free.

Celebrate the end of the year with your favorite student lit mag!

2009-06-07T19:15:00.000-07:00

Pathos is releasing its last issue of the year--

Come to the ballroom for a post-finals literary bash featuring a reading by Portland's Monica Drake, music from Gravity's Rainbow-inspired supergroup The Thomas Pynchon Fake Book, free Lebanese food from Nicholas Restaurant and many readings from PSU students published in this issue.

Wednesday, June 10th
PSU Ballroom, rm 355 SMSU
7pm

Tell your friends! And check out the Facebook event for more information or to sign up:

pathoslitmag.wordpress.com
monicadrake.com

P.S. Looking to join Pathos this summer or next fall? Write us at this address. We'll be waiting.

"Fourth River" Poetry & Non-Fiction contest--deadline Oct 15

2009-06-06T14:35:00.000-07:00

Fourth River Award for Poetry 2009
Fourth River Award for Creative Nonfiction 2009

http://fourthriver.chatham.edu/submit.cfm

We are looking for poetry and creative nonfiction that capture the places—natural, built and imagined, urban, rural or wild—where humans and nature converge and collide.

First place winner in each category will be published in the Fourth River and will receive a $500 cash prize upon publication.

Contest judges to be announced.

Contest Guidelines

Submissions should be postmarked no later than October 15, 2009

Previously published works and works accepted for publication elsewhere are not eligible. Students, faculty and employees of Chatham University are not eligible.

Include a title page with your name, address, phone number and the title of your submission(s). Your name must not appear on the actual manuscript.

The reading fee is $5 for three poems or one essay (7,000 word maximum), and includes a copy of Issue 7. Please make checks payable to Chatham University. Multiple submissions are acceptable, but each submission must be accompanied by a reading fee. Manuscripts will not be returned.
(Please note: the reading fee does not apply to regular submissions.)

Send your submission, your reading fee and a self-addressed stamped envelope to:

The Fourth River
Chatham University
Woodland Road
Pittsburgh, PA 15232
Attention: Fourth River Award for (please insert genre here--Poetry or Nonfiction).

Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival fiction contest--deadline Nov 16

2009-06-06T14:34:00.001-07:00

The Second Annual Fiction Writing Contest

http://www.tennesseewilliams.net/article.php?story=fictioncontest2

The Festival is pleased to announce the second annual Fiction Writing Contest. We are now accepting submissions by mail. Online submissions coming soon.

Grand Prize

$1,500

VIP All Access Festival Pass ($500 value) for the 24th annual Festival: March 25-29, 2010

Publication in the New Orleans Review

Domestic Airfare and Accommodations to attend the 2010 Festival in New Orleans

Public Reading at the 2010 Festival

Top Ten Finalists will be published on this website and read by a celebrity author. (Author TBA).

Eligibility: Short stories, written in English, up to 7,000 words. Only open to writers who have not yet published a book of fiction. Only previously unpublished stories accepted. Unlimited entries per person. Simultaneous submissions accepted; please notify the Festival if your story is accepted elsewhere. Stories that won this contest in previous years are ineligible; their authors remain eligible but must submit new work. Stories submitted to this contest in previous years that did not place are eligible.

Deadline: November 16, 2009 (postmark). Winner will be announced by March 1, 2010.

Final Round Judge TBA.

Send to:
Fiction Contest
Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival
938 Lafayette Street, Suite 514
New Orleans, LA 70113

Online payment and entries coming soon.

Entry Fee: $25

Manuscripts will not be returned.

Fiction Contest--deadline Sept 30

2009-06-06T14:32:00.000-07:00

Three times a year, Jerry Jazz Musician awards a writer who submits, in our opinion, the best original, previously unpublished work of approximately one - five thousand words. The winner will be announced via a special mailing of our Jerry Jazz Musician newsletter. Publishers, artists, musicians and interested readers are among those who subscribe to the newsletter. Additionally, the work will be published on the home page of Jerry Jazz Musician and featured there for at least four weeks.

The Jerry Jazz Musician reader has interests in music, social history, literature, politics, art, film and theatre, particularly that of the counter-culture of mid-twentieth century America. Your writing should appeal to a reader with these characteristics.

Contest details

http://www.jerryjazzmusician.com/mainHTML.cfm?page=fictioncontest.html

A prize of $100 will be awarded for the winning story. In addition to the story being published on Jerry Jazz Musician, the author's acceptance of the prize money gives Jerry Jazz Musician the right to include the story in an anthology that will appear in book or magazine form. No entry fee is required. One story entry only.

Submission deadline for the next contest is September 30, 2009. Publishing date will be November 1, 2009.

Please submit your story by September 30, 2009 via Word or Acrobat attachment to (replace (at) with @). Please be sure to include your name, address and phone number with your submission. Please include "Short Fiction Contest Submission" in the subject heading of the email.

SHELTERING PINES PRESS FIFTH ANNUAL CHAPBOOK COMPETITION, 2009--deadline Oct 15

2009-06-06T14:31:00.000-07:00

SHELTERING PINES PRESS
FIFTH ANNUAL CHAPBOOK COMPETITION, 2009

http://www.shelteringpinespress.com/chapbookcontest5.html

Submissions are now open:

Official Rules

First Prize: $100 and fifty copies of your chapbook
Entry Fee is $15 per Chapbook
Deadline: Postmark October 15, 2009.

1. Submit between 10-24 pages of poetry.(One page = maximum 38 lines, including
spacing between lines). (Manuscripts either too short or too long
will be disqualified.)
2. All contestants receive copy of winning chapbook.
3. No names are to appear on poems.
4. Send two cover pages:
A. One cover page (and acknowledgement page if you wish to send one)
should contain title of manuscript, name, address, phone and e-mail.
B. Second cover page should list TITLE ONLY.
5. Manuscripts should be paginated and secured with a binder clip.
6. Poems may have been previously published in journals, which should be credited
on a separate, removable page.
7. Manuscript, as a whole, must be previously UNpublished.
8. #10 SASE for results only.
9. No manuscripts will be returned.
10. If your manuscript is being simultaneously submitted to other competitions, please notify us if accepted elsewhere. Your ms. can be pulled but unfortunately your entry fee cannot be refunded.

GUIDELINES: & GENERAL INFORMATION:
· Initial and final judging will be "blind."
· Identifying cover sheet and acknowledgement page
will be removed
before submission
to any of the judges. Previously published poems
should be credited.
· You may choose to list the TITLE ONLY of the chapbook on all pages of your submission.
· You may submit a Table of Contents. No name on this page.
· We request a binder clip for ease of separation.
No staples or plastic covers please.
· Be sure to keep your address current until after publication so you can be
notified or receive a copy of the winning chapbook.
· Winner notified by December 15, 2009.
· Results including winner and top five finalists listed on web site by December 15th.
· We will consult with winner before publication about details of publication.
· Chapbook will be 5 1/2 x 8", professionally printed and saddled-stitched.

Publication in Winter 2009
by Sheltering Pines Press

Mail entries, with entry fee of $15 (check or money order please) to: Sheltering Pines Press
4th Annual Chapbook Competition
P.O. Box 1344
Kennebunk, ME 04043

The Bellevue Literary Review Prizes: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry--deadline Aug 1

2009-06-06T14:27:00.000-07:00

The Bellevue Literary Review Prizes in Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry

http://www.blreview.org/Contest/contest_guidelines.htm
$1000 Goldenberg Prize for Fiction
$1000 Carter V. Cooper Memorial Prize for Nonfiction
$1000 Marica and Jan Vilcek Prize for Poetry

Please note that we are temporarily unable to accept credit cards payments online. See #12 to pay by check or credit card by phone. We apologize for the inconvenience.

BLR Prize Guidelines:

1. BLR Prize awards outstanding writing related to themes of health, healing, illness, the mind, and the body. First prize is $1000 (in each genre) and publication in the Spring 2010 issue of the BLR.

2. Prose limited to 5000 words. Up to 3 poems (maximum 5 pages). Submissions that exceed these limits will be disqualified.

3. Deadline August 1, 2009. Winners will be announced by December 31, 2009.

4. Entry fee is $15 per submission. For an additional $5, you will receive a 1 year subscription to the BLR. (Maximum: two submissions per person).

5. Manuscripts are submitted electronically as a Microsoft Word document. (Save with a *.doc extension). Please combine all poems into one document and use first poem as title.

6. Do not put your name on the manuscript document. (This will be entered separately on our website.) No cover letter needed.

7. When entering the title in the website, please prefix with "Contest." (e.g. Contest : The Iliad.) This is extremely important and we appreciate your cooperation!

8. Work previously published* in print or electronically will not be considered. (Please see footnote below for specific definition of “published.”)

9. Simultaneous submissions are permitted, but we ask that you notify us immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere. (This will avoid potentially awkward situations.) We regret that there can be no refunds or substitutions for withdrawn work.

10. Students/friends/colleagues/relations of any of the judges are not permitted to enter submissions to that judge's genre.

11. BLR acquires first-time North American rights. After publication, all rights revert to the author and may be reprinted as long as appropriate acknowledgement to BLR is made. All entries will also be considered for regular publication.

12. Due to administrative costs, if no entry fee is received, manuscript will be placed with general submissions.Because of a temporary glitch, we are unable to accept credit card purchases over the web (to be fixed soon!) Please send payment by check, or call during business hours to give credit card info.

By mail: send check and printout of confirmation email to:
Bellevue Literary Review
Dept of Medicine, Rm OBV-612
NYU School of Medicine
550 First Avenue
New York, NY 10016

By phone: 212-263-3973

We sincerely apologize for the incovenience and appreciate your forbearance.

13. Submit manuscript at
http://www.blreview.org/Contest/contest_guidelines.htm

scroll down (with Contest in title). Thank you!!

Some troubleshooting tips:
A. The system can't manage ".docx." files. Please save file in an older version of Word.
B. If there's trouble using Firefox, try Internet Explorer.
C. Keep file name short and simple.
D. If you can't upload, try logging in and then logging out. Sometimes the system needs a beauty rest.
E. Thanks for your patience!

*For the BLR , “published work” means published in print in North America, or published on the Internet in electronic journals, e-zines, academic websites, and other “public” or “official” websites. Works posted on personal blogs or websites will be considered on a case-by-case basis. We ask that authors be honest about web postings. (If a work is discovered to have been posted or published elsewhere--and not openly acknowledged by the author in advance--we willremove it from consideration.)

Questions? Please contact us: info@BLReview.org

Call for submissions: Kiwi Publishing--deadline June 28

2009-06-06T14:26:00.000-07:00

Kiwi Publishing is looking for true, inspirational stories; 1200 words or less, that will make readers laugh, cry, or sigh. Stories should be positive, universal, and non-controversial. The "point" or "message" should be evident without preaching. No essays, commentaries, tributes, philosophical or biographical pieces will be accepted.
http://www.thinthreads.com/contest/contest_g.html

We are currently collecting stories in the following categories:

Thin Threads of Business & Career
Thin Threads of Compassion & Giving
Thin Threads of Recovery & Survival
Thin Threads of Holidays & Celebrations (including Romance/Valentines Day)
Thin Threads of Teachers & Mentors
Thin Threads of Teens & Young Adults
Thin Threads® the Legacy Project – featuring fathers, mothers, grandparents
Thin Threads of Patriotism & Courage
Thin Threads of Achievement in Sports & Fitness

Each story must contain the following elements:

1. Be Real - non fiction
2. Capture the essence of a thin thread event
3. Evoke an emotion from the reader

You may submit more than one story for any of our upcoming titles. Please select stories from your own experiences, or from a someone in your life.

Should your story be selected and be included in one of the Thin Thread book series, a permission fee of $100 will be paid to you. The submission deadline is June 28th, 2009.
Guidelines: http://www.thinthreads.com/contest/contest_g.html

The St. Francis College Literary Prize--for a fourth book of fiction--deadline Juy 1

2009-06-06T14:25:00.000-07:00

The St. Francis College Literary Prize is designed for a fourth published book of fiction. To submit, please send six copies of the work to:
http://www.stfranciscollege.edu/literaryprize

Ian S. Maloney
Academic Dean’s Office
St. Francis College
180 Remsen Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201

Inquiries can be made via email at: (replace (at) with @)

Deadline for submission: July 1, 2009

The award for the prize is $50,000. The award winner is expected to come to campus in Fall 2009 to deliver a talk on his/her work and read selections from the book submitted. The award recipient is also asked to teach a short mini-workshop in fiction to qualified students at St. Francis College. The decision of the jury is final. Submission copies are not returnable.

Jury: Michael Chabon, Heidi Julavits, Jonathan Lethem, Ben Marcus, and Ayelet Waldman

Frequently Asked Questions:

Is it an annual award?

The SFC Literary Prize will be a biannual prize. It will be offered again in 2011.

What are the publication dates for eligible books?

Currently the jury will consider books published from January 2008 until July 2009.

What about self-published books?

Self-published books will be considered for award consideration.

Are translated books eligible?
Yes, works in English translation will be considered.

Can the book include previously published material?
Yes.

When will you announce the award?
A short list will be=2
0announced in mid-August. The winner will be announced at the Brooklyn Book Festival on September 13, 2009.

Is this a permanent jury?
The jury is only for this award cycle.

"The Mom Egg" Call for submissions--deadline July 31

2009-06-06T14:24:00.001-07:00

We are currently seeking submissions for a special online issue of The Mom Egg, a literary journal, to be released in Fall 2009. Deadline for poetry, fiction, creative prose and art for this issue is July 31, 2009. We are also accepting submissions of other material, such as reviews and interviews. Submission guidelines may be found on the website, .

The Mom Egg publishes work by mothers about everything, and by everyone about mothers and motherhood.

"Super Arrow" Call for submissions

2009-06-06T14:21:00.000-07:00

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

Super Arrow is looking to foster potential literature escapades for our glittering, millennial universe. This online publication is based in St. Louis, Missouri, and will have a printed component as its momentum builds. We are looking to publish writing of all sorts, (both creative and more occasionally critical), as well as visual and audio art. Submit to (replace (at) with @).

The publication will be centered on a particular "assignment" for each issue, and is designed to be a generative, community-based entity, more than an exclusively exhibitive one.

If the first assignment doesn't particularly grab you, consider keeping an eye out for future assignments that might not let you go, (hopefully in a good way). It's my intention that each issue be curated more than edited, based on the diverse personalities and aesthetics of submissions received. If you know someone who might be into what Super Arrow is into, please forward them the url.

For the inaugural assignment (THIS IS NOT MY SPECIALITY), and a longer mission statement, head to the blog, which can be found at superarrow.blogspot.com. The submission deadline for the first issue will be August 15th.

Sincerely,

Amanda Goldblatt, Ed.

From the New Yorker (thanks to James Norton for the FYI!)

2009-06-04T14:41:00.000-07:00

A Critic at Large

Show or Tell

Should creative writing be taught?

by Louis Menand June 8, 2009

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Before the program era: Robert Frost (second from left), the world’s first writer-in-residence, at Bread Loaf.

Related Links: Audio: What a writing workshop feels like.

Creative-writing programs are designed on the theory that students who have never published a poem can teach other students who have never published a poem how to write a publishable poem. The fruit of the theory is the writing workshop, a combination of ritual scarring and twelve-on-one group therapy where aspiring writers offer their views of the efforts of other aspiring writers. People who take creative-writing workshops get course credit and can, ultimately, receive an academic degree in the subject; but a workshop is not a course in the normal sense—a scene of instruction in which some body of knowledge is transmitted by means of a curricular script. The workshop is a process, an unscripted performance space, a regime for forcing people to do two things that are fundamentally contrary to human nature: actually write stuff (as opposed to planning to write stuff very, very soon), and then sit there while strangers tear it apart. There is one person in the room, the instructor, who has (usually) published a poem. But workshop protocol requires the instructor to shepherd the discussion, not to lead it, and in any case the instructor is either a product of the same process—a person with an academic degree in creative writing—or a successful writer who has had no training as a teacher of anything, and who is probably grimly or jovially skeptical of the premise on which the whole enterprise is based: that creative writing is something that can be taught.

This skepticism is widely shared, and one way for creative-writing programs to handle it is simply to concede the point. The University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop is the most renowned creative-writing program in the world. Sixteen Pulitzer Prize winners and three recent Poet Laureates are graduates of the program. But the school’s official position is that the school had nothing to do with it. “The fact that the Workshop can claim as alumni nationally and internationally prominent poets, novelists, and short story writers is, we believe, more the result of what they brought here than of what they gained from us,” the Iowa Web site explains. Iowa merely admits people who are really good at writing; it puts them up for two years; and then, like the Wizard of Oz, it gives them a diploma. “We continue to look for the most promising talent in the country,” the school says, “in our conviction that writing cannot be taught but that writers can be encouraged.”

“A nice conviction if you can afford it” might be the response of faculty working in less prestigious programs, and not everyone who teaches creative writing agrees about the irrelevance of the job. Some writers do seem to make it a matter of principle to bite the hand that writes the checks. Allen Tate, the poet and critic, complained that “the academically certified Creative Writer goes out to teach Creative Writing, and produces other Creative Writers who are not writers, but who produce still other Creative Writers who are not writers.” Tate ran the creative-writing program at Princeton, where John Berryman was a colleague. Kay Boyle once published a piece arguing that “all creative-writing programs ought to be abolished by law.” She taught creative writing for sixteen years at San Francisco State.

Other writers, though, are very much with the program. John Barth taught for twenty-two years in the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins, one of the oldest and most luminous programs in the country. In 1985, he published an article in the Times Book Review entitled “Writing: Can It Be Taught?,” to which his answer was that it emphatically can, mainly on the ground that it so emphatically is. (He added the standard “genius” exception: “Not even in America can one major in Towering Literary Artistry.”)

A few writing instructors have changed their minds. When Barth wrote his piece for the Times, he might have been recalling a speech given three years earlier by one of the leading figures in the field, R. V. Cassill. Verlin Cassill was a novelist and short-story writer who graduated from Iowa in 1939 and returned after the war to get an M.A. and to teach in the Writers’ Workshop. One of his students was Margaret Walker, an African-American, who was the author of “Jubilee” (1966)—the first of the so-called neo-slave narratives, of which the most famous is Toni Morrison’s “Beloved.” (“Jubilee” was Walker’s Ph.D. thesis; for the project, Cassill made her read Henry James, who, in those days, was considered a universal “writer’s writer,” even for a woman writing a novel about slavery and Reconstruction.) Cassill wrote a standard textbook, “Writing Fiction”; he was the editor of “The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction,” a position of power in the field; and, from 1966 until his retirement, in 1983, he taught creative writing at Brown, another program with a distinguished history. In 1967, shortly after arriving at Brown and just at the start of a boom in university-based creative-writing programs, he founded the Associated Writing Programs, the professional association of academic creative writers.

But at a convention in Boston on the fifteenth anniversary of the A.W.P. Cassill stunned the membership by suggesting that the organization should be disbanded. He thought that writers had become complicit in the academic logrolling and gamesmanship of publish-or-perish: using other people’s money—grants from their universities and from arts agencies—they devised ways to get their own and one another’s work into print, and then converted those publications into salary increments (which is apparently how Cassill thought that most professors operate). They wrote poems to get raises. The academic system was corrupting, and it was time for the writers to get out. “We are now at the point where writing programs are poisoning, and in turn we are being poisoned by, departments and institutions on which we have fastened them,” he said. The speech got attention, but the A.W.P. did not disband. It eventually renamed itself the Association of Writers and Writing Programs, and it now has more than twenty-five thousand members. Around the time that Cassill delivered his renunciation, there were seventy-nine degree programs in creative writing in the United States. Today, there are eight hundred and twenty-two. Thirty-seven of these award the Ph.D.

Mark McGurl doesn’t mention Cassill’s speech in his book about creative-writing programs and American fiction, “The Program Era” (Harvard; $35), but it fits his argument perfectly. The argument is that teaching creative writing should always be a scandal, since it’s a scandal that suits everyone. It allows people in creative-writing departments to feel that, unlike their colleagues in the traditional academic disciplines, they are not cogs in a knowledge machine; and it allows the university to regard itself as what McGurl calls a “difference engine,” devoted to producing original people as well as original research. He points out that teachers in creative-writing programs were asking “Can it be taught?” right from the start, but that virtually no one has ever tried to lay down rules for what should go on in the classroom. This is because not having an answer to the “Can it be taught?” question—keeping alive the belief that all this training and socialization never really touches the heart of the imaginative process—is what marks creative-writing programs as “creative.” Academic creative-writing programs are, as McGurl puts it, examples of “the institutionalization of anti-institutionality.” That’s why institutions love them. They are the outside contained on the inside.

Still, the creative-writing program, unsystematic or even anti-system as it might believe itself to be, is a system. People go in at one end and they come out the other, bearing (like the Scarecrow) a piece of paper with a Latin inscription, but also bearing (unlike the Scarecrow) the impress of an institutional experience. The nature of that experience mutates as the folk wisdom of the workshop mutates—from “Show, don’t tell,” which was the mantra in the nineteen-forties and fifties, to the effectively opposite mantra “Find your voice,” which took over in the nineteen-sixties and seventies. McGurl suggests that these mantras encode shifting patterns of cultural assumptions—about identity, about work, about gender and class, and, of course, about what counts as good writing—and that they have had a big effect on the stories and novels that American writers have produced. “The rise of the creative-writing program,” he says, “stands as the most important event in postwar American literary history.”

McGurl’s book is not a history of creative-writing programs. It’s a history of twentieth-century fiction, in which the work of American writers from Thomas Wolfe to Bharati Mukherjee is read as reflections of, and reflections on, the educational system through which so many writers now pass. (McGurl doesn’t deal with poetry.) As McGurl points out, the university is where most serious fiction writers have been produced since the Second World War. It has also been the place where most serious fiction readers are produced: they are taught how to read in departments of literature. McGurl’s claim is simple: given that most of the fiction that Americans write and read is processed through the higher-education system, we ought to pay some attention to the way the system affects the outcome.

This may sound like a formula for debunking, but it’s not. “The Program Era” is an impressive and imaginative book. It does three things unusually well. First, it interprets works of fiction as what philosophers of language call illocutionary acts. The meaning of one of Raymond Carver’s stories is not only what the story says; it’s also the way the story says it. The form of a Carver short story—ostentatiously brief, emotionally hyper-defended—expresses something. McGurl thinks that the style represents the “aestheticization of shame, a mode of self-retraction.” Literary minimalism like Carver’s—McGurl calls it “lower-middle-class modernism”—is a means of reducing the risk of embarrassing oneself, and is one way that students from working-class backgrounds, like Carver (he was from Oregon, where his father was a sawmill worker), deal with the highbrow world of the academy.

Rather ingeniously, McGurl reads the work of Carver’s exact contemporary Joyce Carol Oates as an expression of the same class-based self-consciousness. (He notes that Carver once called Oates the most important writer of his generation.) Oates is a prolific practitioner of what McGurl calls “maximalist” fiction: it has been said that, at one point in her career, she wrote forty pages of fiction every day, or about a quarter of what would constitute an entire book for Carver. But McGurl thinks that maximalism, too, is “a way of shielding oneself with words.” The two styles are methods of self-protection and, at the same time, forms of self-assertion: the minimalist writer puts his craft on display, the maximalist his facility.

Carver and Oates are both program products. Oates is from a poor family—she once described herself as “of peasant stock”—in upstate New York. She came out of the undergraduate creative-writing program at Syracuse, where she studied with Donald Dike, and she has spent most of her career teaching at Princeton, where Morrison, until her recent retirement, was also on the faculty. In Carver’s case, the career constitutes a virtual tour d’horizon of the creative-writing scene. Carver started as a correspondence student in an outfit known as the Palmer Institute of Authorship. He took classes at Chico State, in California, with the novelist John Gardner; at Humboldt State College, with the short-story writer Richard Cortez Day; at Sacramento State College, with the poet Dennis Schmitz; and at Stanford, where he was a Wallace Stegner Fellow; and he taught at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop with John Cheever. His second marriage was to another creative-writing professional, the poet Tess Gallagher, and he ended up as a professor at Oates’s alma mater, Syracuse, where Jay McInerney was his student. The beat goes on—McGurl’s point.

A second thing that “The Program Era” does well, and sometimes entertainingly, is to treat the world of creative writing as an ant farm, in which the writer-ants go about busily executing the tasks they have been programmed for. Writing is a technology, after all, and there is a sense in which human beings who write can be thought of as writing machines. They get tooled in certain ways, and the creative-writing program is a means of tooling. But McGurl treats creative writing as an ant farm where the ants are extremely interesting. He never reduces writers to unthinking products of a system. They are thinking products of a system. After all, few activities make people more self-conscious than participating in a writing workshop. Reflecting on yourself—your experience, your “voice,” your background, your talent or lack of it—is what writing workshops make people do.

McGurl thinks that this habit of self-observation is not restricted to writing programs. He thinks that we’re all highly self-conscious ants, because that’s what it means to be a modern person. Constant self-assessment and self-reflection are part of our program. (McGurl uses the term “reflexive modernity.” There is a lot of critical techno-speak in “The Program Era,” it’s true. There are also flow charts and the like, diagrams suited to systems analysis. If you don’t enjoy this sort of thing, you will not get very far into the book. It’s worth learning to enjoy, though.)

So the fiction that comes out of creative-writing programs may appeal to readers because it rehearses topics—“Who am I?” issues—that are already part of their inner lives. And contemporary fiction does have many readers. McGurl argues that, far from homogenizing literature or turning it into an academic exercise, creative-writing programs have been a success on purely literary grounds. “There has been a system-wide rise in the excellence of American literature in the postwar period,” he says, and he offers the same proof that Barth offered in his Times article: there is more good fiction out there than anyone has time to read. The system must be doing something right.

The third accomplishment of “The Program Era” is almost inadvertent. Changes in creative-writing programs are influenced by changes in two related bodies of thought, both of which try to answer the question “How can we make people more productive and more creative?” These are the philosophy of education and management theory. Creative-writing courses follow naturally from the “learning by doing” theories of progressive education: they add practical, hands-on experience to traditional book learning. And, as McGurl suggests, presenting a story in a writing workshop is a little like making a business presentation in a corporate workplace. Such a presentation is, on some level, what he calls “a presentation of individual excellence,” a means by which we observe and test ourselves. It helps us measure how we’re doing in the human race.

The unexpected result of combining a history of creative fiction writing with a history of education and management theory is a kind of slide show of postwar American life. “The Program Era” evokes a sense of how life felt in the nineteen-sixties, when Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters took their bus trip (a writers’ workshop on the road), and a sense of how life felt in the nineteen-seventies, when Carver was writing his bleak little stories. And this helps McGurl to make a larger point, which is that university creative-writing programs don’t isolate writers from the world. On the contrary, university creative-writing courses situate writers in the world that most of their readers inhabit—the world of mass higher education and the white-collar workplace. Sticking writers in a garret would isolate them. Putting them in the ivory tower puts them in touch with real life.

Is the rise of the creative-writing workshop, as McGurl claims, “the most important event in postwar American literary history”? Creative-writing courses did not suddenly spring into being in 1945. A course called Verse Making was available at Iowa in 1897, and from 1906 to 1925 George Pierce Baker taught a drama workshop at Harvard, the first graduate writing course in the country; Thomas Wolfe took it. The term (and the concept) “creative writing” dates from the nineteen-twenties, which is when Middlebury started the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, where Robert Frost served as the world’s first writer-in-residence. In 1936, Iowa launched the Writers’ Workshop—officially, the Program in Creative Writing—under the direction of Wilbur Schramm, and began awarding the first M.F.A.s. In 1941, Schramm was replaced by Paul Engle, a prodigious creative-writing proselytizer and cultural Cold Warrior, who made Iowa into a global power in the field. Engle eventually brought writers from seventy countries to study at Iowa.

There was a surge in creative-writing degree programs after the Second World War. The Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins started in 1947; Stanford inaugurated its writing fellowships the same year; Cornell’s creative-writing program opened in 1948. As is the case with most new developments in higher education, changes in funding were responsible. Title II of the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944—the G.I. Bill—provided forty-eight months of tuition for veterans who enrolled in colleges and universities. More than two million veterans, a much bigger number than anticipated, took up the offer, and by 1950 the government had spent more money on tuition and other college costs than on the Marshall Plan. The key requirement of Title II was that the tuition assistance be used only for study in degree or certificate programs, which is why creative-writing courses grew into degree-granting creative-writing programs.

In the nineteen-sixties, the universe of higher education underwent a fantastic expansion. Between 1960 and 1969, enrollments doubled and more professors were hired than had been hired in the entire previous three hundred and twenty-five years. Most of the growth was in the public sector. At the height of the expansion, between 1965 and 1972, new community-college campuses were opening in the United States at the rate of one every week. A way for institutions to raise their academic profiles was to add graduate programs. (Once added, they became virtually impossible to subtract. This is one reason that there is an oversupply of Ph.D.s in the United States.) By 1975, there were fifteen creative-writing M.F.A. programs in the country. Today, there are a hundred and fifty-three. Creative-writing programs attract students (good for public universities, where enrollment may determine budgets), but, contrary to what many people assume, they are not generally cash cows. Most of the top programs—until recently, Columbia was the major exception—provide fellowship support for all their students, and the classes are tiny. In 2005-06, only four-tenths of one per cent of all master’s degrees awarded were in creative writing.

The identification of certain writers with university creative-writing programs is, therefore, a postwar phenomenon. The list is long: John Hawkes (Brown), Guy Davenport (Kentucky), Robert Coover (Brown), Reynolds Price (Duke), Wallace Stegner (Stanford), Leslie Epstein (Boston University), Donald Barthelme (Houston), Tobias Wolff (Syracuse), E. L. Doctorow (New York University), William Kennedy (SUNY Albany), Robert Olen Butler (Florida State University). And many writers who are not normally imagined in an academic setting have circulated through the creative-writing system. Philip Roth has taught at several universities, including Iowa and Princeton. Kurt Vonnegut and Nelson Algren both taught at Iowa. (Algren claimed to find writing programs worthless. He later complained, in a piece called “At Play in the Fields of Hackademe,” that “what it lacks in creativity, the Iowa Creative Workshop makes up in quietivity.” He is reported to have lost a lot of money playing poker while he was in Iowa City.)

And it is remarkable how many fiction writers have come through university writing programs since the war—not just individual writers but entire cohorts. When Vonnegut was at Iowa, he taught a class that included John Casey, Gail Godwin, Andre Dubus, and John Irving. Ken Kesey, Robert Stone, Wendell Berry, Larry McMurtry, Ernest Gaines (“The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman”), and Tillie Olsen were all in a creative-writing workshop at Stanford at the same time. Michael Chabon, Alice Sebold, and Richard Ford (a student of Doctorow, before Doctorow went to N.Y.U.) are products of the program at the University of California at Irvine. Susan Minot, Rick Moody, Tama Janowitz, and Mona Simpson all went to Columbia.

The absorption of fiction writing into the university has a lot to do with the emergence of robust traditions (as opposed to scattered works) of so-called multicultural literature. As McGurl notes, virtually all the major figures in Latino literature have been American academics. The same is true of Asian-American novelists, many of whom have held university appointments, and of Native American writers. N. Scott Momaday was a student of Stegner’s at Stanford, which is where he began work on his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, “House Made of Dawn” (1968).

These writers have a special relation to the “outside contained on the inside” feature of academic creative-writing programs, and many of the most celebrated have been accused of inauthenticity. McGurl tells the story of the attack on Momaday’s “House Made of Dawn” by Karl Kroeber. Kroeber is not a Native American; he is a professor of English at Columbia whose many interests include Native American literature, and he criticized Momaday for attempting to “evoke an ‘Indianness’ for his readers (the majority of whom will presumably not be Indians) through an Anglo-American literary structure that must prohibit any authentically Indian imaginative form.” Native American literature can be taught in a university, in other words, but Native American literature should not be written in a university.

Authenticity is a snark—although someone will always go hunting for it. McGurl’s response to Kroeber is sensible: since Momaday is a Native American, and since he developed his literary style by studying white modernist writers at Stanford and other universities, “rather than being contaminated by modernism, Indian art now includes modernism as one of its elements.” As McGurl points out, the horses that the Plains Indians rode when they hunted, so picturesquely, the buffalo were European imports.

And though some readers are devoted to fiction about ethnic minorities because it tells “their story,” there is a degree to which such literature is for outsiders, a variety of anthropology in which natives “inform” on their own cultures to literary tourists. The rest of the natives are often not thrilled to find their practices paraded before the gaze of outsiders. “To celebrate one’s family to the maximum, to put them proudly and visibly into print, might require betraying them to the eyes of an alien observer we might call ‘America,’ ” as McGurl puts it. “Portnoy’s Complaint” is a case in point. All literature about an ethnic minority by members of that ethnic minority is, potentially, a shanda fur die goyim. More striking is that writing of this kind coming out of creative-writing programs today is the subject matter of literature and ethnic-studies departments tomorrow. Universities have become restaurants that bake their own bread.

The creative-writing program is an American invention, and it has recently become an American export. The British were at first contemptuous of the idea of creative-writing courses; they regarded them, as the critic and novelist Malcolm Bradbury once put it, as being “like the hamburger—a vulgar hybrid which, as everyone once knew, no sensible person would ever eat.” The first British master’s-degree program in creative writing opened in 1970. Bradbury and Angus Wilson set it up. (Bradbury taught Ian McEwan.) The first undergraduate degree program was not instituted until 1991. But the vulgar hybrid has spread. McGurl reports that there are now writing programs in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Israel, Mexico, South Korea, and the Philippines.

Still, the rise of creative-writing programs does not explain everything about postwar fiction, and there are some obvious limitations to McGurl’s argument, which he tends to acknowledge in the abstract but to ignore in the particular analysis. Plenty of postwar writers, from J. D. Salinger and Vladimir Nabokov to Thomas Pynchon, had little or nothing to do with writing programs. (Nabokov taught a course on the novel at Cornell, in which Pynchon was a student, but he never taught creative writing. Harvard once considered hiring Nabokov to teach literature; Roman Jakobson, then a professor of linguistics there, is supposed to have asked whether the university was also prepared to hire an elephant to teach zoology.)

Writers are products of educational systems, but stories are products of magazine editorial practices and novels are products of publishing houses. Carver’s minimalism was shaped by his editor, Gordon Lish, whom he met in Palo Alto in the nineteen-sixties. As an editor at Esquire and Knopf, Lish (who attended Andover) put a highly identifiable impress on American fiction, some of it by writers of lower-middle-class origin and some not. Robert Gottlieb, at Simon & Schuster, Knopf, and The New Yorker, surely had as much influence on the fiction that was written and published in the postwar period as anyone who taught at Iowa or Stanford.

McGurl is not interested in the effects of individual teachers and editors, though; he’s interested in the effects of systems. But magazines can be regarded as systems for processing fiction. And writers who have moved in and out of the institutions of journalism during their careers—Truman Capote, Norman Mailer, Joan Didion, Tom Wolfe—reflect the experience in their fiction. Their novels are often staged either as a privileged type of reporting, writing that is somehow both faithful to and superior to the canons of traditional journalism, or as dramatizations of the emptied-out subjectivity of the reporter persona—the fly on the wall, the view from nowhere.

Most readers of “The Program Era” are likely to be persuaded that the creative-writing-program experience has had an effect on many American fiction writers. Does this mean that creative writing can, in fact, be taught? What is usually said is that you can’t teach inspiration, but you can teach craft. What counted as craft for James, though, was very different from what counted as craft for Hemingway. What counts as craft for Ann Beattie (who teaches at the University of Virginia) must be different from what counts as craft for Jonathan Safran Foer (who teaches at N.Y.U.). There is no “craft of fiction” as such.

And, even on the level of “just getting people to write,” different writers, when confronted with the blank page, have different modes of attack. “Revise!” is the war cry of all writing classes. David Morley’s advice in “The Cambridge Introduction to Creative Writing” (2007) represents the orthodoxy: “Write any sort of rubbish that covers the outlines of what you intend: the plot outline; character sketches; description; a hackneyed sestina. Begin by freewriting and free-associating sentences until some patterns emerge that begin to intrigue you solely for the sound they make, their rustle of possibility.” It’s a method that generates copy for a class to chew on, but writing that way is like throwing a lot of bricks on a pile and then being asked to organize them into a house. Surely the goal should be to get people to learn to think while they’re writing, not after they have written.

No one seems to agree on what the goal of good writing is, anyway. Stegner was an Iowa product, possibly the first person ever to receive a degree in creative writing. He founded the program at Stanford by persuading a wealthy oilman to fund a place where returning veterans who wanted to write could get away from their families and hang out. Stegner believed that the purpose of writing was to give readers what he called an “intense acquaintance” with the author. “The work of art is not a gem, as some schools of criticism would insist, but truly a lens,” he explained in an essay published in 1950. “We look through it for the purified and honestly offered spirit of the artist.”

John Gardner, another workshop legend and Iowa graduate, took a different view of the business. He believed in what he called a “fictional dream,” a vivid, continuous, and believable alternate reality. His book “The Art of Fiction,” published posthumously in 1983 (he died in a motorcycle accident in 1982), concludes with a list of writing exercises, such as:

2. Take a simple event: A man gets off a bus, trips, looks around in embarrassment, and sees a woman smiling. . . . Describe this event, using the same characters and elements of setting, in five completely different ways.

4b. Describe a lake as seen by a young man who has just committed murder. Do not mention the murder.

4c. Describe a landscape as seen by a bird. Do not mention the bird.

27. Using all you know, write a short story about an animal—for instance, a cow.

No doubt Gardner had success with this method of instruction, but the exercises have nothing to do with establishing an “intense acquaintance.” They are about acquiring a knack for adopting different styles and assuming different points of view. And for many writers writing is a job, or a way to escape from oneself. Those writers would not be happy in a Stegner workshop.

On the other hand, Gardner was a flamboyant and intensely personal teacher. His preferred pedagogical venue was the cocktail party, where he would station himself in the kitchen, near the ice trays, and consume vodka by the bottle while holding forth to the gathered disciples. Stegner, on the other hand, hated informality and disruption. He quit Stanford after students in the nineteen-sixties insisted on lying on the floor, and he resented the fact that he was famous for having been the teacher of Ken Kesey. Personality is a job requirement for the workshop teacher, and it doesn’t matter what sort. Teachers are the books that students read most closely, and this is especially true in the case of teachers who are living models for exactly what the student aspires one day to be—a published writer.

Writing teachers may therefore cultivate their own legends. Once, on the first day of class, Angela Carter, who taught at Brown, was asked by a student what her own writing was like. She carefully answered as follows: “My work cuts like a steel blade at the base of a man’s penis.” The course turned out not to be oversubscribed. One of Rick Moody’s teachers at Columbia asked the class to indicate, by a show of hands, how many found Moody’s work boring. Donald Barthelme, at Houston, assigned students to buy a bottle of wine and stay up all night drinking it while producing an imitation of John Ashbery’s “Three Poems.” Lish taught private writing classes that lasted from six to ten hours, a little like est training. He had students read their stories aloud to the group, and would order them to stop as soon as he disliked what he was hearing. Many students never got past the first sentence.

All scenes of instruction contain the potential for transference, and the workshop format seems almost deliberately designed for it. Writing instructors have techniques for stimulating production, exercises for developing an awareness of how literature works, formulas encapsulating their particular notions of craft. But the path of transmission cannot be smooth. “I could write nothing that pleased Lowell,” Philip Levine complained about a workshop that he had taken with Robert Lowell at Iowa. “Arbitrary, petty, and cruel” is the way one of Lowell’s students at Harvard described him. The writing instructor’s arbitrariness is like the psychoanalyst’s silence: the blanker the screen, the more elusive the approval, the harder students will work to be recognized.

For, in spite of all the reasons that they shouldn’t, workshops work. I wrote poetry in college, and I was in a lot of workshops. I was a pretty untalented poet, but I was in a class with some very talented ones, including Garrett Hongo, who later directed the creative-writing program at the University of Oregon, and Brenda Hillman, who teaches in the M.F.A. program at St. Mary’s College, in California. Our teacher was a kind of Southern California Beat named Dick Barnes, a sly and wonderful poet who also taught medieval and Renaissance literature, and who could present well the great stone face of the hard-to-please. I’m sure that our undergraduate exchanges were callow enough, but my friends and I lived for poetry. We read the little magazines—Kayak and Big Table and Lillabulero—and we thought that discovering a new poet or a new poem was the most exciting thing in the world. When you are nineteen years old, it can be.

Did I engage in self-observation and other acts of modernist reflexivity? Not much. Was I concerned about belonging to an outside contained on the inside? I don’t think it ever occurred to me. I just thought that this stuff mattered more than anything else, and being around other people who felt the same way, in a setting where all we were required to do was to talk about each other’s poems, seemed like a great place to be. I don’t think the workshops taught me too much about craft, but they did teach me about the importance of making things, not just reading things. You care about things that you make, and that makes it easier to care about things that other people make.

And if students, however inexperienced and ignorant they may be, care about the same things, they do learn from each other. I stopped writing poetry after I graduated, and I never published a poem—which places me with the majority of people who have taken a creative-writing class. But I’m sure that the experience of being caught up in this small and fragile enterprise, contemporary poetry, among other people who were caught up in it, too, affected choices I made in life long after I left college. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. ♦

PHOTOGRAPH: MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE ARCHIVES

DePaul Conference Writing Contest--dealine June 22

2009-06-04T12:10:00.000-07:00

DePaul Summer Writing Conference

July 17-19

Loop Campus

Submit up to three poems, one piece of creative nonfiction (10 pgs. or less), or one short story (10 pgs. or less) for the chance to win a scholarship to DePaul’s Summer Writing Conference and the opportunity to read at the Chicago Public Library’s Pritzker Auditorium

No entry fee; one winner chosen in each genre; full scholarship ($250 value)

Conference will include poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction craft classes, panels, and readings by professors from DePaul University, Columbia College, and Northwestern University. Go to www.cpe.depaul. edu/writingconfe rence to see the conference schedule

Please send submissions to Chris Green, (replace (at) with @) by June 22, 2009 (E-mailed notification of the winners to all who submitted during the last week of June)

Nation Student Writing Contest, 2009--deadline Sept 15

2009-06-04T12:07:00.000-07:00

http://www.thenatio n.com/about/ student_writing_ contest.mhtml

Sponsored by the BIL Charitable Trust to recognize and reward the best in student writing and thinking.

We're looking for original, thoughtful, provocative student voices to answer this question: How has the recession affected you, your family or someone you know? Essays should not exceed 800 words and should be original, unpublished work that demonstrates fresh, clear thinking and superior quality of expression and craftsmanship. We'll select five finalists and two winners--one from college, one from high school. Each winner will be awarded a $1,000 cash prize and a Nation subscription . The winning essays will be published and/or excerpted in the magazine and featured on our website. The five finalists will be awarded $200 each and subscriptions, and their entries will be published online. Entries (only one per student) will be accepted through May 31, 2009. A winner will be announced by September 15.

Please send entries to (replace (at) with @)

Eligibility

The contest is open to all matriculating high school students and undergraduates at American schools, colleges and universities as well as those receiving either high school or college degrees in 2009. Submissions must be original, unpublished work (the writing can have been published in a student publication) . Each entrant is limited to one submission. Entries will be accepted through May 31, 2009. A winner will be announced by September 15,202009.

Submissions can be e-mailed to (replace (at) with @). Please include the essay in the body of the e-mail. All e-mailed submissions will be acknowledged. Each entry must include author's name, address, phone number, e-mail and short biography and school affiliation - and say "student essay" in the subject line.

Please email (replace (at) with @) for questions

Two Second Sundays Series Poetry Events in Stayton in June

2009-06-04T12:06:00.000-07:00

Two Second Sundays Series Poetry Events in Stayton in June

This June, Stayton’s Second Sundays Series of Poetry Readings will bring
poets to the community for two events, a reading and book signing on
Sunday, June 14, and a workshop on Saturday, June 27.

*The reading on June 14* will feature two young poets—Shaindel Beers of
Pendleton and Scot Siegel of Lake Oswego—and will take place from 3 to 5
p.m. in the studio of artist Paul Toews at 349 N. Third Ave., where it
shares space with the Stayton Friends of the Library Used Bookstore.
Both poets will read from their first books of poetry. Beers’ /A Brief
History of Time/ was issued earlier this year by Salt Publishing;
Siegel’s /Some Weather/ was published last year by Plain View Press.
Their books will be for sale at the reading, and they will sign copies.
Admission will be free; donations are appreciated. Audience members are
invited to bring one or two short poems of their own or by others to
share during an open part of the reading.

*The workshop on June 27* will be led by Eugene poet, teacher, and
editor John Witte. Titled “Reading the Rain: 150 Years of Oregon
Poetry,” it will take place from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. in the meeting room
of the Stayton Public Library, 515 N. First Ave. This workshop will
highlight the books by contemporary Oregon poets that the Second Sundays
Series has donated to the library over the past three years, and help
readers to place their work in the context of earlier Oregon poetry.
Admission will be free and open to all library patrons and Stayton area
residents.

*Shaindel Beers*, one of the two poets reading on June 14, teaches in
the English Department at Blue Mountain Community College in Pendleton.
Her poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction have appeared in numerous
journals and anthologies. She is currently working on a second
collection of poetry and also serving as Poetry Editor of the online
journal /Contrary/, <www.contrarymagazine.com
<http://www.contrarymagazine.com>>.

*Scot Siegel*, the other poet featured in the June 14th reading, works
as a land use planner in Lake Oswego, where he lives with his wife,
Debbie, and two daughters. He also serves on the board of the Friends of
William Stafford. His poetry appears in /Open Spaces, Windfall, Acorn,
The Oregonian, The Externalist, The New Verse News, Essence /(UK),/ High
Desert Journal,/ and other print and online journals. A chapbook,
/Untitled Country/, is due out this year from Pudding House Publications.

*John Witte*, who will lead the workshop at the Stayton Public Library
on June 27th, is the author of three books of poetry, most recently,
/Second Nature/, published last year by the University of Washington
Press. Witte’s poetry has also been widely published in distinguished
magazines, among them, /American Poetry Review/, /Kenyon Review/, /New
England Review/, /The New Yorker/, /The Paris Review/, and /Southern
Review/, and is included in /The Norton Introduction to Literature/ and
other anthologies. He has received two fellowships from the National
Endowment for the Arts, among other grants and awards. He is a senior
instructor in the English Department at the University of Oregon,
teaching literature and literary editing, and he has recently retired
from many years as editor of /Northwest Review/.

Now in its eighth year, Stayton’s Second Sundays Series of Poetry
Readings is made possible, in part, by a grant from the Marion Cultural
Development Corporation. For more information about upcoming readings,
contact series coordinator Eleanor Berry at 503-859-3045 or
<eberry@wvi.com>.

*_Directions to Stayton, Paul Toews’ Studio, and the Stayton Public
Library:_*

*Stayton* is about 12 miles east of Salem, off Hwy. 22 (North Santiam
Hwy.). Coming from either north or south on I-5, take the Hwy. 22 exit
at Salem; go east about 12 miles on Hwy. 22, to the Stayton/Sublimity
exit. Turn right at the end of the ramp, onto what will become First Ave.

*To reach Paul Toews’ studio*: At the third light, turn left onto
Washington St. Go two blocks, and turn right onto Third Ave. Go four
blocks. When you pass Marion St., look for the Star Cinema on the left
in the middle of the block ahead; Toews’ studio is across from it, at
349 N. Third Ave.

*To reach the* *Stayton Public Library*: Continue on First Ave. about
two blocks past Washington St. The library is at 515 N. First Ave., on
the right side of the street. There is a parking lot in front. The door
to the meeting room is at the far right end of the building.

Write Around Portland--Community Writing Workshop!

2009-06-04T12:00:00.000-07:00

'Prompt' Community Writing Workshop at Powell's City of Books Starts June 23 - Register Now

Write Around Portland is offering a special workshop designed for writers and aspiring writers in the greater Portland area who want to participate in a Write Around workshop and support the communities we traditionally serve.

'Prompt' your chance to write in community with others following the Write Around model while also providing support to writers who might not otherwise have access to writing and community. Pre-registration is required and is limited to 12 adults per workshop. Spaces are filling quickly. For more info and to register: http://www.writearound.org/events/Prompt_Summer_Fall09.html or call 503.796.9224

Summer Session: Eight Tuesdays, 6:15 - 8:45pm, June 23rd - August 11th
Cost: $285, payment plans available. Cost includes free parking, snacks and access to the “Bowels of Powell’s”
Facilitator: Sara Guest (bio below)

Based on the acclaimed Write Around Portland model, this dynamic workshop incorporates many of our favorite writing exercises designed to inspire the writing life, including freewriting; work with writing elements; strength-building feedback and early-draft revision. The workshop will cap off with a community broadside.

All proceeds go toward funding Write Around Portland programs, including workshops for people affected by HIV/AIDS, veterans living with PTSD, teen parents, those with physical or mental disabilities, people living in low income housing and others without access because of income, isolation or other barriers.

'Prompt' facilitator Sara Guest a BA in creative writing and an MA in literature. She is editor of VoiceCatcher3, an anthology of Portland women’s writing, and she workshopped fiction at the 2008 Tin House Writers Workshop. Sara is a former speech writer, writing instructor and has worked professionally as an editor for 15 years. She has facilitated numerous Write Around Portland workshops as a volunteer and in her current role on our staff as Program Coordinator.

--
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Robyn Steely, Executive Director
Write Around Portland
917 SW Oak St. #406
Portland, OR 97205
Phone: 503.796.9224
Fax: 503.295.7767
http://www.writearound.org

Just announced - 'Prompt'summer community writing workshop
at Powell's Books starts in June:
http://www.writearound.org/events/Prompt_Summer_Fall09.html

Wend Magazine Release Party

2009-06-04T11:56:00.000-07:00

What: Wend’s Bicycle Bash - a release party
When: Friday June 12, 2009 @ 7:00pm
Where: 525 NW 10th Ave, PDX (Between Hoyt & Glisan on 10th)

Join Wend magazine and Lizard Lounge for a benefit ping pong tournament and party to celebrate the release of Wend’s spring issue. The party is free, and ten bucks gets you into the ping pong tournament. All proceeds will go to the World Bicycle Relief (a national non-profit that brings bikes to developing countries). We’ll be giving away two gift certificates to Lizard Lounge as well as a NAU jacket to the evening’s ping pong masters.

Oh, and we’ll also raffle off a bunch of sweet bike swag from Surly, Planet Bike, Timbuk2, Chris King, Keen, Ortlieb, Teko and others. Arrive on two wheels and score a voucher for 20% off your next regular price purchase at Lizard Lounge. Also on deck is the Bike Lounge, where we’ll be showcasing the work of some of the finest frame builders and designers in Portland. Support green, independent media, and help raise money for a great cause. Free beer from Deschutes Brewery. DJ beats will make for booty shaking into the evening.

Note: to sign up for the ping pong tournament, send an email to anna@wendmag.com.

We’ll be keeping a few spots open for signup on the night of the event, first come first serve.

Please RSVP to anna@wendmag.com

Call for submissions: Survivors of Domestic Abuse--deadline Sept 30

2009-06-04T11:43:00.000-07:00

Open call for submissions for the Survivors of Domestic Abuse anthology. To be published in Fall ‘09

http://reliefanthology.com/?page_id=30

The goal of this relief anthology is to raise dollars in support of women’s shelters, women’s advocacy groups.

The anthology will be published through a print-on-demand (POD) model using Lulu.com .

This is not a paying or a qualifying professional market (i.a.w. SFWA standards for Qualifying Professional Markets.

Authors retain all rights on material. Authors may remove their submission from the anthology at anytime by a written (emailed) request. By submitting to the anthology you are agreeing use of your work(s) for non-pecuniary (no one is making money off your work) purposes outside the donation to the various non-profit women’s shelters/advocacy groups.

Submissions should be sent to: . (replace (at) with @)

Electronic submissions only.
• Please place SUBMISSION-FALL 2009 in the subject line
• Send as an attachment .doc or .rtf, mac users may contact me directly for conversion resources
• Use standard US letter page size (8.5″ width, 11″ length)
• Cover/Title page with title and author’s name (or pen name)
• Double spaced
• 12 pitch Times New Roman or Courier family fonts (please)
• No other special formatting is required nor desired

Fiction should have strong female leading characters. All genres considered.
Specifically seeking one (1) essay/article on20surviving domestic abuse/abusive relationship(s) for the front/intro matter. This essay/article WILL be anonymous. A non-disclosure agreement will be signed between submitter and J.K.Richard (publisher) if accepted for publication.

REPRINTS ARE ACCEPTABLE!

Deadline for submissions is midnight (Pacific Standard Time) September 30th, 2009.

The anthology will be made publicly available mid-October.

All contributors will receive an electronic (.pdf) copy of the anthology.
There is room for approximately 7-9 short stories in each anthology (word count dependent).

The Drue Heinz Literature Prize Call for Submissions 2009--deadline June 30

2009-06-04T11:41:00.000-07:00

The Drue Heinz Literature Prize Call for Submissions 2009

http://www.upress.pitt.edu/renderHtmlPage.aspx?srcHtml=htmlSourceFiles/drueheinz.htm

The Drue Heinz Literature Prize recognizes and supports writers of short fiction and makes their work available to readers around the world. The award is open to writers who have published a book-length collection of fiction or at least three short stories or novellas in commercial magazines or literary journals.

Manuscripts are judged anonymously by nationally known writers; past judges have included Robert Penn Warren, Joyce Carol Oates, Raymond Carver, Margaret Atwood, Russell Banks, Rick Moody and Joan Didion. The prize carries a cash award of $15,000 and publication by the University of Pittsburgh Press under its standard contract.

The winner will be announced by the University Press in January. No information about the winner will be released before the official announcement. The volume of manuscripts prevents the Press from offering critiques or entering into communication or correspondence about manuscripts. Please do not call or e-mail the Press.

Eligibility

1.

The award is open to writers who have published a book-length collection of fiction or a minimum of three short stories or novellas in commercial magazines or literary journals of national distribution. On-line publication does not count toward this requirement.

2.

The award is open to writers in English, whether or not they are citizens of the United States.

3.

University of Pittsbur
gh employees, former employees, current students, and those who have been students within the last three years are not eligible for the award.

4.

Translations are not eligible if the translation was not done by the author.

5.

Eligible submissions include a manuscript of short stories; one or more novellas (a novella may comprise a maximum of 130 double-spaced typed pages); or a combination of one or more novellas and short stories. Novellas are only accepted as part of a larger collection. Manuscripts may be no fewer than 150 and no more than 300 typed pages.

6.

Stories or novellas previously published in book form as part of an anthology are eligible.

Format for Submissions

1.

Manuscripts must be typed double-spaced on quality white paper, unbound, and pages must be numbered consecutively. Clean, legible photocopies on high quality white paper are acceptable.

2.

Each submission must include a list of the writer's published short fiction work, with full citations.

3.

Manuscripts will be judged anonymously. Each manuscript should have two cover pages: one listing the title of the manuscript and the author's name, address, e-mail address (if available), and telephone number; and a second listing only the manuscript title. The author's name, other identifying information, and publication information must not appear after the first cover page.

4.

Manuscripts will not be returned.

Multiple Submissions

1.

Manuscripts m
ay also be under consideration by other publishers, but if a manuscript is accepted for publication elsewhere, please notify the Press.

2.

Authors may submit more than one manuscript to the competition as long as one manuscript or a portion thereof does not duplicate material submitted in another manuscript.

Dates for Submission

Manuscripts must be received during May and June 2009. That is, they must be postmarked on or after May 1 and on or before June 30.

Send submissions to:
Drue Heinz Literature Prize
University of Pittsburgh Press
3400 Forbes Avenue
Eureka Building, Fifth Floor
Pittsburgh, PA 15260

If you have any questions about these guidelines, please e-mail (replace (at) with @

Job Opportunity: Sarabande Books, Marketing Director--deadline June 15

2009-06-04T11:39:00.000-07:00

Seeking: MARKETING DIRECTOR

Sarabande Books, an independent, nonprofit, literary press established in 1994, is seeking a Marketing Director/Development Assistant. We are looking for an individual with a strong commitment to contemporary poetry, short fiction, and creative nonfiction, as well as superior organizational and public relations skills. Minimum BA, MFA, and /or experience desirable. Candidates must be self-starters and highly attentive to details and deadlines.

Job responsibilities include marketing and publicity for each of ten annual titles, attendance at three annual book conferences, and twice yearly visits to NYC book reviewers. Some fundraising activity is also involved, depending upon need: assisting Editor-in-Chief Sarah Gorham with letter campaigns, tracking donors, and two-to-three small local parties.

The position includes full-time salary, health, dental, and retirement benefits, private office equipped with a Mac, and ample marketing budget.

Sarabande's work atmosphere is busy, but friendly. Vacations are generous and staff turnover is extremely rare. Louisville is an affordable, culturally rich, medium-sized city.

Please send letter, resume, three phone references, and a list of your top fifteen favorite contemporary poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction titles, by June 15 to:

Sarah Gorham (replace (at) with @)

AN INTERNATIONAL CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS--deadline Aug 14

2009-06-04T11:38:00.000-07:00

AN INTERNATIONAL CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
A multi-cultural, multi-national, and multi-community anthology of literary criticism, critical essays, poetry, fiction, literary nonfiction, creative writings, and visual art on HIV and AIDS.

Edited by Kelly Norman Ellis and M L Hunter
A project of the Gwendolyn Brooks Center for Black Literature and Creative Writing at Chicago State University
Published by Third World Press.

Scheduled to be released World AIDS Day 2009.
Deadline for submissions: Friday, August 14, 2009

There have been great strides implemented in the research, treatment, care, and social awareness (both nationally and internationally) of HIV and AIDS. However, the critical dialogue needed to eradicate this disease seems to have dissipated. This anthology seeks to push this life-threatening issue into the consciousness of not only America, but also the world. The current climate in America, under the Obama administration, is hope and change. So what does that mean for a disease that is tied to human sexuality, morality, and the need to feel love and acceptance?
The editors are seeking creative writing in the genres of poetry, fiction, literary nonfiction, memoir writing and journaling as well as visual art that explore the intersection of the human condition with HIV and AIDS. The editors are also seeking artwork in the mediums of photography, fine and graphic arts. We are particularly interested in a vast array of literary criticism that provides social commentary and theoretical and pedagogical models that assist in underst
anding HIV and AIDS past and present. We also are interested in interviews with survivors and non-survivors of HIV and AIDS.

Submissions should be sent by email attachment to

> (replace (at) with @):

A short biography including ethnic heritage and country of origin should be submitted along with your work.
Fiction submissions can be short stories or novel excerpts, and the nonfiction section is open to personal narratives and essays.
Scholarly essays should be no less than 5,000 words, and should not exceed 8,000 words. The length of other submissions may vary. We encourage authors to make the writing style of their submissions accessible to as wide a readership as
possible, without sacrificing scholarly intellect.
Poetry submissions are limited to five poems maximum. We will accept re-prints of some poems. Please note if poems have been published elsewhere in cover letter.
Artwork submissions are open to all mediums, but pieces must be submitted electronically. Winning pieces are selected based on composition and originality.

Three Candles Press First Book Award--deadline Oct 15

2009-06-04T11:35:00.000-07:00

three candles press is pleased to announce the third Three Candles Press First Book Award for a best first book of poems. The contest will be judged by Alexander Long, whose books include Light Here, Light There, Vigil and A Condition of the Spirit.

http://www.threecandlespress.com/FB2009.htm

Award: Winner receives $500.00 and 25 copies of the winning book. Deadline Oct. 15th (post-mark date). The winner will be notified at the end of December. Runners up and two alternates will be posted on the website by January 15th, 2010. The book will be available through Small Press Distribution, online retailers such as Amazon and Barnes and Noble, and at fine booksellers in America and Europe. The winner will receive a standard royalty contract.

Guidelines: Manuscripts of 60 - 95 pages should have one cover page containing the poet's name, address, phone number, email address and title of manuscript, and another with only the name of the manuscript. Please include only one acknowledgements page.

How the Contest Works: Publisher Steve Mueske will read all submitted manuscripts and forward the finalists to the judge (around 12 manuscripts). The final round of materials will be judged anonymously (without coversheet or acknowledgements page). To avoid conflicts of interest, the following manuscripts will be ineligible: those from former students of the judge or from family members or friends of the judge; those who have workshopped with Steve Mueske or received comments from any poems contained in the manuscript; and those wh
o have worked with the editor in a business capacity (an exchange of money for goods or services) prior to the opening of the competition.

Manuscripts should be printed on one side only and bound with a sturdy clip. Contest entry fee is $22.00. Make checks payable to "three candles press".

Send materials to:

three candles press
open book award
PO Box 1817
Burnsville MN 55337

Anderbo Poetry Prize --deadline Nov 1

2009-06-04T11:34:00.000-07:00

2009 Anderbo Poetry Prize
http://www.anderbo.com/anderbo1/anderprize2009.html
Now in its 4th year!

Winner receives:

$500 cash
Publication on anderbo.com

Judged by William Logan

2009 Contest Assistant: Anderbo Poetry Editor Charity Burns

Guidelines:
–Poems should be typed on 8 1/2 x 11 paper with the
poet’s name and contact information on the upper
right corner of each poem
–Entries must be postmarked by November 1, 2009
–Limit six poems per poet
–Poet must not have been previously published on anderbo.com
–Mail submissions to:
Anderbo Poetry Prize,
270 Lafayette Street,
Suite 1412,
New York, NY 10012
–Enclose self-addressed stamped business envelope to
receive names of winner and honorable mentions
–All entries are non-returnable and will be recycled
–Reading fee is $10. Check or money order payable to RRofihe
–Winner and honorable mentions will be published on
anderbo.com in February of 2010

Shark Poetry Contest--July 30

2009-06-04T11:33:00.000-07:00

EXPRESS YOUR FEELINGS ABOUT SHARKS AND RAYS IN OUR SHARK SUMMER POETRY CONTEST AND YOU MIGHT HAVE YOUR POEM POSTED AND PUBLISHED!

Shark Poetry Contest: Aquarium of the Pacific

http://www.aquariumofpacific.org/sharksummer/poetry_contest/

The winner will have his or her poem posted on the Aquarium's website and published in the Aquarium's exclusive magazine Pacific Currents, along with passes to the Aquarium and a behind the scenes tour for four people. Entries will be accepted online or via mail through July 31, 2009. Poems must be no longer than 200 words. You must be 16 years old to enter. Only one entry per person.

All entries must be received by July 30, 2009. Upload your poem at

http://www.aquariumofpacific.org/sharksummer/poetry_contest/

or mail to:

Shark Poetry Contest
Aquarium of the Pacific
320 Golden Shore, Suite 150
Long Beach, CA 90808

Please make sure to include all your contact information (name, email, phone, mailing address) in the actual document as well.

Enter at

http://www.aquariumofpacific.org/sharksummer/poetry_contest/

Juked Fiction and Poetry Prizes--deadline Aug 31

2009-06-04T11:31:00.000-07:00

2009 Juked Fiction and Poetry Prizes
http://www.juked.com/prize/

We are currently accepting entries for our 2009 JukedFiction and Poetry Prizes. Winners in each of the genres will receive $500 and publication in print issue #7. Our final judges this year are Dan Chaon (fiction) and Dora Malech (poetry). This year we will also accept electronic submissions to help everyone cut down on costs.

Submission Guidelines:

First prize for each genre: $500 and publication in our upcoming print issue, Juked #7.

Current and former students of the judges are not eligible to compete.

Fiction: send one story per entry. There is no length requirement.

Poetry: send up to five poems (no more than ten pages total) per entry.

Entries must be previously unpublished.

Simultaneous submissions are fine, but notify us immediately if your work has been accepted elsewhere.

Fee is $10 per entry. There is no limit on the number of entries you may submit.

Include a cover page with your name, address, e-mail, telephone number and the title(s) of your story or poems. Do not put your name anywhere else on the manuscript.

We will notify via e-mail;do not include an SASE.

Results will be announced in October 2009.

Submitting by Mail:

Include entry fee, cash or check or money order, payable to Juked.

Indicate "Fiction" or "Poetry" on the front of the envelope.

Manuscripts will not be returned; they will be placed gently in the recycling bin.

Postmark deadline is August 31st, 2009.

Mail to:
Juked
110 Westridge Dr.
Tallahassee, FL 32304

Submitting by E-Mail: go to

http://www.juked.com/prize/

for instructions on submitting via e-mail

The Fiddlehead's Nineteenth Annual Literary Contest--deadline Dec 1

2009-06-04T11:29:00.000-07:00

The Fiddlehead's Nineteenth Annual Literary Contest

http://www.thefiddlehead.ca/contest.html

Poetry:
$1,000 Ralph Gustafson Prize for Best Poem
$500 each for the Two Honourable Mentions

Fiction:
$1,000 for Best Story
$500 each for the Two Honourable Mentions

Add it up — that's 4,000 Dollars

The winning entries will be published in the Spring 2010 issue of The Fiddlehead (No. 243) and on our web site. The winning authors will be paid for publication in addition to their prizes.

Rules:

Deadline: Postmarked by December 1, 2009

Entries must be original and unpublished elsewhere. No simultaneous submissions and no previously published (or accepted for publication) submissions. This includes no simultaneous submissions to any other contest.

One entry for the short fiction category is one story of up to 25 double-spaced pages.

One entry for the poetry category is up to 3 poems with no more than 100 lines per poem. Poetry may be single-spaced.

Word-processed or typed entries only. Please use white paper and only print on one side.

All entries must be submitted by mail. No faxed, digital, or emailed submissions are allowed.

Vetting for the contest is blind. Do not put your name and address on your manuscript. Instead include a cover page with the title(s) of your entry, which category (short fiction or poetry), and your name and contact information: mailing address, phone number, and email address.
=0
AManuscripts will not be returned. Please keep a copy of your entry.

Contest winners only will be contacted by the end of February 2010. All entrants receive a copy of The Fiddlehead's spring issue which includes the winning entries. Winners will also be posted on the Fiddlehead website.

Entry Fee: $30 (CAD) for an entry from Canada and $36 (USD) for an entry from the U.S. or overseas. Make your cheque or money order payable to The Fiddlehead and enclose it with your entry. The entry fee includes a one-year subscription to The Fiddlehead. Already a subscriber?—you'll receive a one-year extension to your current subscription.

Multiple entries allowed, but only your first entry in each category will be eligible for a subscription.

The Fiddlehead occasionally swaps its subscription list with other literary organizations. If you don't wish to be included in such exchanges, please state this on your entry's cover page.

Send Entries to:

The Fiddlehead Contest
Campus House, 11 Garland Court
University of New Brunswick
PO Box 4400
Fredericton NB
E3B 5A3 Canada

For further information contact us at (replace (at) with @)

Nano Prize--deadline Aug 1

2009-06-04T11:27:00.000-07:00

NANO Fiction is proud to announce our first annual NANO Prize, to be awarded to a flash fiction piece, prose poem, or micro essay of 300 words or less. The winner will receive $500.

http://www.nanofiction.org/contest.html

The entry fee is $12 for the first three pieces, and $2 for each additional piece. Those twelve bucks also gets you a one year subscription to NANO Fiction.

RULES

Friends and family of the editors are not eligible to submit. While there will be only one winner of the contest, all submitted pieces will be considered for publication. Electronic entries will not be accepted. Mail all entries and cover letters with a check or money order to:

NANO Prize
PO Box 667445
Houston, TX 77266-7445

Make all checks payable to NANO Fiction. Contest deadline is August 1, 2009.

"The Newport Review" Flash Fiction Contest--deadline Sept 1

2009-06-04T11:25:00.000-07:00

2009 Contest: The Newport Review Flash Fiction Contest

http://newportreview.org/contests.htm

The 2009 Flash Fiction Contest will open for entries on June 1, 2009. Stories will be considered from June through the postmark deadline of September 1, 2009. This year's guest judge will be announced.

We are looking for works that are short in length but linger long in memory: small stories that pack a big emotional punch and make creative use of language.

Please note that this year, we are accepting slightly longer stories, up to a maximum of 1,000 words.

Complete Contest Guidelines:

Deadline: Postmarked by September 1, 2009

Word Count: Short-short stories up to 1,000 words

Entry fee: $7 per story, 3 for $20

Mail manuscripts w/check or money order (made out to Newport Review) to:

Newport Review Flash Fiction Contest

P.O. Box 65

Warren, RI 02885

Manuscripts should include writer's name and complete contact information, including email and phone. Include a business-size SASE if you wish notification of contest results. Manuscripts will not be returned unless requested; include SASE with sufficient return postage.

Unfortunately, we are not set up to accept PayPal or e-mail contest submissions at this time.

Writers may submit a total of six entries. The contest is open to all writers, published and unpublished, except writers personally affiliated with Newport Review, its editorial staff or board of directors. Past contest winners and those who have b
een published in the print edition of Newport Review are eligible to enter.

New prizes will be awarded:

First Prize: $150 and publication

Second Prize: $100 and publication

Third Prize: $50 and publication

Honorable Mention: Publication

Prize-winning stories and stories receiving honorable mention will be published in a future issue of Newport Review. Other stories may also be considered for publication.

Spruce Mountain Press: Past Loves Day Story Contest--deadline Sept 17

2009-06-04T11:23:00.000-07:00

To foster awareness of PAST LOVES DAY, SEPTEMBER 17, Spruce Mountain Press is sponsoring its 3rd annual Past Loves Day Story Contest. Both the Contest and the Day offer an opportunity to acknowledge a truth that lingers in your heart.

http://www.ourpastloves.com/contest

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS: No entry fee

Nearly everyone has memories of a former sweetheart. Write your true story of an earlier love, in no more than 700 words. Tell us about someone whose memory brings a smile or a tear, or both. What did she or he mean to you? In particular, how did that person's presence in your life change you, and what do you still carry with you? Your story may be heart-warming or humorous. Just tell it as if you were talking to a good friend.

PRIZES:

First Prize: $100
Second Prize: $75
Third Prize: $50
Honorable Mention(s)

Winning stories will be posted (anonymously, if requested by author) on this website. Many stories from the past two years are here (see links section below).

At some point in the future, we would like to publish an anthology of stories from these contests.

CONTEST CLOSING DATE:

Entries must be sent by midnight, August 16, 2009. Winners will be announced after Past Loves Day, September 17, 2009.

SEND YOUR ENTRY TO: e-mail: (replace (at) with @)

Please include story in the body of your email.

or regular mail:

CONTEST
Spruce Mountain Press
61 Katuah Rd., Plainfield, VT 05667

FOR ALL ENTRIES, BE SURE TO INCLUDE YOUR NAME AND
MAILING ADDRESS

You will find that just revisiting a meaningful part of your heart's journey makes you a winner.

Nature Writing Contest--deadline Oct 15th

2009-06-04T11:19:00.000-07:00

The Earth Vision nature writing contest (2009) short fiction, creative non-fiction, poetic prose, or poetry

http://www.evbooks.net/contest.htm

First Prize $500
Two Second Prizes of $100 each

Entries are now invited for the EV nature writing contest. Only winners will be notified and entries will not be acknowledged or returned.

The deadline for receipt of entries falls on October 15 (of each year).

The EV nature writing contest is held to support the cause of writing on the subject of nature and deep ecology. Any outstanding proceeds support the EV project.

First prize: $500.

Second and third prizes: $100 each.

Two (or more) honorable mentions.

This contest is open to any writer in English producing an original short piece of fiction, creative non-fiction, poetic prose, or poetry on a theme of nature, deep ecology, spiritual ecology, or any work that has some element of nature woven into it.

Submissions can be published or unpublished material, length to range between 500 and 2500 words per entry (poetry can be smaller). One title per entry, you can enter as many times as you like, new entry fee to accompany each entry.

Winners will retain all rights, and will be invited to post their entries on the Earth Vision website.

Entry fee: $12 (U.S.)

Please donate $12 through the donation link at http://www.evbooks.net/

Instructions:

- there is no form for this contest.
- donate $12 through the “donation” link on the EV site.
- email your entry through the address below, as either a Word, or PDF document.

Email: (replace (at) with @)

- enter "EV contest" on the subject line of your email - and remember to attach your entry.
- include a cover page with title, contact, and author information, plus a short biography

The deadline falls each year on Oct 15th

Only winning entries will be notified.

Winners will be posted on http://www.evbooks.net/ by November 15th.

Non-Fiction Residency--deadline July 1

2009-06-04T11:18:00.001-07:00

The Richard J. Margolis Award of Blue Mountain Center combines a one-month residency at Blue Mountain Center with a $5,000 prize. It is awarded annually to a promising new journalist or essayist whose work combines warmth, humor, wisdom and concern with social justice. The award was established in honor of Richard J. Margolis, a journalist, essayist and poet who gave eloquent voice to the hardships of the rural poor, migrant farm workers, the elderly, Native Americans and others whose voices are seldom heard. He was also the author of a number of books for children.

Blue Mountain Center is a writers and artists colony in the Adirondacks in Blue Mountain Lake, New York.

http://www.margolis.com/award/

How to Apply

Applications should include at least two examples of the writer's work (published or unpublished, 30 pages maximum) and a short biographical note including a description of his or her current and anticipated work. Please send three copies of these writing samples. Samples will not be returned.

Send applications to:

Richard J. Margolis Award of Blue Mountain Center
c/o Margolis & Bloom
535 Boylston Street, 8th floor
Boston, MA 02116

Deadline: July 1, 2009

The award winner will be announced in November.

"Alligator Juniper" 2010 National Writing Contest in Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, and Poetry--deadline Oct 1

2009-06-04T11:16:00.000-07:00

2010 National Writing Contest in Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, and Poetry

http://www.prescott.edu/alligator_juniper/submit.html
$15 Entry Fee
$500 First-Place Prize
Postmark Deadline: October 1, 2009

Our annual contest awards $500 plus publication for the first-place winner in fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. Finalists will be noted as such in our journal, selected for publication, and paid in copies. $15 entry fee, checks or money orders payable to Alligator Juniper. Every entrant receives one copy of the 2010 issue, a $10 value. The issue will come out in summer 2010. There is no theme for the 2010 issue. Work is selected upon artistic merit. By entering our contest you agree to allow us to select your work for publication even if it does not place first. We encourage submissions from writers of all levels, especially emerging or early-career writers. We accept simultaneous submissions; please inform us in your cover letter and contact us immediately if your work is selected elsewhere.

Submission Guidelines

Submissions accepted May 1 through October 1, 2009 (postmark deadline).

Include a brief cover letter, including the statement below.

Include S.A.S.E for response only; manuscripts are recycled, not returned.

Include a $15 entry fee payable to Alligator Juniper for each story or essay (30-page limit per entry), or up to five poems.

Additional entries require additional fee.

Indicate category with a large F, NF, or P on cover letter and mailing envelope.

Manuscripts must be typed with n
umbered pages. Prose double-spaced.

Double-sided copies encouraged. No email submissions.

Send to: Alligator Juniper, Prescott College, 220 Grove Ave., Prescott, AZ 86301.

IMPORTANT: Unfortunately, due to past problems with misinformed entrants and withdrawals, we ask that you include the following statement in your signed cover letter: "I have read and understand the guidelines for Alligator Juniper’s na tional writing contest."

Back issues are available for all but 1995 (the premier issue) and 2001. Send $8 to above address and request a copy from any year, 1996 to 2007, or $10 for a copy from 2008 or 2009.

Selection Process

All entries are read and discussed by Prescott College students in the Alligator Juniper practicum class. This class is overseen each fall by two faculty members, each of whom is a working writer in the genres of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction.

All entrants receive a personal letter from one of our staff regarding the status of their submission. We usually inform in late January. The individual attention we devote to each manuscript takes time. We appreciate your patience.

Akron Poetry Prize--deadline Sept 30

2009-06-04T11:15:00.001-07:00

http://www3.uakron.edu/uapress/poetryprize.html
The Akron Series in Poetry was founded to bring to the public writers who speak in original and compelling voices. Each year, The University of Akron Press offers the Akron Poetry Prize, a competition open to all poets writing in English. The winning poet receives $1,000 and publication of his or her book. The final selection will be made by a nationally prominent poet. The final judge for 2009 is Martín Espada. Other manuscripts may also be considered for publication in the series.

Guidelines for Submission
1. Manuscripts must be typed and consecutively numbered, for a total length of at least 48 pages. Clear photocopies are acceptable. Please, do not send manuscripts bound or enclosed in covers.

2. Manuscripts must include a cover page (with author's name, address, phone number, and manuscript title), a title page (with no biographical information), and an acknowledgements page listing poems previously published in periodicals. Please do not submit manuscripts that have the author's name on each page. Manuscripts go to the final judge blind.

3. Manuscripts must be postmarked between May 1 and June 15 of each year. Simultaneous submissions are permitted, but The University of Akron Press must be notified immediately if the manuscript is accepted elsewhere.

4. An entry fee of $25 is required for each manuscript submission. Make check or money order payable to The University of Akron Press. The cancelled check will serve as notification of receipt.
0A5. Contest results will be posted on our website www.uakron.edu/uapress/poetryprizewinner.html by September 30. No manuscripts can be returned.

6. Books accepted for the Akron Series in Poetry must exhibit three essential qualities: mastery of language, maturity of feeling, and complexity of thought. The University of Akron Press is committed to publishing poetry that, as Robert Frost said, "begins in delight and ends in wisdom." Intimate friends, relatives, current and former students of the final judge (students in an academic, degree-conferring program or its equivalent) are not eligible to enter the 2009 Akron Poetry Prize competition.

Send manuscripts to:
The Akron Poetry Prize
The University of Akron Press
Akron, OH 44325-1703

Further Information:

For further questions on the submission of manuscripts to the UAP poetry series, contact:

Series Editor Mary Biddinger
University of Akron Press
Akron, OH 44325-1703

2008 Winner
Rachel Dilworth
"The Wild Rose Asylum: Poems of the Magdalen Laundries of Ireland"
Forthcoming in November

Pearl Poetry Prize--deadline July 15

2009-06-04T11:13:00.000-07:00

2009 PEARL POETRY PRIZE

http://www.pearlmag.com/contests.html
$1,000 & BOOK PUBLICATION
Judge: Debra Marquart

GUIDELINES

MANUSCRIPTS should include a title page with the author's name, address, phone number, and e-mail address; an acknowledgment page listing previously published poems; a table of contents, 48–64 pages of original poetry; and an SASE for reply or return of manuscript. Manuscripts should be unbound, typed, pages numbered, and name should appear on title page only. Clear photocopies and computer print-outs are acceptable. We will consider simultaneous submissions, but ask that you notify us if your manuscript is accepted elsewhere.

PRIZE: In addition to publication and the $1,000 cash prize, the winner also receives 25 copies and a foreword by the finalist judge.

ELIGIBILITY: Open to all poets, with or without previous book publication. Students and friends of the judge are not eligible for this year's competition.

$20 ENTRY FEE includes a copy of the winning book. All other proceeds go to the continuing publication of Pearl.

JUDGING: The selection of manuscripts for final judging will be made by the editors of Pearl. All entries are read anonymously.

SUBMISSION PERIOD: May 1 – July 15th postmark. The winner will be announced and manuscripts returned after the first of next year.

SEND SUBMISSIONS TO: Pearl Poetry Prize, 3030 E. Second Street, Long Beach, CA 90803; checks made payable to Pearl

Grandmother Earth National Multi-Genre Writing Contest-deadline July 15

2009-06-04T11:11:00.000-07:00

2009 NATIONAL WRITING CONTEST

http://www.grandmotherearth.org/id2.html

DEADLINE: JULY 15, 2009 (POSTMARK)

GRANDMOTHER EARTH XIV NATIONAL WRITING AWARDS

PO Box 2018, Cordova, TN 38088

PHONE: 901-309-3692; E-mail: (replace (at) with @)

www.grandmotherearth.org

Work can be unpublished or published. Money award entries (and selected finalists if permission is given) will be published in Grandmother Earth XVI. Rights to previously published work must belong to the author. No profanity or new age material will be accepted.

Poetry Awards

Any subject, Any form, 50-line limit

$100 First Prize

$75 Second Prize

$50 Third Prize

$25 Fourth Prize

Prose Awards

Any subject, fiction or non-fiction, 2000-word limit

$100 First Prize

$75 Second Prize

$35 Third Prize

Additional Awards: $50, 1st Place; $35, second place; $25, third place

1. Best Haiku, Senryu, or up to 6 lines short form

2. Best use of Humor, Poetry or Prose

3. Environmental theme, Poetry or Prose

RULES:

1. To enter general awards, submit one typed copy (standard font) of each poem (single space) or prose piece (double space) with no identification.

2. Send one copy with name and address in upper right corner. Both poetry and prose should be single spaced on this identified copy. Staple and number multiple=2
0pages.

3. Enclose an entry page with your name, address, phone number, email address, if applicable, and title of all entries and amount of fees enclosed. Include 25-30 words of biographical data. Indicate whether any or all entries are to be considered for publication if a non-money winner. All rights are returned to the author after publication. Send SASE for return of art or photo or for winners’ list.

4. In upper left corner of an extra copy indicate if your work is to be considered for a specific additional award—if entering same work for both general and additional awards there is no extra fee.

5. Place all entries with no identification in one stack and all with names in another stack. Staple multiple pages of prose and poetry and put the page number in the upper right hand corner of each copy.

6. Fees are $10 for 1-3 entries and $2 for each additional entry. (Make checks payable to Grandmother Earth.) All entrants will receive one copy of Grandmother Earth .XV--Retail: $9.95. All whose work is published will receive one extra copy. See Student Rules on website for new guidelines. Work previously published in any Grandmother Earth publication is not eligible for awards.There is no fee for art or photography and payment is a contributor’s copy, except for the special award.

7. Mail entries postmarked by July 15, 2009 to GEC CONTEST CHAIRPERSON, PO Box 2018, Cordova, TN 38088. Notify us of any change in address after maili
ng entries.

Miami University Novella Contest--deadline Oct 2

2009-06-04T11:09:00.000-07:00

Miami University Novella Contest

http://www.orgs.muohio.edu/mupress/novella.html

The novella form has had a long and distinguished place in American literature, and has triumphed in the hands of Herman Melville, Henry James, Katherine Anne Porter, Stanley Elkin, Cynthia Ozick, Jane Smiley, Toni Morrison, Philip Roth, Saul Bellow, William Gass, John Gardner, Andrea Barrett and Tobias Wolff, to name just a few.

As commercial publishers are driven more and more by marketplace concerns, novellas, by nature of their length, often fall between the cracks of short story collections and novels and wind up being published—if at all—not as individual volumes but as part of a collection of stories. Because the form is such a pleasure for readers and writers alike—short enough to be read at a single sustained sitting, but long enough to allow the writer greater freedom in character and plot development than does the short story—we are happy to present a rare venue for publishing individual novellas as stand-alone volumes.

Manuscripts submitted for the award will be read and evaluated by our creative writingfaculty, all of whom are active publishing writers. The manuscripts will be read “blind;” in other words, all identifiers will be stripped from the pages before the manuscripts are read, and the author’s history of previous publication will not be available to readers. Each year a different member of our faculty will serve as the final judge and will decide from among the list of
finalists submitted by the other readers.

Students, former students, faculty, former faculty, or anyone connected to Miami University will not be considered for the award. Though we believe strongly in the talent of those we have worked with and taught, we will do everything we can to assure that this prize is administered impartially, fairly, and without regard to association.

Miami University Press is a non-profit organization. Though we are requiring an entrance fee (currently $25), we wish to make it clear that this money will be used to pay for the administrative costs of the contest, to help with the costs of publishing a book of high quality, and to allow each entrant to receive a copy of the winning volume. We want that book to be a pleasure to hold in the hands and to read. The winning volume will be distributed nationwide.

Submission rules and guidelines:

Below are general guidelines for the contest.

Entries for the 2009 contest must be postmarked by October 2, 2009.

Submit manuscripts, 18,000–40,000 words, with two title pages: one with author’s name, address and phone number, one without. Author’s name must not appear elsewhere. Word count must be included on title page.

Reading fee U.S. $25, payable to Miami University Press (check or money order; no cash or credit cards).

Winning entry receives $1,000 and book publication.

All entrants receive copy of winning book.

Mail to:
MU Press Novella Prize
English Department
356 Bachelor Hall
Miami University,
Oxford, OH 45056

13TH ANNUAL POETRY CONTEST $1000 GRAND PRIZE & PUBLICATION IN INKWELL--deadline Oct 30

2009-06-04T11:08:00.000-07:00

MANHATTANVILLE COLLEGE
MASTERS OF ARTS IN WRITING PROGRAM
&
INKWELL
ANNOUNCE

http://www.inkwelljournal.org/competitions.htm

THE 12TH ANNUAL SHORT FICTION CONTEST
$1500 GRAND PRIZE & PUBLICATION IN INKWELL
COMPETITION JUDGE: Alice McDermott

GUIDELINES

1. Up to 3 previously unpublished stories, 5,000-word limit
2. Text must be typed, 12pt. font, double-spaced, one-sided
3. Cover sheet with name, address, phone, e-mail, titles and word counts
4. No name or address anywhere on manuscripts
5. SASE for contest notification only – manuscripts will be recycled
6. Entry fee: $15 per story
7. Checks (USD ONLY) made out to Manhattanville – INKWELL

THE 13TH ANNUAL POETRY CONTEST
$1000 GRAND PRIZE & PUBLICATION IN INKWELL
COMPETITION JUDGE: Phillis Levin

GUIDELINES

1. Up to 5 previously unpublished poems, 40-line limit per poem
2. Only typed entries will be considered; 12pt. font
3. Cover sheet with name, address, phone, e-mail, titles and line counts
4. No name or address anywhere on manuscript(s)
5. SASE for contest notification only – manuscripts will be recycled
6. $10 for first poem, $5 per each additional poem
7. Checks (USD ONLY) payable to Manhattanville – INKWELL

NOTE: Indicate Poetry or Fiction Competition on envelope.
If submitting to both Poetry and Fiction Competitions, please use separate envelopes.

Submissions not adhering to the above guidelines will not be considered.

Mail to:

INKWELL - Manhattanville College
2900 Purchase Street
Purchase, NY 10577

DEADLINE FOR CONTESTS:
Postmarked between August 1 and October 30, 2009

The Laureate Prize for Poetry--deadline Aug 30

2009-06-04T11:06:00.000-07:00

http://home.comcast.net/~sagecj/laureateprize.html

Each year The Laureate Prize for Poetry will honor one new poem that TNPR believes has the greatest chance, of those entered, of standing the test of time and becoming part of the literary canon. To enter, submit up to three of your best unpublished, uncommitted (not promised for first publication elsewhere) poems (10 page total maximum per group of three), along with your email address for results (no SASEs,please), contact information, a brief bio, and a $15 fee for each set of up to three poems entered.

Fee: $15.00. * Postmark deadline: 8/31/09. Personal checks only, please; NO money orders.

IMPORTANT: MAKE CHECKS PAYABLE ONLY TO "C.J. SAGE"

C. J. Sage, TNPR, Post Office Box 2080, Aptos, California 95001-2080

The winner will receive $600 plus publication in The National Poetry Review.

Simultaneous submissions are acceptable, but if the work is selected by TNPR for the prize or for publication, it must be withdrawn from elsewhere unless you have withdrawn it from us two weeks before our acceptance. Multiple submissions are acceptable with a reading fee for each group of three poems. Page limit per group: 10

Please note that close friends, relatives, and students of the judge or the editor are not eligible for the prize. The judge will be asked to send back to TNPR's editor any poem that s/he recognize

Call for submissions: Poemeleon--deadline June 30

2009-06-04T11:04:00.000-07:00

Poemeleon: A Journal of Poetry is now accepting submissions for Volume IV Issue 1, the gender issue, and for the Mystery Box Contest.

In addition to poems, we are looking for relevant essays and interviews pertaining to the topic of gender. What we are looking for: Work that explores gender and the lived-in body, our perception of ourselves, others' perceptions of us. Please interpret this broadly.

We are not accepting unsolicited book reviews at this time.

Please submit work only via the online submission form.

For full guidelines and to submit work please go here:

http://www.poemeleon.org/submission-guidelines2/

DEADLINE: JUNE 30, 2009

For the Mystery Box Contest please go here:

http://www.poemeleon.org/mystery-box-contest/

SEPTEMBER 30, 2009

All styles/forms welcomed, but please browse recent issues to get a feel for what we like.

Current and former contributors include Sherman Alexie, Jimmy Santiago Baca, Tony Barnstone, Catherine Daly, Ann Fisher-Wirth, Richard Garcia, Eloise Klein Healy, Bob Hicok, Major Jackson, Dorianne Laux, Sarah Maclay, Charles Harper Webb, and Cecilia Woloch.

Visit the website at http://www.poemeleon.org

Camber Press Poetry Chapbook Award--deadline Aug 15

2009-06-04T10:59:00.000-07:00

http://www.camberpress.com/pressreleases/CPPoetryAward.pdf

The Fifth Annual Camber Press Poetry Chapbook Award

Camber Press is pleased to announce the return of our poetry chapbook award. Our ethos is to publish contemporary poetry exhibiting lucid delivery while not sacrificing emotional depth, mastery of craft, or originality.

First Prize:

$1,000 and publication of chapbook

Submission guidelines:

The winning poet will receive $1,000 and have his or her manuscript published by Camber Press, Inc.

Only typed manuscripts no greater than 24 pages of original English-language poems will be considered.

Manuscripts must include a cover page listing the author’s name, address, phone number, e-mail
address, and manuscript title. Names should not appear anywhere else. A title page with no biographical information and a table of contents should follow. Simultaneous submissions are allowed if Camber Press is immediately notified of acceptance elsewhere. Submissions will be recycled, not returned. Include a self-addressed, stamped postcard if you wish acknowledgment of receipt. A $15 entry fee payable to Camber Press must accompany all submissions. International submissions are $15 provided they are in US funds on a US bank. Submissions must be postmarked no later than August 15, 2009. The winner will be announced no later than November 1, 2009. Include a self-addressed, stamped envelope if you wish to receive a print announcement of the winner. E-mail us at info@camberpress.com for more information. Send entries to:

Camber Press Poetry Award, Suite 3F, 1160 Midland Avenue, Bronxville, NY 10708

Other details:

• If poems in your manuscript have been previously published in literary journals or reviews, please include this information in an acknowledgments page. Any manuscript previously published as a whole in book form is not eligible.

• Multiple manuscripts by the same writer will be accepted if submitted with a corresponding entry fee for each work.

• If the poet’s name is present anywhere on the manuscript aside from the cover page, the entry will be disqualified.

• If the poet needs to refer to his/herself during a poem, a pseudonym must be used.

• Please do not send corrections or additions. The winner will be allowed to make revisions before publication.

• Submissions postmarked after August 15, 2009, will not be considered for the competition.

• Total manuscript pages do not translate to an equal number of book pages. Line length, stanza
breaks, book sections, type size, margins, and other factors affect the number of pages a finished
book will be. If unsure how many pages your book will be or if your manuscript is too long, visit

Judge:

Mark Doty

Deadline: August 15, 2009

Look at Camber Press titles and poetry chapbooks from other publishers. By

comparing these with your own poems, you can estimate the approximate book length of your

manuscript.

• Covers, tables of contents, dedication pages, acknowledgements pages, etc., do not count toward the total of 24 pages.

• “No greater than 24 pages” does not mean your manuscript need be 24 pages. To date, no poet
submitting 24 pages has won the Camber Press Poetry Chapbook Award. Please think of your best poems first, manuscript flow second, and “24 pages,” if ever, last.

• If you wish to bind your manuscript(s), please use a paperclip. Folders, binders, “bullnose” clips, and staples are not encouraged.

• Submissions will be recycled, not returned. Do not send a return envelope or return postage. Do not send your only copy of your manuscript.

• To be advised of future Camber Press news, please join our e-mail newsletter list at info@camberpress.com. Camber Press will not sell, trade, or distribute your e-mail address to any other company, organization, or individual. We don’t like spam, either. An e-mail to the same address will remove you from our future mailings.

About Mark Doty, final judge

Mark Doty’s Fire to Fire: New and Selected Poems, won the National Book Award for Poetry in 2008.

His eight books of poems include School of the Arts, Source, and My Alexandria. He has also published four volumes of nonfiction prose: Still Life with Oysters and Lemon, Heaven’s Coast, Firebird and Dog Years, which was a New York Times bestseller in 2007. Doty’s work has been honored by the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, a Whiting Writers Award, two Lambda Literary Awards and the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for First Nonfiction. He is the only American poet to have received the T.S. Eliot Prize in the U.K., and has received fellowships from the Guggenheim, Ingram Merrill and Lila Wallace/Readers Digest Foundations, and from the National Endowment for the Arts. Doty lives in New York City and in Houston, Texas, where he is John and Rebecca Moores Professor in the graduate program at the University of Houston. In the fall of 2009, he will join the faculty at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

The Rondeau Roundup--deadline July 15

2009-06-04T10:57:00.000-07:00

The Rondeau Roundup, a blog devoted to rondeaus and related forms, has been silent the past few months. To re-launch the blog, we're having a contest for the best rondeau on the topic of love, submitted by July 15, 2009.

Contest Rules:

Only one rondeau may be submitted per person. No entry fee. Top three rondeaus will be published on the blog (theroundeauroundup.blogsp

ot.com). The first place rondeau will also receive a $35 gift certificate from Amazon.com

For this contest, we're looking for rondeaus that follow the standard definition, as given on poets.org:

"The rondeau’s form is not difficult to recognize: as it is known and practiced today, it is composed of fifteen lines, eight to ten syllables each, divided stanzaically into a quintet, a quatrain, and a sestet. The rentrement consists of the first few words or the entire first line of the first stanza, and it recurs as the last line of both the second and third stanzas. Two rhymes guide the music of the rondeau, whose rhyme scheme is as follows (R representing the refrain): aabba aabR aabbaR."

Examples of the form: "In Flanders Fields" by John McCrae, "We Wear the Mask" by Paul Laurence Dunbar.

No other poetic form will be accepted for this contest. Non-rhyming rondeaus can be entered, but the blog moderator's preference is for rhymed and metered rondeaus.

To enter, send a single rondeau (in the body of an e-mail) on the topic of love to

by July 15, 2009.

Winners will be announced on the Rondeau Roundup Blog on July 31, 2009.

"Gemini Magazine" Short Story Contest; no entry fee-deadline Aug 31

2009-06-04T10:56:00.000-07:00

Gemini Magazine announces free Short Short Story Contest

www.gemini-magazine.com/contest

Gemini Magazine announces its free Short Short Story Contest. Grand Prize is
$100 and publication in the October issue of Gemini. Three (3) Honorable
Mentions will also be published in the October issue.

Stories must be 1,000 words or less and may be written in any style or theme as
long as they are previously unpublished. Deadline is August 31, 2009. There is
no entry fee.

3rd Wordstock Short Fiction Competition--deadline July 1

2009-06-04T10:53:00.000-07:00

Wordstock, Portland's annual festival of writers, books, and storytelling, is pleased to announce the call for submissions for the 3rd Wordstock Short Fiction Competition.

http://www.wordstockfestival.com/#/page_id=114&article=129/

The national contest is a “double blind” competition. The judges, a collection of writers, academics, publishers, bookstore owners, and literary critics, will choose 10 finalists. The winner of the competition receives a first prize of $1,000 and publication in the October 2009 issue of Portland Monthly magazine. All 10 finalists' stories will be published in the Wordstock Ten, an anthology that will be available at the festival, at Portland-area bookstores, and online through the Wordstock website. Every writer who enters the competition will receive a copy of the anthology.

The final judge for this year’s competition will be Oregon essayist, author, and short-story writer Barry Lopez. Mr. Lopez is a recipient of the Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the John Hay Medal, fellowships from the Guggenheim, Lannan, and National Science Foundations, and many other honors, including the National Book Award.

Submission guidelines

- All short stories must be works of fiction written in English

- Stories must be an original work and not previously published

- The entry fee is $25 per short story entry

- There are no genre restrictions

- Manuscripts are to be typed, double-spaced, on 8.5” x
11” paper

- Stories should be no less than 1,500 and no more than 4,000 words

- Each submission must have a cover sheet with the writer’s contact information—do not put this information on the manuscript.

- No manuscript will be returned

- Entries that do not follow these guidelines will be disqualified

Submit your entry by mail to:

Wordstock short fiction competition

C/o Franklin, Beedle & Assoc.

8536 SW St Helens Dr., Suite D

Wilsonville, OR 97070.

Please make your entry fee check payable to Wordstock. All entries must be postmarked by July 1, 2009,

Last year's competition drew over 300 entries from all over the world. The 1st place winner, Kurt Rheinheimer of Roanoke, Virginia, won $1,000 and had his story, "Calendar Girl Arrested, Freed" published in the December 2009 issue of Portland Monthly.

Prose for Papa short story contest--deadline June 19

2009-06-04T10:52:00.000-07:00

The Fifth Annual Prose for Papa short story contest is held in conjunction with the 2009 Ernest Hemingway Symposium, Sun Valley, Idaho October 22-23, 2009

http://www.visitsunvalley.com/static/index.cfm?contentID=555

Details for the Ernest Hemingway Symposium short story contest 2009, Prose For Papa:

Non-refundable $15 entry fee must be sent with the entry. Checks should be made out to the Community Library.

Cash prize of $500.

First place winner will be published in the Idaho Mountain Express newspapers in October 2009

Stories will be judged by Judith Freeman, a novelist, essayist, critic and short story writer

Entries must be previously unpublished, original work, typed double spaced,

and no longer than 2600 words or 10 pages. One entry per person.

Attach a separate cover sheet with title, author name, address, email, and telephone numbers.

The story itself should not bear anything but the title and page numbers.

May re-submit a non-winning entry from 2008.

Deadline for submission: June 19th, 2009

The symposium reserves one-time rights to print the winner on website.

Mail entries to Prose for Papa ATTN: Sue Bailey PO BOX 2420 Sun Valley, ID 83353

or email to (replace (at) with @)

HEART POETRY AWARD--deadline June 30

2009-06-04T10:50:00.000-07:00

HEART POETRY AWARD $500

http://www.nostalgiapress.com/guidelines.htm

Deadline Postmark June 30, 2009

★ Winner & Honorable Mentions published Fall/Winter 2009 issue of HEART

★ $10 covers 3 poems, reserves your copy of Fall/Winter 2009 issue.

★ Insightful, immersing, pictorial moments, unpublished modern free verse or prose poem.

★ Include name, address, phone, E-mail optional, on each page.

★ SASE or Web site announces winners, poems discarded.

★ Deadline postmark June 30, 2009

Nostalgia Press

2003 Broughton St., Orangeburg, SC 29115.

Sample copy HEART - $5

E-mail: (replace (at) with @)

Teachers & Writers Collaborative (T&W): The Bechtel Prize--deadline June 30

2009-06-04T10:47:00.000-07:00

The Bechtel Prize

http://www.twc.org/publications/bechtel-prize

Teachers & Writers Collaborative (T&W) awards the Bechtel Prize annually in recognition of an exemplary essay addressing important issues in the areas of creative writing education, literary studies, and/or the profession of writing. The deadline to receive submissions for the 2009 Bechtel Prize is 5:00 PM (Eastern), Tuesday, June 30, 2009.

In 2009, T&W is seeking Bechtel Prize submissions that explore the teaching of creative writing in combination with another artistic discipline, such as dance, media arts, music, theater, or the visual arts; or with another academic discipline, such as math or history. We are seeking essays that shed light on the nature of the creative process and want to read your stories about viewing the art of writing through a different lens, and your take on the benefits and challenges of such cross-disciplinary work.

Questions that might be addressed in essays include, but are not limited to, the following:

What are the benefits of an interdisciplinary approach to teaching creative writing?

Are there aspects of the creative processes central to the literary arts that students can understand more clearly in the context of other disciplines?

What are the complications of teaching creative writing with another discipline?

Do writers who teach in an interdisciplinary way find that work influencing their own creative processes?

The winning essay appears in Teachers & Writers magazine, and the author receives a $1,500 ho
norarium. Authors of submissions selected as finalists for the award share honoraria of $500, and their essays may also be published in Teachers & Writers.

2009 Bechtel Prize Submission Guidelines

Entry fee: $20 for each entry (make checks payable to Teachers & Writers Collaborative). Each fee entitles the entrant to a new one-year subscription to Teachers & Writers or a one-year extension of a current subscription. Please indicate your choice and include a complete address for subscriptions.

Submissions should relate to teaching creative writing in an interdisciplinary context.

Submissions must be previously unpublished and under 5,000 words in length.

Submissions must be typed, paginated, and double-spaced.

Submissions will be judged anonymously. The author’s name and address must not appear anywhere on the essay/article.

Two copies of the entry must be submitted. One copy should include a cover page with the following information: the author’s name, mailing address, e-mail address, telephone number, the title of the submission, and where the author learned about the Bechtel Prize. The other copy should include a cover page with only the title.

Authors of the Bechtel Prize winner and finalists must permit T&W to publish their submissions in Teachers & Writers. T&W reserves the right to edit the submissions for publication.
Please mail entries to: The Bechtel Prize, Teachers & Writers Collaborative, 520 Eighth Ave., Ste. 2020, New York, NY 10018.

Submissions must be received by 5:000PM (Eastern), Tuesday, June 30, 2009.

Submissions that do not conform to the above guidelines will not be reviewed for the Bechtel Prize. Submissions cannot be returned to the authors.

Autumn House Poetry and Fiction Contests--deadline June 30

2009-06-04T10:46:00.000-07:00

The 2009 Autumn House Poetry and Fiction Contests

http://www.autumnhouse.org/index.cfm?method=displayPage&pagename=contest

Guidelines for the 2009 Autumn House Poetry Contest judged by Alicia Ostriker
Guidelines for the 2009 Autumn House Fiction Contest judged by Sharon Dilworth
-- The winners will receive book publication, $1,000 advance against royalties, and a $1,500 travel grant to participate in the 2009 Autumn House Master Authors Series in Pittsburgh.
-- The deadline is June 30, 2009.
-- We ask that all submissions from authors new to Autumn House come through one of our annual contests.
-- All finalists will be considered for publication.
-- The final judge for the Poetry Prize is Alicia Ostriker.
-- The final judge for the Fiction Prize is Sharon Dilworth.
-- All full-length collections of poetry 50-80 pages in length are eligible. Fiction submissions should be approximately 200-300 pages. All fiction sub-genres (short stories, short-shorts, novellas, or novels) or any combination of sub-genres are eligible.
-- If you wish to be informed of the results of the competition, please include a stamped, self-addressed envelope.
-- Autumn House Press assumes no responsibility for lost or damaged manuscripts.
-- All entries must be clearly marked “Poetry Prize” or “Fiction Prize” on the outside envelope.
-- Twenty five dollar handling fee (check or money order) must be enclosed.
-- MANUSCRIPTS WILL NOT BE RETURNED.
-- Send manuscript and $25.00 fee to:

Autumn House Press
PO Box 60100
Pittsburgh, PA 15211

Omnidawn Poetry Contest--deadline June 30

2009-06-04T10:44:00.000-07:00

Ann Lauterbach will judge the 2009 Omnidawn Poetry Contest

Submissions accepted by Omnidawn March 1 – June 30, 2009

http://www.omnidawn.com/contest/contest_guidelines.htm

The 2009 Omnidawn Poetry Prize is Omnidawn Publishing’s second annual contest for a first or second full-length collection of poems by a poet writing in English. The contest will be judged by Ann Lauterbach, with a cash prize of $2,000 and Fall 2010 publication by Omnidawn Publishing with full publicity and advertising of the book to Omnidawn standards. The prize also includes 100 free copies of the book. Manuscripts will remain anonymous until a winner is selected.

Deadline:

— Envelope must be postmarked on or between March 1st of 2009 and June 30th of 2009.

General Guidelines:

— The entering manuscript must be your first or second full length poetry book. (If you have written two or more poetry books that have been published or accepted for publication you are ineligible for this contest.) Chapbook publication has no bearing on this.
— The poet must be writing in English. Translations are ineligible.
— Entry fee of $25 must accompany each submission; make check payable to Omnidawn Publishing. We cannot accept any other form of payment at this time.
−The entry fee entitles you to one Omnidawn title from our catalogue. (Please see website page “Omnidawn Titles” for a full catalogue of books from which you can choose.) If you would like to receiv
e an Omnidawn book of your choice and you live in the United States:

1. Type your name and address on a separate 8 ½” x 11” piece of white paper. (We will cut your address out and use this as a mailing label.)

2. Also type the name of the book that you want on the same piece of paper.

3. Attach $ 2.92 United States postage with its original paper backing to the same piece of paper with a staple. DO NOT STICK THE POSTAGE TO THE PIECE OF PAPER. WE WANT TO USE THE ADHESIVE ON THE POSTAGE TO AFFIX IT TO OUR MAILING ENVELOPE. (You can send exact postage or you can send either seven 42 cent or seven 44 cent stamps. An easy way to do this is to send one 3” x 1 ¾” page from a standard book of twenty stamps with six stamps on one side and one stamp on the other for a total of 7 stamps.) DO NOT use computer generated postage such as Click-n-Ship, E-Stamps, or Endicia because this postage is date and zip code specific and we cannot use it. (Note that we previously requested $4.95 postage on a Flat Rate envelope, but we realized we could ship most lighter books First Class for $2.92 and the heavier books could be sent Media Mail for this amount, so we decided to reduce the postage requirements.)

Include all of the above with your contest entry and we will send your book in a protective mailer. If you do not include a sheet of paper listing your choice of book with your name and address and postage
we will assume you are not interested in receiving a book. (If you live outside the U.S. and would like an Omnidawn title please add $12.00 for postage to the entry fee for a total of $37.00 (U.S. Dollars) and include an 8 ½” x 11” white piece of paper with your name typed on it as well as the title of the book you want.)

— Multiple submissions to this contest are acceptable but each manuscript must be entered under separate cover, each with separate check for entry fee.
— Simultaneous submissions are fine but please let us know if your manuscript is accepted by another publisher while under our consideration.
— No revisions to submitted manuscripts will be considered.

Manuscript Submission Requirements:

— We recommend that the manuscript be no fewer than 40 pages and no more than 70 pages. The manuscript should be paginated with a table of contents and enclosed in a standard manila folder. Nothing should be written on the manila folder. Each manuscript should include one cover page with title of manuscript only and a second cover page with title plus your name, address, telephone number, email address, and where you learned about the Omnidawn contest (to the best of your recollection). If you have requested a free book please list the requested title below your contact information.
— Please do NOT include an acknowledgements page or a cover letter or bio.
— Please do NOT contact us with queries regarding the status of your submission.=2
0Your cancelled check will indicate that we have received your entry.
— Please do NOT enclose a SASE for return of manuscript; all manuscripts will be recycled at the end of our contest. Please notify us if you move or change your email address or phone number; send new address, email address, or phone number to:
— We will announce the contest results on our web page.
— Mail manuscript and entry fee to:

OMNIDAWN POETRY PRIZE
Omnidawn Publishing
3263 Kempton Ave
Oakland, Ca 94611
—Please do NOT send Fed Ex, UPS or signature-required USPS express mail envelopes; they will not be accepted.

How We Judge:
The entries are logged into a database by an assistant not associated with the reading process who registers the personal address information of the entrant, the title of the manuscript, assigns it a number and removes all identifying materials. The manuscripts are then anonymously submitted to the editors of Omnidawn for screening. Omnidawn does not use interns or students to screen for this contest. For the sake of avoiding any conflict of interest, if one of the readers recognizes the work of a colleague, student, or friend, then that manuscript is given to another editor. The final judge receives the top manuscripts from which to select the winner. If the final judge wishes to see additional manuscripts she may request them; the judge is not, however, permitted to request specific manuscripts. Friends, colleagues,
and students of the judge are not eligible to compete. The judge is not allowed to choose manuscripts that present a conflict of interest.

Omnidawn abides by The CLMP Code of Ethics: The Council of Literary Magazines and Presses’ community of independent literary publishers believes that ethical contests serve our shared goal: to connect writers and readers by publishing exceptional writing. We believe that intent to act ethically, clarity of guidelines, and transparency of process form the foundation of an ethical contest. To that end, we agree to 1) conduct our contests as ethically as possible and to address any unethical behavior on the part of our readers, judges, or editors; 2) to provide clear and specific contest guidelines -- defining conflict of interest for all parties involved; and 3) to make the mechanics of our selection process available to the public. This Code recognizes that different contest models produce different results, but that each model can be run ethically. We have adopted this Code to reinforce our integrity and dedication as a publishing community and to ensure that our contests contribute to a vibrant literary heritage.

Book Production, Distribution, Advertising, and Complimentary Copies:
The prize winning book will be produced, distributed, and advertised to Omnidawn standards and will also meet the Green Press Initiative standards and have the Green Press Initiative statement on the copyright page. The book will be printed using the same archival quality acid-free paper and full=2
0four-color cover used for other Omnidawn books. As with other Omnidawn books, we will encourage the winning poet to participate in the design of the book, including choice of typefaces, cover colors and artwork, with all stages subject to the approval of the winning poet. The book will be distributed worldwide by Omnidawn's distributor, Independent Publishers Group, and will be advertised along with other Omnidawn books inPoets & Writers Magazine, American Poetry Review, American Book Review, Rain Taxi, and other publications. All costs, including production, distribution, and advertising will be fully paid for by Omnidawn. In addition to the $2,000 cash prize, the winning poet will also receive 100 copies of the book free of charge.

Anabiosis Press Chapbook Contest--deadline Sept 30

2009-06-04T10:42:00.000-07:00

http://anabiosispress.org/chapguides.html

Submit manuscript of 16-20 pages of poetry, any subject, to
Anabiosis Press Chapbook Contest
2 South New Street
Bradford, MA 01835

Include only one poem per page. If a poem continues to a second page, indicate whether or not there is a stanza break. Thirty-five lines equals one page. Divider pages or section titles should be included in the total page count. When determining total line length for each poem, include spaces between stanzas (example: a poem of 5 couplets would equal 14 lines). Numbers or section breaks (often indicated by a * symbol) should also be included as lines when calculating total line length. Count an epigraph as three extra lines. A line that has more than 60 characters (including spaces and punctuation) should be counted as two lines of your total line count. If lines are staggered like a Ferlinghetti poem, estimate the width of the line and remember that the final chapbook will be printed in 10 point Times New Roman font on pages that are 5 1/2 inches wide.

Include the following as separate pages: a biography (this can be included in the cover letter), a cover page with contact information, table of contents, dedication, acknowledgments for any previous publications, and an inside title page (with no name). These pages should not be included in the manuscript's total page count. The cover page should include the manuscript title and all contact information (mailing address, email address, home pho
ne, and cell phone if available). Name should not appear anywhere on the manuscript.

Submit manuscript in a 9 X 12 (or 10 X 13) inch non-padded envelope or USPS priority mail envelope. Please do not use paper clips, binder clips, staples, or report folders.

Please enclose a 9 X 12 (or 10 X 13) inch SASE with correct postage if you want your whole manuscript returned. For notification of results only, include a #10 inch business SASE. If there is no SASE, notification will be sent via email. If there is no SASE and no email address, there will be no notification. Please notify us of any change of address, as a copy of the winning chapbook will be mailed six to nine months after the announcement.

All submissions should be postmarked no later than June 30, 2009. Winners will be announced on or soon after September 30, 2009.

Please enclose an $11.00 reading fee payable to THE ANABIOSIS PRESS.

Winner will receive $100 plus 75 copies of the first run.

All who enter will receive a copy of the winning chapbook.

Open Chapbook Competition--deadline June 30

2009-06-04T10:41:00.000-07:00

Open Chapbook Competition 2009
http://www.finishinglinepress.com/submissionguidelines.htm

A prize of $1,000 and publication will be awarded by Finishing Line Press for a chapbook-length poetry collection. Open to ALL. Previous publication does not disqualify. All entries will be considered for publication. The top-ten finalists will be offered publication. Submit up to 26 pages of poetry, PLUS bio, acknowledgments, SASE and cover letter with a $15 entry fee by
Deadline: June 30, 2009 (POSTMARK).

Charles Pratt will final judge.

Winner will be announced on our website in the fall: www.finishinglinepress.com

Send to:

OPEN CHAPBOOK COMPETITION
Finishing Line Press
P O Box 1626
Georgetown, KY 40324

To pay the entry fee with your credit card, visit

http://www.finishinglinepress.com/submissionguidelines.htm

CANTEEN AWARDS IN POETRY AND FICTION--deadline June 20

2009-06-04T10:39:00.000-07:00

THE 2009 CANTEEN AWARDS IN POETRY AND FICTION

http://canteenmag.com/contest.shtml
Judged by Porochista Khakpour

Prizes

Fiction first-prize winner receives $1,000 and publication in issue five of Canteen.

Poetry first-prize winner receives $500 and publication in issue five of Canteen.

Fiction and poetry second-prize winners will also be published in issue five.
How to Enter

Reading fee: $10, which includes a free single issue of your choice. Current subscribers get free entry.
Enter now by purchasing a single issue or a subscription.

Email your submission and any questions to

(replace (at) with @)

Contest Rules

Deadline: June 20, 2009

Fiction: Submissions of up to 4,000 words.

Poetry: Submissions of any length (though ideally shorter than Beowulf).

Fiction winners will be chosen by Porochista Khakpour, author of Sons and Other Flammable Objects, aNew York Times–acclaimed novel and winner of the 2007 California Book Award.

Poetry winners will be chosen by Canteen's editors.

Neither contest is open to close personal friends of the judges.

3rd Annual Hotmetalpress Chapbook Contest--deadline July 15

2009-06-04T10:37:00.000-07:00

The 3rd Annual Hotmetalpress Chapbook Contest deadline extended
http://www.hotmetalpress.net/PoetryPrize.html

Our prize is $350 and 20 free copies. We also want to send every entrant a copy of the winning
collection.
Page Limit: 32 pages
Fee: $20.00
Deadline: extended to Wednesday, July 15, 5 PM

If you are looking for clues as to what we look for a winner, we wish you luck because our selections are unpredictable and eclectic. We like to take risks if the poems interest us. We do not know what poems will interest us either until we see the poems. Sometimes we request poems from the manuscripts for our magazines.

Please make out a check for $20 to Hotmetalpress. Send it to Carole Towers; 1173 Sea Eagle
Watch; Charleston SC; 29412.
Judged by the staff. Please send a copy of your manuscript in a word document to:sea7@comcast.net. Your work will be read upon receipt of your check.

The entry rules:
Single spaced poems in 12pt Courier.
Attach title page with your name, address, telephone, and email.
32 page maximum limit including title, content page, acknowledgements, and pages. Anything
with more pages will be eliminated.

THE 2009 BARROW STREET PRESS BOOK CONTEST--deadline June 30

2009-06-04T10:34:00.000-07:00

THE 2009 BARROW STREET PRESS BOOK CONTEST

The Barrow Street Press Book Contest award will be given for the best previously unpublished manuscript of poetry in English. The winner will receive book publication by Barrow Street Press, and $1000.00.

Judge: David Wojahn

Deadline: June 30, 2009

Fee: $25.00

If entrants would like to receive a copy of the winning book, please include a book mailer
with $2.59 postage. Thank you.

Guidelines

1) Submit a 50 - 70 page unpublished manuscript of original poetry in English. Include acknowledgement page for individual poems which have been published.

2) The manuscript should be typed, single-spaced, on one side of the page only, on white 8 ½" x 11" paper. Clear photocopies are acceptable. Please do not send your only copy, as manuscripts cannot be returned.

3) Include 2 title pages. The author's name, address, and telephone number should appear on the first title page only, and should not appear elsewhere in the manuscript.

4) Include SASE for notification of contest results.

5) Please include a check for $25.00, payable to Barrow Street.

6) Send entries to:
Barrow Street
PO Box 1558
Kingston, RI 02881

Our best wishes,

The Editors

www.barrowstreet.org

Fifth annual Holland Prize--Poetry--deadline Aug 1

2009-06-04T10:32:00.000-07:00

2009 Holland Prize Guidelines

http://www.loganhousepress.com/

Logan House announces the fifth annual Holland Prize for the best unpublished book of poetry in American English.

The author will receive $500, and the winning manuscript will be published in 2009.

Each entrant will receive a copy of Disciples of an Uncertain Season and Other Poems by Larry Holland, for whom the Prize is named, as well as a copy of the winning book.

Manuscripts should be 60-80 pages and should be submitted with a $25 reading fee and SASE for prize announcement to

Logan House
Holland Prize
205 ½ South Douglas
Wayne City, NE 68787

Deadline is August 1.

Manuscripts will be recycled.

The Holland Prize is dedicated to publishing the best manuscript that comes across our desks, irrespective of the poet’s subject, style or geography.

Friends and close associates of Logan House are not eligible for the contest.

For additional questions email us at (replace (at) with @)

Mississippi Valley Poetry Chapbook Contest--deadline July 31

2009-06-04T10:30:00.000-07:00

The Midwest Writing Center is proud to sponsor the Mississippi Valley Poetry
Chapbook Contest. Please see link for details. Submissions accepted from May 1 until July 31.

contest information

BOOK SALE!

2009-05-21T20:49:00.001-07:00

Graduate Literary Organization is sponsoring:

the annual, fabulous, super fantastic BOOK SALE

next week!

NH room 407!

Cheapppppp!!! Hardbacks $1, paperbacks $.50

There's no better deal than that!

Drop by and buy our books. Fill your brain with knowledge and entertainment!

Wednesday 5/27, 10 - 3

Thursday 5/28, 12-4

Friday 5/29, 10-3

G*L*O

Oh, and: MFA READINGS!

This just in from Ooligan!

Rigoberto Gonzalez Reading

MFA Q and A

Support Your Local Authors!

Poetry Reading

Return of the Blog!

Congratulations to Dee Anne Finken!

John R. Milton Writers' Conference: Writing about the American West--deadline Aug 15

MARGARET REID POETRY CONTEST FOR TRADITIONAL VERSE--deadline June 30

Poetry Prize--deadline Sept 1

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS OF ORIGINAL POETRY--deadline Aug 1

Writers Contests - Houston Writers Guild--Deadline July 30

2009 Robert Frost Award --deadline Sept 15

Missouri State Poetry Society Summer Contest 2009--deadline Sept 1

The Warren Adler Short Story Contest--deadline July 13

2009 Inspirit Poetry Contest--deadline Sept 15

Green River Writers Annual Contest--deadline July 31

The Dogs and the Women Who Love Them True Story Contest--deadline Sept 30

NAUGATUCK RIVER REVIEW FIRST ANNUAL NARRATIVE POETRY CONTEST--deadline Sept 1

SHAKESPEAREAN/PETRARCHAN SONNET CONTEST -- deadline Sept 1

Poetry contest: IL State Poetry Society--deadline Oct 30

Job Opportunity: Seton Hill University

The Calvino Prize--Prose--deadline Oct 15

The Patricia Bibby First Book Award 2010--deadline Oct 31

Job Opportunity: Loyola

Oregon Writers Colony Annual Contests--deadline July 15

Call for submissions about ART: Modernist Press -- deadline July 31

"The Malahat Review" Open Season Awards--deadline Nov 1

fiction chapbook contest: Flume Press--deadline Dec 1

Minnesota Magazine 11th Annual Fiction Contest--deadline Feb 8

fiction contest: Delfino Prize for Queer Genre Fiction--deadline Oct 15

Alehouse Press Poetry Contest

Call for Submissions: Chickenpinata--deadline June 26

Robert & Adele Schiff Prose and Poetry Prizes--deadline July 31

Wilhelmus Award: Poetry chapbook contest--deadline July 15

2009 Flatmancrooked Prize for Excellent Writing Done During a Period of Great Fiscal Renewal--deadline Aug 15

"Two Review" Poetry Contest--deadline July 31

"Elixir" Poetry Contest--deadline Oct 31

Tamarack Award--deadline July 1

Ronald Sukenick/American Book Review Innovative Fiction Prize--deadline Nov 1

"Umbrella" Call for Submissions--deadline Aug 10

Writers Alliance of Gainesville 2010 Contest--deadline Oct 31

Think and Drink with "Oregon Humanities" June 17

Declaration Editing Flash Fiction Challenge July 1 -31

Celebrate the end of the year with your favorite student lit mag!

"Fourth River" Poetry & Non-Fiction contest--deadline Oct 15

Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival fiction contest--deadline Nov 16

Fiction Contest--deadline Sept 30

SHELTERING PINES PRESS FIFTH ANNUAL CHAPBOOK COMPETITION, 2009--deadline Oct 15

The Bellevue Literary Review Prizes: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry--deadline Aug 1

Call for submissions: Kiwi Publishing--deadline June 28

The St. Francis College Literary Prize--for a fourth book of fiction--deadline Juy 1

"The Mom Egg" Call for submissions--deadline July 31

"Super Arrow" Call for submissions

From the New Yorker (thanks to James Norton for the FYI!)

A Critic at Large

Show or Tell

Should creative writing be taught?

by Louis Menand June 8, 2009

PHOTOGRAPH: MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE ARCHIVES

DePaul Conference Writing Contest--dealine June 22

Nation Student Writing Contest, 2009--deadline Sept 15

Two Second Sundays Series Poetry Events in Stayton in June

Write Around Portland--Community Writing Workshop!

Wend Magazine Release Party

Call for submissions: Survivors of Domestic Abuse--deadline Sept 30

The Drue Heinz Literature Prize Call for Submissions 2009--deadline June 30

Job Opportunity: Sarabande Books, Marketing Director--deadline June 15

AN INTERNATIONAL CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS--deadline Aug 14

Three Candles Press First Book Award--deadline Oct 15

Anderbo Poetry Prize --deadline Nov 1

Shark Poetry Contest--July 30

Juked Fiction and Poetry Prizes--deadline Aug 31

The Fiddlehead's Nineteenth Annual Literary Contest--deadline Dec 1

Nano Prize--deadline Aug 1

"The Newport Review" Flash Fiction Contest--deadline Sept 1

Spruce Mountain Press: Past Loves Day Story Contest--deadline Sept 17

Nature Writing Contest--deadline Oct 15th

GLO