Rereading

The Time Is Now
10.27.22

“Once you know what a book contains, why read it again? Because literature is not information. It’s an atmosphere, a location, a space, a landscape you can enter, with its own weather and light that can be found nowhere else,” writes Sofia Samatar in a recent installment of our Craft Capsules series. Samatar argues for rereading favorite books and discovering in the experience why readers continue to return. She writes: “Every piece of writing calls a particular world into being, an environment through which a reader moves.” Pick a favorite text, whether a single essay or a whole book, and take notes on your feelings as you reread it. Then write an essay using these notes that reflects on this experience of rediscovery.

Art Attacks

The Time Is Now
10.26.22

Over the past few weeks, some climate activists have taken up controversial methods of protest by pelting iconic paintings, such as Vincent van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” and Claude Monet’s “Haystacks,” with mashed potatoes and tomato soup. The protests were recorded and posted on social media by activists in Germany and the United Kingdom to help draw attention to concerns of the ongoing climate catastrophe and its effects on future generations. This week, write a story from the perspective of someone who plans and performs a public protest inside a museum. What work of art helps represent their message?

Guided by Surprise

The Time Is Now
10.25.22

Is it possible to achieve mastery of an art form? In Carl Phillips’s essay “What We Are Carrying: Meditations on a Writing Practice,” excerpted from his book My Trade Is Mystery: Seven Meditations From a Life in Writing (Yale University Press, 2022) and published in the November/December 2022 issue of Poets & Writers Magazine, he argues that “the relationship—between two people, between art and maker—is symbiotic and organic, ever changing, on both sides” therefore it is the commitment to writing that outweighs any idea of mastering it. Drawing from various practices such as learning to speak Italian and playing the clarinet, Phillips writes about the importance of “useful mistakes” and how revision reveals the ways in which a poem is a map, “not a way of getting somewhere, but a record of having been lost.” Keeping Phillips’s essay in mind, write a poem with the intention of getting lost in the writing process. Let your imagination guide you toward surprise.

Deadline Nears for the Evaristo Prize for African Poetry

G&A: The Contest Blog
10.21.22

Submissions are still open for the Evaristo Prize for African Poetry! As part of this award, $1,500 is given annually for ten poems written by an African poet who has not yet published a poetry collection (self-published works of poetry and chapbooks not included). Writers who were born in Africa, who are a national or a resident of an African country, or whose parents are African are eligible. Only collections written in English, including works of translation, will be considered.

Using only the online submission system, submit exactly ten poems of no more than 40 lines each by November 1. There is no entry fee. Editorial board member Gabeba Baderoon will judge alongside poets Tjawangwa Dema and Tsitsi Ella Jaji. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Formerly known as the Brunel International African Poetry Prize, this award was established in 2012 by British writer Bernardine Evaristo and was recently passed on to the African Poetry Book Fund. With a decade long history and a 2022 inaugural contest cycle under a new title, the Evaristo Prize for African Poetry still seeks to “encourage a new generation of poets who might one day become an international presence.” The shortlist will be announced in April, and the winner will be revealed in May. Formerly known as the Brunel International African Poetry Prize, this award was established in 2012 by British writer Bernardine Evaristo and was recently passed on to the African Poetry Book Fund. With a decade long history and a 2022 inaugural contest cycle under a new title, the Evaristo Prize for African Poetry still seeks to “encourage a new generation of poets who might one day become an international presence.” The shortlist will be announced in April, and the winner will be revealed in May. 

Find a Writing Contest

The Grants & Awards database includes details about every writing contest that we’ve published in Poets & Writers Magazine during the past year. We carefully review the practices and policies of each contest before including it, making the Grants & Awards database the most trusted resource for legitimate writing contests available anywhere.

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How Do You Celebrate Thanksgiving?

The Time Is Now
10.20.22

In his essay “How to Pass the Time on a Holiday Commemorating the Destruction of Your Ancestors,” published by Literary Hub in 2015, Indigenous poet Tommy Pico confronts the reality of the history of Thanksgiving and what it means for him: “You’re maybe only a little bit aware of it for a small part of today, in between the family or the baking or the turkey. It might be a twinge. But that twinge is where I live.” In the conclusion of the essay, Pico offers a summary of how he spends the holiday—making pie with his friends, writing poems, and drinking dirty martinis—and provides readers a chance to reflect on what it means to ask how a Native American celebrates Thanksgiving. Inspired by the duality in Pico’s essay, write a personal essay about how the history of Thanksgiving affects the way you experience the holiday today.

End and Begin

The Time Is Now
10.19.22

The traditional tarot deck can be divided into two sections: the minor and major arcana. The former focuses on quotidian details, while the latter reveals the bigger picture of one’s life. Composed of twenty-two cards, the major arcana tells the story of life’s endless cycles, beginning with the first card of the Fool, symbolizing naivety and new beginnings, and ending with the last card of the World, representing all of life’s major achievements and stages. As we move closer to ushering in a new year, write a short story that begins with the end of one cycle in your character’s life and concludes with the beginning of a new one. What does the journey between these two life stages look like? Explore the inner life of your protagonist as they find their way toward a new path.

Art Made of Words

The Time Is Now
10.18.22

In his essay “The Medium of the English Language,” published in Poetry magazine in 2014, the poet and critic James Longenbach, who died in July at the age of sixty-two, wrote about the ways in which the English language was his medium, the way that “the medium of Giorgione’s Tempest is ‘oil on canvas.’” Longenbach wrote: “How can art be something made of words, the same words used for newspapers and parking tickets? Unlike the media most commonly associated with visual and sonic artistry, words are harnessed by most people during almost every waking moment of their lives.” Taking inspiration from Longenbach’s essay, write a poem that reflects on how your everyday language becomes the medium for your poetry. Do you see a link between how you use language to communicate in your daily life and how you use it to communicate in a poem?

Upcoming Contest Deadlines

G&A: The Contest Blog
10.14.22

Embrace the harvest season by enjoying the bounty of literary opportunities this fall brings, including contests with a November 1 deadline! Prizes abound for poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers alike, with awards offered in speculative fiction and for writers living in the Washington, D.C., Maryland, or Virginia area. All contests offer a cash prize of $1,000 or more, including the opportunity for one fiction writer to win $15,000 plus publication. Best of luck!

Briar Cliff Review
Writing Contests
Three prizes of $1,000 each and publication in Briar Cliff Review are given annually for a poem, a short story, and an essay. The editors will judge. Entry fee: $20, which includes a copy of the prize issue.

Brick Road Poetry Press
Book Contest
A prize of $1,000, publication by Brick Road Poetry Press, and 25 author copies is given annually for a poetry collection. Keith Badowski and Olivia Ivings will judge. All entries are considered for publication. Entry fee: $30. 

Fiction Collective Two
Catherine Doctorow Innovative Fiction Prize
A prize of $15,000 and publication by Fiction Collective Two, an imprint of University of Alabama Press, is given annually for a novel, short story collection, novella, or novella collection. U.S. writers who have published at least three books of fiction are eligible. Matt Bell will judge. Entry fee: $25.

Fiction Collective Two
Ronald Sukenick Innovative Fiction Contest
A prize of $1,500 and publication by Fiction Collective Two is given annually for a novel, short story collection, novella, or novella collection. U.S. writers who have not previously published a book with Fiction Collective Two are eligible. Kiik Araki-Kawaguchi will judge. Entry fee: $25.

F(r)iction
Short Story Contest
A prize of $1,000 is given twice a year for a short story. Ken Liu will judge. The winning story and all entries are considered for publication in F(r)iction. Entry fee: $15.

Malahat Review
Open Season Awards
Three prizes of $2,000 Canadian (approximately $1,595) each and publication in Malahat Review are given annually for a poem, a short story, and an essay. Ki’en Debicki will judge in poetry, Ben Lof will judge in fiction, and Bahar Orang will judge in creative nonfiction. Entry fee: $45 Canadian (approximately $36), which includes a subscription to Malahat Review.

North American Review
James Hearst Poetry Prize
A prize of $1,000 and publication in North American Review is given annually for a single poem. Paul Guest will judge. All entries are considered for publication. Entry fee: $23, which includes an issue of North American Review.

North American Review
Kurt Vonnegut Speculative Fiction Prize
A prize of $1,000 and publication in North American Review will be given annually for a work of speculative fiction. Brian Evenson will judge. All entries are considered for publication. Entry fee: $23, which includes an issue of North American Review.

Southeast Missouri State University Press
Nilsen Literary Prize
A prize of $2,000 and publication by Southeast Missouri State University Press is given annually for a novel, novella, or collection of linked stories by a U.S. writer who has not published a novel. Entry fee: $25.

Washington Writers’ Publishing House
Literary Awards
Three prizes of $1,500 each, publication by Washington Writers’ Publishing House, and 25 author copies are given annually for a poetry collection, a short story collection or novel, and, as of this award cycle, a memoir, essay collection, or creative nonfiction hybrid collection. Writers who live in Washington, D.C., Maryland, or Virginia are eligible. Entry fee: $28.

Visit the contest websites for complete guidelines, and check out the Grants & Awards database and Submission Calendar for more contests in poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and translation.

The Time-Before

The Time Is Now
10.13.22

The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2022 was awarded to French author Annie Ernaux for what the Nobel Committee calls “the courage and clinical acuity with which she uncovers the roots, estrangements, and collective restraints of personal memory.” This skill is exemplified in her book The Years as she tells her life story spanning over sixty years in an unconventional manner, using the choral “we” and sometimes shifting into the third person. Reflecting on the voice of her book, Ernaux writes: “There is no ‘I’ in what she views as a sort of impersonal autobiography. There is only ‘one’ and ‘we,’ as if now it were her time to tell the story of the time-before.” Write an essay in the third person that focuses on a span of time in your life. How does this formal choice affect how you consider writing personally and collectively?

In Reverse

The Time Is Now
10.12.22

Have you ever tried to tell a story in reverse order? In the latest installment of our Ten Questions series, E. M. Tran discusses the challenges she faced while writing her debut novel, Daughters of the New Year (Hanover Square Press, 2022), which moves backward in time. “I had to shift my mindset,” says Tran. “Tension and narrative movement can still accumulate when you go backward. It just looked different, and I had to really get comfortable with that when I was writing.” This week, write a story that moves backward in time. Start with the ending and guide the reader back to the origins of your character’s journey.

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