Genre: Creative Nonfiction

Knowing and Feeling

11.11.21

“That’s partly one of the things this book is about: discovering, again, and again, the inextricable relation between love and hate, which I certainly knew about conceptually, but have had to experience over and over again,” says Frank Bidart about his latest poetry collection, Against Silence (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2021), in an interview with John Maher at the Millions. Write an essay about experiencing love and hate—whether it be through heartbreak, the aftereffects of guilt, or a complicated relationship. Consider the difference between knowing and feeling these emotions.

Sophie Calle on Hotel Rooms

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“It was like a portrait of the room with different people using that room day after day.” In this video for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, artist and writer Sophie Calle speaks about her time working as a hotel maid and documenting her observations of guests for her book The Hotel (Siglio Press, 2021). Calle’s project is featured in “The Written Image: The Hotel” in the November/December issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

Upcoming Contest Deadlines

Opportunities abound for writers of all kinds in mid-November’s contest deadlines. Prizes with deadlines of November 15 include awards for debut poets, for women writers, and for nonfiction writers who can capture the spirit of Brooklyn on the page. Most offer a cash prize of $1,000 or more; one prize includes travel and lodging expenses to attend the Writers Digest Annual Conference in New York City.

Brooklyn Film & Arts Festival Brooklyn Nonfiction Prize: A prize of $500 and publication on the Brooklyn Film & Arts Festival website is given annually for a work of nonfiction that is set in Brooklyn, New York, and renders the borough’s “rich soul and intangible qualities through the writer’s actual experiences of Brooklyn.” Entry fee: None.

Nightboat Books Poetry Prize: Up to three prizes of $1,000 each and publication by Nightboat Books are given annually for poetry collections. The editors will judge. Entry fee: $30.

Perugia Press Poetry Prize: A prize of $1,000 and publication by Perugia Press is given annually for a first or second poetry collection by a writer who identifies as a woman. Entry fee: $30.

Pushcart Press Editors’ Book Award: A prize of $1,000 is given occasionally for a fiction or nonfiction manuscript that has been rejected by a commercial publisher. The award recognizes “worthy manuscripts that have been overlooked by today’s high-pressure, bottom-line publishing conglomerates.” Entry fee: None.

The Story Prize: A prize of $20,000 is given annually for a short story collection written in English and first published in the United States in the previous year. Two runners-up will receive $5,000 each, and one entrant will receive the $1,000 Story Prize Spotlight Award, given for a collection that merits further attention. Larry Dark and Julie Lindsey will select the three finalists and the Spotlight Award winner; three independent judges will choose the Story Prize winner. Entry fee: $75.

Washington Writers’ Publishing House Poetry and Fiction Prizes: Two prizes of $1,500 each, publication by Washington Writers’ Publishing House, and 50 author copies are given annually for a poetry collection and a short story collection or novel. Writers who live in Washington, D.C., Maryland, or Virginia are eligible. Entry fee: $25.

Writers’ Digest Short Short Story Competition: A prize of $3,000 and travel and lodging expenses for a trip to the Writer’s Digest Annual Conference in New York City is given annually for a short short story. A second-place prize of $1,500 is also awarded. The winners will both be published in Writer’s Digest. Entry fee: $25 (or $30 for entry by December 15).

Yale University Press Yale Series of Younger Poets: An award of publication by Yale University Press is given annually for a poetry collection by a poet who has not published a full-length book of poetry. Carl Phillips will judge. Entry fee: $25.

Word of the Year

11.4.21

The Oxford Languages word of the year for 2021 is vax. Every year, a team of expert lexicographers for the creator of the Oxford English Dictionary, debate candidates for word of the year and choose a winner “that is judged to reflect the ethos, mood, or preoccupations of that particular year and to have a lasting potential as a word of cultural significance.” Browse through their Word of the Year archive and write an essay about one of the winning words. How does that word correlate with your experience of that year?

Megan Culhane Galbraith

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“My adoption story didn’t come to me in any linear form and that’s always how they kind of want you to write memoir,” says Megan Culhane Galbraith about the hybrid structure of her debut memoir, The Guild of the Infant Saviour: An Adopted Child’s Memory Book (Mad Creek Books/Ohio State University Press, 2021), in this Left Banks Books interview with Rena J. Mosteirin. Galbraith is featured in “5 Over 50: 2021” in the November/December issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

A Conversation With Editor Hannah Chukwu

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In this National Centre for Writing video, Hannah Chukwu, assistant editor at Penguin Random House’s imprint Hamish Hamilton, speaks about receiving submissions from agents, pitching, and the editing process for the literary fiction and nonfiction authors she has worked with, including Bernardine Evaristo, Arundhati Roy, and Zadie Smith.

Famous Writers

10.28.21

In “Hanging Out With Joan Didion: What I Learned About Writing From an American Master” published on Literary Hub, Sara Davidson writes about her decades-long friendship with Didion and lists ten techniques and practices she learned from the iconic author. These tips include the advantages of writing in the first person singular, keeping a writing schedule, and controlling the information one gives to a reader. This week make a list of the technical tricks behind your favorite writer’s work, then write an essay that discusses the impact and influence of their style on yours.

Coffee & Conversations: Albert Samaha

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“I am a product of this country that I interrogate in this book,” says Albert Samaha, author of Concepcion: An Immigrant Family’s Fortunes (Riverhead Books, 2021), in this episode of Coffee & Conversations with Enrique Rosell, program manager at Florida International University’s Wolfsonian Public Humanities Lab. Samaha’s debut memoir is featured in Page One in the November/December issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

Upcoming Contest Deadlines

Kick off the beginning of a new month by submitting to one of the following six contests, which all share a November 1 deadline. Poets, fiction writers, and nonfiction writers will find an abundance of opportunities in these prizes, with two of the awards being given in all three genres. All contests offer a cash prize of $1,000 or more, with the chance for one lucky fiction writer to win $15,000 and book publication.

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 (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. Cristina Rivera Garza 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. Marream Krollos will judge. Entry fee: $25. 

Malahat Review Open Season Awards: Three prizes of CAD $2,000 (approximately $1,622) each and publication in Malahat Review are given annually for a poem, a short story, and an essay. Conor Kerr will judge in poetry, Zilla Jones will judge in fiction, and Erin Soros will judge in creative nonfiction. Entry fee: CAD $45 (approximately $36), which includes a subscription to Malahat Review.

Nina Riggs Poetry Foundation Award: A prize of $1,000 is given annually for a single poem that examines relationships, family, or domestic life that was published in a book or magazine in the last three years. Entry fee: None.

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

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