Craft Capsule: Before Craft, or Hug Your Independent Bookseller
Poets and writers share their notes on writing in this series of micro craft essays. In the latest installment: remembering the life-saving importance of reading.
Tags:
Genre: Creative Nonfiction
Bill Gates’s Summer Reading, Afghan Women’s Magazine, and More
A new bill proposes giving the president more power over the U.S. Copyright Office; the finalists for the 2017 CLMP Firecracker Awards; a new biography of Diana Trilling considers her marriage and role as a critic; and other news.
The Decline of the Mass-Market Paperback, Drag Queen Story Hour, and More
The politics and poetry of Czeslaw Milosz; Emma Cline discusses writing The Girls; writers remember Jean Stein; and other news.
New Atwood TV Series, Bao Phi on Poetry and Immigration, and More
Ian Buruma named new editor of the New York Review of Books; Eimear McBride examines the dynamic between sex and literature; Kristen Tracy wins Emily Dickinson First Book Award; and other news.
End of May Prose Contest Deadlines
Attention fiction and creative nonfiction writers! You have until May 31 to submit your essays, short stories, and novels to the following contests, which offer prizes of at least $1,000 and publication:
Crab Orchard Literary Prizes: Two prizes of $1,250 each and publication in Crab Orchard Review are given annually for a short story and an essay. Entry fee: $12
Bridport Arts Centre Bridport Prize: A prize of £5,000 (approximately $6,250) each and publication in the Bridport Prize anthology is given annually for a short story. A prize of £1,000 (approximately $1,250) and publication is also given for a work of flash fiction. Peter Hobbs will judge in fiction; and Kit de Waal will judge in flash fiction. Entry fees: £10 (approximately $13) for fiction and £8 (approximately $10) for flash fiction.
BOA Editions Short Fiction Prize: A prize of $1,000 and publication by BOA Editions is given annually for a short story collection. Peter Conners will judge. Entry fee: $25
University of Georgia Press Flannery O’Connor Short Fiction Award: A prize of $1,000 and publication by University of Georgia Press is given annually for a collection of short fiction. Entry fee: $30
Elixir Press Fiction Award: A prize of $2,000, publication by Elixir Press, and 25 author copies is given annually for a short story collection or a novel. The editors will judge. Entry fee: $40
Visit the contest websites for complete guidelines and submission details. Visit our Grants & Awards database and Submission Calendar for more upcoming contests in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction.
Compassionate Art, Amazon Charts, and More
Ta-Nehisi Coates Black Panther comic series canceled; thousands of kids audition for TV production of Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend; student sues author Laura Kipnis and HarperCollins; and other news.
Carving Stories from Trees
Think of a memory in a beautiful landscape—maybe from a family vacation, or your favorite childhood destination. Now think of a scene from a story, novel, or movie that describes a landscape, and that has stuck with you. What makes these moments special? So many of the memories and stories we share are connected to place—to the landscapes of the Earth and the landscapes of our own imaginations. Write a lyric essay in which you explore the connections between literature, landscape, and your own memories. For inspiration, look at Montreal-based artist Guy Laramée’s newly released collection of sculptures, in which the artist creates landscapes from old books.
Patricia Lockwood Reads Jonathan Franzen
Caption:
“It had started as a family joke: Dad always orders the mixed grill in restaurants, Dad only wants to go to restaurants with mixed grill on the menu.” Patricia Lockwood, poet and author of the memoir Priestdaddy (Riverhead Books, 2017), performs a dramatic reading of a passage from Jonathan Franzen’s novel The Corrections (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001) for the literary nonprofit O, Miami.
Stetson University
MFA Program
Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction
DeLand, FL
Application Deadline:
Rolling Admissions
Application Fee:
$50
A Really Good Day at Politics & Prose
Caption:
“Something is happening. Whether it is all in my head remains to be seen.” Ayelet Waldman reads from her book A Really Good Day: How Microdosing Made a Mega Difference in My Mood, My Marriage, and My Life (Knopf, 2017) at Politics & Prose in Washington, D.C.
Genre:
Pages
