Genre: Creative Nonfiction

Upcoming Contest Deadlines

G&A: The Contest Blog
6.24.22

According to some astrological predictions, the “Cancer season” we entered this week is particularly auspicious thanks to a new moon influenced by Jupiter, the planet of good fortune. So why not try your luck by applying to some contests with a July 15 deadline? Among the awards are a $20,000 prize for a published story collection; a $15,000 prize for a poem; a $1,000 prize for a poetry collection; a $1,000 prize for a novel; and $1,000 prizes for individual poems, short stories, essays, and works of flash fiction. All contests offer a cash prize of $1,000 or more. May Jupiter’s benefic beams shine upon you, writers!

Cincinnati Review Robert and Adele Schiff Awards: Three prizes of $1,000 each and publication in Cincinnati Review are given annually for a poem, a short story, and an essay. Rebecca Lindenberg will judge in poetry, Michael Griffith will judge in fiction, and Kristen Iversen will judge in nonfiction. All entries are considered for publication. Entry fee: $20.

Comstock Review Muriel Craft Bailey Memorial Award: A prize of $1,000 and publication in Comstock Review is given annually for a single poem. Ellen Bass will judge. All entries are considered for publication. Entry fee: $27.50 (or $5 per poem via postal mail).

Ghost Story Screw Turn Flash Fiction Competition: A prize of $1,000 and publication on the Ghost Story website and in the 21st Century Ghost Stories anthology is given twice yearly for a work of flash fiction with a supernatural or magical realism theme. The editors will judge. Entry fee: $15.

Narrative Poetry Contest: A prize of $1,500 and publication in Narrative is given annually for a poem or group of poems. The poetry editors will judge. All entries will be considered for publication. All entries are considered for publication. Entry fee: $25.

Rattle Poetry Prize and Reader’s Choice Award: A prize of $15,000 and publication in Rattle is given annually for a single poem. A Reader’s Choice Award of $5,000 is also given to one of ten finalists. The editors will judge the Poetry Prize, and subscribers and entrants will judge the Reader’s Choice Award by vote. All entries are considered for publication. Entry fee: $25. 

Regal House Publishing’s Petrichor Prize for Finely Crafted Fiction: A prize of $1,000 and publication by Regal House Publishing is given annually for a novel. The editors will judge. Entry fee: $25.

Story Prize: A prize of $20,000 is given annually for a short story collection written in English and published in the United States in the current year. Two runners-up receive $5,000 each. The $1,000 Story Prize Spotlight Award is also given for an additional short story collection “of exceptional merit.” Larry Dark and Julie Lindsey will judge the three finalists and the Spotlight Award winner; three independent judges will choose the Story Prize winner. Entry fee: $75.

Word Works Tenth Gate Prize: A prize of $1,000, publication by the Word Works, and 30 author copies is given annually for a poetry collection by a poet who has published at least two full-length books of poetry. Felicia Zamora will judge. Entry fee: $25.

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.

Literature’s Fate

The Time Is Now
6.23.22

In a recent post on Instagram by the poet Mark Wunderlich, he shared an image of a greyish white book washed of its letters, peeled back of the paper’s layers, and frayed at the edges. The caption reads, in part, “Mary Ruefle keeps a decomposing book in her yard to remind herself of the fate of all literature, and how we write anyway because we must.” Write an essay inspired by Ruefle’s decomposing book that meditates on the “fate” of your own writing. What lasting impact would you like to make? Is this what drives you to write?

CJ Hauser With Charlie Gilmour

Caption: 

CJ Hauser speaks about the surprise of their viral essay “The Crane Wife” and their process for writing essays in this 2021 virtual reading and conversation with author and journalist Charlie Gilmour for the Newcastle Centre for the Literary Arts in England. Hauser’s first nonfiction book, The Crane Wife: A Memoir in Essays (Doubleday, 2022), is featured in Page One in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

Genre: 
Creative Nonfiction
Cross-Genre
Tags: 
CJ Hauser
The Crane Wife: A Memoir in Essays
Doubleday
2022
Charlie Gilmour
Newcastle University
Page One
July/August 2022

Small Loves

The Time Is Now
6.16.22

In “Blood: Twenty-Seven Love Stories,” which appears in The Crane Wife: A Memoir in Essays, forthcoming in July from Doubleday, CJ Hauser writes: “I want to learn from what went wrong in the past but sometimes it seems everything worth knowing has been redacted. As if ignorance is the only thing that allows each successive generation to tumble into love, however briefly, and spawn the next.” Hauser weaves together twenty-seven short sections that each tell the love stories, some sweet and others disquieting, of her parents and grandparents, as well as those of the author’s own life. The gripping narrative touches upon the themes of love, loss, fate, and sisterhood, as Hauser finds patterns in the way life’s love stories coincide with and contradict one another. Write an essay in sections connected by shared themes. Try, as Hauser does, to link distinct stories into a single narrative, tying the pieces together using common threads.

Upcoming Contest Deadlines

G&A: The Contest Blog
6.10.22

Celebrate the beginning of summer and the endless possibilities the season brings by submitting to contests with a deadline of June 30. Awards include an $8,000 grand prize for a self-published book in any of seven categories, including graphic narrative and creative nonfiction; a weeklong retreat in Missé, France, for a winning short story; and an approximately $51,123 prize for a poetry collection by a poet or translator published during the previous year. Enjoy!

Cider Press Review Editors’ Prize Book Award: A prize of $1,000, publication by Cider Press Review, and 25 author copies is given annually for a poetry collection. The editors will judge. Entry fee: $26. 

Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry Prize: Two prizes of $65,000 Canadian (approximately $51,123) each are given annually for poetry collections by a Canadian poet or translator and by an international poet or translator published during the previous year. Finalists receive $10,000 Canadian (approximately $7,865) each for their participation in the shortlisted authors event to be held in Toronto. Adam Dickinson, Valzhyna Mort, and Claudia Rankine will judge. Entry fee: None.

Los Angeles Review Literary Awards: Four prizes of $1,000 each and publication in Los Angeles Review are given annually for a poem, a short story, a short short story, and an essay. Joshua Rivkin will judge in poetry, Landon Houle will judge in fiction, Thea Prieto will judge in flash fiction, and Chelsea Catherine will judge in creative nonfiction. Entry fee: $20.

The Moth International Short Story Prize: A prize of €3,000 (approximately $3,423) is given annually for a short story. A prize of a weeklong retreat at Circle of Misse in Missé, France, with a €250 (approximately $285) travel stipend, and a prize of €1,000 (approximately $1,141) are also given. The winners will be published in the Moth. Sarah Hall will judge. Entry fee: €15 (approximately $17).

Omnidawn Publishing Poetry Chapbook Contest: A prize of $1,000, publication by Omnidawn Publishing, and 100 author copies is given annually for a poetry chapbook. Ruth Ellen Kocher will judge. Entry fee: $18. (For an additional $2, entrants will receive one chapbook of their choice from the Omnidawn catalogue.)  

Poetry London Prize: A first-place prize of £5,000 (approximately $6,762), a second-place prize of £2,000 (approximately $2,705), and a third-place prize of £1,000 (approximately $1,353) will be given annually for a poem. The winners will also receive publication in the Autumn issue of Poetry London and an invitation to read at the issue’s launch, held at the Southbank Centre in London. Romalyn Ante will judge. Entry fee: £8 (approximately $11), or £4 (approximately $5) for Poetry London subscribers.

Twyckenham Notes Joe Bolton Poetry Award: A prize of $1,000 and publication in Twyckenham Notes is given annually for a poem or group of poems. The editors will judge. All entries will be considered for publication. Entry fee: $20. 

University of North Texas Press Katherine Anne Porter Prize: A prize of $1,000 and publication by University of North Texas Press is given annually for a collection of short fiction. Entry fee: $25.

University of Pittsburgh Press Drue Heinz Literature Prize: A prize of $15,000 and publication by University of Pittsburgh Press is given annually for a collection of short fiction. Writers who have published at least one previous book of fiction or a minimum of three short stories or novellas in nationally distributed magazines or literary journals are eligible. Entry fee: None.

Winning Writers North Street Book Prize: A grand prize of $8,000 and seven additional prizes of $1,000 each are given annually for self-published books of poetry, fiction, genre fiction, creative nonfiction, children’s literature, graphic narrative, and art books. Each of the winners will also receive publication of an excerpt on the Winning Writers website; a marketing consultation with author and publishing consultant Carolyn Howard-Johnson; $300 in credit at BookBaby, a distributor for self-published authors; and free advertising in the Winning Writers e-mail newsletter. Ellen LaFleche and Jendi Reiter will judge. Entry fee: $70.

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.

WriterCon

July/August 2023

WriterCon 2023 was held from September 1 to September 4 at the Renaissance Waterford Hotel in Oklahoma City. The conference featured over 70 presentations from more than 60 authors, editors, agents, and publishers, opportunities for pitching and private consultations, manuscript review, workshops, master classes, and open mics for poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers. The faculty included poet and novelist William Bernhardt, fiction writer Rilla Askew, and nonfiction writer Barry Friedman.

Type: 
CONFERENCE
Ignore Event Date Field?: 
yes
Event Date: 
April 29, 2025
Rolling Admissions: 
yes
Application Deadline: 
April 29, 2025
Financial Aid?: 
no
Financial Aid Application Deadline: 
April 29, 2025
Free Admission: 
no
Contact Information: 

WriterCon, 12600 W. Glen Court, Choctaw OK 73020. (405) 203-8641. William Bernhardt, Director.

Contact City: 
Oklahoma City
Contact State: 
OK
Contact Zip / Postal Code: 
73020
Country: 
US
Genre: 
Poetry
Fiction
Creative Nonfiction

Franconia Sculpture Park Writers Residency

July/August 2023

Franconia Sculpture Park offers eight residencies of two weeks in January and October to poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers at an outdoor sculpture park located in the St. Croix River Valley, in Shafer, Minnesota. Residents are provided with a private bedroom within a communal farmhouse, a shared office space, access to walking trails, airport pickup and drop-off, and a $1,000 stipend.

Type: 
RESIDENCY
Ignore Event Date Field?: 
no
Event Date: 
January 10, 2024
Rolling Admissions: 
ignore
Application Deadline: 
April 29, 2025
Financial Aid?: 
no
Financial Aid Application Deadline: 
April 29, 2025
Free Admission: 
yes
Contact Information: 

Franconia Sculpture Park Writers Residency, 29836 St. Croix Trail, Shafer, MN 55074. (651) 257-6668.

Contact City: 
Shafer
Contact State: 
MN
Contact Zip / Postal Code: 
55074
Country: 
US
Genre: 
Poetry
Fiction
Creative Nonfiction

Dear Diary

The Time Is Now
6.9.22

For the Paris Review Daily blog, Sloane Crosley, whose new novel, Cult Classic, was published this week by MCD, reflects on a journal entry she wrote about a time she and a friend boarded the wrong overnight train leaving Barcelona to Geneva during a twenty-day trip through Europe. Crosley considers how the diary entry of the experience includes the fight she recalls having with her friend but leaves out them making up and moving on with their trip. Think of a time when you were traveling on a trip and something went wrong—plans fell through, a friend got sick, a fight broke out. Write an essay about this experience including what you remember and might misremember.

Pages

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