Genre: Creative Nonfiction

Celebrating Women

The Time Is Now
3.17.22

Last week, International Women’s Day was celebrated around the world, bringing attention to the cultural, political, and socioeconomic achievements of women as well as a call to action for gender equality. This year’s theme is “Break the Bias,” which aims to imagine a world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination, and encourages daily practice in one’s actions and thoughts. Inspired by this globally celebrated day, write an essay meditating on the women in your life who’ve helped you make personal strides. When cataloged, what are some patterns you notice?

Racing the Essay

Caption: 

In this AAWW conversation moderated by Piyali Bhattacharya, writers with debut essay collections recently published, including Cathy Park Hong, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, and Sejal Shah, discuss Asian American identity, genre, gender, race, publishing, and the ways that the essay form has allowed writers to tell important stories. 

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Creative Nonfiction
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Cathy Park Hong
Aimee Nezhukumatathil
Sejal Shah
essay
Asian American Writers' Workshop
AAWW
panel
AAPI

Camille T. Dungy

Caption: 

“What you can do is tell your best story, at that moment.” Camille T. Dungy, whose first essay collection, Guidebook to Relative Strangers: Journeys Into Race, Motherhood, and History (Norton, 2017), was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, offers writers advice on how to overcome roadblocks in this Austin Community College video.

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Creative Nonfiction
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Camille T. Dungy
writing advice
Guidebook to Relative Strangers: Journeys Into Race, Motherhood, and History
Norton
2017
Page One
July/August 2017
Austin Community College

Upcoming Contest Deadlines

G&A: The Contest Blog
3.11.22

Celebrate the arrival of spring by applying to contests with a deadline of March 31. With many of these awards being offered to writers in multiple genres, there are ample opportunities for poets, fiction writers, and nonfiction writers alike. All contests offer a cash prize of $1,000 or more and two charge no entry fee. Dig in! 

A Public Space Writing Fellowships: Three six-month fellowships of $1,000 each are given annually to emerging fiction and nonfiction writers who have not published a full-length book. The fellows will work with the editors to prepare a piece for publication in A Public Space and will also have the opportunity to meet with publishing professionals and participate in a public reading. Entry fee: None.

Arts & Letters Prizes: Three prizes of $1,000 each and publication in Arts & Letters are given annually for a group of poems, a short story, and an essay. Allison Joseph will judge in poetry, Andrew Porter will judge in fiction, and Gayle Brandeis will judge in nonfiction. All entries are considered for publication. Entry fee: $20.

Black Lawrence Press Hudson Prize: A prize of $1,000, publication by Black Lawrence Press, and 10 author copies is given annually for a collection of poems or short stories. The editors will judge. Entry fee: $27.

Fish Publishing Poetry Prize: A prize of €1,000 (approximately $1,129) and publication in the Fish Publishing anthology is given annually for a single poem. The winner is also invited to read at the anthology launch event at the West Cork Literary Festival in July. Billy Collins will judge. All entries are considered for publication. Entry fee: €14 (approximately $16) for online entries or €16 (approximately $18) for postal entries.

Four Way Books Levis Prize in Poetry: A prize of $1,000 and publication by Four Way Books is given annually for a poetry collection. The winner will also be invited to participate in readings either virtually or in-person in New York City, as public health guidelines allow. Jericho Brown will judge. Entry fee: $30.

Indiana Review Poetry and Fiction Prizes: Two prizes of $1,000 each and publication in Indiana Review are given annually for a poem and a story. Entry fee: $20 (which includes a subscription to Indiana Review).

Narrative Winter Story Contest: A prize of $2,500 and publication in Narrative is given annually for a short story, a short short story, an essay, or an excerpt from a longer work of fiction or creative nonfiction. A second-place prize of $1,000 is also awarded. The editors will judge. All entries are considered for publication. Entry fee: $27.  

Press 53 Prime Number Magazine Awards: Two prizes of $1,000 each and publication in Prime Number Magazine are given annually for a poem and a short story. Faith Shearin will judge in poetry and Jubal Tiner will judge in fiction. Entry fee: $15. 

Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing: A prize of $10,000 and publication by Restless Books is given in alternating years for a debut book of fiction or nonfiction by a first-generation immigrant. The 2022 prize will be given in fiction. Writers who have not published a book of fiction in English are eligible. Entry fee: None. 

Trustees of the Robert Frost Farm Prize: A prize of $1,000 is given annually for a poem written in metrical verse. The winner also receives a scholarship to attend and give a reading at the Frost Farm Poetry Conference in Derry, New Hampshire, in June. Allison Joseph will judge. Entry fee: $6 per poem.

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. 
 

The Blaney Lecture: Paisley Rekdal

Caption: 

“With regard to war, I can’t help being suspicious of the very reasons we turn to poetry at all,” reads Paisley Rekdal from “Beyond Empathy, Beyond the Archive: Notes on Poetic Representation” for the 2022 Blaney Lecture, an annual lecture on contemporary poetry and poetics created by the Academy of American Poets. “Is our desire one of representation, political change, or emotional catharsis? And is that political change meant to happen on the page, or off it?”

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Poetry
Creative Nonfiction
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Paisley Rekdal
Blaney Lecture
Academy of American Poets
2022
lecture
war

About Suffering

The Time Is Now
3.10.22

In Elisa Gabbert’s essay “A Poem (and a Painting) About the Suffering That Hides in Plain Sight,” published for the Close Read series, a digital initiative on the New York Times website, W. H. Auden’s poem “Musée des Beaux Arts” is analyzed in conjunction with paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, as conclusions are drawn about what the two famed artists had to say about a world on the verge of war. The poem slyly uses rhyme and ekphrasis to reveal how suffering occurs simultaneously while “someone is eating or opening a window / or just walking dully along,” however, Gabbert points out that this is not to be used as an excuse. “Moral absolution is available, the poem seems to say,” she writes. “That doesn’t mean we deserve it.” Inspired by Gabbert, write an essay using historical research and personal anecdotes about a work of literature or visual art that speaks to a troubling period in your life.

Impact

The Time Is Now
3.3.22

In a Q&A from the September/October 2021 issue of Poets & Writers Magazine, poet Claire Schwartz asks Kaveh Akbar, author most recently of Pilgrim Bell (Graywolf Press, 2021), about the relationship between creating art and living a socially meaningful life. Akbar speaks about Iranian poet Forugh Farrokhzad and her 1962 film The House Is Black, a documentary about a leprosarium in northern Iran, as an example of the ideal. The film catalyzed Iranian new wave cinema and funds flowed into the leprosarium for renovations: “Farrokhzad’s film did exactly what one might hope for their art to do: It improved the material conditions of her subjects and expanded the aesthetic possibilities of the field,” says Akbar. Write an essay that explores the ideal impact you want your work to have, using an artist as a role model to illustrate your vision.

Upcoming Contest Deadlines

G&A: The Contest Blog
2.25.22

With a new month on the horizon, we’re looking ahead to contests with deadlines of March 14 or March 15. These awards offer opportunities for poets, fiction writers, and nonfiction writers! The contests include awards that celebrate women writers over the age of 40 and Latinx poets; all offer cash prizes of $1,000 or more, with opportunities for a handful of lucky winners to receive $10,000.

Airlie Press Prize: A prize of $1,000 and publication by Airlie Press is given annually for a poetry collection. The editors will judge. Deadline: March 15. Entry fee: $25.

Bellingham Review Literary Awards: Three prizes of $1,000 each and publication in Bellingham Review are given annually for works of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. The 49th Parallel Award for Poetry is given for a poem or group of poems. The Tobias Wolff Award for Fiction is given for a short story or a flash fiction piece. The Annie Dillard Award for Creative Nonfiction is given for an essay or a flash nonfiction piece. All entries are considered for publication. Deadline: March 15. Entry fee: $20.

Colorado Review Nelligan Prize for Short Fiction: A prize of $2,500 and publication in Colorado Review is given annually for a short story. Ramona Ausubel will judge. All entries are considered for publication. Deadline: March 14. Entry fee: $15 ($17 for online submissions).

Fourth Genre Steinberg Memorial Essay Prize: A prize of $1,000 and publication in Fourth Genre is given annually for an essay. Mary Cappello will judge. All entries are considered for publication. Deadline: March 15. Entry fee: $20.  

Hidden River Arts Eludia Award: A prize of $1,000 and publication by Sowilo Press is given annually for a first book of fiction by a woman writer over the age of 40. Deadline: March 15. Entry fee: $20.

James Jones Literary Society First Novel Fellowship: A prize of $10,000 is given annually for a novel-in-progress by a U.S. writer who has not published a novel. Runners-up will each receive $1,000. Deadline: March 15. Entry fee: $33.

National Poetry Series Open Competition: Five prizes of $10,000 each and publication by participating trade, university, or small press publishers are given annually for poetry collections. The 2022 publishers are Beacon Press, Ecco, Milkweed Editions, Penguin Books, and University of Georgia Press. Deadline: March 15. Entry fee: $35.

Prairie Schooner Raz-Shumaker Book Prizes: Two prizes of $3,000 each and publication by University of Nebraska Press are given annually for a poetry collection and a short story collection. Kwame Dawes will judge. Deadline: March 15. Entry fee: $25.

Robinson Jeffers Tor House Foundation Poetry Prize: A prize of $1,000 is given annually for a single poem. Forrest Gander will judge. Deadline: March 15. Entry fee: $10.

University of Notre Dame Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize: A prize of $1,000 and publication by University of Notre Dame Press is given biennially for a debut poetry collection by a Latinx poet residing in the United States. Alexandra Lytton Regalado and Sheila Maldonado will judge. Deadline: March 15. Entry fee: None. 

Verse Tomaž Šalamun Prize: A prize of $1,000 and publication by Factory Hollow Press is given annually for a poetry chapbook. The winner will also receive a monthlong residency in summer 2023 in a private apartment at the Tomaž Šalamun Center for Poetry in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Prose poetry, hybrid works, and translations of works of poetry by living writers from any language into English are also eligible. Ilya Kaminsky will judge. Deadline: March 15. Entry fee: $17 ($13 for students).

The Word Works Washington Prize: A prize of $1,500 and publication by the Word Works is given annually to a U.S. or Canadian poet for a poetry collection. Deadline: March 15. 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.

 

 

The Cruelest Months

The Time Is Now
2.24.22

For as long as writers have put pen to paper, springtime has been a fertile subject—mulled over, praised, longed for, and even forsaken. From Vladimir Nabokov’s 1926 novel, Mary, in which he writes that the feeling of “nostalgia in reverse” grows stronger in spring, to Angela Carter’s 1966 novel, Shadow Dance, in which she writes that “spring hurts depressives,” the season often symbolizes hope and anticipation, a climbing out of darkness. When the lingering coldness of winter remains, however, it is sometimes difficult to transition alongside the blossoms and sprouts. Taking inspiration from this fulcrum between seasons, write an essay about a period when you had trouble accepting the onset of spring. Spend time tracing the connection between the world outside and changing seasons of your emotional life.

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