Ten Questions for John Lee Clark
“Isn’t poetry supposed to be a spiritual practice?” —John Lee Clark, author of How to Communicate
Tags:
Genre: Poetry
John Keene and Sharon Olds at 92NY
Caption:
“We are the quiet street hours before doors open. / We are the first words, and the parting ones.” John Keene reads “Pulse” and other poems from his National Book Award–winning collection Punks: New & Selected Poems (The Song Cave, 2021), for this 92NY reading with Sharon Olds, author most recently of Balladz (Knopf, 2022). Keene and Olds are introduced by poets Dante Micheaux and Omotara James.
Genre:
Upcoming Contest Deadlines
As 2022 winds to a close, give your writing one last chance to shine this year by submitting to contests with deadlines of December 15 and December 30. Awards include a seven-month residency at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts; a weeklong residency at Millay Arts in Austerlitz, New York; publication of poetry and nonfiction books; and $3,000 for a published debut novel. All contests offer a cash prize of $500 or more. We wish you success, writers!
Center for Book Arts
Poetry Chapbook Contest
A prize of $500 and letterpress publication by the Center for Book Arts is given annually for a poetry chapbook. The winner will also receive 10 copies of their chapbook and an additional $500 to give a reading with the contest judge at the Center for Book Arts in New York City in fall 2023, and a free weeklong residency at Millay Arts in Austerlitz, New York, during the Wintertide Rustic Retreat. Deadline: December 15. Entry fee: $30.
Codhill Press
Pauline Uchmanowicz Poetry Award
A prize of $1,000, publication by Codhill Press, and 25 author copies is given annually for a poetry collection. James Sherwood will judge. All entries are considered for publication. Deadline: December 30. Entry fee: $30.
Essay Press/University of Washington Bothell
Book Contest
A prize of $1,000 and publication by Essay Press will be given annually for lyric essays, prose poems, and works of experimental biography and autobiography that “challenge the formal possibilities of prose.” The winner will also be invited to read at the University of Washington Bothell in downtown Seattle; all travel expenses will be covered. Collaborative, digital, and hybridized work, including text and art, are eligible. Deadline: December 15. Entry fee: $20 (or $25 to receive a copy of a previous or forthcoming Essay Press book).
Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown
Writing Fellowships
Fellowships for a seven-month residency at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts, are given annually to four poets and four fiction writers who have not published a full-length book in any genre. Each fellowship includes a private apartment, a monthly stipend of $1,000, and an exit stipend of $1,000. Deadline: December 15. Entry fee: $50.
Longleaf Press
Book Contest
A prize of $1,000, publication by Longleaf Press, and 25 author copies will be given annually for a poetry collection. The winner will also be invited to give a virtual reading in early 2024. Roger Weingarten, Longleaf’s editor in chief, will judge. Deadline: December 15. Entry fee: $27.
Story
Story Foundation Prize
A prize of $1,500 and publication in Story is given annually for a short story. Deadline: December 15. Entry fee: $25 (which includes a subscription to Story).
Virginia Commonwealth University
Cabell First Novelist Award
A prize of at least $3,000 is given annually for a debut novel published during the current year. The winner and two additional guest panelists (usually the winner’s agent and editor) also receive lodging and travel expenses to attend the First Novelist Award event night at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in fall 2023. A committee of VCU faculty and MFA candidates will judge. Deadline: December 30: 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, creative nonfiction, and translation.
Also a Poet: Ada Calhoun With Emma Straub
Caption:
In this Books Are Magic event, Ada Calhoun reads from her memoir Also a Poet: Frank O’Hara, My Father, and Me (Grove Press, 2022) and discusses her writing process, New York City, and parenting with Emma Straub.
Genre:
Postscript
“And some time make the time to drive out west / Into County Clare, along the Flaggy Shore, / In September or October,” writes Seamus Heaney in his poem “Postscript,” which describes in detail an Irish county that the speaker recommends the addressee visit. The poem uses deep observation to create an all-encompassing description of this craggy coastline’s geographic features and fauna along the Wild Atlantic Way. “The surface of a slate-grey lake is lit / By the earthed lightning of a flock of swans,” writes Heaney. This week, think back to a natural landscape that has made a lasting impression on you and write a poem addressed to a loved one that describes this unique terrain’s lasting beauty.
Ten Questions for Will Alexander
“Let your sense of language dawn of its own accord.” —Will Alexander, author of Divine Blue Light: For John Coltrane
Tags:
Orpheus by Safia Elhillo
Caption:
“For a time I believed / myself in love with Orpheus, which only meant I loved // what I could make if I were free from what happened to my body.” In this reading from the 2022 Poetry International Festival in Rotterdam, Safia Elhillo reads “Orpheus” from her poetry collection Girls That Never Die (One World, 2022). For more from Elhillo, read her installment of our Ten Questions series.
Genre:
Deadline Approaches for C.P. Cavafy Poetry Prize
Resist the urge to buy more stuff this Black Friday, and invest the money you save in your writing: Apply to Poetry International’s annual C.P. Cavafy Poetry Prize, which comes with an award of $1,000 and publication in the magazine.
Using only the online submission system, submit up to three poems of any length with a $15 entry fee ($3 for each additional poem) by December 1. All entries are considered for publication. The editors will judge. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Sylvie Baumgartel of Santa Fe won the 2021 C.P. Cavafy Prize for her poem “Stealth Bomber.” Poetry International editor in chief and contest judge Sandra Alcosser described what stood out to her about the poem: “Each line shines and cuts as the poet creates a conceit that moves between the military-industrial complex and equally complex family relationships."
Based at San Diego State University, Poetry International has been in circulation for more than twenty-five years and is among the most revered poetry magazines in the world. Each annual print issue includes poems in English and in translation. Contributors have included Kim Addonizio, Kwame Dawes, Seamus Heaney, Nicole Sealey, Tomas Tranströmer, Derek Walcott, and many others. Poetry International aims to publish work that is “strong and compelling and that highlights our shared humanity while inviting us into the diverse realities of people across the globe.”
Monmouth University
MFA Programs
MA
Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Cross-Genre
West Long Branch, NJ
Application Deadline:
Rolling Admissions
Application Fee:
$60
Affiliated Publications/Publishers:
Inciting Joy With Ross Gay
Caption:
“People talk about epigenetic trauma all the time. People don’t talk about epigenetic joy. There can’t be one and not the other.” In this event hosted by the DC Public Library and Loyalty Bookstores, Ross Gay reads from and discusses his new essay collection, Inciting Joy (Algonquin Books, 2022), with Clint Smith. A Q&A with Gay by Aimee Nezhukumatathil is featured in the November/December issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
Genre:
Pages
