Ishiguro Nobel Lecture, William Gass Has Died, and More
Yale digitizes a collection of Mina Loy’s writing and sketches; finalists for the John Leonard Prize; Carmen Maria Machado on horror; and other news.
Genre: Poetry
Patrick Rosal
Caption:
“Poems engage our imagination such that the confusion is not the end point.” Patrick Rosal, who won the Academy of American Poets’ 2017 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize for his fourth collection, Brooklyn Antediluvian (Persea Books, 2016), talks about the importance of art and reads several of his poems at the Loft Literary Center.
Genre:
Astronauts on Writer’s Block, Lorin Stein Resigns From Paris Review, and More
The ten thousand books banned in Texas prisons; the power of storytelling; the influence of Elizabeth Hardwick; and other news.
Julie Lekstrom Himes Wins Debut Novel Prize, Writers Share Their Year in Reading, and More
Penguin Random House art director resigns after allegation of sexual harassment; the changing definition of Asian American literature; Christopher Merrill on cultural diplomacy and writing; and other news.
The Descent of Alette
Caption:
“‘In a dark cave, I saw’ ‘an apparition:’ ‘almost real, almost there—’...” In this video, Alice Notley reads from her feminist epic The Descent of Alette (Penguin Books, 1996) at the Lab in San Francisco. The two-night program included a reading of the entire book-length poem and was cosponsored by the Poetry Center at San Francisco State University.
Genre:
Patti Smith on Writing Today, Bill Gates’s Top Five Books, and More
Knopf publishes Sam Shepard’s last book today; Texas school district bans Angie Thomas’s The Hate U Give; a poetry anthology on joy; and other news.
A Mystery of All Stripes
Much like Rudyard Kipling’s tales about animals and their origins, Just So Stories, scientists have many hypotheses to explain the mystery of why zebras have stripes including that they function as interspecies identifying marks, detract flies, or confuse predators. For ten summers, biologist Tim Caro conducted trial-and-error experiments to test these hypotheses, going so far as to walk around dressed in a custom-made black-and-white striped pajama suit and count flies that landed on himself. Write a poem inspired by Caro’s perseverance that explores the human desire to solve mysteries and explain unknown origins. How can you use diction, sound, and imagery to create an atmosphere of curiosity, frustration, or discovery?
Galway Kinnell’s Poetry, House Built Around a Bookshelf, and More
Christopher Bollen wins Bad Sex in Fiction Award; the crackdown on books in Egypt; new study investigates what makes poems pleasing; and other news.
Angela Peñaredondo
Caption:
“Eternity opens with the dark back / of a jazz pianist hunched inside himself...” For the Poetry.LA series, Angela Peñaredondo reads and discusses poems from her debut collection, All Things Lose Thousands of Times, which was the inaugural regional winner of Inlandia Institute’s Hillary Gravendyk Prize.
Genre:
December Poetry Contest Deadlines
Happy December! Poets, a new month means new opportunities to submit to the following contests with deadlines in the first half of December. Each contest offers a prize of at least $1,000 and publication.
Deadline: Saturday, December 3
Australian Book Review Peter Porter Poetry Prize: A prize of $5,000 Australian (approximately $3,810) is given annually for a poem. A second-place prize of $2,000 Australian (approximately $1,520) will also be given. The winners will be published in Australian Book Review. John Hawke, Bill Manhire, and Jen Webb will judge. Entry fee: $25 Australian (approximately $19)
Deadline: December 15
Willow Books Literature Award: A prize of $1,000 and publication by Willow Books is given annually for a poetry collection by a writer of color. Entry fee: $25
December Jeff Marks Memorial Poetry Prize: A prize of $1,500 and publication in December is given annually for a group of poems. Luis J. Rodriguez will judge. Entry fee: $20
Public Poetry Poetry Contest: A prize of $1,000, publication on the Public Poetry website, and an invitation to give a reading in Houston, Texas, is given annually for a poem on a theme. This year’s theme is “Power.” Cyrus Cassells, Tony Hoagland, Raina J. León, and Sasha West will judge. Entry fee: $15
Hidden River Arts Trilogy Award: A prize of $1,000 and publication in Hidden River Review will be given annually for a group of poems. Entry fee: $17
Visit the contest websites for complete guidelines, and check out our Grants & Awards database and Submission Calendar for more upcoming contests in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction.
Pages
