Jump to navigation Skip to content
Joshua Burton reads from his debut poetry collection, Grace Engine (University of Wisconsin Press, 2023), for this Splice Poetry Series reading at the Saturn Bar in New Orleans with poet Nikki Ummel. Burton is featured in “Performing the Future: Our Nineteenth Annual Look at Debut Poets” in the January/February issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
Emerging Latinx poets: Start the new year off ambitiously by submitting to the biennial Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize, administered by the Huizache Literary Initiative at University of California in Davis, by February 16! The winning poet receives $1,000, publication by University of Nevada Press as part of its New Oeste Series, and an invitation to give a reading with the contest judge at UC Davis.
Using only the online submission system, submit 48 to 100 pages of poetry. Latinx poets residing in the United States who have neither published, nor have committed to publish, a full-length collection are eligible. Juan Felipe Herrera will judge. There is no entry fee.
Established in 2004 by Letras Latinas at the University of Notre Dame’s Institute for Latino Studies “at a time when publishing opportunities for Latinx poets were few,” the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize has given exposure to poets with a wide variety of backgrounds and aesthetic approaches throughout its 20-year trajectory. When he first conceived of the prize, founder Francisco Aragón drew inspiration from Montoya’s The Iceworker Sings and Other Poems (Bilingual Press, 1999), a collection of urban elegies, prayers, and letters that touch on the poet’s experience as an ice plant worker and address the precarious conditions of a modern world divided by race and class. Most recently, Jordan Pérez won the prize for Santa Tarantula (University of Notre Dame Press, 2024), selected by Alexandra Lytton Regalado and Sheila Maldonado for the ways in which the poet “assembles her poems as shadowboxes, curious collections of the natural world, bible stories, and family memories” that account for “the everyday of a Latinx life in the South.”
In this virtual reading celebrating Carolina Hotchandani’s debut collection, The Book Eaters (Perugia Press, 2023), special guest poets Jennifer K. Sweeney, Lynne Thompson, and Catherine Barnett read a selection of poems and join in on a conversation about craft and writing. Hotchandani is featured in “Performing the Future: Our Nineteenth Annual Look at Debut Poets” in the January/February issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
Every year, Project Censored, an anti-censorship and media literacy advocacy organization, releases their State of the Free Press yearbook, highlighting the past year’s most significant independent journalism. This year’s book, published in December by Seven Stories Press, emphasizes the dangers of corporate media and the shuttering of community newspapers, which leave many communities without a reliable source of local information. Do some digging online or at a local library for a news story in your city from the past year, perhaps something that didn’t make national news. Write a poem inspired by your experience of zeroing in on the value of something small, ordinary, and regionally specific.
In this 2023 Green Apple Books event, Sally Wen Mao reads from her third poetry collection, The Kingdom of Surfaces (Graywolf Press, 2023), and discusses the history of Chinese women in America, the influence of Anne Anlin Cheng’s book Ornamentalism, and the urgent need for Asian literary imagination in a conversation with Cathy Park Hong.
Amanda Gunn speaks about her debut poetry collection, Things I Didn’t Do With This Body (Copper Canyon Press, 2023), in this installment of the Line / Break series hosted by Copper Canyon Press publicist Ryo Yamaguchi. Gunn is featured in “Performing the Future: Our Nineteenth Annual Look at Debut Poets” in the January/February issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
What better way to ring in the new year than to send your writing out for a shot at publication and some cash? Poets, fiction writers, and authors of creative nonfiction all have opportunities to apply to contests with a deadline of January 15. Awards include $5,000 for an essay and publication in Australian Book Review, $5,000 to spend creative time in the desert, and $3,000 and publication for a poetry collection by an author who is age 70 or older. Good luck!
Asheville Poetry Review
William Matthews Poetry Prize
A prize of $1,000 and publication in Asheville Poetry Review is given annually for a single poem. The winner is also invited to give a reading at Malaprop’s Bookstore in Asheville, North Carolina. David Kirby will judge. Entry fee: $20.
Australian Book Review
Calibre Essay Prize
A prize of $5,000 AUD (approximately $3,262) is given annually for an essay. Two second-place prizes of $2,500 AUD (approximately $1,631) each will also be awarded. The winners will be published in Australian Book Review. Entry fee: $16.
Ellen Meloy Fund
Desert Writers Award
A prize of $5,000 is given annually to enable a creative nonfiction writer “whose work reflects the spirit and passions for the desert embodied in Ellen Meloy’s writing” to spend creative time in a desert environment. Entry fee: $15.
New American Press
New American Poetry Prize
A prize of $1,500, publication by New American Press, and 25 author copies is given annually for a poetry collection. Nikki Wallschlaeger will judge. Writers of any citizenship working anywhere in the world are eligible, though the work should presume English-language readers. Entry fee: $25.
North Carolina Writers’ Network
Rose Post Creative Nonfiction Competition
A prize of $1,000 is given annually for an essay “that is outside the realm of conventional journalism and has relevance to North Carolinians.” The winning essay is also considered for publication in Ecotone. Writers who are legal residents of North Carolina or who are members of the North Carolina Writers’ Network are eligible. Belle Boggs will judge. Entry fee: $12.
Passager Books
Henry Morgenthau III First Book Poetry Prize
A prize of $3,000 and publication by Passager Books is given biennially for a first book of poems by a writer who is age 70 or older. Entry fee: $25.
Poetry Society of Virginia
North American Poetry Book Award
A prize of $1,000 is given annually for a poetry collection published during the current year. The winner is also invited to read at the organization’s annual Spring Poetry Festival, held at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, in May 2024. Self-published books and books that have previously received a post-publication award are ineligible. Lisa Russ Spaar will judge. Entry fee: $36.
Red Hen Press
Cai Emmons Fiction Award
A prize of $5,000 and publication by Red Hen Press is given annually for a short story collection, a novella, a novel, or other book-length work of fiction. Aimee Liu will judge. Entry fee: $25.
Wells College Press
Chapbook Contest
A prize of $1,000, publication by Wells College Press, and 10 author copies will be given annually for a poetry chapbook. The winner will also receive room and board to give a reading at Wells College. English translations of works, including co-authored manuscripts, originally written in another language with the relevant permission are accepted. Entry fee: $25.
Virginia Commonwealth University
Levis Reading Prize
A prize of $5,000 and an all-expenses-paid trip to give a reading at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond is given annually for a first or second book of poetry published during the previous year. 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.
For the past fifty years, the Poetry Project at St. Mark’s Church in New York City has hosted its annual New Year’s Day Marathon, a day of readings and performances that has grown into a twelve-hour-long event with over a hundred artists and writers given a few minutes on stage. In a Washington Post article about last year’s gathering, poet Jameson Fitzpatrick explained that she was there to “bear witness to poetry’s being alive. Reports of its death have been greatly exaggerated.” Write a short poem that captures the exuberant potential of verse, one that celebrates its own form and would be exciting to read in front of an audience. Consider how diction, sound, rhythm, and subject matter might collide to create a sensation of language teeming with vitality.
“I remember what’s important and I make up the rest. That’s what storytelling is all about.” This HBO Original documentary takes a look at the life of legendary poet and activist Nikki Giovanni. The award-winning film is directed and written by Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson, and includes readings by executive producer Taraji P. Henson.
Last month, the Journal of Great Lakes Research reported findings from a study of goldfish—the common East Asian carp often kept as pets—found in the wild, likely released into local lakes and rivers by their former owners. When removed from constricting fish bowls and flake-based diets, the fish grew to nearly a foot-and-a-half long and were able to reproduce quickly, destroying local marine ecosystems. Write a poem about something in your life that has ballooned out of proportion in an unexpected way. This might be a relationship with someone, an aspect of a job or extracurricular activity, or a household object that has transformed into an increasingly epic collection. Has the growth been slow and gradual or haphazardly speedy? At what point do you think enough is enough?
