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In this PEN America event from their 2022 World Voices Festival, authors Jean Guerrero, Omar El Akkad, Ousman Umar, and Yuri Herrera come together for a conversation about border and migrant narratives, the current global crises of displacement, and how literature tells the stories of those often ignored or hidden.
How well do we know ourselves? Studies done by psychologists over the past several decades have demonstrated that people often process information about the world around them through cognitive biases. The way in which an event is remembered can then lead to biased thinking and decision-making. Positive memory biases cause one to remember events more favorably than they actually were and view their overall past with a rosy outlook, while negative memory biases often occur when recalling an emotional event. Write a poem that approaches one memory from two different cognitive biases, playing with the ways in which an event or situation might be remembered differently depending on how it was experienced. Does this multivalent approach allow you to expand your initial perceptions of what happened?
Palestinian poet and scholar Mosab Abu Toha reads his poems and discusses his life as a writer in Gaza for this 2021 virtual event moderated by Refqa Abu-Remaileh and hosted by the Literatures of Annihilation, Exile, and Resistance research collective and lecture series. The author of the award-winning book Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear (City Lights Books, 2022) was detained by Israeli Defense Forces while trying to leave Gaza after his home was bombed, and was later released.
The American dipper is said to be North America’s only truly aquatic songbird: a small, undistinctive brownish gray bird that chirps a pretty melody nearby river rapids and dives up to twenty feet into the water, even walking underwater along the riverbed to catch tiny fish, larvae, and small insects to eat. Flying fish also straddle multiple elements, launching themselves out of water and gliding through the air to escape predators. Unexpected animal behavior can act as a reminder of our own flexibilities or potential to exceed expectations that might otherwise keep us constrained. This week write a poem about a time when you have been propelled into unexpected territory, like a fish out of water or a bird under water. Is it possible that you might feel in your element while out of your element?
“Praise your capacity for birth / fluid currents and trenchant darkness.” In this short film directed by Justyn Ah Chong, poet Craig Santos Perez reads “Praise Song for Oceania,” which appears in his collection Habitat Threshold (Omnidawn, 2020). Perez’s latest collection, from unincorporated territory [lukao] (Omnidawn, 2023), the fourth in an ongoing series about his homeland of the Pacific Island of Guåhan (Guam), won the National Book Award in poetry.
Begin the last month of 2023 by showing a little faith in your poetry: Submit to the inaugural Watchword Prize from Georgetown Law’s Center on Privacy & Technology by December 1. The author of the winning poem will receive $2,000, publication on the center’s website, and an invitation to read at the Color of Surveillance conference.
Using the online submission form, submit up to three poems for consideration on the broad theme of surveillance. There is no entry fee, and poet Carolyn Forché will judge. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
As technology enables governments and corporations to more easily and frequently monitor individuals, the Center on Privacy & Technology advocates for legal polices to protect privacy rights. The center launched the Watchword Prize to engage poets in thinking about what it means to be surveilled and the consequences for a society that keeps such close tabs on its people. “Artists and poets have a deeply-rooted tradition of participation in movements for social change, and we want to help foster and inspire the production of new works of art that evoke and critique experiences and practices of surveillance,” says a statement on the center’s website explaining the impetus for the prize.
“Humor is humanizing and it helps us remain in a space of authenticity and lightness.” In this video for PBS NewsHour’s “Brief But Spectacular” series, Megan Fernandes offers her take on humor and humiliation in poetry and reads a poem from her collection I Do Everything I’m Told (Tin House, 2023). For more from Fernandes, read her installment of our Craft Capsule series.
Action films provide excitement through fight scenes, car chases, explosions, and other high-octane thrills, but emotional conflict is what keeps audiences engaged. Whether it’s the death of a puppy or the bond between a cyborg and a child, emotions fuel the action. In the classic 1997 blockbuster Con Air, Nicolas Cage plays a good-hearted ex-convict waiting for the moment he can reunite with his wife and young daughter when his transport plane descends into chaos as a planned prison break unfurls aboard. Throughout the turbulent turmoil, the protagonist goes to great lengths (at times to a comedic level) to protect and hold onto sentimental objects: a handwritten letter from his daughter and a plush stuffed bunny for her birthday. Consider how action and sentimentality can work together and experiment with inserting an opposing emotion or sensation into a poem you’ve written in the past. How might the contrast emphasize or highlight a previously submerged aspect of the poem?
“It’s okay for you to reveal more of yourself in your poetry.” —Subhaga Crystal Bacon
With just a couple of weeks until Thanksgiving, be grateful for time off to prepare your work for a variety of upcoming contests that have a November 30 deadline! Prizes include $2,500 and publication for a short work of fiction, graphic narrative, or memoir or an excerpt from a longer work of prose; $2,500, publication, and 50 author copies for a poetry chapbook; and $1,000 and publication for a book of poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction translated from any language into English. Continue reading to find details on nearly a dozen other prizes, and good luck!
Autumn House Press
Rising Writer Prize
A prize of $1,000 and publication by Autumn House Press is given in alternating years for a debut work of poetry or fiction. The 2024 prize will be given for poetry. The winner will also receive a $500 grant for travel and book promotion. Eduardo C. Corral will judge. The submission fee may be waived in cases of financial need. All finalists are considered for publication. Entry fee: $25.
Beloit Poetry Journal
Chad Walsh Chapbook Series
A prize of $2,500, publication by Beloit Poetry Journal, and 50 author copies is given annually for a poetry chapbook. A limited number of fee waivers are available upon request via e-mail. Entry fee: $20.
BOA Editions
A Poulin Jr. Poetry Prize
A prize of $1,000 and publication by BOA Editions is given annually for a first book of poetry by a U.S. resident. Matthew Shenoda will judge. Entry fee: $25.
Fish Publishing
Fish Short Story Prize
A prize of €3,000 (approximately $3,287) and publication in the annual Fish Publishing anthology is given annually for a short story. The winner will also be invited to attend a five-day short story workshop and read at the West Cork Literary Festival in July 2024. Sarah Hall will judge. All entries are considered for publication. Entry fee: €20 (approximately $22) for online submissions; €22 (approximately $24) for mailed submissions.
Green Linden Press
Wishing Jewel Prize
A prize of $1,000 and publication by Green Linden Press is given annually for an innovative book of poetry “that questions the boundaries of genre, form, or mode while engaging the rich possibilities of lyrical expression.” English translations of poems originally written in another language are accepted. Christopher Nelson will judge. All finalists are considered for publication. Entry fee: $25.
Green Linden Press
Stephen Mitchell Translation Prize
A prize of $1,000 and publication by Green Linden Press will be given annually for a book of poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction translated from any language into English. Christopher Nelson will judge. All finalists will be considered for publication. Entry fee: $25.
LitMag
Anton Chekhov Award for Flash Fiction
A prize of $1,250 and publication in LitMag is given annually for a work of flash fiction. The winner will also have their work reviewed by agents from the Bent Agency, Brandt & Hochman, Folio Literary Management, InkWell Management, Sobel Weber Associates, and Triangle House Literary. The editors will judge. Entry fee: $16.
Munster Literature Center
Gregory O’Donoghue International Poetry Competition
A prize of €2,000 (approximately $2,192) and publication in Southword is given annually for a single poem. The winner will also receive a four-night hotel stay with full board to give a featured reading at the Cork International Poetry Festival in Cork, Ireland, in May 2024 and will be featured on the Southword Poetry Podcast. Entry fee: €7 (approximately $8).
Narrative
Fall Story Contest
A prize of $2,500 and publication in Narrative is given annually for a short story, a short short story, an essay, a short graphic narrative, a short work of memoir, or an excerpt from a longer work of prose. A second-place prize of $1,000 and publication in Narrative is also awarded. The editors will judge. All entries are considered for publication. Entry fee: $27.
Nina Riggs Poetry Foundation
Nina Riggs Poetry Award
A prize of $1,000 is given annually for a single poem that examines relationships, family, or domestic life and was published in a book or magazine in the last three years. English translations of poems originally written in another language are accepted. Entry fee: None.
Quarter After Eight
Robert J. DeMott Short Prose Contest
A prize of $1,008.15 and publication in Quarter After Eight is given annually for a prose poem, a short short story, a micro essay, or other work of short prose. Dianne Seuss will judge. All entries are considered for publication. Entry fee: $15.
Red Hen Press
Quill Prose Award
A prize of $1,000 and publication by Red Hen Press is given annually for a story or essay collection, a novel, or a hybrid work of prose by a queer writer. Carlos Allende will judge. Entry fee: $10.
Tadpole Press
100-Word Writing Contest
A prize of $2,000 is given biannually for a work of flash poetry or prose. English translations of works originally written in another language are accepted. Entry fee: $15.
White Pine Press
Poetry Prize
A prize of $1,000 and publication by White Pine Press is given annually for a poetry collection. Entry fee: $20.
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.
