Notes on Irreverent Translation
The author of Mistaken for an Empire: A Memoir in Tongues offers an approach to critically engaging with a colonialist literary canon.
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Genre: Poetry
Upcoming Contest Deadlines
Though the dog days of summer may be, thankfully, weeks away, now is the perfect time to submit to contests with a May 31 deadline! Don’t miss the opportunity to win over $6,000 and publication in poetry and short story categories; an emerging writer fellowship offering $5,000, plus the chance to meet editors and agents; or a $10,000 cash prize for a debut poetry collection, among other awards. These contests have renowned judges such as Toi Derricotte, Louise Glück, Lori Ostlund, and Kirk Wilson. All awards and fellowships offer a prize of $1,000 or more. Best of luck, writers!
Anhinga Press
Anhinga Prize for Poetry
A prize of $2,000, publication by Anhinga Press, and 25 author copies is given annually for a poetry collection. Entry fee: $25 ($28 for electronic submissions).
Autumn House Press
Literary Prizes
Three prizes of $1,000 each and publication by Autumn House Press are given annually for a poetry collection, a book of fiction, and a book of creative nonfiction. Each winner also receives a $1,500 travel and publicity grant. Toi Derricotte will judge in poetry, Pam Houston will judge in fiction, and Jenny Boully will judge in nonfiction. All entries are considered for publication. Entry fee: $30.
BOA Editions
Short Fiction Prize
A prize of $1,000 and publication by BOA Editions is given annually for a story collection. BOA publisher Peter Conners will judge. Entry fee: $25.
Bridport Arts Centre
Bridport Prizes
Two prizes of £5,000 (approximately $6,034) each and publication in the Bridport Prize anthology are given annually for a poem and a short story. A second-place prize of £1,000 (approximately $1,207) and publication is also given in each category. Additionally, a prize of £1,000 (approximately $1,207) and publication is given for a work of flash fiction. Roger Robinson will judge in poetry, Colin Barrett will judge in short story, and Christopher Allen will judge in flash fiction. Entry fee: £12 (approximately $14) for poetry, £14 (approximately $17) for fiction, and £11 (approximately $13) for flash fiction.
The Center for Fiction
Susan Kamil Emerging Writer Fellowships
Nine fellowships of $5,000 each, a one-year membership to the Center for Fiction in New York City, and a year of access to the Writers Studio writing space at the center are given annually to fiction writers living in New York City who have not yet published a book of fiction. Winners also have the opportunity to meet with editors and agents who represent new writers, and to receive critical feedback on their work from an editor. Applicants who on June 1, 2023, will be enrolled in a degree-granting program or are currently under contract with a publisher for a work of fiction are ineligible. Entry fee: none.
Elixir Press
Fiction Award
A prize of $2,000, publication by Elixir Press, and 25 author copies is given annually for a story collection or a novel. Kirk Wilson will judge. Entry fee: $40.
Milkweed Editions
Max Ritvo Poetry Prize
A prize of $10,000 and publication by Milkweed Editions is given annually for a debut poetry collection by a U.S. poet. Louise Glück will judge. Entry fee: $25.
Southern Poetry Review
Guy Owen Prize
A prize of $1,000 and publication in Southern Poetry Review is given annually for a single poem. Entry fee: $20, which includes a subscription to Southern Poetry Review.
University of Georgia Press
Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction
A prize of $1,000 and publication by University of Georgia Press is given annually for a collection of short fiction. Lori Ostlund will judge. Entry fee: $30.
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.
Unboxing Shakespeare’s First Folio
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Travel back four hundred years for this Victoria and Albert Museum video as Elizabeth James, senior librarian at the National Art Library in London, presents the secrets behind the First Folio of Shakespeare, which was published in 1623 and includes his iconic plays Twelfth Night, Macbeth, and The Tempest.
As Far as Her Will
In the iconic poem “My Mother Would Be a Falconress,” Robert Duncan uses the metaphor of a falcon and a falconer to characterize the relationship between a son and his overbearing mother. As the falcon, the speaker of the poem is sent by his mother “as far as her will goes.” Throughout the poem, Duncan provides detailed imagery associated with falconry—such as the hood placed on birds of prey, often sewn round with bells—to give the complex metaphor a realistic weight. Think of a metaphor that captures the relationship between a mother and her child. Write a poem that uses this metaphor to characterize this relationship, whether nurturing, overbearing, or otherwise.
Ama Codjoe and Carl Phillips at the 92nd Street Y
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In this 92nd Street Y event, Ama Codjoe reads from her debut collection, Bluest Nude (Milkweed Editions, 2022), with an introduction by poet Nkosi Nkululeko, followed by Carl Phillips reading from his latest collection, Then the War: And Selected Poems, 2007–2020 (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2022), with an introduction by poet Shane McCrae. Phillips won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in poetry for his collection.
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Artist Profile: Emily Lee Luan
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“If you write a poem you’re in conversation with every poem ever written,” says Emily Lee Luan, author of 回 / Return (Nightboat Books, 2023), in this promotional video for the Jersey City Reads Poems series, presented by Monira Foundation and ROQ Initiative, in which she discusses her writing process and reads a poem from her chapbook I Watch the Boughs. For more from Luan, read her installment of our Ten Questions series.
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Blooms
In her Pulitzer Prize–winning collection, The Wild Iris, Louise Glück gives voice to a multitude of flowers: violets, snowdrops, trillium, lamium, scilla, and more. Glück uses floral imagery and personification, as well as the relationship between garden and gardener, to explore themes of resurrection, existence, loss, and suffering. In the poem “Lamium,” she writes: “This is how you live when you have a cold heart. / As I do: in shadows, trailing over cool rock, / under the great maple trees.” This week, inspired by this season’s super blooms, write a poem in the voice of your favorite flower.
There Are No Unsacred Spaces by Cynthia Manick
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“I’m trying to tell you that the world is beautiful.” Cynthia Manick reads from her poem “There Are No Unsacred Spaces,” which appears in her second collection, No Sweet Without Brine (Amistad, 2023), in this HarperCollins Studio video. Manick’s collection is featured in Page One in the May/June issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
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Upcoming Contest Deadlines
Spring is in full swing: Give your writing the chance to bloom by submitting to contests with a May 15 deadline. Prizes include $5,000 for a debut novel set in the American South; $1,000 for a single poem; and $15,000 for women, transgender, and/or otherwise gender-nonconforming poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers in the Philadelphia area who have been creating art for social change. All prizes have a cash award of $1,000 or more, and two have no entry fee. Good luck, writers!
Academy of American Poets
James Laughlin Award
A prize of $5,000 is given annually for a second book of poetry by a living poet to be published in the coming calendar year. The winner also receives an all-expenses-paid weeklong residency at the Betsy Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida. Copies of the winning book are distributed to members of the Academy of American Poets. Entry fee: None.
Academy of American Poets
Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize
A prize of $25,000 is given annually for a poetry collection by a living poet published in the United States during the previous year. The winner also receives a 10-day residency, free of charge, at the Glen Hollow cottage in Naples, New York. Copies of the winning book are distributed to members of the Academy of American Poets. Entry fee: $75.
American Poetry Review
Stanley Kunitz Memorial Prize
A prize of $1,000 and publication in American Poetry Review is given annually for a single poem by a poet under the age of 40. Multilingual submissions are eligible, provided one of the languages is English. The editors will judge. Entry fee: $15.
Crook’s Corner Book Prize Foundation
Book Prize
A prize of $5,000 is given annually for a debut novel set in the American South. The author may live anywhere, but eligible novels must be set primarily in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, or Washington, D.C. Self-published books are eligible, but books available only as e-books are not. Wiley Cash will judge. Entry fee: $35.
Gaudy Boy
Poetry Book Prize
A prize of $1,500 and publication by Gaudy Boy, an imprint of the New York City–based literary nonprofit Singapore Unbound, is given annually for a poetry collection by a writer of Asian heritage residing anywhere in the world. Divya Victor will judge. Entry fee: $10.
Leeway Foundation
Transformation Awards
Awards of $15,000 each are given annually to women, transgender, and/or otherwise gender-nonconforming poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers in the Philadelphia area who have been creating art for social change for five or more years. Writers who have lived for at least two years in Bucks, Camden, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, or Philadelphia counties, who are at least 18 years of age, and who are not full-time students in a degree-granting arts program are eligible. Entry fee: None.
Lost Horse Press
Idaho Prize for Poetry
A prize of $1,000, publication by Lost Horse Press, and 20 author copies is given annually for a poetry collection by a U.S. poet. Entry fee: $28.
Pittsburg State University
Cow Creek Chapbook Prize
A prize of $1,000, publication by Pittsburg State University, and 25 author copies is given annually for a poetry chapbook. Chad Abushanab will judge. Entry fee: $15.
Ploughshares
Emerging Writer’s Contest
Three prizes of $2,000 each and publication in Ploughshares are given annually for a poem or group of poems, a short story, and an essay. Each winner also receives a consultation with the literary agency Aevitas Creative Management. Writers who have not published a book or a chapbook with a print run of over 300 copies are eligible. Entry fee: $24.
Regal House Publishing
Fugere Book Prize
A prize of $1,000 and publication by Regal House Publishing will be given annually for a novella. The editors will judge. 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, creative nonfiction, and translation.
World in Verse: A Virtual Poetry Reading
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Watch this virtual multilingual reading of poetry in translation presented by Words Without Borders in partnership with the Academy of American Poets. Enjoy poetry in Arabic, French, Malay, Spanish, and English, with readings by poet Jeannette Clariond and translator Samantha Schnee, poet Zahid M. Naser and translator Pauline Fan, poet Samira Negrouche, and translator Kareem James Abu-Zeid.
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