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April 2006
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Welcome to our April newsletter. This is the companion to our online database, The Best Free Poetry Contests. It alerts you to upcoming contests and important contest changes.
Lost one of our newsletters? Message garbled in transmission? Not to worry. All our recent newsletters are posted online at http://www.winningwriters.com/news
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Jendi Reiter to Read at Forbes Library in Northampton, Mass.
Winning Writers editor Jendi Reiter will be reading her poetry on May 3rd at 7pm at Forbes Library in Northampton, along with prizewinning poet Kevin Goodan, author of In the Ghost-House Acquainted (Alice James Books, 2004). Forbes Library is located at 20 West Street. Call 413-587-1011 or visit www.forbeslibrary.org for details.
RECENT HONORS FOR WINNING WRITERS
Winning Writers is proud to receive the Truly Useful Site Award from Preditors & Editors (March 2006). "These sites have proven not only useful or entertaining. They have also set a standard for other sites to aim for. We congratulate them on their achievements."
Winning Writers is also proud to have been selected for the second year in a row as one of the "101 Best Web Sites for Writers" by Writer's Digest. "Revamped and ready to lay it on the line, this site is a great place to check the validity of poetry contests...." Thanks to our readers who nominated us over the winter!
FEATURED SPONSOR'S MESSAGE
Closing Next Month
75th Annual Writer's Digest Writing Competition
Postmark Deadline: May 15
For 75 years, the Annual Writer's Digest Writing Competition has rewarded writers just like you for their finest work. And best of all, we're celebrating our milestone year by giving away more than $30,000 in cash and prizes! No other writing competition offers so many chances for you to win — or sends you to New York City to meet with editors or agents! Compete and win in 10 categories including Rhyming and Non-rhyming Poetry. For a complete list of prizes, guidelines and an entry form, visit http://www.writersdigest.com/specialoffers.asp?WW4 or send an email to writing-competition@fwpubs.com.
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Closing Next Month
War Poetry Contest
Postmark Deadline: May 31
Sponsored by Winning Writers. We seek original, unpublished poems for our fifth annual contest on the theme of war. Submit 1-3 poems, up to 500 lines in total. $3,000 in prizes will be awarded, including a top prize of $1,500. The entry fee is $12. This fee includes three months of online access to the Poetry
Contest Insider database, a $6.95 value. Current subscribers to Poetry Contest Insider will be extended by three months. Judge: Jendi Reiter. Submit online or by mail. Guidelines:
http://www.winningwriters.com/war
Margaret Reid Poetry Contest for Traditional Verse
Postmark Deadline: June 30
Now in its third year, this contest seeks poetry in traditional verse forms such as sonnets and haiku. 30 cash prizes totaling $3,500 will be awarded, including a top prize of $1,000. All winners of cash prizes will be published in an anthology. The entry fee is $6 for every 25 lines you submit. Enter online or by mail. Early submission encouraged. You may submit poems that have been published or won prizes elsewhere, as long as you own the anthology and online publication rights. Unpublished work is also welcome. Winning Writers is assisting with entry handling for this contest. Judges: John H. Reid and Dee C. Konrad. Guidelines:
http://www.winningwriters.com/margaret
TRY POETRY CONTEST INSIDER
Get profiles on over 750 poetry contests, plus over 100 of the best prose contests. Search and sort contests by deadline, prize, fee, recommendation level and more. Interviews and links to award-winning work help you refine your craft. Explore Poetry Contest Insider for 10 days on us. If you like it, you'll pay just $6.95/quarter. If it's not for you, cancel and pay nothing. Learn more about Poetry Contest Insider.
"For a really complete list of poetry competitions, including rankings and summaries, I'd suggest subscribing to Winning Writers, a very good service and quite inexpensive."
Jeffery Bahr, "Awards and Competitions for First-Time Authors"
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Deadlines: April 16-May 31
Here is a summary of upcoming free poetry contests. Click the contest names to be taken directly to their profiles (you may be asked to login on your first click of the day). You may also view the profiles by logging in to The Best Free Poetry Contests here and clicking the Find Free Contests link to search for contests by name.
4/17: Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowships +++
Highly recommended contest from prestigious Poetry magazine offers two fellowships of $15,000 for US authors with no published books. Applicants must be regularly enrolled in an English or creative writing program, on the graduate or undergraduate level, as of the deadline date. Send 10 pages of poetry (published work may be included), plus an application form completed by the director of your school's creative writing department. One applicant per school.
4/18: Foley Poetry Contest ++
Entries must be received by this date
Recommended free contest from the Jesuit magazine 'America' offers $1,000 and publication for a poem of 30 lines or less. (Past winning poems have touched on morally significant issues, but have not been "religious" poetry in the conventional sense.) No simultaneous submissions.
4/30: Betsy Colquitt Award for Poetry/Frank O'Connor Award for Fiction +
Neutral free contests offer $500 apiece for the best poetry and fiction published in Descant: Fort Worth's Journal of Poetry & Fiction. General submission guidelines apply. Editors prefer poems 60 lines or less, stories 5,000 words or less.
5/1: Crucible Poetry and Fiction Competition +
Entries must be received by this date; formerly May 2
Neutral free contest offers top prizes of $150 in each genre, plus publication in Crucible, the literary journal of Barton College. All submissions to the journal are considered for the prize. Send 1-5 poems or one story of no more than 8,000 words. One entry per person per genre. No simultaneous submissions.
5/1: Hendrickson Memorial Prizes in Poetry & Short Fiction +
Entries must be received by this date
Neutral free contest offers top prize of $300, alternates between between poetry (odd-numbered years) and fiction (even-numbered years). The 2006 award will be for the best short fiction work, 1,000-5,000 words, exhibiting the traits of directness in language and authenticity of spirit. One submission per entrant (additional entries will be considered for the magazine but not the prize). No simultaneous submissions. Enter online only.
5/1: John Ciardi Lifetime Achievement Award in Poetry +++
Highly recommended free contest offers $1,000 to an Italian-American author who has published not only poetry collections but also cultural criticism, and has promoted poetry through various activities. By nomination only. Nominees must have published at least two books of poetry, excluding chapbooks, and have published poetry criticism or edited poetry-related works.
5/1: Mosaic Poetry & Fiction Competition +
Neutral free contest for poetry and fiction by disabled authors offers publication on website of Mosaic, a British organization for the disabled. Winners will also be published in the Mosaic News newsletter and possibly in a future anthology. Length limit is up to 40 lines per poem or 700 words per short story.
5/1: New Sins Poetry Book Contest +
New neutral contest for poetry manuscripts offers $500, publication by New Sins Press and 20 copies. Send manuscript of 60-70 pages (including front matter), pages numbered, 1.5-line spacing, with author's name and contact information on the title page, to New Sins Press, Attn: Arroyo/Sheldon, 3925 Watson Avenue, Toledo, OH 43612. SASE for results only. No website; see this contest's Best Free Poetry Contests profile for more information.
5/1: Oneswan Productions Writing Competition +
Neutral free contest offers top prize of $100 (across all genres) for unpublished poetry, fiction, and Christian inspirational essays, plus prizes of $50 and $25 in each category. Fiction may be romance, mystery, sci-fi, horror or fantasy. Maximum 2 entries per category. Length limits are 65 lines for poetry, 2,500 words for fiction, 1,500 words for essay.
5/15: Cave Canem Poetry Prize +++
Highly recommended free contest for African-American authors with no published books offers $500 and publication by one of three prestigious publishing houses (University of Georgia Press, Graywolf Press or University of Pittsburgh Press) for a poetry manuscript of 50-75 pages.
5/15: James Laughlin Award +++
Highly recommended free contest for a poet's second book, under contract to a publisher. The Academy of American Poets will award the winner $5,000 and buy 10,000 copies of the winning book for distribution to its members. Publisher should submit four copies of manuscript or galleys with author's name removed. To be eligible for the 2006 award, a book must have come under contract with a United States publisher between May 1, 2005, and April 30, 2006, and must be scheduled for publication no later than June 1, 2007.
5/15: Presence Poetry Contest +
Entries must be received by this date
Neutral free contest offers top prize of $100, three runner-up prizes of $75, for unpublished poems on a spiritual theme. One poem per person, maximum 30 lines. Enter by email only.
5/31: Bordighera Poetry Prize ++
Recommended free contest for manuscripts by Italian-American poets offers $1,000 each to the author and a commissioned translator who will translate the book into Italian. The poet must be a US citizen, but the translator may be an Italian native speaker from any country. The poet may translate his/her own work if bilingually qualified. Initial submission should be a 10-page sample from a manuscript of 48 pages maximum. See website for complete details.
5/31: Country Mouse Poetry Contest +
Entries must be received by this date
Twice-yearly neutral free contest sponsored by online poetry journal The Country Mouse offers $500 and publication. Send 1-5 poems, maximum 50 lines each. No simultaneous submissions.
5/31: Rosine Offen Memorial Award +
Neutral free contest offers $200 for the best poem published in every issue of Free Lunch (usually publishes at least two issues per year). There is no separate application process. Follow general submission guidelines. Magazine does not read submissions June through August.
Login
to The Best Free Poetry Contests now to view these and all our profiles of free contests. You can browse contests by deadline date, name, recommendation level and more.
Key to Ratings
Highly Recommended: +++
Recommended: ++
Neutral: +
All deadlines are postmark deadlines unless otherwise specified.
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SPONSORS' MESSAGES
THE GIANT BOOK OF POETRY—Signed by the Author AND Free Shipping!
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"The Giant Book of Poetry is the perfect introductory anthology for new poetry readers."
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Have a Bestseller Ready to Go? Level 4 Press Seeks Authors
Level 4 Press is looking for authors with books complete or almost complete for our 2007 catalog. Prefer nonfiction but will entertain all ideas with the potential to sell 100,000 or more copies. We are a traditional press, not a print-on-demand or vanity publisher. Send your idea in a paragraph or two to william@level4press.com or fax it to 619-374-7311. We will request sample chapters and resumes if we like the idea.
Places, Breaking Up, Staying Power, Fast Friends
Poems about . . . Paris when it pours, learning to love the Big Apple; trekking Austria's Zillertal Alps, Colorado's San Juans. For whom the wedding bells toll—or from whom they exact a toll: a casualty's moans; concise history of hostilities. Enduring love and simply enduring: As if by divine intervention a long-lost flame is rekindled; those stairs and the boudoir are becoming a mounting problem. Irrepressible hounds: a Vizsla feeling underappreciated, a Weimaraner poised to quell an insurgency. www.edalbaugh.com
This Open Eye: Seeing What We Do, poems by Reggie Marra
"...a powerful, devastating, and stunningly beautiful book.... Like Breyten Breytenbach, Nelly Sachs, and Antonio Machado before him, Marra reclaims the essentially human from both the brutal and the brutalized."
—Trebbe Johnson, author, The World Is a Waiting Lover
"Reggie Marra writes with stunning, graphic precision.... These poems are tributes to the nearly-invisible wounded and the honest humanity so many of us yearn for now."
—Naomi Shihab Nye, author, You & Yours
"...bravely steps into the epicenter of world conflict and individual suffering..."
—Eileen Albrizio, author, Rain: Dark as Water in Winter
Excerpts, ordering and info: www.integraljourneys.com
(ISBN 0-9627828-2-3, $12.00, March 2006)
New England Writer's Studio
Editorial Expertise offers writers a period of secluded concentration in Tamworth, New Hampshire. Located between the Lakes Region and the White Mountains, it is a village with exquisite mountain scenery and a library within walking distance. The Barnstormers Theatre, in the heart of the village, offers plays and concerts throughout the year. In July and August, actors are heard rehearsing their lines or chatting on the deck of the nearby cafe. The studio, with a private entrance and bathroom/utility room, is $200/weekend, $350/week, and $650/month. Dr. Elizabeth Tillar is available for editing and consultations (at $15/hour). Email Eliztillar@aol.com or call 603-323-2924.
Writing It Real in Port Townsend Annual June Writer's Conference
Intimate, constructive writer's workshop June 22-26 in Port Townsend, WA with master teachers and writers Sheila Bender of WritingItReal, Jack Heffron of Emmis Books and formerly of Writer's Digest Books, and award-winning poet Susan Rich. Join us in the beautiful Northwest just after solstice when the light is long (family and companions will have plenty to do in the historic Victorian seaport town loaded with galleries, hiking and boating—we are near the Olympic National Park, the San Juan Islands and Victoria BC). Email conference@writingitreal.com for more details.
Attention Creative Writers—A Dash of Style: The Art and Mastery of Punctuation
From Noah Lukeman, literary agent and bestselling author of The First Five Pages, comes a new book on the craft of writing: A Dash of Style: The Art and Mastery of Punctuation. Why did Poe and Melville rely on the semicolon? Why did Hemingway and Carver embrace the period? Filled with examples from literary masters, A Dash of Style is the first guide to punctuation for the readership that needs it the most: creative writers. In the tradition of Elements of Style, it can also be used by anyone hoping to write well.
Punctuation reveals the writer: haphazard periods, for example, reveal haphazard thinking. Semicolons might indicate affectation; colons might denote melodrama; dashes might point to scattered thought. Yet in the right hands, these marks can also transform your writing from the banal to the exquisite. Punctuation can be used to teach the writer how to think, and subsequently how to write.
A short, practical book, filled with original exercises, A Dash of Style teaches writers the benefits that can be reaped from mastering punctuation, such as word economy, enhanced style, clarity, progression and intention. Along with the major marks (the period, comma, semicolon, colon, quotation marks, the dash and parentheses) the book examines little-scrutinized marks such as the paragraph break and section break, and finally considers how they all might be used together in "The Symphony of Punctuation".
#1 Bestseller on Amazon Shorts. A selection of the Writer's Digest Book Club.
www.adashofstyle.com
Closing Next Month
City of Derby Short Story and Poetry Competition
Entries must be received by May 31
A UK competition open to writers of all ages and nationalities. Seeks short stories of less than 5,000 words, poems of no more than 40 lines. First prize £300. Second prize £200. Third prize £100 in each category. Short story judge Michael Hulse, Warwick University, poetry judge Ian Parks, Leeds University. Entries should be either submitted online (PayPal and credit cards accepted) or mailed with a reading fee of £3. See competition website for the complete rules at www.cityofderbywritingcompetition.org.uk. Postal address:
The City of Derby Short Story and Poetry Competition 2006
P.O. Box 7065
Derby DE1 OAD
United Kingdom
Closing Next Month
Perigee 2006 Fiction Contest
Postmark and Online Submission Deadline: May 31
Our third annual fiction contest features increased cash prizes totaling $400, with additional chances to win. Send us fiction with something at stake. All three winning entries will be published in our Autumn 2006 issue. All styles and subject matters are welcome, but please only send fiction of 3,500 words or fewer. Reading fee: $10 per story. Writers may make multiple submissions at $10 each. Results will be announced on July 15th. To read guidelines, submit directly through our web site, and explore our latest issue, visit
www.perigee-art.com
Perigee's Twelfth Issue Now Available!
The third anniversary issue contains fresh verse and prose—plus featured artwork in our reinstated Visual Art section. Visit us today to read the free teaser version or buy the entire issue for only $1. Also in our 12th issue, enjoy the four winning poems from our 2005 Poetry Contest. You don't want to miss this issue so hurry over to
www.perigee-art.com
Artists Embassy International Poetry Contest
to further understanding and goodwill through the universal language of the arts
Postmark Deadline: June 1 (early entries encouraged)
Three $100 grand prizes and a video of your poem being performed at the Dancing Poetry Festival in San Francisco on October 7, plus cash awards for 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes. Reading fee is $5 for one poem, $10 for three poems. Each poem may have up to 40 lines. Send two copies of each poem. Put your name, address and phone number on one copy only. The anonymous copy will go to the judges. Please send your entries to: Judy Cheung - Chair, 704 Brigham Avenue, Santa Rosa, CA 95404. No entries will be returned. Complete guidelines: http://www.dancingpoetry.org/dancingpoetrycontest.htm
Write On: Free Poetry Contest
Email Submission Deadline: June 15
Twice a year, the editors of Write On's POETRY PLACE pick one outstanding poem to showcase online. Enter our third contest now. Email your poem to writecmchale@earthlink.net. Limit one poem per person, up to 55 lines. The winner will be announced and published by July 1.
Autumn House Poetry Prize: $2,500 and Book Publication
Postmark Deadline: June 30
Winner will receive book publication, a $1,000 advance against royalties and a $1,500 travel grant to participate in the 2007 Autumn House Master Poets Series in Pittsburgh. The contest is open to all full-length collections of poetry 50-80 pages in length. If poems have been previously published, then acknowledgement must be given to other publishers, and the poet must control rights to all previously published material. All finalists will be considered for publication. Final judge is Tim Seibles. Please enclose a $25 handling fee, payable to Autumn House Press. Send your manuscript and fee to Autumn House Press, Attn: Poetry Prize, P.O. Box 60100, Pittsburgh, PA 15211.
Autumn House has published full-length poetry collections by Gerald Stern, Ruth L. Schwartz, Ed Ochester, Julie Suk and many other outstanding poets. For more information, please see www.autumnhouse.org.
The Litchfield Review Summer Contest
Postmark Deadline: July 30
The Litchfield Review seeks original, unpublished poems, essays and short stories for its current contest. We provide a forum to both emerging and established writers; our only criterion for acceptance is excellence. We look for good stories beautifully told, quality poetry of substance, and creative nonfiction that lingers long in the minds of readers. The overall winner will receive $250. Other prizes of $100 may also be awarded. The reading fee is $10 per essay, short story, or set of 1-3 poems; or $15 to submit an unlimited number of prose and poetry entries. All prizewinners will be published in The Litchfield Review. Runners-up may also be published. All writers we publish will receive a free copy of the issue in which they appear.
Please submit two copies of your manuscript and make your reading fee payable to The Litchfield Review. Essays and short stories may be up to 3,000 words long. Poems may have up to 45 lines. Your entry should be typed, double-spaced, on one side of letter-size sheets of paper. Staple multiple pages together. Include a cover page with your name, address, phone number, email address (if available) and title for each submission. Indicate the word count (prose) or line count (poetry) on the cover page.
Mail your submission to: The Litchfield Review, 7 Bonna Street, Beacon Falls, CT 06403.
You may submit the same work simultaneously to this contest and to others. Please notify The Litchfield Review if the work you submit is accepted elsewhere. Questions? Please email Theresa C. Vara-Dannen.
The Virginia Brendemuehl Prize
Postmark Deadline: July 30
Rock & Sling announces The Virginia Brendemuehl Prize for an unpublished poem, any style, 60 lines maximum. Winner receives $1,000 and publication. Finalists are also published. Send $10 entry fee, payable to Rock & Sling, and 1-3 poems to The Virginia Brendemuehl Prize, Rock & Sling, P.O. Box 30865, Spokane, WA 99223. Winners will be notified by September 1. No simultaneous submissions, please. See www.rockandsling.org for further details and sample work.
Congratulations to the winner of the 2005 Virginia Brendemuehl Contest, Michelle Bitting. Her poem, "Good Friday Kiss", deftly illustrates how easily, by a mere shift in the light, one changes sides. More disturbing than life/death, this poem shimmies between careless, childish cruelty and less forgivable symbolic transgressions. Published in the Fall/Winter 2005 issue of Rock & Sling.
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These free prose contests with deadlines between April 16 and May 31 are included as a bonus in The Best Free Poetry Contests.
Click the contest names below to go straight to their profiles, or login to The Best Free Poetry Contests here. After you login, please click the Find Free Contests link, then search by Prose Contest Type to find prose contests.
4/20: New York Times "Win a Trip with Nick Kristof" Contest +++
Entries must be received by this date
Highly recommended free contest offers college and graduate students the opportunity to go on a reporting trip in the developing world with New York Times columnist Nick Kristof. Prize includes $1,000 stipend plus meals, lodging and airfare. Send essay of 700 words maximum explaining why you should win the prize, plus two references. Application process begins online; finalists will be asked to mail their transcripts to the contest organizer.
4/25: Fountainhead Essay Contest for High School Students +++
Highly recommended free contest for high school students (11th and 12th grade) offers $10,000 top prize, other large prizes, for essays on Ayn Rand's novel The Fountainhead. Essays should be based on one of the three questions on the website, and be 800-1,600 words long. Enter by mail or online. Contest is looking for entries that are sympathetic to Rand's philosophy. See website for other student contests.
4/30: Charles Johnson Student Fiction Award +++
Highly recommended free contest for US college and graduate students offers $1,000 and publication in Crab Orchard Review for a short story, maximum 20 double-spaced pages. The award competition is open to all undergraduate and graduate students who are US citizens or permanent residents currently enrolled full- or part-time in a US college or university.
4/30: Paul Bowles Prize for Fiction +++
Highly recommended free contest offers $1,000 for the best story published in Five Points, a prestigious literary journal, during the current year. Stories around 7,500 words preferred. Five Points also pays $15 per page for prose that they accept, $50 per poem. No simultaneous submissions.
4/30: Paul Zindel First Novel Award ++
Recommended contest offers $9,000 advance and publishing contract with Hyperion for a novel for children. Send a book-length manuscript (100-240 pages) of contemporary or historical fiction set in the US that will be suitable for readers aged 8 to 12. Open to US writers aged 18 and over who have not yet published a novel. No simultaneous submissions. Maximum 2 entries per person. Publisher is prestigious, but we're withholding our highest recommendation because no winner was chosen for 3 of the 4 years that the contest has been offered.
5/1: Armed Forces Joint Warfighting Essay Contest ++
Recommended free contest from the US Naval Institute offers top prize of $2,500 for essays on any subject relating to combat issues in a joint context. Essays may be heavy in uni-service detail but must have joint application. Maximum 3,000 words. One entry per person; no simultaneous submissions.
5/1: Coast Guard Essay Contest ++
Recommended free contest from the US Naval Institute offers top prize of $2,000 for essays on any subject relating to the transformation of the Coast Guard. Maximum 3,000 words. One entry per person; no simultaneous submissions.
5/1: Commonwealth Short Story Competition +++
Entries must be received by this date
Highly recommended free contest for citizens of the British Commonwealth (the UK and countries once ruled by the British Empire) offers 2,000 pounds and radio broadcast for a short story, maximum 600 words and 4 minutes 30 seconds performance time. Maximum 3 entries per person.
5/1: West Virginia New Writers Award +
Neutral free contest from Shepherd University's Appalachian Literary Project offers $500 for the best unpublished short story of 500-2,500 words by a West Virginia resident. One entry per person. The contest's mission is to encourage and recognize novice writers in West Virginia, and to foster an appreciation of Appalachian culture and the values represented in the diverse writing of the region.
5/15: Great Canadian Questions Essay Competition ++
Entries must be received by this date
Recommended free contest for Canadian high school and college students offers C$2,000 for the best essay of 1,500 words maximum on one of six topics concerning Canadian history and culture: Founding Concepts, Identity Revolution, After Unity, Canada & the World, Heroes & Symbols, or Does History Matter. Online submission only.
5/15: Tamarack Award +++
Formerly May 16
Highly recommended free contest offers $10,000 and publication in Minnesota Monthly for a short story, 4,000 words maximum. Residents of Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Wisconsin and Michigan may enter.
5/31: Bechtel Prize +++
Highly recommended free contest from Teachers & Writers offers $3,500 for the best unpublished essay or article relating to creative writing education, literary studies, and/or the profession of writing. Maximum 5,000 words.
5/31: Jerry Jazz Musician Fiction Contest +
Entries must be received by this date
Thrice-yearly free neutral contest offers $200 and web publication for short fiction. The Jerry Jazz Musician reader has interests in music, social history, literature, politics, art, film and theater, particularly that of the counter-culture of mid-20th century America. Entries should appeal to a reader with these characteristics. Submit stories of 1,000-5,000 words by email to jm@jerryjazz.com as an MS Word or Adobe Acrobat attachment. Please be sure to include your name, address and phone number with your submission. Please include "Short Fiction Contest Submission" in the subject heading of the email.
Login
to The Best Free Poetry Contests now to view these and all our profiles of free contests.
Key to Ratings
Highly Recommended: +++
Recommended: ++
Neutral: +
All deadlines are postmark deadlines unless otherwise specified.
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Green Mountains Review: Literature of the American Apocalypse
Green Mountains Review seeks poems, stories, and essays for our 20th anniversary double-issue on Literature of the American Apocalypse. Send literature, darkly comic or deadly serious, that centers on American dread, inspired by everything from the current Administration's war on terror and war on privacy, to continuing threats of environmental degradation, nuclear annihilation, world-ravaging disease, corruptions of culture and language, takeover by clones and computers, natural disasters that some say are caused by global warming and others say are acts of an angry god, or whatever else can be imagined by an end-of-days mind. We will read submissions for this special issue throughout the coming year (including summer), with a projected publication date of May 2007. Payment: $20/page. Send to Green Mountains Review, Apocalypse Issue, Johnson State College, Johnson, VT 05656.
LocusPoint
Postmark Deadline: May 30
Each issue of this online journal contains poetry from a particular group of US cities or regions, plus links to community organizations and poetry resources for that area. The guest editor for each location selects five pages of poetry apiece from seven local poets, and writes an introduction commenting on the poetry scene in that place. For the first issue, they are seeking submissions from Boston, Minneapolis, Phoenix, St. Louis and Seattle.
Relief: A Quarterly Christian Expression
Postmark Deadline: August 1
Relief, a new Christian literary journal, is accepting submissions of short fiction for its first issue through August 1, 2006. An online entry system lets you track the progress of your story through the evaluation process. "The goal of this publication is to pursue a complete picture of Christ and life—real, gritty, painful, wonderful, this-side-of-heaven life. In an effort to never offend, too many Christian publications fail to express the power of a real Christ in a real world, opting instead for clichés and placating expressions of the ideal. Relief seeks to bridge the gap between mainstream fiction and cotton-candy Christianity. Christ's goal was never to keep us sheltered and comfortable. He did not pull his punches. The primary measuring stick for good Christian writing cannot continue to be safety. It must be skill—the ability to expose what is real, express it eloquently, punch the reader."
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Boston Poetry Slam at the Cantab Lounge
Poetry slam open mike and featured readers can be enjoyed every Wednesday night at this club in Cambridge, Mass.
Centennial Press
Milwaukee-based poetry publisher with an offbeat sense of humor (one of their chapbooks is titled Crap), home to authors such as Antler, A.D. Winans and Alex Carlson. Also publishes the literary journal Anthills. Website features fun extras such as "How to Impress Your Professor (and Alienate Your Fellow Students)" and the list of things to improve your status quotient (includes feta cheese, Catholicism and mannequins).
Colrain Poetry Manuscript Conference
Unique conference designed to set poets with a manuscript-in-process on a path towards publication. Led by award-winning poets Joan Houlihan and Fred Marchant. Includes meetings with editors from leading poetry presses such as Tupelo Press and BOA Editions. The next conference will be held August 18-21, 2006, in Harvard, Mass., and another is planned for November in Colrain, a town in Western Massachusetts. Visit the Concord Poetry Center website for news of upcoming readings.
Copyright, Fair Use, and the New Borrowers
Postmodern art raises novel copyright questions by extensively appropriating words, images and sounds from existing works by other artists. This article from the New York Foundation for the Arts summarizes a new report by New York University's Brennan Center about the extent to which copyright law's "fair use" doctrine protects such artworks from infringement claims.
Cruelest Month
Poetry weblog sponsored by HarperCollins Publishers is pleasantly irreverent. Blogroll features links to pages on HarperCollins authors, a diverse lot including poetic luminaries past and present (John Keats, Ted Hughes, Carolyn Kizer) as well as pop stars-turned-poets (Jewel, TLC's T-Boz).
DMQ Review
Online journal DMQ, or Disquieting Muses Quarterly, pairs lyrical poems with evocative photos and artwork. 'Poet's Bookshelf' feature interviews contemporary writers about the books that have influenced them, alongside a selection of their own work.
Ether: "Earn money selling what you say"
Ever wanted to start an advice hotline? Sign up for a free phone number, set your rates, and callers who prepay can take advantage of your expertise. Ether bills their credit cards and takes a 15% commission on sales. Ideal for manuscript consultations and other editorial services.
Facing Altars: Poetry and Prayer
Poet and memoirist Mary Karr muses on the resemblance between poetry and prayer as "sacred speech" that eases the soul's isolation. Karr also describes her recent conversion to Catholicism from a secular upbringing that made a religion out of art and literature. "People usually (always?) come to church as they do to prayer and poetry—through suffering and terror."
Lizard Lounge Poetry Jam
This Cambridge, Mass. nightclub offers a poetry slam open mike followed by featured readers and a jazz band every Sunday evening. Check out their weblog for news and links to some of their regular performers.
Martin Steele: "Lost Tears"
In this dark, dreamlike prose poem, the landscape of desert warfare mirrors the deadened heart of a narrator whose empathy is finally stirred by an unknown soldier's death.
National Poetry Month 2006 at a Glance
Overview of some major poetry readings taking place in April 2006, courtesy of the Poets & Writers website.
Online School of Poetry
New venture seeks to bridge the worlds of literary academia and slam poetry. Instructors include former California poet laureate Quincy Troupe, performance poets Patricia Smith and Regie Gibson, prizewinning author Tom Daley.
Poetcast: Poetry Podcasts
Listen on your computer or iPod to selections from the Academy of American Poets' extensive Poetry Audio Archive, as well as new work by contemporary poets and favorite verses selected by readers. For those new to podcasting, the website contains a helpful introduction to downloading and playing the files.
Poetry Magazine: Poems and Essays on the Subject of War
Selection from archives of venerable Chicago-based journal Poetry includes a then-unknown Wallace Stevens' reflections on World War I, plus more contemporary works.
Poetry Super Highway Holocaust Remembrance Day Issue
Powerful poems recall the Holocaust in words of grief, anger, love and truth. We particularly like this 2005 issue; see the Poetry Super Highway archives for links to previous annual Holocaust issues. These issues are published annually during the week of Holocaust Remembrance Day. Submissions are accepted during the week before only.
SharpWriter.com
Links to dozens of online dictionaries, grammar and style guides, and copyright advice sites are among the most useful features of this website maintained by horror/suspense novelist John T. Cullen.
Star Magazine
British literary journal devoted to modern rhyming poetry. Editors say, "Poems which must rhyme in some form can be up to 100 lines on any subject other than religion or politics. Humorous or serious, they should use modern language, reflect life today and stir some kind of emotion." Submit by mail or email. See website for free poetry competition (prize of 25 pounds). Entries must be received by April 30.
UNESCO World Poetry Directory
The United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization hosts this website with links to festivals, prizes, journals and poetry societies worldwide. Contact them with news of your poetry publications and organizations.
See all our resources now at http://www.winningwriters.com/resources/ur_web.php. This is also the gateway to our recommended books, magazines, service providers, advice for writers (with manuscript tips) and poetry critiques.
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Art and Fear
By David Bayles and Ted Orland. A small book full of wisdom about overcoming the psychological barriers that can prevent us from taking our own work seriously.
Here, Bullet
By Brian Turner. Recently returned from the Iraq war, this former infantry team leader depicts the agony and adrenalin rush of combat, as well as the moments of unexpected stillness and beauty in a soldier's precarious life in a foreign land. This striking debut collection won the 2005 Beatrice Hawley Award from Alice James Books.
Meeting Faith
By Faith Adiele. In this profound, witty memoir of spiritual transformation, an intense, high-achieving, activist intellectual goes to Thailand to research the unequal status of women in Buddhist religious life, and unexpectedly finds inner peace during her stint as a member of an ascetic order of nuns. The elegantly designed book pairs her current reminiscences with excerpts from her journals, side by side on the page like a Talmudic commentary.
The Moon Reflected Fire
By Doug Anderson. A Vietnam veteran's searing, lyrical, dark-humored poems relate the surreal horrors and feverish pleasures of that war to a wider tradition of Western moral and literary struggles with our capacity for destruction. Anderson weaves a tapestry of connections between the Trojan War, Vietnam, and the drug-fueled violence of our streets. Winner of the 1994 Kate Tufts Discovery Award. Don't miss Anderson's most recent collection, Blues for Unemployed Secret Police.
Women Writing in Prison [no link]
Edited by Jacqueline Sheehan. Powerful, heartfelt poems and prose by 95 incarcerated women from the Voices From Inside project. This anthology has received high praise from Billy Collins and Ellen Dore Watson among others. Voices From Inside, located in western Massachusetts, facilitates writing workshops with women in prison, encouraging them to write their stories in their own unique voices. This volume brings the women's writing into the larger community, promoting a deeper understanding of the human costs of incarceration. All profits from book sales support the program. Copies are $17 plus $3 shipping. Make checks payable to Amherst Writers & Artists Press and mail to Voices from Inside, P.O. Box 60443, Florence, MA 01062. Email codirector Carolyn Benson for more information and discounts on bulk orders.
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MORE SPONSORS' MESSAGES
Closing Next Month
War Poetry Contest
Postmark Deadline: May 31
Sponsored by Winning Writers. We seek original, unpublished poems for our fifth annual contest on the theme of war. Submit 1-3 poems, up to 500 lines in total. $3,000 in prizes will be awarded, including a top prize of $1,500. The entry fee is $12. This fee includes three months of online access to the Poetry
Contest Insider database, a $6.95 value. Current subscribers to Poetry Contest Insider will be extended by three months. Judge: Jendi Reiter. Submit online or by mail. Guidelines:
http://www.winningwriters.com/war
Margaret Reid Poetry Contest for Traditional Verse
Postmark Deadline: June 30
Now in its third year, this contest seeks poetry in traditional verse forms such as sonnets and haiku. 30 cash prizes totaling $3,500 will be awarded, including a top prize of $1,000. All winners of cash prizes will be published in an anthology. The entry fee is $6 for every 25 lines you submit. Enter online or by mail. Early submission encouraged. You may submit poems that have been published or won prizes elsewhere, as long as you own the anthology and online publication rights. Unpublished work is also welcome. Winning Writers is assisting with entry handling for this contest. Judges: John H. Reid and Dee C. Konrad. Guidelines:
http://www.winningwriters.com/margaret
Tom Howard/John H. Reid Poetry Contest
Postmark Deadline: September 30
Now in its fourth year, this contest seeks poems in any style, theme or genre. 30 cash prizes totaling $3,500 will be awarded, including a top prize of $1,000. All winners of cash prizes will be published in an anthology. The entry fee is $6 for every 25 lines you submit. Enter online or by mail. Early submission encouraged. You may submit poems that have been published or won prizes elsewhere, as long as you own the anthology and online publication rights. Unpublished work is also welcome. Winning Writers is assisting with entry handling for this contest. Judges: John H. Reid and Dee C. Konrad. Guidelines:
http://www.winningwriters.com/tompoetry
IMAGINE YOUR STORY IN A BESTSELLING BOOK!
Do you have a personal story that belongs in today's bestselling anthologies, like Chicken Soup for the Soul, A Cup of Comfort and Chocolate for Women? You could get published and receive money for your work! Julia Rosien, a publishing veteran and editor at ePregnancy Magazine, will mentor you and show you how to turn your memories into essays that warm the heart...and sell.
http://www.absoluteclasses.com/Rosien/soulstories.htm
2006 Poet's Market
The 2006 edition of Poet's
Market is on sale for $16.49 at Amazon. Published each August by Writer's Digest, this is the best annual guide to 1,800 journals, magazines, book publishers, chapbook publishers, websites, grants, conferences, workshops and contests. Helps you find publishers who are looking for your kind of work. Also updated are Novel & Short
Story Writer's Market and Writer's Market for works of prose. Writer's Market is "the most valuable of tools for the writer new to the marketplace," says
Stephen King in On Writing.
Office Depot - April Coupon
Save on paper, toner, binders and all your writing supplies at Office Depot. Free delivery in select areas when you order $50 or more. Coupon:
Save $30 off any $150 Purchase from Office Depot in April!
Advertise to 16,000 Poets and Writers
Promote your contests, websites, events and publications in this newsletter. Reach over 16,000 poets and writers for $35. Ads may contain up to 100 words and a headline. Place your reservation at:
http://www.winningwriters.com/advertisers.php
"Advertising with Winning Writers produced immediate, extraordinary results! Our first ad, as well as our published interview with Jendi Reiter, linked us with fine writers across the world, a connection that continues to enrich our issues, annual contest, and readership."
Susan Cowger, Editor, Rock & Sling
"The ads we have run in the Winning Writers newsletter
have garnered more response and inquiry than any other
ads we have run in 20 years of publication."
Ted O. Badger, Editor, Lucidity Poetry Journal
"Thanks for the great advertising value your service
continues to offer. Your subscriber base continues
to serve as the foundation for our submissions."
Robert Woerheide, Editor in Chief, Perigee
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PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT
What Reading Means
Adapted from A Way With Words, by Ruth J. Colvin, founder of Literacy Volunteers of America...
IT WAS 2 A.M. ON A WINTRY MORNING in Syracuse, New York, in 1961. A baby moaned. In the dimly lit room, his mother peered sleepily at a label on the medicine bottle. If only she could remember what the nurse at the clinic had said. All she recalled was that the nurse had warned her, "Too much could be fatal." How much was too much? She looked at the label again. What she saw were only meaningless symbols in a rectangle. They made as much sense to her as these would to us: yhr wiovl ntpem gpc ki,[rf pbrt yjr ;sxu n;svl fphhu
§
GEORGE TOSSED AND TURNED. He needed sleep to keep his job. He often had restless nights, for he knew the inevitable would happen...his employer would learn the truth that he couldn't read. George delivered packages for a small manufacturing company. He and his wife had bluffed the clerk at the Motor Vehicle Office when he applied for his driver's license, but this was a continuing challenge. The couple had worked out a system. George would pick up the typed instructions from his boss, then call his wife and slowly read her each letter and number on the invoices. She would tell him what they said, but it was up to him to remember every detail. He worried that someday he wouldn't remember correctly. George also worried about street signs. He could read STOP, but what did YIELD mean?
§
MICAH RAISED THE BOTTLE to his lips. Already he was almost in a drunken stupor. They said he could work at the diner washing dishes and cleaning up. He was to start tomorrow. But he knew he'd lose this job as he had dozens of others. Just two weeks before, he had poured disinfectant into the dishwasher, thinking it was liquid soap. Only a few people came down sick, but he left before his bosses found out the truth. Micah slammed down the bottle. "If only I could read!" He had a high school diploma in a bottom drawer at home, but it was no guarantee that he could read.
§
 Literacy Volunteers of America has joined with Laubach Literacy International to form ProLiteracy Worldwide. ProLiteracy is now the oldest and largest nongovernmental literacy organization in the world. It sponsors educational programs that help adults and their families acquire the literacy practices and skills they need to function more effectively in their daily lives.
Support ProLiteracy's vital mission. Click
here to learn more. Click
here to contribute. To order a copy of A Way With Words, please contact New Readers Press.
Send this newsletter to a friend and we'll donate 15 cents to ProLiteracy for each friend you refer.
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This month, Critique Corner is pleased to present "People Like Me" by J. Malcolm Browne.
If you would like a chance to be critiqued, please email your poem to me at critique@winningwriters.com.
Send the poem in the body of your email message (no attachments) and put "poetry critique" in the subject line. One submission per poet per month. Thanks!
PEOPLE LIKE ME
by J. Malcolm Browne
We are held air in iron-banded lungs
we sear in our own fires,
inside flesh falls off like fat off a roast
we are oven we burn or
burst like weeds, swell like a malignant lump
in some breast, becoming bloated
bogs in our own shadows inside
where people like me can forget
what sunlight feels out of glass.
We die before we die
consumed by our fusion reactions
swallowed by our inside shadows
until we are nothing more than
eggshells, with the white and yolk
blown free
Our garden is rock.
Shale and granite and limestone
road rock is our garden
and any blossom, any green, any growth,
is pulled burned and poisoned
as a weed.
People like me haunt doorways
never completely in, never completely out,
never to be here or there, we are nowhere,
doorways and cracks and in between spaces, lost places
lost people like lost keys lost in between
and we can be found on the bottom of dry riverbeds,
see us walking there, people like me,
we who walk through the silt and dust
of desert canals, we
don't live long, people like me.
How long can a person live
with gasoline for blood
we are raped by our intensity
wasted, wraithed by it, we don't
live long, we weren't meant to.
Copyright 2006 by J. Malcolm Browne
Critique by Jendi Reiter
This month's critique poem, J. Malcolm Browne's "People Like Me", takes us inside the psyche of someone who is battered and shipwrecked by his own emotional storms. Wisely, the author does not "diagnose" the condition in clinical terms that would permit us to label and distance ourselves from the speaker. We are left to speculate about the reasons why he might experience life as alienation and nightmare: hallucinatory drugs, mental illness, the aftermath of a tragedy, or the morbid romantic temperament of the artistic genius. By speaking not only for himself but for a shadowy cohort of "people like me", the narrator makes an almost political demand for empathy and recognition. (I was reminded of the line "Attention must be paid" from Death of a Salesman, whose theme of invisible desperation finds its echo in Browne's poem.) The poem makes us feel these sufferings as our own, thereby revealing our common humanity with the self-destructive or delusional characters we might otherwise stereotype.
What impressed me about this poem's technique was how the author provides just the right amount and type of information to avoid being either too prosaic or too maudlin and gothic. Both of these pitfalls are common when writing about depression and emotional disorders, and both stem from an excess of self-consciousness. The prosaic poem uses the vocabulary of the medical or journalistic observer to define the condition from outside, never allowing us to see the sufferer as more than a statistic. At the other extreme, the poet is too aware of talking about his own feelings, and over-adorns the poem with blood and devils, like a bad action-movie director throwing in more and more explosions to add punch to a dull plot....
critique continues here
This poem, our critique and contest suggestions for poems in this style appear in full at:
http://www.winningwriters.com/resources/critiques/2006/urc_0604browne.php
See
all of our 2005-2006 poetry critiques
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COMING IN OUR MAY 15 NEWSLETTER
The Best Free Poetry Contests for May 16-June 30
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