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September 2009
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Welcome to our September newsletter. This is the companion to our online database, The Best Free Poetry Contests. It alerts you to upcoming contests and important contest changes, highlights quality resources for writers, and announces achievements and great poems by our readers.
Lost one of our newsletters? Formatting doesn't look right? Not to worry. All our recent newsletters are posted online at http://www.winningwriters.com/news
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FEATURED SPONSOR'S MESSAGE
Coal Hill Review Poetry Chapbook Contest: $250 and Publication
Postmark Deadline: November 1
The 2009 Coal Hill Review Poetry Chapbook Contest is now open. Please submit your manuscripts online at www.coalhillreview.com. Reading fee: $15 to be paid via PayPal (major credit cards accepted). Submit 10-15 pages of poetry, either a group of poems or one long poem. Poems may be previously published. Include an acknowledgments page.
The winning chapbook will be published electronically in Coal Hill Review, as well as in a paper edition. All finalists will be considered for publication in Coal Hill Review. The final judges for the competition are Anna Catone and Philip Terman, poetry editors of Coal Hill Review (see bios). Please address any questions to msimms@autumnhouse.org with the words "CHAPBOOK COMPETITION QUERY" in the subject line.
Please enjoy this poem by James Tyner, part of his winning chapbook entry from 2008:
At a Barbecue for R.C. One Week After He Is Out of Iraq
by James Tyner
He laughs and tosses back
another shot of whiskey.
There are questions about cousins,
how is Lisa doing, she still drinking,
did Eddy finally marry that big
bitch, heard Monica is in L.A. now.
I fill him in, crack open another beer
chaser, and tell what stories I can.
I am light here, keeping things brief,
smiling, avoiding the heat from his skin,
the pocks and purple circles
that tighten his face, mar it.
A curl of scarred flesh lifts up
from the collar of his shirt,
hanging like a question
I can't ask. And suddenly the food
is done, barbeque finished,
mom calls out to get the kids
ready to eat, and his face fills
with an emptiness, jaw loosens
and he is muttering now, about kids,
something about so many goddamn
kids. He asks me if I know what
the color of brains really is,
and I answer that the ribs
are getting cold.
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Last Call!
Tom Howard/John H. Reid Poetry Contest
Postmark Deadline: September 30
Now in its seventh year, this contest seeks poems in any style, theme or genre. Both published and unpublished poems are welcome. Prizes of $2,000, $1,000, $500 and $250 will be awarded, plus five High Distinction awards of $200 each and six Most Highly Commended Awards of $100 each. The entry fee is $7 for every 25 lines you submit. Submit online or by mail. This contest is sponsored by Tom Howard Books and assisted by Winning Writers. Judges: John H. Reid and Dee C. Konrad. See the complete guidelines and past winners.
Tom Howard/John H. Reid Short Story Contest
Postmark Deadline: March 31, 2010
Now in its 18th year. Prizes of $3,000, $1,000, $400 and $250 will be awarded, plus six Most Highly Commended Awards of $150 each. Submit any type of short story, essay or other work of prose, up to 5,000 words. You may submit work that has been published or won prizes elsewhere, as long as you own the online publication rights. $15 entry fee. Submit online or by mail. Early submission encouraged. Winning Writers is assisting with entry handling for this contest. Judges: John H. Reid and Dee C. Konrad. See the complete guidelines and past winners.
Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest - No Fee
Online Submission Deadline: April 1, 2010
Winning Writers invites you to enter the ninth annual Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest. We've simplified the entry process and increased the prize pool to $3,600, including a top prize of $1,500. There's still no fee to enter. Final judge: Jendi Reiter. See the complete guidelines and past winners.
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TOM HOWARD/JOHN H. REID SHORT STORY CONTEST WINNERS ANNOUNCED
Tom Howard Books is pleased to announce the results from its 17th annual Tom Howard/John H. Reid Short Story Contest. Gabriela Blandy of Oxford, England won first prize and $2,000 for her story "The Buck". Over 1,600 entries were received from around the world. See the press release announcing the winners.
Blandy's winning story is set on the narrator's farm. The plot has been most assiduously crafted with several powerfully interwoven strands centering on an unlikely pair of animals who form an unexpected friendship. It's a novelty that not only delights a small rural community but assuages the pain of a national tragedy involving a member of that same small town. The judges said, "'The Buck' offers a story of many levels: One is human with love and harmony; another introduces tragedy leaving a town bereft and two young girls motherless. On another level, the author depicts an unusual 'romance' between a buck and a cow. These strands are so ingeniously united that the town, its inhabitants and the storyteller, as well as the buck and the cow, come together in a narrative that truly touches the heart."
Second prize of $1,000 went to Debbie Fox of Smithton, Illinois for "Attachments", the heart-wrenching reminiscences of a mother whose young daughter is diagnosed with an incurable illness. Victoria Gouldthorp won third prize and $500 for "The Phone Call", a portrait of a family struggling to cope with an unexpected teen pregnancy. Dixon Hearne won fourth prize and $250 for "The Right Eye of Justice", a tale of prejudice and anti-Communist hysteria in a small town in 1950s Tennessee.
High Distinction awards of $200 each were given to John Biggs, James Dickson, Laurie Gough, Susan Keith, and Johnmichael Simon. Most Highly Commended awards of $100 went to Ray Clark, Annie Eagleton, Margo Frazier, Sally Hermsdorfer, Evelyn Krieger, Fred McGavran, Mary Caperton Morton, Erin Neil, Raymond Trainor, Barbara Orlowska-Westwood, and DS Winkle.
Read the top winning stories on our website, plus the judges' comments and the complete list of winners and commended entries. Thanks to all of you who participated. The 18th annual Tom Howard/John H. Reid Short Story Contest is currently open for entries here through March 31.
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RECENT HONORS FOR OUR NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIBERS
Winning Writers Editor Jendi Reiter's poetry chapbook Swallow is now available from Amsterdam Press. This collection won the 2008 Flip Kelly Poetry Prize. Read a sample poem on her blog.
Congratulations to Marla Alupoaicei. Her new nonfiction book Your Intercultural Marriage: A Guide to a Healthy, Happy Relationship has just been released by Moody Publishers, a Christian press. She also received an International Merit Award in the Poetry 2009 International Poetry Competition sponsored by Atlanta Review. The next deadline for this $2,010 prize will be May 7, 2010.
Congratulations to Ellaraine Lockie. Her poetry chapbook Stroking David's Leg is now available from FootHills Publishing. She kindly shares a poem from this collection below.
Congratulations to John B. Lee. The Brantford, Ontario poet laureate was the winner of the second Annual Love Poem Contest sponsored by Oneal Walters at The Age Begins Books, for his poem "In the Heat of the Sun and the Cool of the Moon, I Love". The most recent deadline for this $110 prize was July 6. Winners will be published in the journal Shadows and Light. Visit the website for other contest announcements.
RECENT HONORS FOR POETRY CONTEST INSIDER SUBSCRIBERS
Congratulations to Temple Cone. His poetry collection No Loneliness won the 2009 FutureCycle Poetry Book Prize. He kindly shares a sample poem below. This contest offers a $1,000 prize and publication for a manuscript of "lasting poetry that works in all tenses: past, present, and future." The most recent submission period was January 1-March 31.
Congratulations to Bernard Horn. His first book of poems, Our Daily Words, won the Old Seventy Creek Press Poetry Prize, an opportunity he discovered through Winning Writers. The most recent deadline for this $250 award from a Kentucky-based small press was April 3. Horn's collection has received favorable blurbs from notable playwright David Mamet and Lawrence Kushner, the author of over a dozen books on mysticism and spirituality. Kushner writes, "Bernard Horn's poetry holds the beating heart of everyday's apparently random trivialities. In easily accessible and beautiful language, he puts side-by-side surprising things that aren't supposed to go together—except, of course, in real life. Indeed, you rest amid these gardens and, in an afternoon, grow old in wisdom." Read a sample poem from this collection below.
RECENT PUBLICATION CREDITS FOR OUR SUBSCRIBERS
T.L. Sherwood's flash fiction piece "The Virgin Forest" was accepted for the print version of the Vestal Review. She writes, "Thank you so much for the Winning Writers Newsletter. It is incredibly informative and inspiring."
Charlie Bondhus's poem "Talking to the Dead" will appear in Issue #7 (March 2010) of Ganymede, a literary/art print journal by and for gay men published quarterly in New York as a paperback book.
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TRY POETRY CONTEST INSIDER
If you enjoy using The Best Free Poetry Contests, consider upgrading to Poetry Contest Insider. The Best Free Poetry Contests profiles the 150 or so poetry contests that are free to enter. With your Poetry Contest Insider subscription, you'll get access to all of our 750+ poetry contest profiles, plus over 300 of the best prose contests. Contest rules, addresses and deadlines change constantly. We update Poetry Contest Insider nearly every day to stay on top of them. Search and sort contests by deadline, prize, fee, recommendation level and more. Access to Poetry Contest Insider is just $7.95 per quarter, with a free 10-day trial at the start. Cancel at any time.
Most contests charge entry fees. You can easily spend hundreds of dollars and many hours entering these contests each year. Don't waste your time or money. Out of hundreds of contests, there might only be two or three dozen that are especially appropriate for your work. We help you find them fast. Interviews and links to award-winning entries help you refine your craft. Learn more about Poetry Contest Insider.
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Deadlines: September 16-October 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.
Forgot your password? Need a password?
Please go to http://www.winningwriters.com/forgot_password.php
We will email your password to you within minutes.
Winning Writers gathers contest information from a wide variety of sources including publishers' press releases, online link directories, Poets & Writers Magazine, and e-newsletters such as TOTAL FundsforWriters, The Practicing Writer, and CRWROPPS. We encourage readers to explore these useful resources, and let us know about worthwhile contests we may have missed.
9/30: International Tanka Splendor Award +
Entries must be received by this date
Neutral free contest offers publication for unpublished tanka, a Japanese form. 31 tanka and three tanka sequences will be published in annual anthology as well as receive a free copy of the book. Send either 1-3 tanka or one titled sequence of 3+ tanka. A tanka is five lines and up to 31 syllables. No simultaneous submissions. Contest is judged anonymously by those entrants who submitted their work online.
9/30: Lee & Low New Voices Award +
Formerly October 31
Neutral free contest offers top prize of $1,000 and publication for a picture book story (1,500 words maximum) by a US writer of color who has no prior published books in this genre. No simultaneous submissions. Entries may be poetry, fiction, or nonfiction. No folklore or animal stories.
10/15: Amy Lowell Poetry Travelling Scholarship +++
Entries must be received by this date
Highly recommended free contest offers a fellowship of about $50,000 for US poets, to fund a year of travel outside North America. Entrants must be US citizens by virtue of birth in the US, or birth outside the US to an American citizen parent. While contest is open to all, poets with significant publishing credits have the best chance. Application should include 40 pages of poetry, or copy of published book and 20 pages of additional poetry. See website for other materials required.
10/15: Fernando Rielo World Prize for Mystical Poetry +
Neutral free contest offers 7,000 euros for unpublished "poetry expressing the spiritual values of humanity in their profound religious significance," written in Spanish or English or translated into one of these languages. Open to all nationalities, but most winners have been from Spain and South America. Entries should be 600-1,300 lines. No simultaneous submissions. We rate this contest Neutral, despite the large prize, because English-language entries rarely win; obtaining information about winners has been difficult; and their website is often under construction or outdated.
10/20: New Voices Young Writers Competition +
Entries must be received by this date
Neutral free contest offers two grand prizes of $100 for poetry, fiction, and essays by middle school and high school students. First-prize winners in each genre receive prizes such as an e-book reader or PDA, gift certificates, or a check/money order. Winners will also be invited to the EPIC annual conference. EPIC, the Electronically Published Internet Connection, is a professional organization for published and contracted e-book and print authors. Entrants may submit one piece in each genre in their age category, for a total of three entries. Poetry should be 20 lines maximum for middle-schoolers, 30 lines for high-schoolers; prose, 750 words or 1,000 words, respectively. Enter online only.
10/30: Blanchan/Doubleday Awards ++
Formerly October 31
Neutral free contest offers two prizes of $1,000 for creative writing by Wyoming residents aged 18+ with no more than one published book in each genre. Doubleday award is for women only; Blanchan is for writing inspired by nature. Entries in all genres (poetry, fiction, nonfiction, plays and screenplays) compete together. Entrants may not be a full-time college student or faculty member. Website may not be updated, but 2009 rules confirmed by email.
10/31: Eric Gregory Awards +++
Entries must be received by this date
Highly recommended free contest offers prizes totaling 24,000 pounds for a collection of up to 30 poems, drama-poems, or belles-lettres, by a writer who will be under age 30 as of March 31 of the following year. The author must be a British subject by birth but not a national of Eire or any of the British Dominions or Colonies, and must ordinarily be resident in the United Kingdom or Northern Ireland. Previously published work accepted.
10/31: Lucidity Poetry Journal Awards +
Neutral free contest offers top prize of $100 for poems about the human experience. Authors must be 18+. Editor Ted Badger says: "Seeking poetry that deals with people, relationships, life issues and events, written in clear and concise English. Form of the poem is open but it must have something to say without resorting to vulgarity. Clarity is crucial. We publish poetry that everyday people can relate to, understand and enjoy." Submit 1-5 poems, maximum 38 lines each (including stanza breaks). Address entries to "Lucidity Poetry Journal 2009 Contest".
10/31: Shenandoah's Flannery O'Connor Issue Contest +++
Highly recommended contest offers $1,000 for essays, poems, short stories, reviews, photographs and other artwork about, related to or in honor of the fiction and life of Flannery O'Connor (all genres compete together). Winner and selected runners-up published in the 60th anniversary issue of the prestigious literary journal Shenandoah. Send 1-5 poems or one prose piece, maximum 25 double-spaced pages. This may be a one-time contest for 2009.
10/31: Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award +++
Entries must be received by this date
Highly recommended contest from UK-based Society of Authors offers 5,000 pounds for the best book of poetry, fiction or creative nonfiction by a UK author who will be under 35 as of December 31. Entries in all genres compete for one prize. The author must be a British citizen ordinarily resident in Britain. The work submitted must have been first published in Britain in the year in which the deadline falls.
10/31: Wick Student Poetry Competition +++
Highly recommended free contest for poets enrolled in Ohio colleges and universities offers chapbook publication by a prestigious university press. Sponsored by the Wick Poetry Center at Kent State University. Manuscripts should be 15-25 pages of poetry.
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
 Swallow by Jendi Reiter Now Available from Amsterdam Press
Winner of the 2008 Flip Kelly Poetry Prize, Jendi Reiter's poetry chapbook Swallow has just been released by Amsterdam Press. Award-winning author and educator Ellaraine Lockie says of this collection, "Jendi Reiter's poems are arrows that plunge dead center into the hearts of feminism, religion, death, the interior of mental health and psychotherapy. Her humor and satire here are as sharply honed as her indignation... This is an intelligent and powerful read that will leave issues bleeding in the minds of readers for a while before they heal."
To order, visit the Amsterdam Press online store or send a check for $8.00 to Amsterdam Press, 6199 Steubenville Road SE, Amsterdam, Ohio 43903.
Enjoy this sample poem from Swallow:
Zeal
by Jendi Reiter
I want the truth or
quiet, you can't have both
in daylight, in company,
from the baby-blanket sky we turn into rooms
you can't have if you're human meaning
no desire without its rind of talk, I want
that orange uncut
better than to sit here with knives
spinning the sun in a bowl,
I want the truth like a fat lady
wants cake, sticking her sweet fingers in her mouth
in fecal shame,
I want quiet like letting the beaver
alone who nibbles on the neighbor's lettuces
because in her world she is right,
pines hushing in the dark and insects gold
dust in the last beams, how could any
great hand that shaped the clover
fall harder on us
poor toads, I want to turn it
all off, the lingual grid gone black
and only hands left, right
in the sag and salty hair of us,
dear fatigue, lift me at last I want
to forgive whoever
asks me and maybe others.
 upstreet: Call for Submissions
Submissions must be received by March 1, 2010
upstreet, the award-winning independent literary annual, seeks quality submissions—with edge—of short fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry, for its sixth issue. Author interviews in the first five issues were with Jim Shepard, Lydia Davis, Wally Lamb, Michael Martone, and Robin Hemley. Payment in author copies. Distributed nationally by Ingram Periodicals, Source Interlink, Disticor (Canada). For sample content and to submit, visit http://www.upstreet-mag.org
For news about upstreet and its authors, visit http://www.upstreetfanclub.blogspot.com/
Please enjoy this selection from upstreet number five:
Author's Proofs
by David Salner
On p. 17, in the penultimate paragraph,
delete "hoped" and replace it with
my original sentence, "He lay on his cot,
not daring to hope"; replace the caption
on p. 21, "Dorothy Burnside, the heartthrob
of the Victorian era," with, "Admiral Herbert,
on his election to the House of Commons";
in the painting by Arnold, on p. 27, the green
in the grass is too robust, the wrong hue used
for the sunset; under the sketch on p. 81,
replace—"Antelope are often found
on the outskirts of this windblown town"—
with—"The oldest dinosaur
never saw a flower."
Submit online to Carpe Articulum - Last call for our poetry and short fiction contests!
Poetry Contest Postmark Deadline: September 30
Short Fiction Postmark Deadline: September 30
Welcome to Carpe Articulum Literary Review! You can submit online! We look forward to reviewing your work and wish you luck in the contest. We are an international review with over 35,000 readers. We give away $10,000 every year to outstanding writers and artists and hope you will decide to become a member of our literary circle of friends.
The magazine is 150-200 pages of full-colour delight, translated into five languages. We feature short fiction, poetry, informative articles, photography, non-fiction and incredible interviews with hot up-and-coming writers as well as iconic ones such as Jodi Picoult (author of Change of Heart, Handle With Care, Nineteen Minutes, and My Sister's Keeper which was made into a major motion picture with Cameron Diaz) and Nicholas Sparks (author of Message in a Bottle, also made into a motion picture with Kevin Costner & Robin Wright Penn, as well as The Notebook, The Last Song, etc.) And that is just this October issue!
Our writing staff includes two ex-New York Times writers (both of whom are draped in copious prestigious writing awards) as well as movie and television people for national networks. We are truly fortunate to have a full-time staff of such quality people. Our readers make up the rest of the content via their submissions. You do not have to enter a contest to be published with us. Moreover, we are the original cross-genre, international review in the world. Our readership list reads like a virtual Who's Who list and that is specifically cultivated to make certain that the winners of the award series get the maximum exposure to important agents and writers who have the power to influence writing careers.
Please enjoy this gratis electronic version of our latest issue, a preview of what you can look forward to should you decide to become one of our literary family members. We offer a great deal to our readers, superior to other reviews in scope, resources and content. Should you decide to become one of our cherished subscribers, you will receive one issue free of charge and will also find yourself immersed in short fiction, poetry, incredible interviews with great and famous writers, and articles which are insightful, timely, and informative.
Cheers!
Hadassah R. L. Broscova
Editor-in-Chief
Carpe Articulum Literary Review
www.CarpeArticulum.com
503.957.8025 Office
 Last Call!
The Missouri Review's 2009 Jeffrey E. Smith Editors' Prize
Postmark Deadline: October 1
The Missouri Review is now offering $15,000 in prize money for the 19th annual Jeffrey E. Smith Editors' Prize Contest—$5,000 per genre in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. Each entry is $20, and entries are accepted both online and through the mail. Fiction and nonfiction entries should be no more than 25 typed, double-spaced pages. Poetry entries can include any number of poems up to 10 pages. All entrants receive a one-year subscription to The Missouri Review either in print or in the new environmentally-friendly digital format, which includes bonus audio content.
Winners are featured in the spring issue of The Missouri Review and flown to Columbia, Missouri, for a gala reading and reception. Three runners-up in each category receive cash prizes and are considered for publication. Past winners' work has been reprinted in the Best American series. For details on how to enter, please visit our webpage: http://missourireview.com/contest/
About The Missouri Review
The Missouri Review, founded in 1978, is one of the most highly-regarded literary magazines in the United States. For over 30 years, The Missouri Review has dedicated its efforts to identifying the most talented and promising writers early in their careers and providing them with needed and much-deserved recognition to increase their exposure. The Missouri Review also specializes in interviews with famous authors and found-text features resulting in never-before-published works appearing in the magazine. For more information on The Missouri Review, visit www.missourireview.com.
Last Call!
The Fourth River – Awards for Poetry and Creative Nonfiction
Postmark Deadline: October 15
The Fourth River is looking for poetry and creative nonfiction that capture the places—natural, built and imagined, urban, rural or wild—where humans and nature converge and collide. First place winner in each category will be published in The Fourth River and will receive a $500 cash prize upon publication.
Contest Guidelines
- Previously published works and works accepted for publication elsewhere are not eligible. Students, faculty and employees of Chatham University are not eligible.
- Include a title page with your name, address, phone number and the title of your submission(s). Your name must not appear on the actual manuscript.
- The reading fee is $5 for three poems or one essay (7,000 words maximum), and includes a copy of Issue 7. Please make checks payable to Chatham University. Multiple submissions are acceptable, but each submission must be accompanied by a reading fee. Manuscripts will not be returned.
- Send your submission, your reading fee and a self-addressed stamped envelope to:
The Fourth River
Attention: Fourth River Award for Poetry or Fourth River Award for Creative Nonfiction
Chatham University
Woodland Road
Pittsburgh, PA 15232
For additional information, visit us on the web at http://fourthriver.chatham.edu or email us at fourthriver@chatham.edu.
Please enjoy this excerpt from "Lost" by Katie Fallon, published in The Fourth River, Issue 4:
Lost
by Katie Fallon
A week after she escaped, we organized a search-and-rescue-style sweep of the forest. Volunteers met at the Center in late morning. The sun blazed above us in the sky, melting most of the snow and daring underground bulbs to stir. We formed a horizontal line, about ten of us, and stood fifty feet apart from each other. Our plan was to keep the line as we walked, eyes scanning the ground. We'd also search the bare tree branches for movement, a flash of a white throat patch, anything. A collapsed cardboard box stuck out the top of a backpack slung over my shoulders. The pack also held heavy welding gloves, a large towel, flashlights, and a cell phone—everything I would need if I found her.
We began moving slowly at first, heads bent to the forest floor. The ground, thawing and muddy in spots, was covered in soggy leaves. I climbed the gentle slope of a hill and then descended, startling three deer. Their white tails bounced away and disappeared. A red-bellied woodpecker scolded from somewhere above me. I stopped and squinted at empty oak branches and prayed for a flutter of owl wing. But there was nothing.
Bubo, a Great Horned Owl, had lived in captivity almost her entire life. Her name came from the scientific taxonomy for Great Horned Owls, Bubo virginianis. Dropped off at the West Virginia Raptor Rehabilitation Center still covered in fluffy down feathers, she had either fallen or been pushed from her nest. The latter is not unusual; Great Horned Owl parents sometimes resort to infanticide when prey is scarce or if a chick is weak. We raised Bubo and freed her twice, but both times we found her a few days later, hungry, on the ground near the Center. We surmised that maybe brain damage, either inherent or trauma-induced, kept her from hunting. Or maybe, despite our best efforts, we couldn't teach her what she needed to know about being wild. We decided that two failed releases were enough, and that her best chance for survival was to remain in captivity. Our veterinarian agreed, so we trained Bubo, and for the last three years she had been the star of hundreds of environmental education programs throughout West Virginia.
But now, Bubo was lost...
[click for the rest of the story]
Last Call!
Open City's 2009 RRofihe Trophy Short Story Contest
Postmark Deadline: October 15
6th year! The RRofihe Trophy for an unpublished short story! Limit: 5,000 words. Winner receives: $500, trophy, and publication in Open City magazine. Judge: Rick Rofihe. Contest Assistant: Carolyn Wilsey.
Guidelines:
- Stories should be typed, double-spaced, on 8 1/2" x 11" paper with the author's name and contact information on the first page and name and story title on the upper right corner of the remaining pages
- Limit one submission per author
- Author must not have been previously published in Open City
- Mail submissions to RRofihe, 270 Lafayette Street, Suite 1412, New York, NY 10012
- Enclose a self-addressed stamped business envelope (SASE) to receive names of winner and honorable mentions
- All manuscripts are non-returnable and will be recycled
- Reading fee is $10. Check or money order payable to RRofihe
- See the complete guidelines at http://www.opencity.org/rrofihe.html
Rick Rofihe is the author of Father Must, a collection of short stories published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux. His fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, Grand Street, Open City, Swink, Unsaid, and on slushpilemag.com and epiphanyzine.com. His nonfiction has appeared in The New York Times, The Village Voice, Spy, and The East Hampton Star, and on mrbellersneighborhood.com. A recipient of the Whiting Writers' Award, he has taught writing at Columbia University, currently teaches privately in New York, and is the editor of the new online literary journal, anderbo.com.
Closing Next Month
FundsforWriters.com and VIPAuthors.com present an annual essay contest
Electronic Submission Deadline: October 31
Submit 750 words or less on the theme: Invisible Writing. Interpret it as you like. Enter the $5 entry fee category and vie for $200 or the NO entry fee category and compete for $50. Winners announced December 1. www.fundsforwriters.com/annualcontest.htm
Closing Next Month
2010 Kore Press Short Fiction Award
Online Submission Deadline: October 31 (don't enter before October 1)
A prize of $1,000 plus chapbook publication by Kore Press will be given for an original, unpublished short story written in English. Manuscripts should have a minimum of 4,000 words and a maximum of 12,000 words. Judge: Leslie Marmon Silko. Last year, Tayari Jones selected Teresa Stores of Newfane, Vermont. This competition is open to any woman writing in English, regardless of nationality. $15 reading fee. Submissions accepted online through our Submission Manager. For full guidelines, please visit www.korepress.org.
Winning Writers editor Jendi Reiter interviewed Kore Press's Fiction Editor Shannon Cain and Publisher Lisa Bowden for the Summer 2007 edition of Poetry Contest Insider. Please enjoy this excerpt:
Q: Does Kore Press prefer to publish work that is not only by women, but also reflective of women's issues in some way? If so, how would you describe what makes a book "about" women's issues?
A: Shannon: We don't look for work that's specifically about women's issues, but when women write well and honestly about their lives, well...then their stories become universal and thus about women's issues. Really good socially-engaged fiction and poetry, for me, works the same way: when a writer attends to her craft and is unflinchingly honest, and when she combines that skill and truthfulness with an awareness of the larger world, the work becomes inherently political.
Lisa: We have no issue-oriented editorial agenda per se. The world is made up of stories, not atoms, according to Uri Gordon. It is that small but massively important thing—story—which creates a global sense of solidarity and connects diverse struggles and experiences of being human. I'm interested in following the thread of what is being said over time, by women in particular, and keeping that conversation alive, whatever the content. As the world changes, the question of what is a worthy Subject changes...
Anderbo.com's 2009 Poetry Contest
Postmark Deadline: November 1
4th year! For up to six unpublished poems. Winner receives $500 cash plus publication on anderbo.com, "Best New Online Journal". Judged by William Logan. Contest Assistant: Charity Burns.
Guidelines:
- Poems should be typed on 8 1/2" x 11" paper with the poet's name and contact information on the upper right corner of each poem
- Poet must not have been previously published on anderbo.com
- Mail submissions to 270 Lafayette Street, Suite 1412, New York, NY 10012
- Enclose a self-addressed stamped business envelope (SASE) to receive names of winner and honorable mentions
- All entries are non-returnable and will be recycled
- Reading fee is $10. Check or money order payable to RRofihe
- See the complete guidelines at http://www.anderbo.com/anderbo1/anderprize2009.html
William Logan was born in Boston in 1950. He attended Yale, where he studied American history and literature, though he had a long flirtation with game theory. He was a rock critic of no great distinction, though he squandered a good many weekends at the Fillmore East in New York. After taking his MFA at the University of Iowa, he spent a peripatetic six years following his sweetheart to Massachusetts, Virginia, and California. They then spent two years in England, where they held successive Amy Lowell Poetry Traveling Scholarships. He is the author of eight volumes of poetry, most recently Strange Flesh (2008). He has also published five books of poetry criticism, including Our Savage Art (2009). He has twice been a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle award in criticism, which was awarded to The Undiscovered Country (2005). Among his other honors are the Peter I. B. Lavan Younger Poets Award from the Academy of American Poets, the 1988 Citation for Excellence in Reviewing from the National Book Critics Circle, the Allen Tate Prize, the Corrington Medal for Literary Excellence, and the inaugural Randall Jarrell Award in Criticism. He has been called the "most hated man in American poetry" as well as the "best practical critic around". He has been teaching at the University of Florida since shortly before the ozone hole was discovered over Antarctica.
 Perugia Press Prize — Now Accepting Submissions
Postmark Deadline: November 15
A prize of $1,000 and publication by Perugia Press is given annually for a first or second unpublished poetry collection by a woman. Submit manuscripts with a $22 entry fee. Visit the Perugia Press website for complete guidelines, email info@perugiapress.com or send a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) to Perugia Press Prize, P.O. Box 60364, Florence, MA 01062.
The 2009 winner, How to Live on Bread and Music by Jennifer K. Sweeney, is on sale now at www.perugiapress.com. Please enjoy this poem selected from the book...
NOCTURNE
by Jennifer K. Sweeney
There is a blue city in mind
constructed slantways
along a rippling canal,
clean and unpeopled but for a musician
who plays a harp without strings.
The city has one chair
where he sits by the broad strokes of water.
A lone streetlamp casts
a blue arc of light.
A Persian door. A zeppelin sky.
The world filters through
his empty frame as he plucks the air.
Maybe you hear a song or maybe you don't.
That is the choice we are always making.
Copyright 2009 by Jennifer K. Sweeney
 The Fiddlehead's 19th Annual Literary Contest: Poetry & Short Fiction
Postmark Deadline: December 1
Ralph Gustafson Prize in Poetry, Can$1,000; 2 Honourable Mentions, Can$500 each
Best Story, Can$1,000; 2 Honourable Mentions, Can$500 each
The winning entries will be published in the Spring 2010 issue of The Fiddlehead (No. 243) and on our website. The winning authors will be paid for publication in addition to their prizes.
- One entry for the short fiction category is one story of up to 25 double-spaced pages.
- One entry for the poetry category is up to 3 poems with no more than 100 lines per poem.
- Entries must be original and unpublished elsewhere. No simultaneous submissions.
- Contest is blind-vetted. Do not put your name on your entry. Include a cover page with the title(s) of your entry, which category (short fiction or poetry), and your name and contact information: mailing address, phone number, and email address.
- Word-processed or typed entries only. Please use white paper and only print on one side. All entries must be submitted by mail. No faxed, digital, or emailed submissions are allowed.
- Manuscripts will not be returned. Please keep a copy of your entry.
- Entry Fee: Can$30 for an entry from Canada or US$36 for an entry from the US or overseas. Your first entry in each category includes a one-year subscription to The Fiddlehead.
- Contest results published in The Fiddlehead 243 (Spring 2010) and on the website.
Send entries to:
The Fiddlehead Contest
Campus House, 11 Garland Court
University of New Brunswick
P.O. Box 4400
Fredericton, NB
E3B 5A3 Canada
See our complete guidelines at http://thefiddlehead.ca/contest.html or email fiddlehd@unb.ca.
Now Open
The Vernice Quebodeaux "Pathways" Poetry Prize
Postmark Deadline: December 15
The Vernice Quebodeaux Prize, sponsored by Little Red Tree Publishing, includes a $1,000 cash award, publication of a full-length collection of poetry, and a generous royalty contract. All forms and styles are welcome.
The late Vernice Quebodeaux, born in Egan, LA (on the banks of the Bayou Plaquemine Brûlé), was a poet who spent a lifetime struggling with the demands of raising children, family feuds, bigotry, apathy, and indifference to her writing aspirations. On her death the beginnings of a book of poetry called Pathways was found by her daughter, Tamara Martin, and incorporated into a book, Sunday's in the South. We are honoring her life and cherished goals by creating this competition to recognize the specific unique voices of women poets.
All finalists will be considered for publication, with one selected as the prizewinner with a book published in early spring of 2010. Download our complete guidelines (PDF), then send your 60-100 page manuscript with a $20 reading fee to: Little Red Tree Publishing, LLC, Attn: The Vernice Quebodeaux Prize, 635 Ocean Avenue, New London, CT 06320.
Opening on October 1
The Little Red Tree International Poetry Prize
Postmark Deadline: December 31 (don't enter before October 1)
The International Poetry Prize, sponsored by Little Red Tree Publishing, includes a first prize of $1,000. The runner-up will receive $250 and five finalists will receive $50 each.
This prize is offered in response to demand for an opportunity to be associated with Little Red Tree by poets who have yet to develop a full collection. It is also an opportunity for Little Red Tree to extend its search and engage with quality poets from around the world who wish to be published.
The prizewinner, runner-up and other honorees will feature prominently, with full biographies, in a special collection called Little Red Tree International Poetry Book 2010. The book will also include a wide selection of poetry from those submitted that did not make the final selection but were considered worthy of publication. We anticipate the book will contain as many as 80 poems, with a free copy to each poet published, and published in early spring of 2010.
A book launch will be scheduled for a date in April 2010 in New London, CT. All winners and published poets will be invited to read their poems. Download our complete guidelines (PDF), then send your poem(s) with a reading fee of $5 each to: Little Red Tree Publishing, LLC, Attn: The International Poetry Prize, 635 Ocean Avenue, New London, CT 06320.
Little Red Tree Publishing
Little Red Tree Publishing was established in 2006 and is based in New London, CT. Our mantra is simply to produce books that: Delight, entertain and educate.
We have doubled the number of books produced each year and plan to publish 12 full books of poetry in 2010. Part of that plan is the incorporation of a full book of poetry from the Vernice Quebodeaux "Pathways" Poetry Prize and an anthology from the Little Red Tree International Poetry Prize.
From humble beginnings, Little Red Tree has always seen its role, consistent with the finest traditions of small independent publishing, as preserving and expanding the dwindling opportunities for previously unpublished poets and established poets to publish a full collection of poetry. It is our aim that each book attains the highest standards both aesthetically and artistically. Our aesthetic stance is one of quality in all aspects of the content and the physical appearance of our books. We feel passionately that well-crafted and accessible poetry should be celebrated and presented as such with conviction and confidence. Therefore, all our books are coffee-table size, 7" by 10"—an emphatic statement of intent and a celebration of the poetry.
Our commitment to the individual poet and their work is undivided, and they are involved in every decision until their collection is complete, the book is finished and ready for printing.
We look forward to reading your wonderful poetry.
Now Open
Dream Quest One Poetry and Writing Contest
Postmark Deadline: December 31
This writing contest is open to anyone who loves to express their innermost thoughts and feelings in poetry or to write a short story that's worth telling everyone! We're accepting poems, 30 lines or fewer on any subject, and short stories, 5 pages maximum on any theme (single- or double-line spacing). Multiple entries welcome.
Prizes
Short Story First Prize: $500, 2nd: $250, 3rd: $100
Poetry First Prize: $250, 2nd: $125, 3rd: $50
Entry fees
$10 per story
$5 per poem
How to Enter
Send your work with a cover page that lists the title(s) of your poem(s)/story(ies), name, address, phone number, and email address, along with a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) for entry confirmation. Make your entry fee payable to "DREAMQUESTONE.COM" and mail to Dream Quest One Poetry & Writing Contest, P.O. Box 3141, Chicago, IL 60654. Electronic entries accepted via PayPal. Visit www.dreamquestone.com for details and to enter.
Please enjoy "The Strength of Character" by Dietra Reid of Baltimore, Maryland, the winning poetry entry in our Summer 2009 contest:
The Strength of Character
by Dietra Reid
The rhyme sticks and stones become
ingrained in the essence of the heart, body
and steps of the human being.
In the silence of the response there
emerges the character.
Whose character? Yours? Mine? Whose?
It is the ideal character that strives to the
invisible, invincible power of truth of heart,
mind, motivation and action.
It is the exquisite powers that deepens,
evolves, widens, explores in a land of a
cesspool of attacks.
Gentle power that is so soft that it is
mistaken for ignorance.
But it rebounds in loving wisdom
of the true justice of life.
The WB Yeats Society of New York Poetry Competition
Postmark Deadline: February 1, 2010
This year's competition will be judged by Alice Quinn, executive director of the Poetry Society of America and former poetry editor of The New Yorker. Competition is open to members and nonmembers of any age, from any locality. First prize $250, second prize $100. Winners and honorable mentions receive 2-year memberships in the Society and are honored at an event at Barnes & Noble Union Square, New York City, May 1, 2010.
Submit poems in English up to 60 lines, not previously published, on any subject. Type each poem (judged separately) on an 8.5 x 11-inch sheet without author's name; attach 3x5 card with name, address, phone, email.
Entry fee $8 for first poem, $7 each additional. Mail to:
Poetry Competition WW
WB Yeats Society of NY
National Arts Club
15 Gramercy Park S
New York, NY 10003
Include a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) to receive the report of the contest results. List of winners is posted on YeatsSociety.org around March 31, 2010, along with information on the Yeats Summer School in Ireland, July 24-August 6, 2010. Authors retain rights, but grant us the right to publish winning entries. These are the complete guidelines; no entry form necessary. We reserve the right to hold late submissions for the following year. For reports of previous competitions, and information on our other programs and membership, visit YeatsSociety.org or write to us.
Please enjoy this excerpt from "Basho Solo", the winning entry in our 2008 contest:
Basho Solo
by Steve Lautermilch, Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina
Thirty years in a monk's
hut, island hermitage of an artist's boat cottage;
wayfarer rain and wandering storm,
now and then a cloud, a gathering mist
for a hiking companion.
Visitors,
the haze and fog that sidle in,
sun at their back, burning them away, ghosts
in steaming rags and tatters.
Syllables, whispering silence,
dissolving phrases, watery dregs of tea.
Language that floats and fades,
shuffles down a path, hedges and back roads
out of mind. In the one door and out the window...
[click for the complete poem]
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These free prose contests with deadlines between September 16 and October 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.
9/17: Atlas Shrugged Essay Contest for College Students +++
Highly recommended free contest for high school seniors and full-time college students offers $10,000 top prize, other large prizes, for essays on Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged. 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 rationalist, libertarian philosophy. See website for other student contests.
9/21: Glass Woman Prize ++
Entries must be received by this date; late submissions held for the next contest
Recommended twice-yearly free contest offers prizes up to $700 and online publication for the best short fiction or creative nonfiction by women. Both published and unpublished work welcome. Entries should be 50-5,000 words. Contest sponsor Beate Sigriddaughter says, "Subject is open, but must be of significance to women. My criterion is passion, excellence, and authenticity in the woman's writing voice." Enter by mail or email (no attachments).
9/30: Benjamin Franklin House Literary Prize ++
Entries must be received by this date; formerly October 15
Recommended free contest offers prizes of 500 pounds for Young Writers (aged 18-25), 1,000 pounds for Professional Writers, for essays of 1,000-1,500 words on a question exploring Franklin's relevance in our time. 2009 theme is liberty versus security. Entrants must be current residents of the US or UK. Enter by email.
9/30: Iowa Short Fiction and John Simmons Short Fiction Awards ++
Recommended free contest from the prestigious Iowa Writers' Workshop seeks two manuscripts of short fiction (each 150 double-spaced pages minimum) by an author who has not previously published a book of prose fiction in English. (Books in other genres or languages, and self-published books, do not disqualify you.) Prize is publication under a standard royalty contract.
9/30: Jerry Jazz Musician Fiction Contest +
Entries must be received by this date
Thrice-yearly free neutral contest offers $100 and web publication for short fiction. The Jerry Jazz Musician reader has interests in music, social history, literature, politics, art, film and theatre, 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.
9/30: L. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future Contest +++
Highly recommended free contest for emerging writers of short science fiction, fantasy and horror offers quarterly prizes of $1,000 plus an annual $5,000 grand prize for one of the four winners. Send only one story per quarter, maximum 17,000 words. See website for eligibility rules. Entrants may not have professionally published a novel or short novel, or more than one novelette, or more than three short stories, in any medium.
9/30: Metcalf-Rooke Award ++
Recommended free contest offers C$1,500 and publication for the best unpublished novel or short story collection by a Canadian writer. No length limit specified (200-400 pages is typical). Biblioasis is a small independent press in Ontario that publishes literary prose and poetry, and the critical journal CNQ: Canadian Notes & Queries.
10/1: Christopher Isherwood Foundation Grants +++
Entries must be received by this date
Highly recommended free contest offers $4,000 fellowships to US authors with one published book of fiction. Submit 3 copies of completed application from website plus 20-30 page sample of fiction, published or unpublished.
10/1: Marfield Prize/National Award for Arts Writing +++
Highly recommended free contest offers $11,000 for a nonfiction book published in the US in the current calendar year about an artistic discipline (e.g. visual, performing, or literary arts). Sponsored by the Arts Club of Washington. Publishers, agents or authors should submit 3 copies of the book plus entry form.
10/5: Jerwood Awards for Non-Fiction +++
Entries must be received by this date; formerly October 13
Highly recommended free contest offers top prize of 10,000 pounds to UK or Irish citizens, or residents of the UK for at least 3 years, who are working on their first major commissioned works of non-fiction. Applications should include a completed entry form, a cover letter with a project synopsis and description, a copy of the publishing contract, and a supporting letter from the editor.
10/15: Happy Tales Literary Contest ++
Formerly September 30
Recommended free contest offers $200 and a trophy cup for the best literary parody providing an alternate happy ending to a well-known tragic work of fiction or drama. Sponsored by the Montana Festival of the Book. Entries should be no more than 10 double-spaced pages. Submit by mail or email.
10/19: Brenda L. Smart Fiction Prizes +
Formerly October 20
Neutral free contest for North Carolina authors with no published books offers $500 for short fiction (up to 5,000 words), $250 for flash fiction (up to 1,200 words). 2009 guidelines confirmed by email.
10/26: RTE Radio 1 Short Story Competition ++
Entries must be received by this date; formerly October 27
Recommended free contest for authors born or normally resident in Ireland offers top prize of 3,000 euros for unpublished short fiction of 1,800-2,000 words that is suitable for radio performance. One entry per person.
10/31: FundsforWriters Essay Contest +
Entries must be received by this date
Neutral free contest for short essays (750 words maximum) on topics of interest to the professional writer offers top prize of $200 in fee-charging category, $50 in free category. FFW is an excellent resource for both literary and commercial freelance writers, offering useful e-books and newsletters that list paying markets for different types of writing. Fee is $5 per essay. Themes change annually. Enter by email (no attachments).
10/31: Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize +++
Entries must be received by this date; don't enter before October 1
Highly recommended free contest from major literary publisher offers $12,000 for the best full-length manuscript of creative nonfiction by a US resident with at least one previously published book in any genre. Entries should be a minimum of 100 double-spaced pages. The 2010 prize (deadline in 2009) is for a manuscript-in-progress.
10/31: PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction +++
Entries must be received by this date
Highly recommended free contest for published books of fiction by US citizens offers top prize of $15,000, four runners-up of $5,000. Send 4 copies of book to the Foundation office. Recent winners have been well-established writers such as Philip Roth, Ha Jin and John Updike.
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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GuideGecko
Entries must be received by September 24
GuideGecko, an online bookstore for travel, lifestyle and entertainment guides, is offering a free trip to the Frankfurt Book Fair for the best entry in this genre. The winning entry and the top two runners-up will be showcased in GuideGecko's booth at the fair. Publish your guide for free on their website and upload your contact information to their online form.
Promise of Light
Entries must be received by October 1; deadline extended from September 1
Promise of Light, an online forum for creative writing, philosophical reflections, and artwork, seeks haiku in both traditional and modern styles. The top three entries will be published on the website and in the magazine Flowers and Vortexes. Send up to 3 haiku pasted into an email to sir_james@netzero.net with "haiku submission" in the subject box, or mail them to Haiku Contest, P.O. Box 11, Bedford, KY 40006.
Caesura
Entries must be received by October 5
Caesura, the literary journal of Poetry Center San Jose, seeks poems that consider the role of gender in society. "Who defines gender? What are the socially constructed roles, behavior, and attributes a society considers appropriate for men and women? NOTE: we do not want poems about sex or sexuality." Send 1-3 unpublished poems, maximum 4 single-spaced pages total, pasted into an email to caesura@pcsj.org. See website for prose and art guidelines.
Front Range Review
Entries must be received by November 7
Front Range Review, a nationally circulated annual literary journal based in Great Falls, Montana, seeks poetry, short fiction, creative nonfiction, and artwork for its Spring 2010 issue. Submit 1-8 poems, maximum 15 pages total, or stories/essays up to 3,500 words (maximum 3 entries per prose genre), by email to frontrangereview@hotmail.com as .doc, docx, or .rtf attachments. Name, address, phone number/email of writer should appear on a separate cover sheet, no identification on the work itself. Please list title of each submitted poem or story on cover sheet. This journal was formerly known as MO: Writings from the River.
Manzanita
Entries must be received by December 15
The literary journal Manzanita: Poetry and Prose of the Mother Lode and Sierra seeks submissions of unpublished poetry, prose, art, and photography reflecting California foothill and mountain region sensibilities. Send 1-3 poems, maximum 50 lines each, or 1-2 prose pieces (1,000 words maximum for flash fiction/essay, 2,000 words maximum for full-length pieces), or 1-5 images. Entries should be emailed as MS Word or JPEG files, along with a short bio and contact information. See website for formatting requirements.
Slipstream
Postmark Deadline: March 1, 2010
The literary journal Slipstream is currently accepting submissions of poetry and artwork for their 30th anniversary issue. Submissions are also open through March 1, 2011, for a special issue on the theme of "Sex, Food, Death" to be released in Summer 2011. "We prefer contemporary urban themes—writing from the gut that is not afraid to bark or bite—and shy away from pastoral, religious, and rhyming verse."
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Alabama Prison Arts & Education Project
Located at Auburn University, APAEP offers classes in the arts and humanities to inmates in Alabama state prisons. They have created a travelling exhibit of "Art on the Inside" and also publish an annual anthology of their students' work.
Aristos: An Online Review of the Arts
Fans of The New Criterion will appreciate this online journal of arts criticism and aesthetics, which is founded on the "objectivist" philosophy of Ayn Rand. Editor Louis Torres says, "Critical of both modernism and postmodernism, Aristos vigorously opposes the increasingly bizarre and inscrutable work promoted in the name of art since the early years of the twentieth century—from abstract painting and sculpture through the seemingly endless concoctions of postmodernism. In addition, Aristos champions contemporary work that, like the art of the past, is concerned with fundamental human values, and is both intelligible and well crafted."
G.K. Chesterton's Works on the Web
This fan site maintained by British computer scientist Martin Ward offers the full texts of books and articles by the prolific turn-of-the-century poet, fiction writer, journalist and popular theologian Gilbert K. Chesterton, best known today for his "Father Brown" mystery stories.
Ganymede
Ganymede is a literary/art print journal by and for gay men published quarterly in New York as a paperback book, and also sold as an online version. Contributors have included David Sedaris, Edmund White, Jee Leong Koh, and Daniel Mendelsohn.
Global City Review
Based at the City College of New York, Global City Review seeks to embody that city's diversity and dynamism, with an international reach. "Edited and produced by writers, it celebrates the difficulties and possibilities of the 'global city' and other constructions of community...while honoring the subversiveness and originality of ordinary lives." Past contributors include Marilyn French, Robin Blair, Wayne Koestenbaum, and Cornelius Eady.
Haymarket Books
Chicago-based independent press publishes scholarly and popular nonfiction from a left-wing activist perspective. They also publish the International Socialist Review.
Meanjin
This quarterly journal founded in 1940 is committed to publishing the best of new writing in Australia. Meanjin also gives wide coverage to issues of global concern. It is an imprint of Melbourne University Publishing. The journal's name, pronounced Mee-an-jin, is derived from an Aboriginal word for the finger of land on which central Brisbane sits.
National Association of Writers in Education
NAWE supports the development of creative writing of all genres and in all educational and community settings throughout the UK. Resources include an annual conference for writing teachers and an online bulletin board of jobs and publication opportunities.
Poem of the Week
This website edited by Andrew McFadyen-Ketchum of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale showcases previously published work by a different contemporary poet each week, along with his or her biography, blurbs, and an interview with the author. Sign up to receive Poem of the Week as an email newsletter.
The Query Club
Publishing consultant Molli Nickell offers resources for writing your query letter and book synopsis, finding an agent, promoting your book, and more. Site includes a free e-newsletter, samples of successful pitches, and tele-seminars.
Vestal Review
This journal of flash fiction publishes both online and print editions. Vestal Review pays 3-10 cents per word for accepted stories. Submissions should be 500 words maximum and have a plot.
Women's Review of Books
This influential bimonthly tabloid-format periodical is devoted to reviewing books by and about women. They are mainly interested in women's studies books, poetry, and literary prose. They also publish author interviews, photography, and original poetry. Women's Review of Books is published by the Wellesley Centers for Women at Wellesley College, in collaboration with Old City Publishing in Philadelphia, PA.
See our complete directory of resources 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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2010 Novel & Short Story Writer's Market—New Edition!
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2010 Poet's Market—New Edition!
Published each August by Writer's Digest, this is the best annual directory of over 1,600 presses, magazines, journals, contests and more. Helps you find publishers who are looking for your kind of work.
2010 Writer's Market—New Edition!
Annual directory for prose writers from Writer's Digest offers over 3,500 listings of book publishers, consumer magazines, trade publications, literary agents and other markets. Includes a "Query Letter Clinic" and pay rate charts for professional freelancers. ("The most valuable of tools for the writer new to the marketplace," says Stephen King in On Writing; "If you're really poor, ask someone to give it to you for Christmas.")
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Sexed on a Kona Balcony
by Ellaraine Lockie
All his lovers have fed the birds he says
This is after I've sprinkled the balcony
with pieces of pancake
Well, we can't help it
Our wombs command the role
as surely as the moon dictates the slap
of waves against lava rock below the hotel
We are hardwired to feed hunger, if not in children
then in pets, plants and wild things
I especially like the wild ones
The touch between feral and female
A scrap becoming energy that burns in both directions
The myna who is empowered to squawk and walk
the perimeter as if giving orders
Zebra doves too dumb or smart to pay attention
House sparrows hopping like wind-up toys
as they pick up pieces for babies in a nearby palm
All of them fueling to follow their own destinies
And me with the same small flame that must have
kindled Annapurna when she filled Shiva's begging bowl
It burns through my morning bath
When I come out wrapped in a towel
to find more food for the birds
A saffron finch with fluorescent head
is eating macadamia nuts
that my man chopped with his pocket knife
He calls it male bonding
The nuts are coffee-coated, sugared and salted
Copyright 2009 by Ellaraine Lockie
This poem is reprinted from her new poetry chapbook Stroking David's Leg, now available from FootHills Publishing.
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October
by Temple Cone
These quiet, dim mornings, I listen
beneath oaks turned red as churned clay
for the emptiness left by birds already miles
distant, chastened by the coming cold.
Practice, the Tao advises, being still.
Believe in what you least expect, I say.
Walking beside the paddock, the bitter scent
of crushed walnuts underfoot, I trace a barn swallow
nipping flies off piles of horse turds.
Still here in October. The deep blue coat,
long, bifurcated tail trailing each banked turn,
a twittering for its song, not musical
but busy and glad, an under-the-breath hum
that carries the body through its labors.
I see now the swallow's building a nest,
or finishing up: it flits from piles of straw
to a mud-daub wedged under barn eaves.
Between trips, it perches a bow in the fence rail,
ruffles its wings, and preens. I have to wait
till it slips in the nest hole to get near,
one step each time. When I'm close enough
to see each feather lining its rusty face,
and the damp, black eyes, I'm close enough.
Around us, the leaves go on falling
down invisible threads. If asked, I'd say
each hour's its own season, and just as brief,
but nobody's asking. The swallow's gone now.
I'd say the world, somehow, suffices.
Copyright 2009 by Temple Cone
This poem is reprinted from his collection No Loneliness, which won the 2009 FutureCycle Poetry Book Prize.
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Letter from Israel (March 3, 2001)
by Bernard Horn
Adam was created alone to teach us that anyone who destroys one life is considered by the Torah as if he had destroyed the whole world and anyone who saves one life is considered by the Torah as if he had saved the whole world.
—Babylonian Talmud: Sanhedrin 37a
The big news from Israel is that a week ago
Thursday Lyla—not quite two, remember—
let Linda and me, her "Dida" and "Papa,"
pick her up from gan for the first time
without Gabi or Dani; that every night
on the counter by the tub she does her "bath dance"
in front of a huge mirror, naked
except for the "hat" made of a shirt
pulled inside out at the top of her head,
long-sleeved, because she must
have her long ears to swing all around her
as she dances; that Dani spent all day yesterday
preparing a Shabbat birthday feast for Linda,
of eggplant appetizers, a chicken
and Calamata olive stew, and the densest of cheesecakes
with lychees thrown in; that I walked past the corner
of Montefiore and Allenby ten times
last month, six times alone (four times
in two hours Tuesday because I'd grabbed
a big tan envelope from the kitchen table
on the way out and only discovered at the visa office
that the envelope was full of poems,
not passport and photos and documents)
and twice more with Linda
and twice more with Linda and Gabi
and Lyla—our only desires
were to wrestle with bureaucrats,
buy housewares for our place,
buy shoes for Lyla; that I wouldn't
be telling you all this except that the man
from Hamas who blew up the taxi at the Mei Ami junction
on Thursday, murdering Claude Knafu of Tiberias
and injuring nine more, planted a bomb
at a shwarma place, Brothers', at the corner
of Montefiore and Allenby some time
Tuesday evening: a bomb spotted by the owner,
set off by sappers, wrecking the shop,
hurting no one at all; that I almost forgot to tell you
that Lyla says "Mommy carry you!"
when she wants Gabi to pick her up, that she says
"ani rotzah la'aloat al ha yellow one"
about her favorite swing in the little park
around the corner; that, somehow, mysteriously,
she says "hair" and "ear" with an Israeli resh;
that on the way to Tsfat with Larry and Karen
on Sunday, we stopped for fresh figs at the roadside stand
at the Mei Ami junction; and that
if there are any eyes in the world brighter
than Lyla's I haven't seen them.
Copyright 2009 by Bernard Horn
This poem is reprinted from his first book of poems, Our Daily Words, which won the 2009 Old Seventy Creek Press Poetry Prize.
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PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT
ProLiteracy Calls for Greater US Investment in Global Literacy to Help the Estimated Twenty Percent of Adults Considered Illiterate
President Obama's Father Noted as a Contributor and Benefactor of International Literacy Efforts
ProLiteracy, the world's largest organization of adult literacy and basic education programs, today called for greater US investment in foreign assistance funding for literacy programs, funding for UNESCO literacy efforts and expanding student scholarship funding similar to its program that brought President Obama's father from Kenya to the United States.
ProLiteracy recommends that the Obama administration include an adult literacy component in the Initiating Foreign Assistance Reform Act of 2009 (H.R. 2139), and develop policies to ensure UNESCO funding for adult literacy is deployed effectively. In addition, ProLiteracy recommends the US Government increase scholarships for promising literacy leaders and practitioners from developing countries.
"The UN estimates that three quarters of a billion adults, that's one in five worldwide, are considered illiterate. This makes today's International Literacy Day a true call to action," said David C. Harvey, president and CEO of ProLiteracy. "We cannot increase economic development and reduce global poverty without teaching more people basic skills for reading, writing and computing."
ProLiteracy helps fund international literacy programs in more than 50 countries, including a Muslim Outreach Initiative that provides education, microfinance and development training to thousands of women and their families in countries such as Afghanistan, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Pakistan and 9 other countries.
ProLiteracy noted that its predecessor organization, Laubach Literacy International, along with literacy pioneer Elizabeth Mooney, provided foreign aid money for President Obama's father, Barack H. Obama Sr., to continue his studies in the US. Before attending the University of Hawaii, Obama Sr. had been working for the Kenyan Government Literacy Project under the direction of Mooney. He co-authored three books on literacy in his native Luo language, which were used to teach Kenyans about health, agriculture and citizenship.
Examples of international programs ProLiteracy supports include:
- Kenya: The Kenya Adult Learners' Association, a consortium of several adult literacy and development projects in rural Kenyan villages and the slum areas of Nairobi. These programs encourage native language literacy instruction related directly to individual and community self-reliance and development projects in education, health and income-generation.
- Iraq: The Women's Empowerment Project strives to empower deprived and excluded members of society by promoting human rights, women's rights, democracy and education, as well as working to build relationships among various Iraqi groups.
- India: The Rural Rehabilitation Center (RRC) program works to wipe out the practice of female infanticide in Madurai. Female infanticide is the practice of abandoning or killing female children in areas where male children are valued more. The RRC program focuses on small-group instruction, discussions, street theater and other awareness-raising initiatives to give women information and skills to develop the confidence to improve their standard of living.
ProLiteracy supports adults and young people in the US and internationally who are learning to read, write, and do basic math by training instructors, publishing instructional materials, and advocating for resources and public policies that support them.
Support ProLiteracy's vital mission. Click
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We welcome the accomplished writer and critic Tracy Koretsky as the new author of Critique Corner. Her poetry collection, Even Before My Own Name, is available for free at www.TracyKoretsky.com, where you can also find audio poems, author interviews and links to her widely-published poetry, essays, short stories and reviews. Her novel, Ropeless, a rollicking mother-daughter drama celebrating possibilities despite disabilities, has won fifteen awards. Ms. Koretsky served on the editorial staff of the online magazine Triplopia, for which she ran the Best of the Best Poetry Competition. Currently she reviews for Main Street Rag and the Children's Literature Comprehensive Database.
This month, Critique Corner is pleased to present the untitled SMS Text poem "mother's now..." by Hugh Hodge.
If you would like a chance to be critiqued, please email your poem to 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!
Untitled (SMS Text Poem)
by Hugh Hodge
mother's now
translucent glowing
coldly by this aging
winter sun
autumnal under
a puzzled cloud
forgetful of both
time and place
her hand cold
as fresh chicken
Copyright 2009 by Hugh Hodge
Critique by Tracy Koretsky
As I begin my tenure as poetry critic here at Winning Writers, I find myself looking towards the future. That is why, of all the many beautiful and intriguing poems that arrived in my mailbox, I picked this SMS text poem by South African poet Hugh Hodge.
You may ask, "What is an SMS poem?" and, perhaps querulously, "Um...why?" I'll admit I did.
SMS, just to make sure we're all on the same page—or, er, screen—means "short message service"—what most people simply call "texting," that apparently all-absorbing and reportedly thumb-nerve numbing activity that has people all over the world hunched over their cells and squinting.
Although the technology was developed in the early 1990s, implementation was slow. But by the year 2000 there were 17 billion SMS texts (yes, that's a "b"). One year later that number was 250 billion, and the millennium was born.
By 2005 the number of SMS transmissions overtopped the trillion mark. And as you might imagine, with all that communicating going on, it wasn't long before poets joined the party....
Click to continue reading this critique
This poem, our critique and contest suggestions for poems in this style appear in full at:
http://www.winningwriters.com/resources/critiques/2009/urc_0909hodge.php
See
all of our poetry critiques.
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COMING IN OUR OCTOBER 15 NEWSLETTER
The Best Free Poetry Contests for October 16-November 30
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