Home » NewPages Blog » Page 104

NewPages Blog

At the NewPages Blog readers and writers can catch up with their favorite literary and alternative magazines, independent and university presses, creative writing programs, and writing and literary events. Find new books, new issue announcements, contest winners, and so much more!

Contest :: The Masters Review Anthology IX

The Masters Review Anthology IX Contest flier

Deadline: March 29, 2020
The Masters Review opens submissions to produce our annual anthology, a collection of ten stories and essays written by the best emerging authors. Our aim is to showcase ten writers who we believe will continue to produce great work. The ten winners are nationally distributed in a printed book with their stories and essays exposed to top agents, editors, and authors across the country. This year, the anthology contest will be judged by Rick Bass. We’re looking for your best work up to 7000 words. Please note you must not have published a novel-length work at the time of submission. mastersreview.com/anthology/

Prism Review: Fiction & Poetry Contest Winners

Prism Review HomepagePrism Review has announced their 2020 contest winners!

Short Fiction: Alan Sincic, “Porter Must Be Stopped”
Judge Aurelie Sheehan: ” “Porter Must Be Stopped” could not be stopped. The language tumbles and collides and crests and takes a breath and rolls in again, and somehow all the world is poised and spinning on the fingertip of a storyteller for our pleasure. The story relies on and is in service to beauty—it conjures beauty out of thin air.”

Poetry: Anna Sandy-Elrod, “Only Two”
Judge Michelle Brittan Rosado: “In “Only Two,” the speaker transforms the difficulty of communicating into a charmingly awkward dance of pairs. These (mis)matchings include the Spanish and Portuguese spoken respectively by the customer and shopkeeper; the unnamed city’s buildings appearing “blue against blue, pink against cream”; and the imagined “two small cups on a plate” as metaphor for the speaker and their lover. This poet reminds us of the inadequacy of language to capture the true experience, even as it assures us that we can be both “failed and triumphant.” ”

Both winners receive $250 and will be published in the next issue. The editors thank all the entrants—the decisions were not easy!

The Writer’s Hotel 2020 Application Deadlines

The Writer's Hotel logoThe Writer’s Hotel’s All-Fiction Conference will take place June 3 through 9 in NYC. The deadline for writers to apply is March 22 at midnight. There is a $30 application fee.

Faculty this year includes Rick Moody, Jeffrey Ford, Robyn Schneider, Michael Thomas, Ernesto Quiñonez, James Patrick Kelly, Elizabeth Hand, Francine Prose, Saïd Sayrafiezadeh, Sapphire, Elyssa East, Kevin Larimer, Steven Salpeter, Jennie Dunham, Shanna McNair, and Scott Wolven.

New in 2020: The Writer’s Hotel is now offering NYC Weekends which are shorter conferences in the genres of poetry and nonfiction.

The deadline to apply to the Poetry Weekend is listed as March 15. This conference will take place May 21 through 25. Faculty for this event includes Mark Doty, Marie Howe, Terrance Hayes, Nick Flynn, Deborah Landau, Alexandra Oliver, Kevin Larimer, Jenny Xie, Shanna McNair, and Scott Wolven.

The Poetry Weekend is capped at 40 participants. There is a $30 fee to apply. If they reach 40 participants before the deadline, the application form will close early.

The Nonfiction Weekend will take place October 1-5. Faculty this year includes Mark Doty, Meghan Daum, Hisham Matar, Honor Moore, Elyssa East, Saïd Sayrafiezadeh, Shanna McNair, and Scott Wolven.

The Nonfiction Weekend is capped at 40 participants. There is a $30 fee to apply.

 

Contest :: Flying South 2020

$2,000 in prizes. From March 1 to May 31, Flying South 2020, a publication of Winston Salem Writers, will be accepting entries for prizes in Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry. Best in Category winners will be published and receive $500 each. One of the three winners will receive The WSW President’s Favorite award and win an additional $500. All entries will be considered for publication. For full details, please visit our website: www.wswriters.org.

Prime Number Magazine February/March 53-Word Story Contests

Prime Number Mag logo

Every month, Prime Number Magazine (published by Press 53) offers a free contest, inviting writers to respond to a prompt in 53 words.

February’s prompt was: This month, the Kansas City Chiefs return to the Super Bowl after a fifty-year run of coming up short. Vegas will run the numbers and the 49ers will run the ball. Many expect the Chiefs to run the table. In this spirit, let’s run with the word that has the most dictionary definitions.

The winning story by Elizabeth Barton will appear in the next issue of Prime Number Magazine, releasing April 1.

You still have a couple weeks if you’d like to submit to the March 53-Word Contest (deadline March 21). This month’s prompt: On March 17, people everywhere, regardless of ancestry, will wear green on St. Patrick’s Day. Green can also mean someone is envious, sick, or inexperienced. Green fruit is not ripe. The Green Party protects our environment. And putting well on a green can lead to a pro golfer winning a lot of green.

Find full submission details, check out past winners, and see what’s up with the Prime Number Magazine Awards for Poetry & Short Fiction at the journal’s website.

Call :: Text/Image Work for petrichor

petrichor is looking for code tomes & sign lines. Poetry and image, in whichever order works. Art & text? Shape poems? Digital code verse can hang too. Reading old issues might give you some ideas, but send us what we don’t have, what we’re missing. If you aren’t seeing enough you out there, send yourself here. petrichormag.com

Nimrod – Spring Summer 2020

Nimrod Spring/Summer 2020

The theme for Nimrod‘s latest issue “Words at Play” sounds like a lot of fun. Learn more about it: featuring fiction by Gauraa Shekhar, Sean Bernard, Jackson Ingram, and Alison Ho; nonfiction by JJ Peña; and poetry by James Toupin, Joanna Gordon, Michelle Penn, Wendy Drexler, Holly Painter, Gabriel Spera, Amy Miller, Matthew J. Spireng, George Looney, Ellen Kombiyil, Margot Kahn, Myra Shapiro, Cindy Veach, Katy Day, Marjorie Maddox, Brooke Sahni, Ella Flores, Madeline Grigg, Jean-Mark Sens, Nicholas Yingling, and more.

Poetry – March 2020

Poetry - March 2020

The cover of Poetry‘s March 2020 issue is inviting. Learn what’s inside: a “Latinext” feature with work by Willie Perdomo, Féi Hernandez, Naomi Ayala, J. Estanislao Lopez, Stephanie Roberts, Roberto Carlos Garcia, Ashley August, Nicole Sealey, Noel Quiñones, Virgil Suárez, P.E. Garcia, Benjamín Naka-Hasebe Kingsley, Sergio Lima, Anthony Morales, Anaïs Deal-Márquez, Lupe Mendez, and Melinda Hernandez. Plus more poetry by John McAuliffe, Douglas Kearney, Robin Gow, Jennifer Chang, Suzi F. Garcia, Luther Hughes, Yusef Komunyakaa, John Kinsella & Thurston Moore, Caroline Bird, and more. Nonfiction by Matthew Bevis.

Raleigh Review – 10.1

Raleigh Review - Spring 2020

This issue of Raleigh Review features the winner of the flash fiction contest, Alexander Weinstein, and runners-up, Alexander Steele and Sarah Hardy. Plus new fiction from Michael Horton, Laura Marshall, Casey McConahay, Jeff McLaughlin, AJ Nolan, and Mark Wagenaar, and new poetry by Threa Almontaser, Kyce Bello, Despy Boutris, Lupita Eyde-Tucker, Charlotte Hughes, Kamal E. Kimball, Sandy Longhorn, Aimee Seu, Lena Khalaf Tuffaha, and more. This issue also features the art of Stacey Cushner, and an interview with Patricia Henley.

The Lake – March 2020

The Lake - March 2020

The Lake brings readers poetry every month. The March issue includes poems by Ben Banyard, Melanie Branton, Sandy Deutscher Green, William Ogden Haynes, D. R. James, Beth McDonough, Joe Hills, Kenneth Pobo, J. R. Solonche, Amy Soricelli, Gerald Wagoner, Sarah White. Reviews of Abby Frucht’s Maids and Marianne Boruch’s The Anti-Grief.

Cherry Tree – No. 6

Cherry Tree - 2020

Cherry Tree‘s sixth issue features work by Diannely Antigua, Destiny O. Birdsong, Mirande Bissell, Jennifer Bullis, Lauren Camp, Hannah Cohen, Bailey Cohen-Vera, Raymond Deej, Dante Di Stefano, Jen Stewart Fueston, Jeannine Hall Gailey, David Groff, Christian Gullette, Steve Henn, Korey Hurni, Ashley M. Jones, Kasey Jueds, Toshiya Kamei, Genevieve Kaplan, Olivia Kingery, Mingpei Li, Alice Liang, Sarah Lyons-Lin, Angie Macri, Ann Stewart McBee, Afopefoluwa Ojo, JJ Peña, Robert L. Penick, Emilia Phillips, Caroline Plasket, Alec Prevett, Sara Ryan, F. Daniel Rzicznek, Martha Silano, DeAnna Stephens, Anne Dyer Stuart, Yerra Sugarman, Ojo Taiye, Adam Tavel, Yasumi Tsuhara, Elsa Valmidiano, Hannah VanderHart, April Wang, and Art Zilleruelo!

Allegro Poetry Magazine – No. 24

Allegro Logo

Allegro Poetry Magazine has recently moved to a biannual publication schedule. This issue’s contributors include Judith Russell, Michael G. Casey, John Grey, Leslie Tate, Ruth Taaffe, Dan Overgaard, Ken Cumberlidge, William Snyder, Beth McDonough, Holly Day, Goran Gatalica, Kate Noakes, Aaliyah Cassim, Awósùsì Olúwábùkúmí A, Phil Wood, Gordon Gibson, Sean Howard, Michael Burton, Julia White, Julie Mullen, and Michele Waering.

Calling all censors!

Tennessee libraries bill graphicTennessee Becomes Second State to Propose ‘Parental Review Boards’ for Public Libraries. Publishers Weekly.

The controversial bills propose to give elected “parental review boards” the power to decide which “age-appropriate” materials can be accessible to minors within a public library, with librarians who don’t comply with the board’s decisions subject to prison time.

“Public librarians around the country are often put in the uncomfortable position of standing up for free speech in their own institutions, and refusing to take down a book simply become some members of the community object,” Tager said. “Apparently the sponsors of this Act feel that this should be treated as criminal conduct when it’s actually librarians simply doing their jobs.”

 

Call :: Fleas on the Dog Issue 6

We’re the site your teacher warned you about! The no frills brown bag in your face thumb your nose online psychotropolis for the literarily insane. Get committed today! The infamous dude sextet is bustlin’, hustlin’, itchin’, and twitchin’ for QUALITY short fiction, nonfiction, poetry, plays, and screenplays that smell ripe and kick ass for our hopefully offensive upcoming Issue 6. If we like what you submit we’ll be all over you; if we don’t we promise to be gentle, especially if it’s your first time. See our Guidelines for details: fleasonthedog.com. Submissions open March 1-April 30.

7 Writers to Rediscover This March

women's history month graphic7 Writers to Rediscover This March. Powell’s City of Books Blog.

Women authors, particularly queer authors and authors of color, have frequently been relegated to the dustbin of history while their male contemporaries have been added to the Western canon and taught in classrooms ad infinitum. Some women are successful in their lifetimes, but, overshadowed by their male contemporaries, fall out of print and the collective consciousness after their deaths. Others languish in obscurity during their most prolific years and find recognition only at the end of their lives; or, they are recognized posthumously, when the mores of society catch up with them.

In celebration of Women’s History Month, here are seven authors who were underappreciated in their lifetimes, or who were forgotten and deserve to be better known.

What does the Future Hold for Literary Magazines?

The Writer talks to editors of literary magazines to gain insight into the future of publishing in “What does the future look like for literary magazines?”

The problem is that more people want to get published than want to read.

Print journals have seen a decrease in subscriptions which has cut into already minuscule budgets to produce issues and pay writers. But while subscription numbers can be seen decreasing…submissions are on the upswing.

Take a look at what current editors of both online and print magazines have to say about trying to stay afloat in the precarious world of literary publishing and foraying not only into online-only content, but into other ventures to keep their journals alive.

Call :: Flexible Press 22 Under 22 Anthology

Deadline: April 30, 2020
This anthology seeks to offer a channel for people under 22 to talk to older people about their experiences and concerns. We are looking for short stories, poetry, essay, memoir, from people under 22 discussing what worries you? What angers you, or delights you? In other words: what’s on your mind? Submit up to three poems, or one short story, essay, or memoir up to 5000-words. Art and graphic stories are more than welcome, but the book will in black and white. Everyone under 22 is welcome. We are especially interested in voices from undeserved communities too often left out of the discussion. www.flexiblepub.com/22_under_22

The Gettsyburg Review – Autumn 2019

Gettysburg Review - Autumn 2019The Autumn 2019 issue of The Gettysburg Review offers readers a great selection of poetry and prose as usual, from Alice Friman’s “Hygiene,” which utilizes breasts as a way to measure time and maturity in a sort of tongue-in-cheek way, to the 55-part essay “A Brief Account of Certain Left-Leaning Tendencies” by Valerie Sayers which highlights her father by using the word “left,” to digestible words of wisdom in three poems by Joyce Sutphen.

But what really left me enamored was the art feature. Nine paintings by Anne Siems grace the pages and cover of this issue. The portraits are whimsical and magical, using creative patterns and images of nature to create portraits that draw viewers in. More little details pop out the longer one looks. People become one with nature—mushrooms cloud around a body in “We Are All Connected,” animal heads sprout from hands like puppets in “Beasts,” antlers grow from the head of an animal-surrounded girl in “Eve Dreams of a Wolf.” These works are gorgeous and give readers a good reason to stick around within the pages of this issue long after they’ve gotten their share of words.

The Hampden-Sydney Poetry Review – Fall 2019

Hampden-Sydney Poetry Review - Winter 2019Magazine Review by Katy Haas

I’m ready for spring to hurry up and get here already, so I couldn’t help gravitating toward poems featuring plants in the Fall 2019 issue of The Hampden-Sydney Poetry Review.

Tara Bray focuses on plants in all three of her poems: “Inside the Sycamore,” “Milkweed: Doxology,” and “Lemon Verbena.”  She writes with a hushed appreciation and admiration for each of these. There’s a familiarity and softness in her words. She calls the lemon verbena “sister,” she and her family fit themselves inside the sycamore, she feeds off the milkweed, a deep connection tying her to each plant.

This makes me appreciate Brian McDonald’s “Basil,” found on the following page, that much more. He heads in the completely opposite direction, beginning his poem with much less adoration: “Fuck. Another summer of trying to grow / these oily leaves I’ve always let fry / in the heat.” The basil plants lead McDonald to consider his shortcomings: other plants that have died in windowsills and his uncertainty about whether he’s treating his wife how she should be treated. He’s open and honest, deeply human, all with the help of these fragile basil plants.

It will still be cold here in Michigan for at least another month or two, so I definitely appreciate the writers that are able to deliver me from the chilliness and drop me in the middle of a sycamore or a warm backyard, a tray of basil plants in hand.

Advice for the AWP Newbie from an AWP Oldie

brevity blog awp graphicAdvice for the AWP Newbie from an AWP Oldie. By Suzanne Roberts, Brevity Blog.

Pace Yourself. Put together a schedule of things you want to attend, but don’t try to go to a panel in every time slot. Shoot for no more than two panels a day, and try to hit the keynote readings. I can’t tell you how happy I am that I got to see people like W.S. Merwin, Seamus Heaney, Grace Paley, and Dereck Walcott read now that they are gone.  Seeing these luminaries was more memorable than those times I went to a 26-person marathon reading in a crowded bar with bad free beer…

 

2019 Constance Rooke Creative Nonfiction Prize Winner

The Malahat Review - Winter 2019The Malahat Review annually hosts the Constance Rooke Creative Nonfiction Prize. The editors consider submissions of “a genre that embraces, but is not limited to, the personal essay, memoir, narrative nonfiction, social commentary, travel writing, historical accounts, and biography, all enhanced by such elements as description, dramatic scenes, dialogue, and characterization.” The Winter 2019 issue features the 2019 winner, chosen by Judge Yasuko Thanh: “Bat Reign” by Jeanette Lynes.

In an interview, Thanh said she was looking for “A story with a heartbeat, the ring of truth; to be surprised on every page with turn of phrase, or metaphor, or image so apt it’s breathtaking. Insight. A climactic “punchline” in the sense that its timing is perfectly paced and creates a resolution as inevitable as unexpected.”

Pick up a copy of the Winter 2019 issue of The Malahat Review to see how Lynes meets these expectations with “Bat Reign,” and check back in May of this year for details on the 2020 prize.

Don’t be afraid to let children read graphic novels.

new kid graphicDon’t be afraid to let children read graphic novels. They’re real books. By Karen MacPherson, Washington Post.

The kids are on board with comics, and so are many publishers, librarians, teachers and literary award givers. I’m hopeful that still-reluctant parents and educators are coming around. Whenever I encounter resistance, I think of what Robin Brenner, teens librarian at the Public Library of Brookline, Mass., and founder of the “No Flying No Tights” website, said: “Comics are not intended to replace prose. They are just one way to tell a story. But they can be as demanding, creative, intelligent, compelling, and full of story as any book.”

A dirty secret: you can only be a writer if you can afford it

make money writing graphicA dirty secret: you can only be a writer if you can afford it

When students ask me for advice with regard to how to “make it as a writer”, I tell them to get a job that also gives them time and space somehow to write; I tell them find a job that, if they still have it 10 years from now, it wouldn’t make them sad. I worry often that they think this means I don’t think their work is worthy; that I don’t believe they’ll make it in the way that they imagine making it, but this advice is me trying help them sustain themselves enough to make the work I know they can.

Contest :: Jacar Press Book & Chapbook Contests 2020

Jacar Press Winter LitPak flier

Jacar Press, A Community Active Press, publishes poetry chapbooks, full-length collections, anthologies, and an award-winning online magazine, One which features Pulitzer Prize winners and new poets from 6 continents. Book sales support progressive organizations, including groups that address racism, gender discrimination, immigration issues, women’s initiatives, violence and abuse, prisoner reintegration programs, and others. Jacar Press offers low-cost workshops featuring writers like Lynn Emanuel, Patricia Spears Jones, Dorianne Laux, Li-Young Lee, Marilyn Nelson, Ilya Kaminsky, etc. Chapbook and full-length contests open through April 30. Past judges have included Chana Bloch, Toi Derricotte, Hélène Cardona, Lola Haskins, Rickey Laurentiis, Dorianne Laux, Jamaal May, and others. jacarpress.com/submissions/#contests

Contest :: Nelligan Prize for Short Fiction 2020

The Nelligan Prize for Short Fiction is accepting submissions through March 14, 2020. Winner receives $2,000 and publication in the Fall issue of literary magazine Colorado Review. $15 fee to submit by mail or $17 via Submittable. Learn more…

Contest :: The Fiddlehead 2020 Creative Nonfiction Contest

The Fiddlehead Winter 2020 LitPak FlierJune 1 is the deadline to submit essays to literary magazine The Fiddlehead‘s 2020 Creative Nonfiction Contest. The reading fee entitles entrants to a one-year subscription. This also includes the 75th anniversary issue. Winner receives $2,000 CAD and publication in the Autumn 2020 issue. Learn more..

‘Her Sister’s Tattoo’ by Ellen Meeropol

Her Sisters Tattoo - Ellen MeeropolBook Review by  Jacqueline Sheehan

I’ve been a fan of Ellen Meeropol’s novels for ten years. Her three previous books merged personal drama with social justice. But not until Her Sister’s Tattoo has Meeropol so masterfully grasped the political strife in our country since the 1960’s. And as a true novelist can do, she allows us to experience the turmoil through the intimate lives of two characters whom we come to know and understand.

Rosa and Esther Levin are caught up in the passion and violence of the anti-war protests of 1968 in Detroit. When protest marchers are bloodied by the mounted police, the sisters spontaneously take an action to distract the police that would seem innocuous, even childlike. They hurl apples at the police. But a horse is spooked and a police officer is horribly injured. In that one moment, their lives change in unimaginable ways, driving a brutal wedge between the two sisters that will endure for decades. The dynamics of loyalty to family and one’s conscience become the battleground for a truly American novel.

Late in the book, (I’m not giving anything away here) a character says, “The Levin sisters taught me it’s not your family that determines who you become. It’s not even your abilities. Your choices define you.”

We all make choices every day that define us, but some of us make choices with more lethal consequences. Will our loyalties reside first with our loved ones, or should we sacrifice even our freedom to a larger belief in what is right? Meeropol pulls back the curtain on the lives of two sisters in the midst of this and by doing so, pulls back the curtain on a history of political activism that reverberates through time. For those with an eye for politics and fiction, Ellen Meeropol’s novel will not disappoint.

Her Sister’s Tattoo by Ellen Meeropol. Red Hen Press, April 2020.

About the reviewer: Jacqueline Sheehan, is a New York Times Bestselling author and a psychologist. Her novels include, The Comet’s Tale a novel about Sojourner Truth, Lost & Found, Now & Then, Picture This, The Center of the World, and The Tiger in the House. She also writes essays including the New York Times column, Modern Love. She is one of the founders and former president of The Straw Dog Writers Guild in Western Massachusetts. She teaches workshops at Writers in Progress in Northampton.

Orson’s Review has a New Website

Orson's Review screenshotBiannual online literary magazine Orson’s Review has a new website. It was formerly included on the website of parent company Orson’s Publishing, but has now branched off on its own.

The new site has a nice, minimalist design to highlight the work published.

All the archives have moved as well so you can read issues one through three on the new site. Plus, you can read interviews with contributors. Don’t forget to subscribe to receive notifications when Issue 4 is released soon.

Call :: Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop Anthology

The Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop is accepting essays taking a “contemporary look at silences around class and caste systems that divide us.” The anthology will be co-edited by a collective of award-winning incarcerated writers.

Submissions for the anthology are open through April 3, 2020. There is no fee to submit. The anthology will be published by Coffee House Press. Learn more…

Rattle – Spring 2020

Rattle - Spring 2020

The Spring 2020 issue of Rattle features a special tribute section of poems written by students of Kim Addonizio’s poetry workshops (as well as one poem by Kim herself). In the open section, the poems themselves are as good as their titles: “The Cow I Didn’t Eat.” “Social Experiments in Which I Am the [Bear].” “Ode to the Mattress on the Side of the Interstate.” Diverse as always, the new issue features a poem written in “the imagined voice of Frida Kahlo” (Barbara Lydecker Crane), “Young Dyke” by Alison Hazle, a duo of triolets by Carolyne Wright, and much more.

Call :: Tolsun Books 2020 Open Reading Period

Independent publisher Tolsun Books is open to unsolicited manuscripts made from parts through May 31. These can be either full-length or chapbook-length. Poetry, short stories, essays, hybrids, translations, and more. $15 fee. Free submissions accepted on the 15th of every month. Learn more…

New Orleans Review – Winter Spring 2020

New Orleans Review - Winter/Spring 2020

Find out more about the new online version of New Orleans Review. Contributors: Danley Romero, Kaylie Saidin, Britton Hanson, Maria Kuznetsova, Apryl Lee, Diana Valenzuela, Anna Claire Hodge, Ryan Burgess, Rage Hezekiah, Julia Cohen and Lisa Nikolidakis. Cover by Ashley Longshore.

Fiction Southeast – Feb 2020

Fiction Southeast logo

Fiction Southeast publishes work on a rolling basis. Contributors this year include work by Robin Littell, Ziaul Moid Khan, Jason Graff, Marianne Rogoff, Dakota Canon, Vandana Khanna, Andrea Jarrell, Jessica Love, Richard Sogliuzzo, Annie Mountcastle, Kay Sloan, Staci Mercado, and Mike Wilson.

Crossways Literary Magazine – No. 9

Crossways - January 2020

This issue includes poetry by Sinead McClure, Mary Kathryn Jablonski, Timothy Gordan, Beth McDonough, Milton Ehrlich, Breda Joyce, Susie Gharib, Alun Robert, and more; fiction by Patrick Doherty, J. Scott Hardin, Chuck Teixeira, Max Dunbar, and Fiona Billie Lawlor; and a book review by Nicola Spendlove. [no website]

Call :: Palooka

International literary magazine Palooka has been publishing featured, up-and-coming, established, and new writers, artists, and photographers for a decade. They are open to submissions for its journal and chapbook press year-round. They do charge a fee. Learn more…

Contest :: Cow Creek Poetry Chapbook Prize

Pittsburg State University and its literary magazine Emerald City are accepting submissions to the Cow Creek Poetry Chapbook Prize. Deadline to submit is May 15. Winner receives $1,000, publication, and 25 author copies. This year’s judge is Marcus Wicker. Learn more…

Contest :: Gival Press 2020 Contests

Gival Press Winter 2020 LitPak FlierGival Press is hosting three contests in 2020: the Gival Press Novel Award, the Gival Press Oscar Wilde Award, and the Gival Press Short Story Award. The Novel Award deadlines is May 30. The prize is $3k and book publication in 2021. The Oscar Wilde Award for the best LGBTQ poem deadline is June 27. The prize is $500 and online publication. The Short Story Award deadline is August 8. The Prize is $1,000 and online publication. For complete details on each contest, visit: www.Givalpress.Submittable.com.

Program :: University of North Carolina Greensboro MFA

UNCG MFA Winter 2020 LitPak FlierApplication Deadline: January 1 (annually)
One of the oldest creative writing programs in the country, UNC Greensboro’s MFA Writing Program offers fully funded graduate assistantships with stipends, tuition remission, and subsidized health insurance. The MFA is a two-year residency program with an emphasis on studio time for the writing of poetry or fiction. Students work closely with acclaimed faculty in one-on-one tutorials and small classes, including courses in contemporary publishing and creative nonfiction. Our campus features a Distinguished Visiting Writers Series of authors and editors; other professionalization opportunities include college teaching and hands-on editorial work for The Greensboro Review. More at mfagreensboro.org and greensbororeview.org.

Event :: Elk River Writers Workshop 2020

2020 Elk River Writers Workshop FlierDeadline: Rolling (July 1 final deadline)
Elk River Arts and Lectures is now accepting applications to our summer writers workshop, August 16–21, at historic Chico Hot Springs Resort, 30 miles from Yellowstone National Park. We host some of the most celebrated nature writers in the United States to work with students in an area of Montana that has inspired the work of conservationists and writers for decades. Workshop classes are limited to 10 students in each genre. This year, Rick Bass, Linda Hogan, and J. Drew Lanham, William Pitt Root, and Pamela Uschuk will serve as our core faculty. Apply via Submittable or visit: elkriverwriters.org.

Contest :: EVENT Non-Fiction Contest 2020

EVENT Winter 2020 LitPak FlierDeadline: October 15, 2020
EVENT: A home for writers. A destination for readers. Now in its 49th year of publication, EVENT is an award-winning, internationally recognized literary magazine that inspires and nurtures writers, showcasing the best contemporary fiction, poetry, nonfiction, notes on writing, and book reviews three times a year, with stunning cover art and illustration. We are now accepting submissions of 5,000 words or less to the annual EVENT Non-Fiction Contest. $3,000 in prizes, plus publication. Entries must be postmarked or submitted online by October 15, 2020. Visit www.eventmagazine.ca for exclusive online content, and to learn more about our unique Reading Service for Writers.

Program :: Jackson Center for Creative Writing

Hollins University MFA flierApplication Deadline: January 6
For well over sixty years, this highly regarded Hollins MFA has supported lively and determined writers who want to concentrate on craft. Our intensive two-year graduate program helps students find their way in an atmosphere of cooperation and encouragement. Our students work successfully in poetry, short fiction, novels, and creative nonfiction—and in between genres. Our faculty writers take time to work with students in this vibrant, supportive community. Our alums have a remarkably high record of publication. Program provides graduate assistantships, teaching fellowships, travel funding, and generous scholarships. Most of all, a vibrant, supportive community. For information, www.hollins.edu/creative-writing-MFA.

Call :: Club Plum Literary Journal

Submissions open for flash fiction of no more than 800 words and prose poems. Send unusual or lyrical pieces. Club Plum also seeks art: Please send one image only of pen-and-ink line art, pencil drawings, watercolor, experimental, impressionistic or abstract pieces, black-and-white or color. The editor will pass on photography. See clubplumliteraryjournal.com for details.