Deadline: Rolling
Every year, the University of Arkansas Press accepts submissions for the Miller Williams Poetry Series and from the books selected awards the $5,000 Miller Williams Poetry Prize in the following summer. For almost a quarter century the press has made this series the cornerstone of its work as a publisher of some of the country’s best poetry. The series is edited by Patricia Smith. The deadline for the 2022 Prize is September 30, 2020. For more information visit uapress.com. Michael McGriff was named 2021 Miller Williams Poetry Prize Winner.
Book News
NewPages Book Stand – September 2020
It’s that time of month again: a new Book Stand is now up on the website. With the September update, you can find five featured titles, as well as a selection of new and forthcoming books to check out.
In the forthcoming I’ll Fly Away, Rudy Francisco’s poems savor the day-to-day, treating it as worship, turning it into an opportunity to plant new seeds of growth.
The essays in Sky Songs: Meditations on Loving a Broken World by Jennifer Sinor offer a lyric exploration of language, love, and the promise inherent in the stories we tell: to remember.
Some Girls Walk into the Country They Are From is Sawako Nakayasu’s first poetry collection in seven years. The book radicalizes notions of “translation” as both process and product.
Hafizah Geter’s debut collection, Un-American, moves readers through the fraught internal and external landscapes—linguistic, cultural, racial, familial—of those whose lives are shaped and transformed by immigration.
Joseph Harris’s interconnected narrative You’re in the Wrong Place presents characters reaching for transcendence from a place they cannot escape in a landscape suddenly devoid of work, faith, and love.
You can learn more about each of these New & Noteworthy books at our website and find them at our our affiliate Bookshop.org. You can see how to place your book in our New & Noteworthy section here: https://npofficespace.com/classified-advertising/new-title-issue-ad-reservation/.
Contest :: Interim’s 2020 Test Site Poetry Prize
Deadline: December 15, 2020
Submit your manuscript to Interim’s 3rd annual Test Site Poetry Contest! As our series title suggests, we’re looking for manuscripts that engage the perilous conditions of life in the 21st century, as they pertain to issues of social justice and the earth. The winning book will demonstrate an ethos that considers the human condition in inclusive love and sympathy, while offering the same in consideration of the earth. Because we believe the truth is always experimental, we’ll especially appreciate books with innovative approaches. The winning book will be chosen by the series editor and advisory board, which includes poets Sherwin Bitsui, Donald Revell, Sasha Steensen and Ronaldo Wilson. The winner will receive $1,000 and their book will be published by University of Nevada Press in 2021.
Call :: Palooka Seeks Short Works for Magazine Publication & Chapbook-length Manuscripts
Palooka is an international literary magazine. For a decade we’ve featured up-and-coming, established, and brand-new writers, artists, and photographers from all around the world. We’re open to diverse forms and styles and are always seeking unique chapbooks, fiction, poetry, nonfiction, artwork, photography, graphic narratives, and comic strips. Give us your best shot! Submissions open year-round. palookamag.com
September 2020 eLitPak :: LitNuts: Crazy About Books
Coming September 21, the LitNuts eNewsletter promotes books from independent presses. A special offer is now available for authors! Subscribe to the newsletter (it’s free!) and indicate that you are an author. We’ll send you discount codes for free and discounted advertising that can be used during our launch, now through January 2021.
Call :: Anthology Seeks Written Content about Madonna
Deadline: October 15, 2020
Are you a fan of pop-singer Madonna? We’re seeking original stories about the impact she’s had on individual lives. Submissions should be 1500-3500 words. Feel free to supplement with photos with Madonna, photos dressed like Madonna, or other related materials. We pay $25 for selected submissions. Contributing authors will receive a free copy of the published book. A portion of proceeds will go to the non-profit organization founded by Madonna “Raising Malawi”. Contributing authors will be required to sign a contract. Submissions must be in English: anthologysubmit@gmail.com. Work must not have previously appeared in print. We check for and report plagiarism. This anthology will be edited and published by Heather Turman and LeeAnn Tooker.
Contest :: The Wishing Jewel Prize
Deadline: November 30, 2020
The Wishing Jewel Prize honors a manuscript that challenges expectations of genre, form, or mode while engaging the rich possibilities of lyrical expression. Named for an essay in Anne Carson’s innovative book Plainwater, we look forward to work that questions the boundaries of what poems and books can be. Contest awards $1,000 and publication. All finalists considered for publication. Reading fee: various. For more information visit our Submissions Manager.
Contest :: Third Annual Minds on Fire Open Book Prize
Deadline: October 31, 2020
Conduit Books & Ephemera’s third annual open book prize is accepting manuscripts. If you have a manuscript or know someone who does, please give them a shot. Open to any poet writing in English regardless of previous publication record, the prize seeks to represent the best contemporary writing in high quality editions of enduring value. Prospective entrants are encouraged to familiarize themselves with Conduit, which champions originality, intelligence, irreverence, and humanity. Previously unpublished manuscripts of 48-90 pages should be submitted through their Submittable page or via the USPS. Please visit www.conduit.org/book-prizes for details.
Contest :: 2021 Press 53 Award for Short Fiction
Deadline: December 31, 2020
Awarded to an outstanding, unpublished collection of short stories. Reading Fee: $30. Award: $1,000 cash advance, publication, and fifty copies. Enter: Submit online with Submittable or by mail from September 1–December 31, 2020. Press 53 publisher and Editor-in-Chief Kevin Morgan Watson will serve as the only judge. Winner and finalists announced by May 1, 2021; advance review copies sent to major reviewers and outlets; publication in October 2021. Complete details at our website.
Contest :: Ghost Story Fall 2020 Supernatural Fiction Award
Deadline: September 30, 2020
Our biannual competition is now open for submissions. We want exciting, thought-provoking short stories incorporating a supernatural theme or element. Contemporary magic realism is more than welcome. $1,000 for the winner; two honorable mentions receive $250. October 31 online publication for all three, including custom illustration by noted British Folk Horror artist Andy Paciorek, plus print anthology publication in Volume II of 21st Century Ghost Stories due for publication in 2021. (Volume I was published in 2018 by Wyrd Harvest Press of Durham, U.K., and is available for purchase.) 1,500-10,000 words. Deadline: September 30. $20 submission fee. See our website for complete guidelines.
Contest :: 2020 Charles B. Wheeler Poetry Prize from The Journal
Deadline: October 5, 2020
Charles B. Wheeler Poetry Prize. Submissions open September 1, 2020. Judge Marcus Jackson will select one full-length manuscript for publication by Mad Creek Books, the trade imprint of The Ohio State University Press. In addition to publication under a standard book contract, the winner receives the Charles B. Wheeler prize of $2,500. A nonrefundable fee of $23.00 (or $11.50 for BIPOC poets) will be charged for each entry. All entrants receive a one-year subscription to The Journal. Visit our contest page for guidelines. (If it is a hardship to meet the entry fee, contact our editor (prize@thejournalmag.org) to discuss options.)