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Brevity Blog: Blurb Your Enthusiasm

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Brevity Blog: "Blurb Your Enthusiasm" by Lisa KuselAre you a follower of literary blogs? Do you love nonfiction? Did you know online literary magazine Brevity: A Journal of Concise Literary Nonfiction has a (nearly) daily blog? It should definitely be on your blogroll! You can find reviews, articles, and so much more.

I highly recommend checking out Lisa Kusel’s “Blurb Your Enthusiasm” posted on December 18. The piece is an interesting take on the value of blurbs on the back of your book and the luck of a lesser known writer getting a big name to step in and contribute a blurb. It was particularly interesting to me because I actually do not heed blurbs on the back of books. When trying to select a new book to read, I always felt annoyed when I saw blurbs from others when I what I wanted was a brief book summary to actually let me know what the book was about.

Have you ever selected a book based on the back cover blurbs alone?

While you are checking that out, don’t forget to scroll through more posts. They are definitely an interesting read.

Call :: Essential Voices: A COVID-19 Anthology

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Deadline: December 31, 2020
While the pandemic has ravaged our world, certain populations have been impacted more deeply than others. Essential Voices strives to give voice to those who have been silenced. Send us your poems, stories, recipes, or works of art that reflect upon the experience of COVID and COVID related issues in your life. This anthology will be published by West Virginia University Press. Visit us at www.essentialvoicesanthology.wordpress.com for guidelines before submitting to essentialanthology@gmail.com.

Are You Somebody I Should Know? Mudfish Individual Poet Series #14

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Girl floating in book outside a white houseMudfish has released the 14th installment in their Individual Poet Series. Are You Somebody I Should Know? by Dell Lemmon. Art critic and poet John Yau says that Lemmon’s “memoir poems, as she calls them, are strong rivers pulling you into their currents. Her poems are pared down and direct and move at a rapid clip without ever tripping over themselves.” Jason Koo, Founder and Executive Director of Brooklyn Poets, says Lemmon’s book will convince you that you have missed so “much of your life, haven’t truly seen it, haven’t treasured nearly enough of all your friends, your loves, your family, let alone all the people you thought were not important enough to know.”

Are You Somebody I Should Know is available via SPD, Amazon, and Mudfish‘s website.

Contest :: Reminder Inaugural Acacia Fiction Prize Accepting Submissions

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Kallisto Gaia Press logoDeadline: December 31, 2020
The Acacia Fiction Prize winner is awarded $1,200, 20 author copies, plus publication and promotion by Kallisto Gaia Press for a collection of short stories, flash fiction, novellas, or any combination of fiction totaling between 40K and 75K words. Richard Z. Santos (Trust Me, 2020) will judge. Runner up receives $100. Entry fee is $25. All entrants receive a copy of the winning collection! Deadline: December 31, 2020. Sponsored by Duotrope. More info at kallistogaiapress.submittable.com/submit.

Call :: We Pay Contributors: Driftwood Press Submissions Open

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Driftwood Press website screenshotJohn Updike once said, “Creativity is merely a plus name for regular activity. Any activity becomes creative when the doer cares about doing it right, or better.” At Driftwood Press, we are actively searching for artists who care about doing it right, or better. We are excited to receive your submissions and will diligently work to bring you the best in full poetry collections, novellas, graphic novels, short fiction, poetry, graphic narrative, photography, art, interviews, and contests. We also offer our submitters a premium option to receive an acceptance or rejection letter within one week of submission; many authors are offered editorships and interviews. To polish your fiction, note our editing services and seminars, too. www.driftwoodpress.net

Into The Void Releases We Are Antifa Anthology

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Into the Void Antifa Anthology flierAt the beginning of the month, literary magazine Into the Void released it’s We Are Antifa: Expressions Against Fascism, Racism and Police Violence in the United States and Beyond. The anthology features creative nonfiction, fiction, and poetry from diverse writers all over the world, i.e. the US, Canada, Ireland, the UK, Greece, Nigeria, and more.

Into the Void will be donating 100% of proceeds from the anthology’s sales to Black Lives Matter Canada. In order to maximize profits, the book will only be available via Amazon in ebook and paperback formats.

We Are Antifa was edited by Heath Brougher, Jay C. Mims, Amanda Gaines, Andrew Rihn, and Philip Elliot. It features “breathtaking writing condemning fascism, racism and state-sanctioned brutality through powerful expressions of grief, rage, hope and love.”

The title is a response to Donald Trump’s declaration that the US will be designating Antifa as a terrorist organization. The editors encourage readers to check out “A Brief History of Anti-Fascism” in Smithsonian Magazine to better understand why they published this anthology and “how anti-fascism and anti-racism are inextricably linked in the fight against oppression and supremacy.”

Contest :: Press 53 2021 Award for Short Fiction

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Press 53 Award for Short Fiction Flier screenshot
click to open PDF

Deadline: December 31, 2020
The Press 53 Award for Short Fiction is 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 :: Reminder: Interim’s 2020 Test Site Poetry Contest Open to Submissions

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Interim 2020 Test Site Poetry Prize bannerDeadline: 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 winner will receive $1,000 and their book will be published by University of Nevada Press in 2021.

Call :: Gateway Literary Press Seeks Short Story Collections

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Deadline: November 30, 2020
Gateway Literary Press, a new small press, seeks submissions for its catalogue. We seek short story collections that fall somewhere in the surrealist/fabulist/magic realist tradition. Prospective writers should submit a 2 story sample with cover letter describing the rest of the collection, including a list of previous publications, particularly for stories included in the collection. No complete manuscripts at this time, please; these will be rejected unread. We read from November 1-30 and do not charge a fee. A sample authorial contract and more information can be found on our website: gatewayliterarypress.wordpress.com.

Contest :: Saguaro Poetry Prize – $1,200 & Publication

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Kallisto Gaia Press logoDeadline: December 31, 2020
The Saguaro Poetry Prize winner is awarded $1,200, twenty author copies, plus publication and promotion by Kallisto Gaia Press for 28–48 pages of contemporary poetry. Ire’ne Lara Silva (Cuicacalli / House of Song, 2019) will judge. Runner up receives $100. Entry fee is $25. All entrants receive a copy of the winning collection! Deadline: December 31, 2020. Sponsored by Duotrope. More info at Submittable.

Contest :: 2023 $5,000 Miller Williams Poetry Prize

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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 2023 Prize is September 30, 2021. For more information visit uapress.com.