Deadline: June 30, 2020
Our third annual first book prize is open and accepting manuscripts. If you have a smoking hot manuscript or know someone who does, please give us a shot. Awarded annually to a poet writing in English who has not yet published a full-length poetry book, the Marystina Santiestevan First Book Prize champions poets who dance to their own tune not to be different but to be true. Previously unpublished manuscripts of 48-90 pages should be submitted through our Submittable page or via the USPS. Please visit www.conduit.org/book-prizes for details.
Books
Internet Archive Launches National Emergency Library
Last week Internet Archive launched the National Emergency Library which contains 1.4 million digitized books to serve the needs of students, educators, and learners. This means that they have suspended the waitlists, at least through June 30. This allows students to have the access they need to assigned readings and other library materials.
Brewster Kahle, founder of Internet Archive, says, “Think of this as a huge experiment. In one big push, we can improve online learning and its infrastructure in a way that may otherwise have taken years. This crisis encourages universities to be bold, to make investments that ultimately may mean many more students can benefit. Perhaps 500 undergraduates can fill a hall at MIT, but how many millions can take an online MIT course, once the books, materials and lessons are online?”
The library brings together all the books from Phillips Academy Andover and Marygrove College with much of Trent University’s collections. There is also over a million other books donated by other libraries to readers worldwide. Yes, worldwide. The timeline for the waitlist is timed to the crisis in the U.S., but readers all over the world are able to utilize this collection.
This launch has met with much criticism from the publishing community and writers. In a recent NPR article, it has been revealed that many writers and publishers say that the Internet Archive has been sharing full digital copies of books without permission before the establishment of this new library. The Authors Guild, which provides legal assistance to writers, stated the Internet Archive “tramples on authors’ rights by giving away their books to the world” without permission.
They recommend utilizing your own local libraries and their own e-book lending platforms instead.
Contest :: 2021 Press 53 Award in Poetry
$1,000 and 50 copies awarded to an outstanding, unpublished 60-120 page collection of poems. Tom Lombardo, Press 53 Poetry Series Editor, will serve as judge. Press 53 will publish the winning manuscript as a Tom Lombardo Poetry Selection under a standard publishing contract; all prizes will be awarded upon publication. Deadline: Midnight EST, July 31, 2020. Winner and finalists announced on or before November 1. Reading fee: $30. Complete information at www.press53.com/award-for-poetry/.
Contest :: Killer Nashville Wants to Know if You’re a Killer Writer
The 2020 Killer Nashville International Writers’ Conference will take place August 20-23 in Nashville, Tennessee. This is a premier forum for all literature incorporating mystery, thriller, suspense, or true crime. Scholarships are available! Apply today. Killer Nashville is also seeking both published and unpublished works for its annual contests. The Claymore Award is an open competition for unpublished works open to entries through April 1. The Silver Falchion Award is an open competition for works published in 2019 open to entries through June 1. For complete details including prize information, visit www.KillerNashville.com.
Support Indie Bookstores
Indie bookstores give back to their communities in numerous ways: hosting events, providing safe spaces, offering places to gather with like-minded people, introducing readers to writers. With pandemic-caused closures and lock-downs across the country, bookstores and the authors they support could currently use some help from the community in return.
Visit our Guide to Independent Bookstores to see the stores in your area and check in on how they’re doing. Some have shortened hours or have limited the amount of people allowed in the store at one time, some have completely transitioned to online sales, some will package up a book and run it out to you at the curb.
If you’re able, pick up or order a book to keep you company while you’re holed up at home. And don’t forget to keep washing your hands!
Weekly Roundup for Calls & Contests :: March 13, 2020
It is Friday the 13th. Is this the first one of the year? Stay safe by staying home and keeping your submissions goals going strong by working on pieces to submit to these journals and presses.
Want an early look at places accepting general submissions and contest submissions? Subscribe to the NewPages Newsletter. Not only do you get submission opportunities, but you get access to our special monthly eLitPaks.
Calls for Submissions
Don’t forget you can keep up-to-date with all open calls for submissions at the NewPages website.
Do you know young writers or are a parent of one? Help them submit to these markets open to younger writers (from elementary to undergraduate ages).
March Submission Deadlines
March 20 is the deadline to submit poetry chapbook manuscripts to Green Linden Press for its open reading period. Chapbooks will be published in Fall 2020. They ask you read recent issues of their online literary magazine Under A Warm Green Linden for an idea of what excites them. They do charge a reading fee to help support their green mission.
The Absurdist is back and open to submissions of bizarre and weird fiction through March 31. There is no fee to submit. Check out work in their previous issues for a taste of what they like. They will be publishing new stories weekly.
Fledgling publisher Liminal Publishing seeks poetry from sexual trauma survivors. This debut anthology, titled I Don’t Cry Anymore, wants poetry that “illuminates the emotional depth and nuanced complexity of sexual trauma and the twisted path” towards healing. There is no fee. Deadline to submit is March 31.
There is still time to submit work in response to the 400th anniversary of the Plymouth Landing to literary magazine The Massachusetts Review. They are open to fiction, nonfiction, artwork, and poetry from native authors for this first special issue of the new year. Deadline to submit is March 31. There is no fee. [Read more…] about Weekly Roundup for Calls & Contests :: March 13, 2020
Alongkian Writer Conferences June 2020 New York Pitch Conference
Algonkian Writer Conferences hosts the New York Pitch Conference and writers workshop four times a year. The next event is taking place June 18 through 21. Their goal is to help set writers on a realistic path to publication.
This event focuses on the art of the novel pitch “as the best method not only for communicating your work, but for having you and your work taken seriously by industry professionals.”
The registration fee will go up after June 13. Learn more…
Weekly Roundup for Calls & Contests :: March 6, 2020
Welcome to the first week of March! How are your submission goals coming? If you opted to stay home from AWP in San Antonio this year, why not keep pursuing your submission goals? Check out current calls for general and contest submissions below.
Calls for Submissions
Don’t forget you can keep up-to-date with all open calls for submissions at the NewPages website. Do you know young writers or are a parent of one? Help them submit to these markets open to younger writers (from elementary to undergraduate ages).
March Submission Deadlines
March 20 is the deadline to submit poetry chapbook manuscripts to Green Linden Press for its open reading period. Chapbooks will be published in Fall 2020. They ask you read recent issues of their online literary magazine Under A Warm Green Linden for an idea of what excites them. They do charge a reading fee to help support their green mission.
Hamilton Stone Review. No. 42. Fiction, nonfiction, poetry. No fee. Deadline: March 22. [Read more…] about Weekly Roundup for Calls & Contests :: March 6, 2020
Contest :: Blue Lynx Prize for Poetry 2020
Deadline: June 1, 2020
Lynx House Press seeks submissions of full-length poetry manuscripts for the annual Blue Lynx Prize for Poetry. The winner will receive $2,000 and publication. Entries must be at least 48 pages in length. The fee for submitting is $28, and includes a copy of a book from our catalog. Previous judges include James Tate, Yusef Komunyakaa, Dorianne Laux, Dara Wier, Melissa Kwasny, and Robert Wrigley. lynxhousepress.submittable.com/submit
Weekly Roundup for Calls & Contests :: February 28, 2020
The end of February is officially here…but there is still today and tomorrow to make your February submission goals happen! Check out these calls for submissions and writing and book contests with upcoming deadlines.
Calls for Submissions
February Submission Deadlines
Closes February 28: Chicken Soup for the Soul seeks true stories and poems on the theme of dreams for its Listen to Your Dreams anthology. There is no fee to submit. They are a paying market.
Closes February 29: Wordrunner eChapbooks is open to submissions for its 10th anniversary issue through tomorrow. They want your best works of fiction, personal narratives, novel excerpts, memoirs, and poetry. They are a paying market. $3 fee.
March Submission Deadlines
Anomaly. Poetry, Fiction, Nonfiction, Cross-genre, Comics, Translations, Audio, Video, Art. $3 Fee. Deadline: March 1.
Jenny Magazine. Issue 18: Revitalizing the Small Town. Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry. No fee. Deadline: March 1. [Read more…] about Weekly Roundup for Calls & Contests :: February 28, 2020
Contest :: Jacar Press Book & Chapbook Contests 2020
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