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Welcome to Our June Newsletter
Last Call!
NORTH
STREET BOOK PRIZE FOR SELF-PUBLISHED BOOKS
Deadline: June 30. 4th year. Co-sponsored by Carolyn
Howard-Johnson, author of The Frugal Book Promoter, and BookBaby.
Top award of $3,000, and each category winner will receive $1,000. This
year's categories: Mainstream/Literary Fiction,
Genre Fiction, Creative Nonfiction &
Memoir, Poetry (new), and
Children's Picture Book (new). Fee: $60 per entry. Jendi
Reiter and Ellen
LaFleche will judge, assisted by Lauren
Singer Ledoux and Annie
Keithline. See last
year's winners and enter here.
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Congratulations to Donna
Baier Stein, Sara Etgen-Baker, K.A.
Jagai (featured poem: "Red
Blues"), Donald Dewey, Ray
Keifetz (featured poem: "Night
Farming in Bosnia"), Sandra Jensen,
Robin Reardon, Edward Ferri, Jr.,
William Luvaas, Mike Tuohy,
Gary Beck, and R.T. Castleberry.
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WHAT YOU NEED: Access to email and a desire to write new poems.
WHAT WE
PROVIDE: Poem prompts, sample poems, a
Two Sylvias Press publication, a PDF of Fire On Her Tongue: An
Anthology of Contemporary Women's Poetry (a 377-page
resource of some of the best poets writing today), as well as
reflection questions/activities to guide and inspire. All prompts,
writing exercises, and inspiration sent daily or weekly to your email
(your choice!)
AND new this year—at the end of
the retreat, an award-winning poet will critique one of your poems and
offer ideas on where to submit them! (Choose from Diane Seuss, Adrian
Blevins, January Gill O'Neil, Susan Rich, Jennifer K. Sweeney, and Jennifer
Jean!)
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Space is limited
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All levels of poets are welcome
(from beginning writer to published author)
Praise for Two
Sylvias Press Online Poetry Retreat
"I decided to take the Two Sylvias Press Online Poetry Retreat as
a way to reignite my passion for writing poetry and reconnect with my
'poet's mind' after not writing poetry for several years. The format
was perfect for me—it enabled me to work alone and at my own pace while
still feeling connected through daily prompts and encouragement. The
result: I wrote more poems in that four-week period than I had written
in as many years and new poems are still coming. The feedback I
received was insightful and improved the poems while still showing
respect for the essence of the work."
—Cathy J.
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Autumn House Press is now
accepting full-length manuscripts for our annual Poetry, Fiction, and
Nonfiction contests! Postmark deadline: June 30, 2018. The winner in
each genre will receive book publication, a $1,000 advance against
royalties, and a $1,500 travel/publicity grant to promote their book.
The judges for the 2018
full-length contests are:
Congratulations to last year's
winners: Melissa Cundieff's Darling Nova
(poetry), Glori Simmons' Carry You
(fiction), and Dickson Lam's Paper Sons: A
Memoir (nonfiction). Please enjoy this selection from Darling
Nova:
Rebirth
by Melissa Cundieff
When the feather appeared from my breast
I wouldn't name its color. I wouldn't
pluck it as if I would a word from a page
and allow it to disappear into memory.
When the beak broke my nose, I sang my old
language with a worm in it, and the worm dangled
with every exhale it took to conjure the distant
vowels of humanness. When the wings
made my ribs into a museum, people paid
to see. But I would not fly. Only answered
the people with a poem. The first or last line
was this: because from eye, blossoms entrance…
I don't remember the rest, except
there was you, perched on leaning stacks
of ruined books. I can't speak for much more
than wanting to pull a rock from the wreck,
to throw it at the closed window, so we
could both leave like seeds spit against the sky.
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Submission
period: June 1-June 30 (online submission date)
Final Judge: Kevin Prufer
Prize: Three prizes of $350 and broadside publication
The Second Annual Tupelo
Broadside Prize is an open poetry competition. The editors of Tupelo
Press and Tupelo Quarterly will choose three winners who will
each receive $350 in addition to broadside publication by Tupelo Press,
20 copies of the winning broadside, and publication in Tupelo
Quarterly.
The Second Annual Tupelo
Broadside Prize is open to anyone writing in the English language,
whether living in the United States or abroad. Translations are not
eligible for this prize, nor are previously published poems. Employees
of Tupelo Press and authors with books previously published by Tupelo
Press are not eligible.
Please submit 3-5 poems,
maximum of 21 lines each, in one file, with the $22 reading fee,
between June 1-June 30. Submissions will be accepted via
Submittable only.
Attach all poems in your
submission as a single document in .doc, .docx, or .pdf form. Be sure
that your document is complete and formatted correctly before
uploading. Click here to
submit.
Results will be announced in
early fall and all submitters will be notified via Submittable.
Enjoy one of last year's
winning selections, "To Speak of One Is to Speak of the
Other", by Susan Tichy.
To Speak of One Is to Speak of the Other
by
Susan Tichy
Live trees mourn the dead ones, feed their roots
for years : thin flanks
of a worn-out doe, her twins
won’t make it, either
'And I did not weary myself in wishing
that a daisy could see the beauty of its shadow'
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Deadline: July 15
The annual Rattle
Poetry Prize is once again offering $10,000 for a single
poem to be published in the winter issue of the magazine. Ten finalists
will also receive $200 each and publication, and be eligible for the
$2,000 Readers' Choice Award, to be selected by subscriber and entrant vote.
With the winners judged in a
blind review by the editors to ensure a fair and consistent selection,
an entry fee that is simply a one-year subscription to the magazine—and
a runner-up Readers' Choice Award to be chosen by the writers
themselves—the Rattle Poetry Prize aims to be one of the most
writer-friendly and popular poetry contests around.
We accept entries online and by
mail. See Rattle's
website for the complete guidelines and to read all of the
past winners.
Enjoy "Love
Refrains" by Barbara Lydecker Crane, one of the 2017
Rattle Poetry Prize Finalists:
Love Refrains
a ghazal
Mom banged her hairbrush down
in a reprimand of love.
"What an awful question! You don't understand love.
"Of course Dad loves you.
How can you question that?
He doesn't have to blare it out, like a brass band of love.
"You aren't a princess to
be coddled on a lap or praised
without good reason. That's a never-never land of love.
"Your father works hard,
with a great deal on his mind.
Now don't go causing trouble, making a demand of love.
"Yes, I know he yells and
sends you to your room a lot.
But be glad he never hits you with the backhand of love.
"Once, banished to your
room, you drew a picture poem
for him. I watched him beam at you with unplanned love.
"He said he's proud of
you. I've heard him tell you twice."
She brushed my hair, hard. "Barb, that's a brand of love."
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Deadline: July 16
For the spring 2019 issue of Creative
Nonfiction magazine, we're looking for true stories about
doing it. Whether you're straight, gay, or other; alone, in a couple,
or in a crowd; doing it for the first time or the last, or not doing it
at all, we want to hear your story.
As always, we're interested in
stories that are more than mere anecdotes, and we love work that
incorporates an element of research and/or makes a connection to a
larger story or theme. We welcome personal stories as well as profiles,
and above all, we are looking for narratives—true stories, rich with
scene, character, detail, and a distinctive voice—that offer a fresh
interpretation or unique insight into the theme.
Please note: for this issue, we
are interested primarily (and perhaps even exclusively) in stories of
consensual and/or victimless sex. Also note, we are not seeking
erotica. No photos, please.
Creative Nonfiction editors will award $1,000 for Best Essay and $500
for runner-up. All essays will be considered for publication.
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The premise of OTP's short
story contest #32 is "Near Death Experience".
For this contest, write a creative, compelling, well-crafted story
between 1,000 and 5,000 words long in which one or more characters
almost die, but do not. (Other characters in the story can die, but not
the one(s) the story focuses on.)
DEADLINE: 11:59 PM Eastern
Time, Friday, August 31, 2018
One entry per author. There is
no fee for entering this contest. Winners receive between US$60 and
US$220, and publication.
GENRE RULES: No children's
fiction, no exploitative sex, no over-the-top grossout horror, and no
stories that are obvious parodies of well-known fictional worlds/characters
created by other authors.
To be informed when new
contests are launched, subscribe
to our free, short, monthly newsletter. On The
Premises magazine is recognized in Duotrope, Writer's
Market, Ralan.com, and other short story marketing resources.
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Deadline: November 1
Only
on Defenestrationism.net
Combine three or more Flash works
into something greater. Recurring characters, extended motifs,
harmonious subject matters—all are such correlations, but we encourage
innovation and new ideas. Go crazy with it, kids, flash your faces off.
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Winner: $75
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Runner-up: $60
Please enjoy this excerpt from
our most recent Grand Prize Winner:
The Minotaur
by Salvatore Difalco
THE BUS
I could smell exhaust fumes. I
wasn't fully awake. My estranged wife Carolina had knitted the burgundy
mohair sweater I was wearing, before she started hating me, but I had
no memory of putting it on. I rubbed my face. A glimpse of my hands
made me start. My fingers looked swollen and inflamed, fingernails
discoloured. I performed violent jazz hands, hoping to restore
circulation. But this was painful.
People on the bus looked like
animals bearing reproachful burdens. A commensurate odour prevailed.
Life in the city can be hard. Yet I felt little empathy for them, my
fellow beasts. We had failed. We had all failed. What was left for us
to do but despair, moving from foot to foot, or hoof to hoof, like
doomed livestock?
The bus driver leaned to his
open side window and blew snot from his nose in a silvery mucous-jet.
He turned and caught my eye. Blue-tinged steel-wool sideburns coiled
from under his ill-fitting navy driver's cap. The black holes of his
nostrils yawned, small black eyes peeping out above them, like their
satellites.
A man beside me, who bore a
resemblance to a fine English horse, lifted and lowered his chin,
fluttering his lips. I held the stanchion, white-knuckled; an
unpleasant disequilibrium threatened to topple me whenever the bus
swerved or jerked to a sudden stop.
"You don't look well,"
said a woman wearing red plastic, gripping the same stanchion, in a
falsetto rivaling that of Johnny, Señor Wences's talking hand. Her arm
seemed unattached to her small, round body. I tried not to think about
it too much.
"I slept poorly," I
said.
A whiff of salami breath made
me turn my head and face the window. Clouds darkened the world without.
Perhaps a great storm was moving in, a monsoon, to cleanse the city.
"I know who you are,"
said the woman in my ear.
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Winner,
Brain Mill Press Driftless Unsolicited Novella Series
Darkly witty and compulsively readable, Barbara de la Cuesta's novella
lets us into the private life and secret thoughts of Rosa, an
undocumented home health aide grappling with menopause and her unruly
body, unexpected romance, grown children who alternately worry her and
fill her with pride, and how life is confronting her with everything
she has ever denied herself or hidden away from. Rosa is a natural
storyteller, insightful in hindsight about her own motivations and
unflinching in her willingness to look at the girl she was and the
woman she has become. Rosa is a daring, funny, and
emotional story about a woman moving her life out of the margins and
into the sun with the power of confession.
Manhattan Book
Review by Jo Niederhoff (five stars)
"...how can we truly understand anyone if we don't know where they
come from? This question (and its answer, that we can't) are the reason
I love this novella so much. In a time so fraught with suspicion
regarding illegal immigrants, it feels more important now than ever to
read their stories, in both fiction and nonfiction. Rosa
is a magnificent display of empathy, a chance to see through the eyes
of those who are all too often dismissed with either disdain or
pity."
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Set in New York City in the
early 1990s, Jendi Reiter's debut novel Two Natures
(Saddle Road Press) is the coming-of-age story of Julian Selkirk, a
fashion photographer who struggles to reconcile his Southern Baptist
upbringing with his love for other men.
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2016 Rainbow Awards: First
Prize, Best Gay Contemporary Fiction; First Runner-Up, Debut Gay Book
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Named one of QSpirit's Top
LGBTQ Christian Books of 2016
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2016 Lascaux Prize in Fiction
Finalist
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2017 National Indie Excellence
Award Finalist
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2017 Book Excellence Awards
Finalist
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2018 EPIC eBook Awards Finalist
"Painfully
honest but worth it. There's
so much beauty here—in the author's use of language certainly. And in
the pursuit of non-dualism, in various levels of the story, creating
complex characters that are so very human and contradictory,
hypocritical. Extending the reference to Christ's two natures and how
very not human it is to be split..."
—Amazon
5-star review by Leah E.
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Some contests are best suited
to writers at the early stages of their careers. Others are better for
writers with numerous prizes and publications to their credit. Here is
this month's selection of Spotlight Contests for your consideration:
Emerging Writers
Blue
Mountain Arts Poetry Card Contest. Awards
$350 and web publication for poems suitable for a greeting card. No
length limit specified, but shorter poems (one page) are probably best.
Due June 30.
Intermediate Writers
Kate
Tufts Discovery Award. Awards $10,000 for a
first published book of poetry, 48 pages minimum, by a US citizen or
legal resident. Books must have been published between July 1 of the
previous year and June 30 of the deadline year. Send 8 copies of book
and entry form from website. Judges seem to favor books that have
already won prizes and/or come from the top literary presses. Due July
1.
Advanced Writers
Griffin
Poetry Prize. Two top prizes of Can$65,000
will be awarded for poetry books published in the current calendar
year. One prize will go to a living Canadian poet or translator, the
other to a living poet or translator from any country (including
Canada). See website for detailed eligibility rules. Publisher should
send 4 copies of book plus entry form and a press packet. Due June 30.
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RHINO
(poetry, flash fiction, translations - July 31)
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Julian Peters writes,
"On my way back from Silchar, India, where I participated in the
Anuvad Arts Festival, I had an 8-hour layover at Indira Gandhi
International airport in Delhi, where I read the poems of Rabindranath
Tagore (1861-1941) and scribbled some drawings inspired by them on the
blank spaces in my flight information printouts."
Gitanjali 50
I HAD GONE a-begging from door
to door in the village path, when thy golden chariot appeared in the
distance like a gorgeous dream and I wondered who was this King of all
kings!
My hopes rose high and me
thought my evil days were at an end, and I stood waiting for alms to be
given unasked and for wealth scattered on all sides in the dust.
The chariot stopped where I
stood. Thy glance fell on me and thou camest down with a smile. I felt
that the luck of my life had come at last. Then of a sudden thou didst
hold out thy right hand and say 'What hast thou to give to me?'
Ah, what a kingly jest was it
to open thy palm to a beggar to beg! I was confused and stood
undecided, and then from my wallet I slowly took out the least little
grain of corn and gave it to thee.
But how great my surprise when
at the day's end I emptied my bag on the floor to find a least little
gram of gold among the poor heap. I bitterly wept and wished that I had
had the heart to give thee my all.
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Daily Bible
Study Is My Problematic Fave
Wondering if there's an interpretation of Mary versus Martha that
retains Jesus' point about priorities, without shaming Martha for doing
what women have been told they have to do since the beginning of
Western civilization in order to support the higher calling of (mostly
male) contemplatives. Yet, in what ways am I passive-aggressive like
Martha, blaming structural forces for my lack of courage or energy to
claim my contemplative time as valuable? Am I really constrained, or am
I not doing what God calls me to do because I'm afraid of displeasing
people?
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