Literary Prospects offers weekly in-depth writing prompts from writer/journalist Kelley Vick with topics such as “Getting to Know You,” “Turning the Tables,” and “Scary Stories.” The site also offers a podcast, blog, bookstore, and reading lists. Keep your pen moving with weekly inspiration from Literary Prospects.
Prairie Schooner Creative Nonfiction Prize
DEADLINE: August 1, 2023.
WHAT TO ENTER: Any type of creative nonfiction essay up to 5,000 words.
HOW TO ENTER: Via Submittable.
FEE: $20; includes a copy of the Spring 2024 issue.
PRIZE: $1,000 and publication in the Spring issue.
JUDGE: Siddhartha Deb will be serving as Prairie Schooner‘s guest judge. Born in Shillong, north-eastern India, Deb lives in Harlem, New York. His fiction and nonfiction have been longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award, shortlisted for the Orwell Prize, and awarded the Pen Open prize. His journalism and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, The New Republic, Dissent, The Baffler, N+1, and Caravan
Read more details here.
Red Hen Novella Award
DEADLINE: July 31, 2022
ELIGIBILITY: Open to all writers except those who have had a full-length work published by Red Hen Press.
FEE: $25.
PRIZE: $1,000 and book publication.
WHAT TO ENTER: Fiction manuscript of 15,000–30,000 words.
HOW TO ENTER: Via Submittable.
JUDGE: Dariel Suarez was born and raised in Havana, Cuba. In 1997, at age fourteen, he immigrated to the United States with his family during the island’s economic crisis known as The Special Period. Dariel is now the author of the novel The Playwright’s House (Red Hen Press), finalist for the Rudolfo Anaya Fiction Award and the Massachusetts Book Award, and the story collection A Kind of Solitude (Willow Springs Books), winner of the Spokane Prize and the International Latino Book Award for Best Collection of Short Stories. He has also published a poetry chapbook, In The Land of Tropical Martyrs (Backbone Press).
Ploughshares Emerging Writers Contest
Ploughshares Emerging Writers Contest
DEADLINE: May 15, 2021
ELIGIBILITY: Writers of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry who have yet to publish or self-publish a book may enter.
WHAT TO ENTER: Fiction and nonfiction: up to 6,000 words. Poetry: 3–5 pages.
FEE: $24. The fee includes a 1-year subscription to Ploughshares.
PRIZE: Publication, $2,000, review from Aevitas Creative Management, and a 1-year subscription for one winner in each of the three genres.
HOW TO ENTER: Submissions must be made via Ploughshares’ online submission manager. You must create an account before submitting.
JUDGES: The 2021 contest judges are Kiley Reid (Fiction), Paige Lewis (Poetry), and Paul Lisicky (Nonfiction).
Beloit Poetry Journal — The Chad Walsh Chapbook Series
The Beloit Poetry Journal is currently accepting entries for the 2021 Chad Walsh Chapbook Series.
DEADLINE: November 30, 2020
ELIGIBILITY: Open to any poet writing in English.
FEE: $20 per entry.
PRIZE: $2,500, 50 author copies, in-depth editorial consultation, and publication.
WHAT TO ENTER: A poetry manuscript of 20–35 pages.
HOW TO ENTER: Via Submittable.
Writer’s Digest – Short Short Story Competition
The 21st Annual Writer’s Digest Short Short Story Competition seeks entries of short fiction up to 1,500 words.
DEADLINE: November 16, 2020 (early bird); December 14, 2020 (final).
ELIGIBILITY: Open to all writers except for Writer’s Digest authors, editors, columnists, and instructors.
FEE: $25 (early bird); $30 (final).
PRIZE: 1st place: $3,000 cash, publication, paid trip to the Writer’s Digest Annual Conference; 2nd–10th place: $100–1,500, publication.
WHAT TO ENTER: Short fiction up to 1,500 words.
HOW TO ENTER: Via Submittable.
Longleaf Review — Expand/Contract Workshop Intensive with Kate Finegan
Longleaf Review offers an intensive three-day workshop led by editor-in-chief Kate Finegan on November 13–15, 2020. The workshop will include craft notes, exercises, an interactive forum, and three 1.5 hour Zoom video conferences. The deadline to sign up is November 10, 2020. Workshops are free for current contributors to Longleaf, $40 for past contributors, and $80 for everyone else.
“In this workshop, we’ll be playing with scope and scale in prose and poetry. We’ll stretch time like taffy, drawing out a single second. We’ll look at life, the universe, and everything through the wrong end of the telescope, so a hundred years shrink to a speck. We’ll explore what happens when we compress and/or cut an experience to its smallest form on the page, versus what happens when we expand and elongate a moment, a metaphor, a sensation. We’ll make the big small and the small big. This play will primarily take place within the container of short/flash forms of both prose and poetry, but there will be space to experiment in longer works, as well. Please note this is a generative workshop; it is not feedback-focused, though there will be opportunities to share your work.”
Kate Finegan, editor-in-chief of Longleaf Review
Bennington College — Young Writers Awards
Bennington College’s Young Writers Awards promote excellence in writing at the high school level. All entries must be original work and sponsored by a high school teacher. A first, second, and third place winner is selected in each category.
DEADLINE: November 1, 2020
ELIGIBILITY: Students in grades 9–12.
PRIZES: 1st place: $500; 2nd place: $250; 3rd place: $125.
WHAT TO ENTER: Students may submit in one of the following categories:
- Poetry: A group of three poems.
- Fiction: A short story (1,500 words or fewer) or one-act play (run no more than 30 minutes of playing time).
- Nonfiction: A personal or academic essay (1,500 words or fewer).
HOW TO ENTER: Online.
Gemini Magazine: Flash Fiction Contest
DEADLINE: August 31, 2020
FEE: $6 per entry.
PRIZE: 1st place: $1,000; 2nd place: $100; honorable mention: $25. All finalists will be published in the October 2020 issue of Gemini.
WHAT TO ENTER: Previously unpublished flash fiction up to 1,000 words in length. All styles, subjects, and genres accepted. Multiple entries allowed.
HOW TO ENTER: Via email or by post. See website for complete guidelines.
ProPublica: Emerging Reporter’s Program
ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom, invites juniors and seniors in college to apply to the Emerging Reporter’s Program, which is designed for those who might otherwise find investigative journalism inaccessible. Five aspiring student journalists will receive a $9,000 stipend and mentorship from a ProPublica journalist who shares similar interests. Emerging Reporters will choose between contributing to a ProPublica story or working on their own investigation.
People of color are especially encouraged to apply. Only current juniors and seniors in college who are U.S. residents are eligible. Applicants must demonstrate financial need. Read more about the program here.
Red Hen Press: Novella Award
DEADLINE: July 31, 2020
ELIGIBILITY: Open to all writers except those who have had a full-length work published by Red Hen Press.
FEE: $25.
PRIZE: $1,000 and book publication.
WHAT TO ENTER: Fiction manuscript of 15,000–30,000 words.
HOW TO ENTER: Via Submittable.
JUDGE: Donna Hemans, author of Tea by the Sea and River Woman.
Rattle: Poetry Prize 2020
The 2020 Rattle Poetry Prize is open for submissions until July 15. Please see the website for full guidelines.
DEADLINE: July 15, 2020
ELIGIBILITY: Open to all writers worldwide. Poems must be written primarily in English. Simultaneous submissions allowed.
FEE: $25 (includes one-year subscription to Rattle).
PRIZE: One winner: $15,000 and publication; 10 finalists: $500 and publication; one Reader’s Choice Award: $5,000. Other submissions may be chosen for publication.
WHAT TO ENTER: Up to four poems per entry. No line or style limit. Multiple entries allowed.
HOW TO ENTER: Via Submittable or by post (US only).
CALLING BLACK WRITERS – Submit to Graydon House and HQN Books by September 8, 2020!
Graydon House and HQN Books, imprints of Harlequin Publishers, are accepting unagented submissions from Black authors now through until September 8, 2020.
Graydon House seeks high-concept commercial and book club women’s fiction for its hardcover and trade paperback imprint. Accepted genres include (but are not limited to): historical fiction, family dramas, thrillers/suspense, etc. Send a query letter and the first 30 pages of your manuscript to GHSubmissions@harpercollins.com.
HQN Books seeks commercial romance and romantic women’s novels of all sub-genres. Send a query letter and the first 30 pages of your manuscript to HQNSubmissions@harpercollins.com.
More info here.
The Offing—Call for Submissions
The Offing, an online literary magazine, is open for submissions in several categories, including fiction, science writing, humor, culture essays, and more. Fiction closes July 16, 2020. There is currently no fee to submit. The magazine “actively seeks out and supports work by and about those often marginalized in literary spaces, including Black and Indigenous people, and people of color; trans people, cis women, agender, gender non-conforming, genderqueer, two-spirit, and non-binary people; intersex people; LGBQA (lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, asexual/aromantic) people; people with disabilities; and especially people living at the intersections of these identities.”
“Rawness of Remembering”—Restorative Journaling with Esmé Weijun Wang
Bestselling author Esmé Weijun Wang (The Collected Schizophrenias, The Border of Paradise) is offering a self-paced online course on restorative journaling. The course includes 30 accessible lessons with text, audio, and visuals; a free copy of Light Gets In: Living Well With Mental Illness; and lifetime access to the course material.
The course is $99 (regular price $147) through the end of June with the code JUNEJOURNAL. A portion of the proceeds will go to The Okra Project, a collective that provides home-cooked meals to Black trans people, trains Black trans chefs, distributes emergency grocery funds to Black people in need, and pays for therapy sessions for Black trans people.
15 Black-Owned Bookstores to Support Right Now
You may have seen many anti-racist reading lists being shared in the past few weeks. We’ve compiled a list of Black-owned bookstores from across the country, most of which offer online orders, so that you can support Black-owned businesses while educating yourself. This list is by no means exhaustive—please comment and tell us which bookstores we should add!
Ashay by the Bay
One of the best Black children’s bookstores.
Location: Vallejo, CA
Owner: Deborah Day
Online orders: Yes
Recommended reading: African History Collection (list)
Connect: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook
Beyond Barcodes Bookstore
Books, coffee, community.
Location: Kokomo, IN
Owner: DeAndra Beard
Online orders: Yes
Recommended reading: Revolutionary Gardening (list)
The Black Reserve Bookstore
Location: Lansdale, PA
Owner: Shaykh Anwar Muhammad
Online orders: No
Connect: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook
Brain Lair Books
Difficult conversations in a fun place.
Location: South Bend, IN
Owner: Kathy Burnette
Online orders: Yes
Recommended reading: Pride (list)
Connect: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook
Cafe con Libros
An intersectional feminist community bookstore and coffee shop.
Location: Brooklyn, New York, NY
Owner: Kalima DeSuze
Online orders: Yes
Book clubs: Womxn of Color | Feminists
Connect: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook
Enda’s Booktique
Books written by, for, and about women.
Location: Duncanville, TX
Owner: Enda Jean Pemberton Jones
Online orders: Yes
Recommended reading: SHElf Empowerment (list)
Connect: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook
Eyeseeme African American Children’s Bookstore
Committed to increasing childhood literacy and promoting multicultural literature.
Location: University City, MO
Owners: Jeffrey & Pamela Blair
Online orders: Yes
Recommended reading: AntiRacist Collection (list)
Connect: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook
Frugal Bookstore
Changing minds one book at a time.
Location: Roxbury, MA
Owners: Leonard & Clarissa Egerton
Online orders: Yes
Connect: Facebook
Harriett’s Bookshop
Celebrating women authors, artists, and activists.
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Owner: Jeannine A. Cook
Online orders: Yes
Recommended reading: Such A Fun Age by Kiley Reid
Connect: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook
The Lit. Bar
The only bookstore currently serving the Bronx.
Location: The Bronx, New York, NY
Owner: Noëlle Santos
Online orders: Yes
Recommended reading: Dear White People (list)
Connect: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook
Loyalty Bookstore
Centering Black, PoC, and Queer voices.
Locations: Washington, D.C. & Silver Spring, MD
Owner: Hannah Oliver Depp
Online orders: Yes
Recommended reading: Social Distance Reading (list)
Connect: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook
MahoganyBooks
An award-winning bookstore that sells books for, by, and about people of the African Diaspora.
Location: Washington, D.C.
Owners: Derrick & Ramunda Young
Online orders: Yes
Recommended reading: Medical Apartheid by Harriet Washington
Book club: MahoganyBooks & Very Smart Brothas
Marcus Books
The oldest independent Black bookstore in the country.
Location: Oakland, CA
Online orders: In progress—stay tuned
Connect: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook
Mocha Books
Creating a path to visibility for BIPOC indie writers.
Location: Tulsa, OK
Owner: Shionka McGlory
Online orders: Yes
Book club: Youth Book Club
Connect: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook
Turning Page Bookshop
Spreading love for good books and giving back to the community.
Location: Goose Creek, SC
Owners: Valinda Miller & Arrylee Satterfield
Online orders: Yes
Connect: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook
Prairie Schooner: Creative Nonfiction Essay Contest
DEADLINE: August 1, 2020.
WHAT TO ENTER: Any type of creative nonfiction essay up to 5,000 words.
HOW TO ENTER: Via Submittable.
FEE: $20; includes a copy of the Spring 2021 issue.
PRIZE: $500 and publication in the Spring 2021 issue.
JUDGE: Sarah M. Broom, 2019 National Book Award Winner for her memoir The Yellow House.
Read more details here.
Writing Seminar with R.O. Kwon
R.O. Kwon, author of the bestselling novel The Incendiaries, is offering an online seminar on revision. She states:
“This seminar will delve into revision strategies, possibilities, options, and leaps of faith. What does it mean to revise, and how can you figure out what works best for you? Pretty much every writer revises, and often heavily: Kerouac famously bragged that he’d written On the Road in one three-week dash, but, in time, they found the drafts.”
WHEN: June 20, 2020, 4–7PM ET
COST: $100
SIGN UP: here
WHAT TO BRING: the first five pages of a work in progress
Ploughshares: Emerging Writer’s Contest 2020
DEADLINE: May 15, 2020
ELIGIBILITY: Writers of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry who have yet to publish or self-publish a book may enter.
WHAT TO ENTER: Fiction and nonfiction: up to 6,000 words. Poetry: 3–5 pages.
FEE: $24. The fee includes a 1-year subscription to Ploughshares (beginning with the Spring 2020 issue and ending with the Winter 2020-2021 issue) and free submissions to the 2020 regular reading period.
PRIZE: Publication, $2,000, review from Aevitas Creative Management, and a 1-year subscription for one winner in each of the three genres.
HOW TO ENTER: Submissions must be made via Ploughshares’ online submission manager. You must create an account before submitting.
JUDGES: Kirstin Valdez Quade (fiction), Ilya Kaminsky (poetry) and Esmé Weijun Wang (nonfiction).
The Best Books of 2019
The days are getting shorter, the nights are getting colder, the end of the year (and the decade) is fast approaching, and it seems like everywhere you turn, another publisher or media outlet is releasing their list of the best books of last year. Overwhelmed by choices? We’ve compiled the best lists of the best books, highlighting some titles that are especially popular below. Enjoy!
Fiction
Girl, Woman, Other
Each chapter in this Booker Prize–winning novel follows the life of a different character living in the UK.
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous
by Ocean Vuong
Vuong’s debut novel chronicles the struggles of a refugee family in epistolary form.
Lot: Stories
Washington’s debut short fiction collection tracks a young, gay, black narrator across Houston, intertwining his stories with those of the city.
Trust Exercise
by Susan Choi
The winner of the National Book Award, this coming-of-age novel examines trust between characters as well as between author and reader.
Nonfiction
Midnight in Chernobyl
A detailed and chilling history of the infamous nuclear accident and the circumstances that made it nearly inevitable.
Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion
Tolentino, a staff writer for the New Yorker, examines internet culture, modern feminism, millenial lifestyles and more with a critical and curious eye.
How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States
A thoughtful and thorough examination of American expansionism and exploitation.
Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language
A guide to online English by a self-described internet linguist.
Memoir
In the Dream House
Machado combines memoir and criticism in this genre-bending account of domestic abuse.
How We Fight for Our Lives
by Saeed Jones
In his first book of prose, Jones tells his story of growing up black and gay with powerful and poetic language.
Solitary
Know My Name
The New York Times
Times Critics’ Top Books of 2019
The Best Crime Novels of the Year
The 25 Best Children’s Books of 2019
Times Critics’ Top Art Books of 2019
The 2019 New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children’s Books
The Washington Post
The Best Thrillers and Mysteries of 2019
The Best Romance Novels of 2019
The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of 2019
The Best Children’s Books of 2019
The Best Poetry Collections of 2019
50 Notable Works of Nonfiction in 2019
50 Notable Works of Fiction in 2019
The Best Graphic Novels, Memoirs and Story Collections of 2019
The New Yorker
NPR
Maureen Corrigan’s Best Books of 2019
The Best Science Books of 2019
Vox
The 15 Best Books We Read This Year
Smithsonian
The 10 Best History Books of 2019
The 10 Best Books About Travel of 2019
The 10 Best Books About Food of 2019