Since they are so aggressively marketing it…

Today I received I think the fifth email advertising the Four Way Books June reading period…I guess it means they really, really, really want you to submit. The only sucky thing is you have to pay a reading fee. Sucky. But you can send them more than one manuscript, your prolific little F—… Enjoy!

JUNE READING PERIOD GUIDELINES

Please read through the General Submissions information below and then read our online or paper submissions guidelines.

Poetry and Fiction Submissions Information

* In June, we read full-length poetry collections and novellas or short story collections. We do not read novels. We do not read translations.

* During our June reading period, manuscripts are not read as anonymous submissions. Manuscripts are selected by the editors of Four Way Books.

* Each manuscript may be mailed or submitted online between June 1 and June 30 2009, midnight PST, accompanied by a $17.00 processing fee made online or by check or money order made out to Four Way Books.

* Poetry manuscripts are generally between 45 – 80 pages of text. Fiction manuscripts are generally between 150 – 250 pages of text. Please submit manuscripts that fall within or close to these parameters, and please review our formatting guidelines carefully before submitting.

* Your bio and acknowledgments and/or a list of prior publications may be included if you’d like.

* If you submitted to our poetry contest, you may also submit during June. We have different readers in June.

* We will notify you of our decision by November 1, by email. We are unable offer a critique of your manuscript. Manuscripts sent to us by mail will not be returned.

Online Submission:

Submitting to us online is easy, saves you money in postage, and saves trees.

* Fill out our online payment form and follow the directions for online credit card payment on our secure site. We currently accept Visa, Mastercard, and Discover. Your reading fee is non-refundable.

* You will be assigned an payment confirmation number. You may then submit your manuscript through our online submissions manager. Please read and follow all directions listed on the submissions manager entry page. (Do not go to the submissions manager until you have completed your payment, you will not be allowed to submit without a payment confirmation number.)

* You will be asked to come up with your own password. Please save that password.

By Mail

* Please make sure that your cover page includes the title, your name, and contact information, including your email address.

* Manuscripts will not be returned. If you want to receive written word of our response, we will respond by email by November 1, if you provide us with your email contact info. We are unable to offer a critique of your manuscript.

* Please include a reading fee of $17.00, either as a check payable to Four Way Books, or in the form of a print out of your online payment confirmation emailed from our web site. (In June, you may go to our Reading Fee Form to pay via credit card. Please note that this reading fee is non-refundable.

* Word-process your manuscript on white, 8-1/2 x 11 paper. Legible typeface (ie. Times, Courier, Garamond).

* Manuscripts should be fastened with a binder clip but should not otherwise be bound.

* Send manuscript and processing fee to:
Four Way Books
POB 535 Village Station
New York NY 10014

Multiple submissions are fine but must be submitted separately. Each submission requires a $17.00 processing fee.

Contest update – Starcherone prose contest back online

Starcherone Press for independent, innovative fiction is now accepting entries for its 2009-2010 Prose contest. Contest is open to story collections, novels, or indeterminate prose works up to 400 pages. I really like the idea of indeterminate prose. If you don’t know what it is you are writing, but it’s good and is justified on the page, then, you’re in. Deadline, February 15th.

On a side note, Starcherone also holds an open reading period customarily in late summer/early fall – that never overlaps with the contest (meaning, when the contest is in session, do not send them an open submission query and vice versa!)

Contest Update

***NOTE: I don’t think you’ll find a link to this one online. I received the notification via email, then googled and came up with nothing, so, here’s your info!

The editors of Blue Light Press warmly invite you to submit a manuscript to our 2009 Blue Light Book Award Competition. Contest rules and previous winners are listed below. Please share this E-mail with other poets, and if you teach writing, please let your students know about our contest. If you have received this from a friend and want to be on our E-mail list, please send an E-mail to Bluelightpress at aol dot com and let us know.

BLUE LIGHT PRESS
Announces
THE 2009 BLUE LIGHT BOOK AWARD

Guidelines:

1. Blue Light Press is dedicated to the publication of poetry that is imagistic, inventive, emotionally honest, and pushes the language to a deeper level of insight. We are a collective of poets, and our books are artistically designed.

2. Please note our new address. To enter, send a manuscript of 50 to 80 pages of poetry, typed or printed with a laser or inkjet printer, to:

Diane Frank, Chief Editor
Blue Light Press
1862 – 45th Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94122

3. Submit your manuscript between September 1, 2008 and January 15, 2009.

4. Include a reading fee of $20.00 – check payable to Blue Light Press.

5. Include a self-addressed stamped envelope for results. We must have a SASE to correspond with you. No manuscript will be returned without a SASE.

6. Please do not send manuscripts by registered or certified mail, as this requires a trip to the post office. If you want confirmation of receipt, include a postcard with your manuscript. We are not strict about deadlines – if your manuscript comes a few days late, we will still read it.

7. The winner will be announced in May, 2009. The winning book will go into production in September or October of 2009, depending on our production schedule.

8. Winner will receive 10 copies of the book and a 30% royalty on book sales thereafter. The book will be distributed by Ingram, Amazon.com, any bookstore you suggest, and published in cooperation with our partner, 1st World Library.

9. If you win the contest, you will need to give us your manuscript on disk. Acceptable formats:
IBM – MSWord or RTF (Rich Test Format).
Macintosh – Clarisworks, Quark Express, Word, or RTF (Rich Test Format).

Books by Blue Light Press:

Recent books include poets Alice Rogoff, Stewart Florsheim, Michelle Demers, Stephen Schneider, Leah Shelleda, Nancy Tupper-Ling, Kevin Zepper, Ed Meek, Xue Di, Sarah McKinstry-Brown, Ken McCullough, and Diane Frank. In 2009, look for books by Nancy Berg, Suzanne Niedermeyer, and our new anthology.

Contest Update!

I have to admit I have noticed a little bit of a trend with contests. The area that has been growing fastest over the past twelve months is the “published work awards” section. Surely I’ve been adding up to 5 new poetry manuscript contests a year, but the PWA contests are like, 5-6 every time I post (about quarterly). I don’t know exactly what this means but it would seem that a lot of organizations are moving away from publishing (due to costs, I would imagine, and also due to the proliferation of presses who are already doing it and doing it quite well, I might add so why re-invent the wheel) to honoring and fostering the careers of up-and-coming writers. It’s sort of brilliant for the writer, because as I’ve heard, that second book – both writing it and finding it a home – is a humdinger. And for the award-giving organization: they get to save costs on publishing and flush more actual dough toward the writers. Sounds like a good idea to me.

So, all ye with a book published already: be sure to direct your publishers to these post-published awards. They are good for the goose and gander.

As always, all these new contests will be added to the ongoing lists. One day I will have to make a database. Not today. Today, we’re all about alphabetical lists.

PUBLISHED WORK AWARDS

HAROLD MORTON LANDON TRANSLATION AWARD. $1K to a US citizen who has translated a book of poetry from some other language into English. Deadline Dec. 31.

BLACK CAUCUS OF THE AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION. $500 buckaroos each for a first fiction and non fiction book published in the US by an African American writer. Deadline Dec. 19.

CLEVELAND FOUNDATION ANISFIELD-WOLF BOOK AWARDS. Two prizes of $10K for a book of poetry, fiction, or CNF that “contribute to society’s understanding of racism or appreciation of the rich diversity of human cultures.” Deadline Dec. 31.

GRIFFIN TRUST FOR EXCELLENCE IN POETRY. $50K each to honor collections by a Canadian and other international poet. Deadline Dec. 31.

LAMBDA LITERARY FOUNDATION DEBUT AWARDS (a new addition to the myriad LGBT Literary awards given annually). $1K each for an LGBT poet and fiction writer with a debut book. Deadline Dec. 1.

PEN AMERICAN CENTER PEN/JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH AWARD FOR NONFICTION. $10K for distinguished CNF!! Deadline Dec. 16.

POETRY SOCIETY OF AMERICA ROBERT H. WINNER MEMORIAL AWARD. $2500 for a poet over 40 who has published only one book. Deadline Dec. 22 (my birthday!)

TEXAS INSTITUTE OF LETTERS LITERARY AWARDS. Several awards between $1200 and $6K for poetry, fiction, short story, and CNF “on a Texas subject or by authors who have spent two consecutive years living in Texas.” Go on, mess with it. Deadline January 8.

VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY CABELL FIRST NOVELIST AWARD. $5K and a reading at VCU, Deadline January 15.

POETRY RESIDENCIES (AKA Free Money!)

Arrowhead Regional Arts Council career development grants for Minnesotan writers of fiction, poetry, and non fiction who live in he following very specific counties (and if you do I have a feeling you don’t read this blog…if I am wrong, my bad, and welcome!): Aitkin, Carlton, Cook, Itasca, Koochiching, Lake, or St. Louis (okay maybe you live here and read PWADJ) counties for at least six months. All this for $1k! Deadline November 28.

Maine Community Foundation Martin Dibner Fellowships. $1k to Maine poets and fiction writers who want to go to conferences or colonies. Deadline January 15.

Nebraska Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowships. Various awards between $1 and $5K to Nebraska poets, fiction writers, and CNF writers. Deadline Nov. 15

POETRY CONTESTS

Writers & Books Gell Poetry Prize. $1K and publication by Big Pencil Press for a book-length collection. Deadline Nov. 30.

FICTION RESIDENCIES (AKA Free Money!)

Arrowhead Regional Arts Council career development grants for Minnesotan writers of fiction, poetry, and non fiction who live in he following very specific counties (and if you do I have a feeling you don’t read this blog…if I am wrong, my bad, and welcome!): Aitkin, Carlton, Cook, Itasca, Koochiching, Lake, or St. Louis (okay maybe you live here and read PWADJ) counties for at least six months. All this for $1k! Deadline November 28.

Nebraska Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowships. Various awards between $1 and $5K to Nebraska poets, fiction writers, and CNF writers. Deadline Nov. 15

North Carolina Writers Network Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize (and other sundry prizes). $1K for a short story in honor of Thomas Wolfe. Deadline Dec. 1.

Slush Piles and Slush Puppies – a meditation on Blue Raspberry

Did you have a Dairy Mart in your town growing up? They had that Slush Puppy machine which produced an ice cold beverage with a consistency somewhere between a Slurpee and a straight up carnival shaved ice. It was oh-so-good – the blue raspberry! What the hell kind of made-up flavor is that! So tasty, and so incomprehensible where it came from and what it does to your mouth – yet still we crave it. Are even addicted to it, perhaps. Kinda reminds me of our economy.

…And slush piles: those cheap magnets for our work we simply can’t avoid the gravity of – and gladly – for 99.9% of the time there’s no fee and no 12-page long instruction sheet on how to send it in right otherwise, YOU’RE OUT!

I am happy to report the following presses with open submissions periods. Please read their guidelines as some require a query first, or an accompanying reading fee. May your mouths turn brilliant blue and your work find its way into the printed world before it ends (the world, I mean)!

Poetry

Pecan Grove Press
Mayapple Press - high literature only! (say it with a British accent then send it off)
Estruscan Press (say it in Latin, then send it off!)
BkMk Press – back in open reading mode!
Black Ocean Books

Fiction

Soft Skull Press – query first.
Ocean Publishing – query first.
Mayapple Press - high literature only! (say it with a British accent then send it off)
BkMk Press – back in open reading mode!
Black Ocean Books

Oh Fall…back to school, back to blankets, so many freaking contests.

Mmmm Fall. It makes me want to write. No other season has this strong an effect on my creativity. I’ve compared myself to a Sugar Maple before, to explain it: all year long I’ve been storing up my very best Grade B amber syrup (grade B is actually more delicious and better than grade A, trust – and it’s cheaper) and now, the change in the air and the look on the faces of all those leaves have tapped my trunk and the stream is sweet constant.

I am doing a lot of revision these days, and getting a lot of new ideas for poems, and, I went back into the novel (shhhhhh!). I intend to ride that train until it pulls into the winter station, too. My new home away from home is Mills College Library. That Alumnae card comes in handy for some things, anyway.

On that note, a lovely new journal has popped up that you should take a look at. It’s called this joy+ride and it features Kristin Berger in its premier issue. It’s gorgeous, inspirational, and perfect for this Fall creative attitude. Pop over and read it.

And now, onto current events…

There’s been a lot of hubbub around contests being bad for the poet and bad for the press, but contests remain a viable route for some to publish their work – some poets and some contests. I don’t think it’s the only way, and I don’t think all contests are equal. Therefore, I keep a filtered number of contests in my list: primarily full-length and chapbook contests from presses I’ve taken a peek at/own books from; awards and residencies from the most reliable places with good track records. That’s my part.

Your part is to read a book that won the contest before you enter it. Do you like it? Are both the content and physical quality of the publication up to your standards? Don’t send your ’script out willy-nilly to a million places. It demeans the quality of your work that you don’t care enough to send it to the very best, and also, its damn expensive. Do your work and chose wisely. And thanks for stopping by. All y’all contest lookers bring lots of hits to this site.

As always, the new ones listed here will also be added to the growing lists in the sidebar to the right. Good luck!

POETRY

Barnard College Barnard Women Poets Prize. If you are a woman and you are trying to get your second book published, then this is the one for you! A contract with Norton and $1.5K! This is only offered every other year and this is the year! Deadline October 15.

This one’s neat-o: Munster Literature Centre Fool for Poetry Chapbook Competition. Why’s it cool? Cause if you win, then you get to be published in Ireland, and fly to Cork to launch the book! Then you can be like me and be published in more than just the good ole U S of A. Deadline October 31.

FICTION

Bronx Writers’ Center is giving $1K each to emerging novelists who live in NYC. And judging by the fact that it’s in the Bronx, I think that in this case NYC includes the boroughs. Just send in your first chapter by October 1.

Cleveland State University Poetry Center’s Ruthanne Wiley Memorial Novella Contest. Funny, to me, that a poetry place is giving out an award for a novella. But whateves: You could get a K yo, deadline October 1.

University of Iowa Press Short Fiction Awards. I don’t think you get any money (perhaps implied is a standard royalty contract) but you do get your first book published. Deadline September 30.

PUBLISHED WORK AWARDS

FRENCH AMERICAN FOUNDATION TRANSLATION PRIZES. $10K for a French to English translation published in the current year. Deadline November 15.

PEN/FAULKNER FOUNDATION AWARD FOR FICTION. $15K for fiction published in the previous year. Deadline October 31.

PULITZER PRIZE for distinguished books published in the previous year. Deadline October 15.

THE STORY PRIZE: $20K for short fiction published in the previous year. Deadline December 31.

FREE MONEY (residencies poetry and fiction)

American Antiquarian Society (dig that logo yo) gives at least three writers (poetry, fiction, creative non fiction) about $1K to do pre-20th century historical research in Worcester, Mass for like a month. So if you are writing a book kinda like Gabrielle Calvocoressi’s The Last Time I Saw Amelia Earhart: Poems, then you should apply. Deadline October 5.

American-Scandinavian Foundation will give you between $4K and $20K to study and research in Scandinavia about Scandinavia. Poets, Fiction and Creative Non Fiction Writers are welcome to apply. Deadline November 1.

Arizona Commission on the Arts will give Arizonan poetry, fiction and creative non fiction writers $5K to complete a project. You gotta be an Arizonan though, and not in school. Deadline September 18 (hurry! No Fee!)

Feeling lucky? The Guggenheim’s are coming around again. But I imagine that if you are at the place where you can actually be qualified to apply to a Guggy, then you’re not reading this blog. Well, consider it something to strive for, then. I imagine you get lots of Gs. Deadline, whoops, today! September 15.

Feeling really, really lucky? The Hodder Fellowships are coming around again. Ditto all the above. $60 K for leisure in Princeton for a year. Deadline November 1.

Christopher Isherwood Foundation fiction fellowships. Mmmm, $4k and time to write. I love the sound of that. Deadline October 1.

New York Foundation for the Arts artist fellowships. These are for $7k (which gets you about one month expenses paid in NYC…) for poets and creative non fiction writers, and fiction writers, but they alternate each year. God forbid we let a poet and creative non fiction writer (why are we grouped together?) and a fiction writer have a fellowship at the same time! PS: you can’t be in school. Deadline October 6.

North Carolina Arts Council writers’ fellowships. $10k for poetry, fiction, and creative non fiction. You really gotta live there though. Deadline November 3.

Wisconsin Arts Board artist fellowship awards. If you are a Wisconsin poet, fiction or creative non fiction writer, then you could get $8K! You can’t be in school already! Stop trying to be in school and get awards! Deadline, whoops, today. September 15. So what, you can do it. Go to the midnight post office. Is there one of those in Wisconsin?

On the writing contest cycle convo bandwagon

Late to the argument, relevant nonetheless:

Stacey Lynn Brown wrote a sobering tale on her blog about her disastrous experience with “winning” the cider press review contest. I won’t go into detail on it here, but click over and read it, then come back for my thoughts.

As you know I have been hosting my writing contest lists since about 2005 (on various blogs, PWADJ is the current iteration). On any given day, my poetry contest pages bring in about 50 hits. When you add it up, that’s 18,250 hits per year. Basically, A LOT. Poets enter contests because contests are the currently available avenue to being published.

…or are they?

I think the contest system idea – to gather potentially great manuscripts from unknown poets – might have been a good one back in 1993, but I’m not sure it fits with today’s rapidly changing shape of the poetry community. When I was graduating from college, the MFA “business” was not yet flourishing, and presses like BOA and Graywolf were ready to publish new and bourgeoning voices – not the usual suspects. So the contest system worked to bring them new poets.

Since then though, it seems you can’t swing a baby without hitting at least three MFAs in any metropilitan area, and disenchanted (or conversely, cutting edge) poets found micro presses as fast as stinging nettle on the California hillside propogates in a hot, dry summer.  The multitude of poets chomping at the bit for publication plus the ubiquitousness of these itty bitty presses is pretty much a recipe for disaster. The poetry “market” is in a bubble and trust me every bubble bursts. As is evidenced by Brown’s horror story.

Point blank, the contest system exists because it is an easy money-maker for the press. Period. It is not difficult to find great poetry. But it is difficult to find great money. So if anyone ever says the goal of a contest is to find great work, it’s either 1) a lie, or 2) at most a small subset of the ultimate goal of making money.

As a fundraiser, I know how hard it is to generate income. Generating income for poetry is infinitely more difficult because few people (outside of the poetry community) read it in general, and the century of benefactors to the arts is already 1.008 centuries over (poetry was never very high on that list, anyway). Many people in the general population don’t even think poetry is relevant anymore. This makes the donor pool for poetry infinitesimal. And thousands of presses are vying over money from that tiny pool.

Finally,  most of the poets I know would never think themselves (nor are they actually) in the position to make significant contributions to a press they like. Not only that but, philanthropy is an elusive concept for most people. If we did a survey of poets submitting to contests, I would bet that 9 times out of 10, if you asked them if they considered themselves a donor to the press where’re they’re submitting they’d say no. But in fact, your contest fee in most cases is a donation, tax deductible (many presses are non profit. I think all poetry presses should be). We don’t put two and two together: we somehow think the contest fee is like purchasing something – a chance in a lottery, perhaps – and so see it as transactional. And on top of that, if you asked these poets if they’d give that $35 to the press just to support it and get a chance to have their manuscript read in an open period, I bet they’d say no. There’s really no reason; we know we can afford it. But my gut tells me half the time poets submit, they don’t even like the press. They’re just carpet bombing and hoping something hits. Therefore, the contest continues to reign.

The worst part of all of this perhaps is that the contest preys upon the problematic ubiquitousness of the modern day poetry writer. There are a lot of poets out there right now who want to get published. 99% of them never will. 98% probably never should get published. The Contest System preys on that 98%.

Many of us who write poetry nowadays should probably keep our poetry to ourselves: in our circles, on our blogs. Many of us don’t realize this. Many refuse to believe it because it’s so mean, and harsh. Nevertheless it is the truth: not everyone should run for president. In fact, not even everyone who thinks they should run for president should run for president. Ditto for poets publishing their work.

The contest, however, loves the ubiquitousness of the modern day poetry writer, because in the current abusive cycle these are the poets they prey upon: ones that think “we have as good a chance as any” to get published – and these are the ones who never will. This does not make us failures, or bad people, nor even imply we shouldn’t write anymore. It just means we should stop trying so hard to get published in the current climate.

The other half of the problem is anyone who has never had their work published, or who hates everything that’s ever been published, or who thinks they’ve got the mainline on what’s great poetry nowadays, goes and founds a press. These kinds of presses have about as much business and editorial savvy as I would have experience running for president. Unfortunately, just because you are a poet doesn’t make you good at being an editor/publisher. You also need to be a CEO, fundraiser, business manager, and marketing and branding expert. 99% are not.

Ergo, The Contest as main revenue stream. These presses who force fees don’t do their fundraising, don’t manage their revenue streams appropriately, cry that “poetry doesn’t make money” and answer that cry with a $35 contest.

However, I know that presses can be successful without the paid contest cheat. Ausable’s model works, and the poetry they publish is amazing. So I implore presses to follow that model, do your work, and find good poets to publish.

And for poets: do your research thoughtfully. Don’t carpet bomb; it perpetuates the abusive system. Explore all avenues for getting your work out: contests, open reading periods, self publishing, local distribution of your homemade chapbooks by poetry readings. Decide which you will try first; if that shows no success, try the next. Don’t endlessly send out manuscripts to contests. It’s expensive, and futile. And most of all, understand the place for your work and don’t get caught up in “the business of poetry.” We write because we love to write and share our work. Not win a contest.

Step Right Up! (warning: contests contests contests)

Two weekends ago L and I and our pals went to the Marin County Faire. We ate roasted corn on a stick, a chocolate covered frozen banana on a stick, a hot dog on a stick, and a giant blue raspberry and red cherry shaved ice that could only be described as a Tower to America (red, white, blue and huge that it was). Of course it melted instantly and crashed onto my pal’s leather bag. No one was injured. Not even the bag! And we still had plenty left over to satisfy our need for freezing cold syrups.

After eating, looking at the prize pies and cows and crafts, we played a few midway games. Now, we all know midway games are impossible to win. And it’s not because the games are challenging; it’s because the games can only be won by knowing The Cheat. The cost is ridiculous – $5 bucks for three throws – so you can’t even afford to practice enough to figure out what the winning trick is. You simply have to take your chances and enjoy the thrill of playing, the hope that maybe you will be the lucky one to get it for real…

Writing contests are a lot like this. Costly, with a trick: you never know what exactly it is that’s going to turn the judge’s eye to your work. It’s random, unknowable, disappointing, and thrilling all the same – that is, if you are to be The One who figures out the trick. So step right up, little children, and try your luck. (All these will also be added to my ongoing list(s)!)

Publish your poetry

Astounding Beauty Ruffian Press Chapbook Award: $1K for a 20-page poetry chapbook. $15 bucks to enter, gotta do it by September 30.

Get money for what you’ve already published

Under 35? British? Already published a full-length book of poetry, fiction, or creative non fiction? In the UK? If no, skip to next award. If yes: then have your publisher send a copy of the book into Booktrust for the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize by August 31. You could get five thousand pounds – a lot more in USD, guaranteed, and probably by the due date will be worth even more, so…hop to it. You don’t necessarily have to be living in the UK to win.

I think all y’all know about the Tufts Awards, nevertheless: Kinglsey Tufts $100K award for a mid-career poet, and the Kate Tufts $10K award for a poet with a first book “of genuine promise” (whatever the hell that means) published between Sept. 15 2007 and Sept. 15 2008. Anybody but the poet can enter the book in the contest by sending a lot of copies or it as well as a list of previous publications by Sept. 15.

New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award! $10K for a published novel or short story collection by a writer under 35 y/o. Deadline August 25.

Get money cause you live where you live

Delaware writers orange alert! Cash is being thrown at you! Established and Emerging Professional Fellowships of $6 and $3K respectively are given to non student Delaware residents. Deadline August 1.

Et Tu, Illinois? Why, yes PWADJ! Artist Fellowships of $7K alternate between poetry and fiction. This year is poetry! Send recent poetry, proof of residency, and a resume by September 1.

Leeway Foundation grants send a shout out to all those Philadelphia ladies (and transgender people!)! You could get up to $2,500 just for being a poet, fiction or creative non fiction writer! Deadline September 8.

Maryland State Arts Council grants of up to $6K (!) for Merry-Land poets and fiction writers. Deadline July 31. Andale!(The link also has info for New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware writers as well)

Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Individual Artist Fellowships of $5 to $10K alternating between poets, fiction and creative non fiction writers. This year it’s prose. Which sort of makes no sense since prose isn’t one of the options previously mentioned but I guess what it means is fiction and non fiction are smooshed into the same category. Whatever fair. Deadline August 4.

Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Awards of $5 and $10K for Ohio poets fiction and creative nonfiction writers. Deadline Sept. 1.

Wyoming Arts Council Blanchan/Doubelday Memorial Awards of $1k for poetry, fiction and creative non fiction. No entry fee! Due on August 29. Obvy you must be from Wyoming, and for one of them you must be a Wyoming woman. Ooooh.

Win, and go someplace!

Robert Frost Foundation: $1K and an invite to read at the Frost Festival for some poems I imagine would at least need to be in the spirit of Frost. Please don’t beat your wife. Deadline September 15.

Moment Magazine short story contest: $1k and travel expenses to give a reading in En Why Sea (NYC) or Washington DC, or maybe some other undisclosed city…for a story with some Jewish subject matter. Deadline November 14.

These ones kill me: PEN Center USA Emerging Voices Rosenthal Fellowships: $1K and an 8-month mentorship in Los Angeles with a professional writer. HOUSING NOT INCLUDED. Geez, thanks for the award: neither is $1K enough for me to get my ass and my shit out to LA for 8 months, but then when I get there I either have to be independently wealthy or I have to find a job to pay rent and EAT and LA is like, in the top 3 most expensive cities to live in! Idiots. Anyway, if you feel so inclined, or already live in LA, or are independently wealthy, then booyah to you, poet, fiction, or creative non fiction writer: Deadline September 5.

Contest Update

This one is a shout-out to my good pal Sheri.

The Sacramento Poetry Center’s Cathy Washington Prize for a full-length poetry manuscript! Submit between January 1 and March 31 2009.

God, are we really already half way to ‘09? Eeesh.

Thanks for the tip, Brad.

Arktoi Books and an OK Reading

The reading last night was ok. I am really rusty though. I read three poems, and when I got up there, I couldn’t feel anything but utter ennui from the crowd, so I sort of sped through my poems to get them over with because I couldn’t hack the non responsiveness. Turns out people were reacting in different ways, and I just couldn’t hear or feel it. So I was glad for this, and not exactly regretful of the way in which I read (I think technically speaking, I did fine) but I think I just need to get myself out there and read more. It sucks to be out of practice like that.

Also, I was totally exhausted from the long day so I am sure I was not my usual exuberant self. But there was one woman there whose work really stood out for me, so I bought the book: Interpretive Work by Elizabeth Bradfield. I was thanking God for her by the time she read (last, deservingly – having the final word of the night) because I needed to hear something that really resonated. (Please note, the other readers were fine, just not my cup of tea). Bradfield was great though. I gave her a signed copy of my chapbook, and she her full-length.

So I brought the book home and am planning on it being the only thing I read while up in Tomales Bay with Sheri today/tomorrow. And I noticed the imprint was Arktoi Books. So I looked it up and guess what it is, my lovely friends: “an imprint of Red Hen Press, was established in 2006 by Eloise Klein Healy to publish literary works of high quality by lesbian writers.”

YAHOO cannot truly capture the joy I feel for this venture, particularly after hearing its inaugural author read her tremendous work! YES YES YES!

So I am adding it to my SLUSH list, and will give you a more in-depth reflection on the book once I finish it.