“Fish / fowl / flood / Water lily mud / My life // in the leaves and on water,” writes Lorine Niedecker in “Paean to Place,” a long lyric poem that meditates on the region of southern Wisconsin where she was born and lived most of her life. Written in short sections, the poem goes in and out of memories and pastoral descriptions of marshlike landscapes, altogether serving as a testament to the impact a place can have on one’s poetic sensibilities. This week write a pastoral ode to the landscape you grew up in. Whether an urban sprawl or a rural town, try to use the poem’s form and idiosyncratic language to paint a portrait of your experience in this formative place.

In the film Tár, written and directed by Todd Field and starring Cate Blanchett, a world-renowned orchestra conductor is caught in a scandal surrounding a series of sexual abuse allegations. The Oscar-nominated film uses persuasive world-building and parallels to news stories surrounding cancel culture, the #MeToo movement, and the culture of artistic fame—including an integral scene with a cameo by New Yorker staff writer Adam Gopnik—to create a realistic portrayal of a complicated character. This week, write a fictional story that attempts to convince the reader that the events actually happened in real life. For further inspiration from uncanny depictions of reality in fiction, read Miranda July’s short story “Roy Spivey.”

Nearly two thousand years ago, the Roman poet Ovid wrote a series of letters in elegiac couplets during his exile from Rome called the Tristia. The poems capture Ovid’s final days in Rome, as well as his journey overseas to Tomis on the Romanian coast of the Black Sea, and are addressed to various figures including his wife, loyal and disloyal friends, and he even composes his epitaph. “I who lie here, sweet Ovid, poet of tender passions, / fell victim to my own sharp wit,” writes Ovid, translated by Peter Green in The Poems of Exile: Tristia and the Black Sea Letters (University of California Press, 2005). Inspired by this epic elegy, write a poem from the perspective of someone in exile. What does your speaker long for, and how does exile force them to voice unspoken concerns?

About a week remains before submissions are due for the Journal Non/Fiction Prize. The literary magazine of the Ohio State University MFA Program in Creative Writing, the Journal, will select one full-length collection of short prose to be published by Mad Creek Books, the trade imprint of Ohio State University Press, and offer a cash prize of $1,500. Emerging and established writers of fiction and creative nonfiction are eligible.

journal-logo.png

Using only the online submission system, submit a collection of short stories, essays, or novellas (or a combination thereof) of 150 to 350 pages with a $23 entry fee ($11.50 for BIPOC writers), which includes a subscription to the Journal, by March 11. Michelle Herman, cofounder of the MFA program at Ohio State University, will judge. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Last year’s winner was Rebecca Bernard for her story collection, Our Sister Who Will Not Die. “If Mary Gaitskill’s Bad Behavior and Ottessa Moshfegh’s Homesick for Another World had a lovechild, it would be Our Sister Who Will Not Die,” Nick White, author of How to Survive a Summer, wrote of the book. “Wild and subversive in the very best ways, these stories had me by the throat.”

During the pandemic, a popular pastime has been rewatching favorite shows, from recent offerings to classics. According to an article published in Reader’s Digest, this trend can be traced to the concept of status quo bias: the idea of maintaining one’s current or previous decision. Psychologists also note that we tend to stick with what’s familiar to ease anxiety and avoid disappointment and stress. This week write an essay about rewatching your favorite shows. Do you encounter something new each time or find comfort in reliving the same emotions?

In a short essay for Literary Hub’s “Craft of Writing” newsletter, novelist Rebecca Makkai argues that setting is the most underutilized tool in fiction. Makkai explains that a setting should “give the reader enough ambience and context that they can extrapolate a world” as well as take an active part in offering characters something to react to and “trap characters together, destabilize them, provoke change, or provide refuge, urgency, or danger.” Keeping this definition in mind, draft a short story by starting with a clear and time-specific setting. Try to delineate the time period, the physical location, and the relationship this setting has to your protagonist so it can make an impact on your story.

In “When I See Stars in the Night Sky,” Joy Priest writes an ode to the late iconic singer Whitney Houston, tethering her memory to the stars in the sky. “It’s 1988           Her head /             Thrown back against a black backdrop     She is the only thing / glowing       So distant              from us in the universe,” writes Priest. The poem then moves into the personal connection the speaker has with the singer. “I love myself / because of her,” writes Priest. Inspired by this poem, write an ode to your favorite musician placing them, as Priest does, in a specific moment in time.

February may be the shortest month, but there is still plenty of time to submit to contests with a deadline of February 28. Prizes include $5,500 for a poetry collection and a story collection, $5,000 for a single work of prose characterized by “daring formal and aesthetic innovations,” and $2,500 for a self-published poetry e-book and a fiction e-book by an African American writer. All awards have a cash prize of $1,000 or more. Go forth and prosper, writers!

Association of Writers & Writing Programs
Award Series
Two prizes of $5,500 each and publication by a participating press are given annually for a poetry collection and a story collection. In addition, two prizes of $2,500 each and publication by a participating press are given annually for a novel and a book of creative nonfiction. For the Donald Hall Prize for Poetry, the University of Pittsburgh Press will publish the winning collection. For the Grace Paley Prize for Short Fiction, Red Hen Press will publish the winning collection. For the AWP Prize for the Novel, the University of Nebraska Press will publish the winning novel. For the Sue William Silverman Prize for Creative Nonfiction, the University of Georgia Press will publish the winning book. Entry fee: $30 ($20 for AWP members).

Austin Community College
Balcones Prizes
Two prizes of $1,500 each are given annually for a poetry collection and a book of fiction published during the previous year. Translated works are also eligible. Entry fee: $25 for poetry and $30 for fiction. 

Black Caucus of the American Library Association
Self-Publishing Literary Awards
Two prizes of $2,500 each are given annually for a poetry e-book and a fiction e-book by an African American writer self-published in the United States during the previous year. The awards honor books that depict “cultural, historical, and sociopolitical aspects of the Black Diaspora.” Entry fee: none.

Chautauqua Institution
Chautauqua Janus Prize
A prize of $5,000 and publication in Chautauqua is given annually for a single work of fiction or nonfiction by an emerging writer displaying “daring formal and aesthetic innovations that upset and reorder readers’ imaginations.” The winner will also give a lecture during the summer 2023 season of the Chautauqua Institution. Writers who have not published a book of over 15,000 words and/or 100 pages in any prose genre are eligible. Entry fee: $20.

Fish Publishing
Flash Fiction Prize
A prize of €1,000 (approximately $1,035) and publication in the Fish Publishing anthology is given annually for a short short story. The winner is also invited to give a reading at the West Cork Literary Festival in July 2023. Kit de Waal will judge. Entry fee: $14. 

Minds Shine Bright
Confidence Competition
A prize of $1,600 AUD (approximately $1,031) and publication in the Confidence Minds Shine Bright anthology will be given annually for works of poetry or fiction exploring the theme of confidence. Entry fee: $3.

Omnidawn Publishing
First/Second Poetry Book Contest
A prize of $3,000, publication by Omnidawn Publishing, and 20 author copies is given annually for a first or second poetry collection. Sawako Nakayasu will judge. Entry fee: $35.

Poetry Northwest
James Welch Prize for Indigenous Poets
Two prizes of $1,000 each and publication in Poetry Northwest are given annually for a single poem by an Indigenous poet. The winners will also receive an all-expenses-paid trip to read with the judge in the fall of 2023. Writers who have published no more than one full-length book and who are community-recognized members of tribal nations within the United States and its territories are eligible. Heid E. Erdrich will judge. Entry fee: none.

Red Hen Press
Women’s Prose Prize
A prize of $1,000 and publication by Red Hen Press is given annually for a book of fiction or nonfiction by a writer who identifies as a woman. Cai Emmons will judge. Entry fee: $25

Tupelo Press
Snowbound Chapbook Award
A prize of $1,000, publication by Tupelo Press, and 25 author copies is given annually for a poetry chapbook. All entries are considered for publication. Entry fee: $25.

Visit the contest websites for complete guidelines, and check out the Grants & Awards database and Submission Calendar for more contests in poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and translation.