Dinner

11.17.21

“Growing up / we ate turkey cutlets sauteed in lemon / and butter, butter and cheese on green noodles, / butter melting in small pools in the hearts / of Yorkshire puddings, butter better / than gravy,” writes Elizabeth Alexander in her timeless poem “Butter,” in which she depicts her family’s love for butter and the childhood memories attached to these meals. Write a story centered around a family dinner in which a significant conversation occurs. Savor the description of what is eaten and said between forkfuls.

Inner Landscapes

11.16.21

Lebanese American writer and artist Etel Adnan died at the age of ninety-six this past Sunday on November 14 in Paris. One of the most celebrated and accomplished Arab American authors of her era, Adnan leaves behind decades of writing that interrogates war and the effects it has in displacing communities, as well as visual art inspired by landscapes in nature, which she called her “inner landscapes.” This week, inspired by Adnan’s bright and lucid landscape paintings, write an ekphrastic poem reflecting on one of her works. What natural landscapes did you grow up around, and how can you fuse them into the poem?

The Bird in Your Hands Prize Accepting Submissions

Submissions are open for the second annual The Bird in Your Hands Prize, which is administered by Thin Air Magazine and “centers and celebrates BIPOC voices.” BIPOC writers at any stage in their careers are invited to submit a short work of poetry, fiction, or nonfiction, for the opportunity to win $1,000, publication in Thin Air Magazine, an interview on Thin Air Online, and an all-expenses paid trip to read at the Northern Arizona Book Festival in April next year.

Using only the online submission system, submit a manuscript of up to 500 words by December 1. There is no entry fee. Raquel Gutiérrez will judge. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Published by the Northern Arizona University English Department, Thin Air Magazine is run by graduate students and features fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and visual arts, as well as hybrid work and work that cannot be categorized. Operating out of Flagstaff, Arizona, the nonprofit is “the highest-elevation literary journal in the country” and aims to “build and maintain a Flagstaff–based literary community that reaches across the Colorado Plateau and beyond.”

Knowing and Feeling

11.11.21

“That’s partly one of the things this book is about: discovering, again, and again, the inextricable relation between love and hate, which I certainly knew about conceptually, but have had to experience over and over again,” says Frank Bidart about his latest poetry collection, Against Silence (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2021), in an interview with John Maher at the Millions. Write an essay about experiencing love and hate—whether it be through heartbreak, the aftereffects of guilt, or a complicated relationship. Consider the difference between knowing and feeling these emotions.

Watching Your Pet

11.10.21

“One night, while watching a friend’s dog, a thunderstorm came rolling over the city. He felt the change in the atmosphere; his tongue flopped out, eyes bulging,” writes Christopher Gonzalez in his Craft Capsule essay “Pet Sitting.” “With a belly brimming with bourbon, I Googled how to help a dog in crisis.” In the essay, Gonzalez recounts pet-sitting for friends and using the experience as inspiration for his short story “What You Missed While I Was Watching Your Cat.” Write a story in which the protagonist is watching a friend’s pet and things go horribly awry. What questions can you ask, as Gonzalez does, to help drive the narrative forward?

Angel

11.9.21

“Above my desk, whirring and self-important / (Though not much larger than a hummingbird), / In finely woven robes, school of Van Eyck / Hovers an evidently angelic visitor,” writes James Merrill in his poem “Angel.” The speaker in the poem is visited by an angel whose presence stirs up questions about the passive act of writing: “How can you sit there with your notebook? / What do you think you are doing?” This week, write a poem in which the speaker is visited by a watchful, otherworldly presence. Try, like Merrill, to be descriptive about the setting in order to set the mood.

Upcoming Contest Deadlines

Opportunities abound for writers of all kinds in mid-November’s contest deadlines. Prizes with deadlines of November 15 include awards for debut poets, for women writers, and for nonfiction writers who can capture the spirit of Brooklyn on the page. Most offer a cash prize of $1,000 or more; one prize includes travel and lodging expenses to attend the Writers Digest Annual Conference in New York City.

Brooklyn Film & Arts Festival Brooklyn Nonfiction Prize: A prize of $500 and publication on the Brooklyn Film & Arts Festival website is given annually for a work of nonfiction that is set in Brooklyn, New York, and renders the borough’s “rich soul and intangible qualities through the writer’s actual experiences of Brooklyn.” Entry fee: None.

Nightboat Books Poetry Prize: Up to three prizes of $1,000 each and publication by Nightboat Books are given annually for poetry collections. The editors will judge. Entry fee: $30.

Perugia Press Poetry Prize: A prize of $1,000 and publication by Perugia Press is given annually for a first or second poetry collection by a writer who identifies as a woman. Entry fee: $30.

Pushcart Press Editors’ Book Award: A prize of $1,000 is given occasionally for a fiction or nonfiction manuscript that has been rejected by a commercial publisher. The award recognizes “worthy manuscripts that have been overlooked by today’s high-pressure, bottom-line publishing conglomerates.” Entry fee: None.

The Story Prize: A prize of $20,000 is given annually for a short story collection written in English and first published in the United States in the previous year. Two runners-up will receive $5,000 each, and one entrant will receive the $1,000 Story Prize Spotlight Award, given for a collection that merits further attention. Larry Dark and Julie Lindsey will select the three finalists and the Spotlight Award winner; three independent judges will choose the Story Prize winner. Entry fee: $75.

Washington Writers’ Publishing House Poetry and Fiction Prizes: Two prizes of $1,500 each, publication by Washington Writers’ Publishing House, and 50 author copies are given annually for a poetry collection and a short story collection or novel. Writers who live in Washington, D.C., Maryland, or Virginia are eligible. Entry fee: $25.

Writers’ Digest Short Short Story Competition: A prize of $3,000 and travel and lodging expenses for a trip to the Writer’s Digest Annual Conference in New York City is given annually for a short short story. A second-place prize of $1,500 is also awarded. The winners will both be published in Writer’s Digest. Entry fee: $25 (or $30 for entry by December 15).

Yale University Press Yale Series of Younger Poets: An award of publication by Yale University Press is given annually for a poetry collection by a poet who has not published a full-length book of poetry. Carl Phillips will judge. Entry fee: $25.

Word of the Year

11.4.21

The Oxford Languages word of the year for 2021 is vax. Every year, a team of expert lexicographers for the creator of the Oxford English Dictionary, debate candidates for word of the year and choose a winner “that is judged to reflect the ethos, mood, or preoccupations of that particular year and to have a lasting potential as a word of cultural significance.” Browse through their Word of the Year archive and write an essay about one of the winning words. How does that word correlate with your experience of that year?

Day of the Dead

11.3.21

Day of the Dead is a two-day holiday that originated in Mexico, in which loved ones who have died are honored and celebrated. Consisting of a variety of traditions, including making ofrendas (altars with offerings for the deceased) and decorating the home with marigolds and skulls, this holiday allows for a time for the living and the dead to reunite through food, music, and dance. Write a story in which a character mourns and celebrates a loved one on Day of the Dead. Describe why their relationship is special and what memories bring them together.

A Single Letter

11.2.21

“I love the I, / frail between its flitches, its hard ground / and hard sky, it soars between them / like the soul that rushes, back and forth, / between the mother and father.” In this line from her iconic poem “Take the I Out,” Sharon Olds describes both the physical shape of the letter and how it represents the self. This week write an ode to a letter of the alphabet. Whether it be the letter I, or a different one, how far can you go in describing this letter and locating the many ways it holds place in your life?

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