If you have sincere interest in Black New Orleans, the Louisiana Creole language, and how language summons us to grapple with history—Brenda Marie Osbey is my first recommendation. Osbey is the author of books in English and French, most recently, 1967 (William & Mary, 2018), All Souls: Essential Poems (LSU Press, 2015), and History and Other Poems (Time Being Books, 2013). For more than thirty years she has researched and recorded the history of Faubourg Tremé, a community founded by free Blacks in New Orleans. From 2005 to 2007, Osbey served as the first peer-selected poet laureate of Louisiana. I had an opportunity to speak with Osbey about her appointment as poet laureate, her writing process, and her advice for writers.

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You were the second Black woman to be selected for the role of poet laureate of Louisiana. What lessons, if any, did you learn from this public role?
Because my spring 2005 appointment was the first one recommended by a committee of literary peers, I began by considering how I might best serve beyond the expected class visits that dominate most laureateship tenures. Then Katrina hit New Orleans on the 29 of August as a Category 1* hurricane, after which the levees broke, flooding the city of New Orleans and the surrounding area.

During my two-year laureateship, I traveled the United States, advocating for the right to return and rebuild, speaking on disaster panels, giving mini-versions of the Black New Orleans Research Seminar I had been teaching at universities across the country in the years before the storm. For a while, there was a narrative floating about that New Orleans was not worth rebuilding or saving in any way that would be deemed costly. I sought to dispel this notion in various ways. Additionally, every week I gave readings, and met and engaged with southeast Louisianians—mostly New Orleanians—dispersed across the country, bearing with them their narratives of displacement. It was a wrenching and humbling experience. And it taught me countless lessons about the far reach of community.

In a 1986 interview in the Mississippi Quarterly, you were asked if the New Orleans community was supportive of your work and mentioned that although you love the city, you do some of your best work away from here. You also made a distinction between New Orleans being an arts city and a cultural city. Do you still feel the same way today, and how has that impacted your work?
I was attempting to convey how, despite the city’s long history of cultural/creative output, there was no structure or system in place in New Orleans to support the arts—beyond the entertainment model, that is—which would include supporting arts workers. Which is a longer conversation than is possible here.

Rooted as it is in New Orleans—history, culture, language, sensibilities—writing often requires the kind of distance that allows one to see and consider one’s objectives and materials differently away than at home. Seeing the forest for the trees is necessary to thought, insight, and reflection, and is required to produce work.

Out of all your amazing books, which was the most difficult to write and why?
I don’t think in terms of difficulty or ease. My work is primarily research-based, and each book is a deliberately conceived project with its own arc and progression. And since I’m always working on multiple projects at any given time, my attention is either on the work at hand, what’s next in queue, or some combination.

What’s your advice to young poets?
Learn to read one or more languages. Moreover, study your native language as if learning it for the first time. More so than other genres, poetry is rooted in the human tongue.

Listen to Osbey read “Everything Happens to (Monk and) Me”:

The deadline is approaching for the inaugural Malinda A. Markham Memorial Prize in Translation, presented by Saturnalia Books. Established in the memory of poet and translator Malinda A. Markham, this annual prize awards $2,000 and publication by Saturnalia Books to a manuscript of a female poet’s work, translated by a female translator.

Using only the online submission system, submit a cover letter and a manuscript of at least 48 pages with an entry fee of $25 by October 31. Manuscripts featuring the work of multiple female poets are ineligible, but manuscripts may have multiple translators, so long as all collaborators identify as female. The editors will judge. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Founded in 2002 by the poet Henry Israeli, Saturnalia Books seeks to publish both new and established poets and to “encourage the publication of literature of a noncommercial and challenging nature.” In addition to the Markham Memorial Prize, the press offers two other awards for poetry manuscripts: the Saturnalia Books Poetry and Editors Prizes.

As the days grow shorter and colder, consider cozying up indoors and submitting to the last contests of the month. With deadlines of either September 28 or September 30, these awards include numerous opportunities to publish book-length work and two contests with no entry fees. All offer a prize of $1,000 or more.

Boulevard Nonfiction Contest for Emerging Writers: A prize of $1,000 and publication in Boulevard is given annually for an essay by a writer who has not published a full-length book in any genre with a nationally distributed press. The editors will judge. All entries are considered for publication. Deadline: September 30. Entry fee: $16.

California State University in Fresno Philip Levine Prize for Poetry: A prize of $2,000 and publication by Anhinga Press is given annually for a poetry collection. Cathy Park Hong will judge. Deadline: September 30. Entry fee: $25 ($28 for electronic submissions)

Coffee-House Poetry Troubadour International Poetry Prize: A prize of £2,000 (approximately $2,548) is given annually for a single poem. A second-place prize of £1,000 (approximately $1,274) is also given. Both winners receive publication on the Coffee-House Poetry website. Mona Arshi and Mark Doty will judge. Deadline: September 28. Entry fee: $7.

Dzanc Books Diverse Voices Prize: A prize of $3,000 and publication by Dzanc Books will be given for a novel, memoir, story or essay collection, or cross-genre work by a writer from a minority, underrepresented, or marginalized community. Chaya Bhuvaneswar, Charles Johnson, and Robert Lopez will judge. Deadline: September 30. Entry fee: none.

Dzanc Books Prize for Fiction: A prize of $5,000 and publication by Dzanc Books is given annually for a novel. Tina May Hall, Anne Valente, and Jessie van Eerden will judge. Deadline: September 30. Entry fee: $25.

Dzanc Books Short Story Competition: A prize of $2,000 and publication by Dzanc Books is given annually for a story collection. The editors will judge. Deadline: September 30. Entry fee: $25.

Ghost Story Supernatural Fiction Award: A prize of $1,000, publication on the Ghost Story website and in the Ghost Story print anthology, 21st Century Ghost Stories, is given twice yearly for a short story with a supernatural or magic realism theme. The editors will judge. Deadline: September 30. Entry fee: $20.

Hackney Literary Awards Novel Contest: A prize of $5,000 is given annually for an unpublished novel. Deadline: September 30. Entry fee: $30.

Lascaux Review Prize in Creative Nonfiction: A prize of $1,000 and publication on the Lascaux Review website is given annually for an essay. The winner and finalists will also be published in Volume 8 of the Lascaux Review. Previously published and unpublished essays are eligible. All entries will be considered for publication. Deadline: September 30. Entry fee: $15.

Red Hen Press Fiction Award: A prize of $1,000 and publication by Red Hen Press is given annually for a short story collection or a novel. Susan Straight will judge. Deadline: September 30. Entry fee: $25.

University of Arkansas Press Miller Williams Arkansas Poetry Prize: A prize of $5,000 and publication by University of Arkansas Press is given annually for a poetry collection. Patricia Smith will judge. Deadline: September 30. Entry fee: $28.

University of Iowa Press Iowa Short Fiction Award: Two awards of publication by University of Iowa Press are given annually for first collections of short fiction. Writers who have not published a book of fiction are eligible. Deadline: September 30. Entry fee: none.

University of Massachusetts Press Juniper Prizes: Five prizes of $1,000 each and publication by University of Massachusetts Press are given annually for a first poetry collection, a poetry collection, a short story collection, a novel, and a book of creative nonfiction. The creative writing faculty at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst will judge. Deadline: September 30. Entry fee: $30.

Winning Writers Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contests: Two prizes of $3,000 each and publication on the Winning Writers website are given annually for a poem in any style and a poem that either rhymes or is written in a traditional style. Jim DuBois and Soma Mei Sheng Frazier will judge. Deadline: September 30. Entry fee: $15.

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