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Flag Day is a film adaptation of Jennifer Vogel’s 2005 memoir, Flim-Flam Man: The True Story of My Father’s Counterfeit Life, directed by Sean Penn with a screenplay by Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth. Penn stars in the film along with his daughter Dylan Penn, Josh Brolin, Regina King, James Russo, and Katheryn Winnick.
“By calling an influence an ancestor rather than an influence, a relationship is made, a kinship,” says U.S. poet laureate Joy Harjo speaking about her new memoir, Poet Warrior (Norton, 2021), in a Q&A by Laura Da’ featured in the September/October 2021 issue of Poets & Writers Magazine. “Some of these connections resonate and flower, while others challenge and force us to stand up.” This week, make a list of influential people in your life who have either helped you grow or challenged you. Write a series of linked essays that reflects on how these relationships are all connected.
Charm City Books bookseller Brandon Rashad Butts hosts this episode of Between Two Succulents with poet and screenwriter Brian Broome who speaks about his debut memoir, Punch Me Up to the Gods (Mariner Books, 2021). Broome is featured in “The New Nonfiction 2021” in the September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
“I find it really hard to follow a routine in almost every part of my life.” —Kat Chow, author of Seeing Ghosts
James Tate Hill discusses the themes of disability and self-acceptance in his debut memoir, Blind Man’s Bluff (Norton, 2021), and speaks about process and the author-agent relationship in this Writing Workshops Dallas conversation with agent and author Eric Smith. Hill’s memoir is featured in Page One in the September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
In 1950, German artist Josef Albers began creating his world-famous series known as Homage to the Square, which consisted of three or four differently colored squares, each inside the other in successively smaller sizes. The nonprofit arts organization Public Delivery explains on its website that Albers originally started the series to help students and other artists “approach and study color experimentally,” but it eventually led him to create more than a thousand square paintings until his death in 1976. Inspired by Albers, choose a word as simple or fundamental as a square, then write an essay—or a series of linked essays—about this word, studying its presence in your life along with its etymology. What connections can you draw from one word?
Leave the dog days of summer behind and reinvigorate your writing practice by submitting to one of the following fourteen contests, which close on August 30 or August 31. These contests include opportunities for writers at all stages of their careers; one contest is reserved for poets over the age of 60. All offer a cash prize of $1,000 or more.
Aesthetica Creative Writing Award: Two prizes of £2,500 (approximately $3,434) each and publication in Aesthetica Creative Writing Annual are given annually for a poem and a short story. The winner in poetry also receives a membership to the Poetry Society in London, and the winner in short fiction receives a consultation with the literary agency Redhammer Management. Both winners receive a subscription to Granta and a selection of books from Vintage Books. Oz Hardwick will judge in poetry and Katy Guest will judge in fiction. All entries are considered for publication. Deadline: August 31. Entry fee: £12 (approximately $16) for one poem and £18 (approximately $25) for one short story.
Black Lawrence Press St. Lawrence Book Award: A prize of $1,000 and publication by Black Lawrence Press is given annually for a debut collection of poems or short stories. The editors will judge. Deadline: August 31. Entry fee: $25.
Ex Ophidia Press Poetry Book Prize: A prize of $1,000, publication by Ex Ophidia Press, and 10 author copies is given annually for a poetry collection. Kathleen Flenniken will judge. Deadline: August 31. Entry fee: $25.
Gemini Magazine Flash Fiction Contest: A prize of $1,000 and publication in Gemini Magazine is given annually for a short short story. The editors will judge. Deadline: August 31. Entry fee: $7.
Grid Books Off the Grid Poetry Prize: A prize of $1,000 and publication by Grid Books is given annually for a poetry collection by a writer over the age of 60. Jimmy Santiago Baca will judge. Deadline: August 31. Entry fee: $25.
Gulf Coast Barthelme Prize for Short Prose: A prize of $1,000 and publication in Gulf Coast is given annually for a short work of prose. Molly McCully Brown will judge. Deadline: August 31. Entry fee: $20 (includes subscription).
Gulf Coast Prize in Translation: A prize of $1,000 and publication in Gulf Coast is given in alternating years for a group of poems or a prose excerpt translated from any language into English. The 2021 prize will be given for prose. Sophie Hughes will judge. Deadline: August 31. Entry fee: $10 (include half-year subscription) or $20 (includes full-year subscription).
Journal of Experimental Fiction Kenneth Patchen Award: A prize of $1,000 and publication by Journal of Experimental Fiction and JEF Books is given annually for an innovative novel. Deadline: August 31. Entry fee: $25.
Masters Review Short Story Award for New Writers: A prize of $3,000 and publication in Masters Review is given twice yearly for a short story by an emerging writer. Writers who have not published a book are eligible, as are writers who have published a book with a circulation of less than 5,000. The winning story will also be sent to literary agents from the Bent Agency, Carnicelli Literary Management, Compass Talent, Fletcher & Company, Sobel Weber, and Writers House for review. Kristen Arnett will judge. Deadline: August 30. Entry fee: $20.
Munster Literature Center Fool for Poetry International Chapbook Competition: A prize of €1,000 (approximately $1,191) and publication by the Munster Literature Center is given annually for a poetry chapbook. The winner will also receive accommodations to give a reading at the Cork International Poetry Festival in March 2022. All entries are considered for publication. Deadline: August 31. Entry fee: €25 (approximately $30)
Omnidawn Publishing Open Book Prize: A prize of $3,000, publication by Omnidawn Publishing, and 100 author copies is given annually for a poetry collection. John Yau will judge. Deadline: August 31. Entry fee: $27.
Talking Gourds Fischer Prize: A prize of $1,000 is given annually for a single poem. The winner will also be featured in a Bardic Trails reading online. Donald Levering will judge. Deadline: August 31. Entry fee: $10 for a poem of up to three pages (add an additional $10 for postal submissions).
University of New Orleans Press Lab Prize: A prize of $10,000 and publication by University of New Orleans Press is given annually for a short story collection or novel. Deadline: August 31. Entry fee: $28.
Utica College Eugene Paul Nassar Poetry Prize: A prize of $2,000 is given annually for a poetry collection published in the previous year by a resident of upstate New York. The winner will also give a reading and teach a master class at Utica College in April 2022. Deadline: August 31. Entry fee: None.
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.
Summer marks the celebratory time of outdoor activities and vacations, as well as a popular season for moving. Families might find the summer holiday from school a good time to move, students graduate into dorm life on college campuses, and others find the need to relocate during warm weather. Moving has been ranked one of the most stressful life events one can experience, and yet it is something universally experienced. Write an essay about a stressful time you moved between living situations. What season was it, and why was it particularly stressful?
“The life we lead as writers is awful—it’s boring, tedious, lonely,” says Vivian Gornick. “But when it’s working, there’s nothing in the world that compares.” In this installment of the Paris Review’s “My First Time” series, Gornick discusses the experience of writing and publishing her first book, In Search of Ali Mahmoud: An American Woman in Egypt.
