Page One: Where New and Noteworthy Books Begin
The first lines of a dozen noteworthy books, including The Figure Going Imaginary by Marianne Boruch and Marginlands: A Journey Into India’s Vanishing Landscapes by Arati Kumar-Rao.
Tags:
Genre: Creative Nonfiction
Waterston Desert Writing Prize
High Desert Museum
Entry Fee:
$0
Deadline:
May 1, 2025
A prize of $3,000 is given annually for a work of nonfiction that recognizes “the vital role deserts play worldwide in the ecosystem and the human narrative.” The winner is also provided with money for travel and lodging to attend a reception and award ceremony at the High Desert Museum in Bend, Oregon, in September. Works-in-progress as well as published or unpublished prose are accepted. Using only the online submission system, submit up to 10 pages of nonfiction, a brief bio, and a one-page project description by May 1. There is no entry fee. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
The Choice to Create
An excerpt from Permission: The New Memoirist and the Courage to Create by Elissa Altman, a compassionate, inspiring literary guide to transcend the fear and shame that can too often keep important stories from being written.
La Baldi Residency
The La Baldi Residency, sponsored by the arts collective Cultivate, will offer two-week and one-month residencies from April through October to poets, fiction writers, creative nonfiction writers, and translators in apartments and a small terratetto house in the historic hilltop village of Montegiovi, Italy. Residents will stay in private lodging with a fully equipped kitchen, a bathroom, and an outside sitting area. Some lodging options include a study. Individual writers and collaborative teams may apply.
Type:
RESIDENCY
Ignore Event Date Field?:
no
Event Date:
April 1, 2025
Rolling Admissions:
ignore
Application Deadline:
September 17, 2025
Financial Aid?:
no
Financial Aid Application Deadline:
September 17, 2025
Free Admission:
no
Contact Information:
La Baldi Residency, 15504 Moravia Court, Derwood, MD 20855. Susan Main, Cultivate Director.
Susan Main
Cultivate Director
Contact City:
Montegiovi
Country:
IT
Iceland Writers Retreat
The 2025 Iceland Writers Retreat was from April 23 to April 27 at the Fosshotel in Reykjavík. The retreat features workshops, panels, lectures, receptions, and time to write for fiction and nonfiction writers, as well as literary tours of Iceland. The faculty included fiction writers Kevin Chong, Pedro Gunnlaugur Garcia, Meng Jin, Jonas Hassen Khemiri, and Curtis Sittenfeld; fiction and nonfiction writers Jann Arden, Yrsa Daley-Ward, Helen Macdonald, and Danny Ramadan; and nonfiction writers Thordis Elva and Rick Jervis. The cost of the retreat was 310,000 ISK (approximately $2,202).
Type:
RESIDENCY
Ignore Event Date Field?:
yes
Event Date:
September 17, 2025
Rolling Admissions:
ignore
Application Deadline:
September 17, 2025
Financial Aid?:
no
Financial Aid Application Deadline:
September 17, 2025
Free Admission:
no
Contact Information:
Iceland Writers Retreat, P.O. Box 76, 212 Gardabaer, Iceland. Erica Jacobs Green and Eliza Reid, Cofounders.
Erica Jacobs Green and Eliza Reid
Cofounders
Contact City:
Reykjavík
Country:
IS
Genre:
Tags:
Squam Writes Retreat
Squam Writes offered a retreat from June 5 to June 8 to fiction and creative nonfiction writers at Rockywold Deephaven Camps, a historic resort campsite on the shores of Squam Lake in Holderness, New Hampshire. Residents were provided lodging in cottages, cabins, and lodge rooms along the shores of the lake; time to write; and the opportunity to join optional craft-focused workshops led by the codirectors as well as optional peer critique groups. Professional feedback on your writing was available for an additional $75. The faculty included novelists Jilly Gagnon and Melissa Hed.
Type:
RESIDENCY
Ignore Event Date Field?:
yes
Event Date:
September 17, 2025
Rolling Admissions:
ignore
Application Deadline:
September 17, 2025
Financial Aid?:
no
Financial Aid Application Deadline:
September 17, 2025
Free Admission:
no
Contact Information:
Squam Writes Retreat, 18 Bacon Road, Holderness, NH 03245. Jilly Gagnon and Melissa Hed, Codirectors.
Jilly Gagnon and Melissa Hed
Codirectors
Contact City:
Holderness
Contact State:
NH
Country:
US
Genre:
Fiction Meets Science Residency
The Fiction Meets Science Residency offers up to two residencies of three to ten months annually to fiction and nonfiction writers at the Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg Institute for Advanced Study in Delmenhorst, Germany. Residents are provided with a private apartment and office space at the institute, where they will connect with an interdisciplinary community of guest scientists. Residents are expected to give one lecture or reading and to attend the weekly lectures given by the scientist fellows at the institute.
Type:
RESIDENCY
Ignore Event Date Field?:
yes
Event Date:
September 17, 2025
Rolling Admissions:
ignore
Application Deadline:
September 17, 2025
Financial Aid?:
no
Financial Aid Application Deadline:
September 17, 2025
Free Admission:
no
Contact Information:
Fiction Meets Science Residency, Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg, Lehmkuhlenbusch 4, 27753 Delmenhorst, Germany. Susan M. Gaines, Project Director.
Susan M. Gaines
Project Director
Contact City:
Delmenhorst
Contact Zip / Postal Code:
27753
Country:
DE
Genre:
Association of Writers & Writing Programs Conference and Bookfair
The 2025 AWP Conference and Bookfair was held from March 26 to March 29 at the Los Angeles Convention Center and also included a virtual component comprising prerecorded and live streamed events. The conference featured panel discussions, readings, discussion rooms, and a bookfair. Prior to March 25, the cost of the conference for in-person preregistration, including all virtual programming and content, was $375 for nonmembers, $255 for members, $105 for seniors, and $70 for students.
Type:
CONFERENCE
Ignore Event Date Field?:
yes
Event Date:
September 17, 2025
Rolling Admissions:
ignore
Application Deadline:
September 17, 2025
Financial Aid?:
no
Financial Aid Application Deadline:
September 17, 2025
Free Admission:
no
Contact Information:
Association of Writers & Writing Programs Conference and Bookfair, 440 Monticello Avenue, Suite 1802, PMB 73708, Norfolk, VA 23510. (240) 696-8273.
Contact City:
Los Angeles
Contact State:
CA
Contact Zip / Postal Code:
90015
Country:
US
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Tags:
The Writer’s Retreat at Good Contrivance Farm
Good Contrivance Farm, an educational nonprofit, offers residencies of up to four weeks year-round to poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers on a Victorian farm in Reisterstown, Maryland, located 24 miles north of Baltimore. Workshops and craft classes with visiting faculty are offered outdoors from May to September. The faculty includes poet and nonfiction writer Ross Gay, memoirist R. Eric Thomas, and publishing professional Jane Friedman (Jane Friedman Media).
Type:
RESIDENCY
Ignore Event Date Field?:
yes
Event Date:
September 17, 2025
Rolling Admissions:
yes
Application Deadline:
September 17, 2025
Financial Aid?:
no
Financial Aid Application Deadline:
September 17, 2025
Free Admission:
no
Contact Information:
The Writer’s Retreat at Good Contrivance Farm, 2015 Emory Road, Reisterstown, MD 21136. (443) 529-2939.
Contact City:
Reisterstown
Contact State:
MD
Contact Zip / Postal Code:
21136
Country:
US
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Atlanta Writers Conference
The fall 2025 Atlanta Writers Conference, sponsored by the Atlanta Writers Club, will be held on October 24 and October 25 at the Westin Atlanta Airport Hotel. The conference includes a book fair featuring attendees’ books; presentations on the craft and business of writing, including a workshop titled AI and Publishing: What You Need To Know, led by fiction writer, business writer, and IT specialist Jeff Lakusta; agent and editor pitch sessions; manuscript sample critiques; query letter critiques; and Q&A panels for poetry, fiction, and nonfiction writers.
Type:
CONFERENCE
Ignore Event Date Field?:
no
Event Date:
October 24, 2025
Rolling Admissions:
yes
Application Deadline:
September 17, 2025
Financial Aid?:
no
Financial Aid Application Deadline:
September 17, 2025
Free Admission:
no
Contact Information:
Atlanta Writers Conference, 8080 Jett Ferry Road, Atlanta, GA 30350. (404) 632-3525. George Weinstein, Conference Director.
George Weinstein
Conference Director
Contact City:
Atlanta
Contact State:
GA
Contact Zip / Postal Code:
30337
Country:
US
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