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In this Green Apple Books event, the Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network (DVAN) presents a night of readings featuring writers François Luong, Aimee Phan, Minnie Phan, and Thien Pham, sponsored by the San Francisco Public Library and San Francisco Arts Commission.
“It was happily free of theoretical ambitions, such as being avant-garde or radical or even funny,” writes Ron Padgett in the foreword to The Complete C Comics (New York Review Books, 2025), which collects the two issues of comic books created by Joe Brainard in collaboration with New York School poets in the 1960s. Brainard created the drawings and poets, such as Padgett, John Ashbery, Ted Berrigan, Barbara Guest, Kenneth Koch, Frank O’Hara, and Peter Schjeldahl, provided text for speech balloons and captions. This week experiment with the energy and humor of this illustrative format. Take inspiration from classic comic book icons and characters and write a poem that channels the childlike playfulness of comics, giving them your own “adult” spin, perhaps incorporating elements of surrealism or parody, or even accompanying your own doodles and sketches.
A prize of $1,500 and publication by Finishing Line Press is given annually for a poetry chapbook. Leah Huete de Maines will judge. Submit a manuscript of 16 to 34 pages, a brief bio, and a cover letter with a $20 entry fee by February 15. All entries are considered for publication. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
A prize of $1,000 is given annually for a published poetry collection, book of fiction, or book of creative nonfiction that “illuminates the heritage of North America’s mid-continental prairies.” Authors, publishers, and the general public may submit two copies of a book by January 31. There is no entry fee. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
A prize of $1,000 is given annually for a single poem. Marge Piercy will judge. Submit up to five poems of no more than two pages each with a $15 entry fee by January 12. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
A prize of $1,500 and publication in Obsidian, the literary journal of Illinois State University, is given annually for a group of poems in conversation with the Furious Flower Poetry Center’s mission to ensure the visibility, inclusion, and critical consideration of Black poets in American letters. The winner also receives a $500 honorarium to give a reading at James Madison University. Poets who have published no more than one book are eligible. Major Jackson will judge. Using only the online submission system, submit up to three poems totaling no more than six pages with a $20 entry fee by February 15. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Two prizes of $3,000 each and publication by University of Nebraska Press are given annually for a poetry collection and a story collection. Submit a poetry manuscript of at least 50 pages or a fiction manuscript of at least 150 pages with a $25 entry fee by March 15. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
A prize of $1,000 and publication by Schaffner Press is given annually for a poetry collection, a novel, a story collection, an essay collection, or a memoir that “deals in some way with the subject of music (of any genre and period) and its influence.” Submit a poetry collection of at least 60 pages or a prose manuscript of 75,000 to 100,000 words with a $25 entry fee by January 31. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Two prizes of $1,000 each and publication in Hayden’s Ferry Review are given for a poem or a group of poems and a work of fiction. Sarah Ghazal Ali will judge in poetry and Gina Chung will judge in fiction. Using only the online submission system, submit one to three poems totaling no more than 10 pages or a short story or novel excerpt of up to 20 pages with a $15 or $23 entry fee, which includes a digital or print subscription to Hayden’s Ferry Review, respectively, by February 28. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
A prize of $1,000 and publication by Regal House Publishing is given annually for a poetry collection. The editors will judge. Submit a manuscript of 48 to 100 pages with a $25 entry fee by January 31. Visit the website for the required entry form and complete guidelines.
