Audrey Petty Named a Chicagoan of the Year by Chicago Trib

Professor Audrey Petty was named one of the Chicago Tribune's "Chicagoans of the Year" for 2013. Professor Petty's recent critically acclaimed book, High Rise Stories, chronicles the stories of former residents of Chicago's public housing.

calls for submissions 12/13

2013-2014 Vine Leaves Vignette Collection Award
Submissions open: June 1, 2013 - February 1, 2014

The Vine Leaves Vignette Collection Award includes a cash prize of $500, publication by Vine Leaves Press (paperback and eBook), 20 copies of the paperback, worldwide distribution, and promotion through Vine Leaves Literary Journal and staff websites. Author will receive a 50% royalty on all eBook and print sales.

Manuscripts are judged by Vine Leaves Literary Journal staff, and guest judge, Dan Holloway. This competition is open to vignettes in English (poetry and/or prose), written by authors anywhere in the world. Individual pieces in a manuscript may have been previously published in magazines, print or web journals, or anthologies, but the work as a whole must be unpublished (this includes previously self-published books.)

For submission guidelines, please go to: http://www.vineleavesliteraryjournal.com/contests.html

Mississippi Review Prize--Deadline Extended to January 1st, 2014. The winners and finalists will be announced in March 2014 and the issue is set to be published in June 2014. The contest awards prizes of $1,000 in fiction and poetry. Winners and finalists will make up next winter's print issue of the national literary magazine Mississippi Review. Contest is open to all writers in English except current or former students or employees of The University of Southern Mississippi.

Fiction entries should be 1,000-8,000 words and poetry entries should be 3-5 poems totaling 10 pages or less. There is no limit on the number of entries you may submit.

Paper entry fee is $15 per entry, payable by check or money order to "Mississippi Review". Online submission entry fee is $16, payable through SUBMITTABLE.

Entries should have "MR Prize," author name, address, phone, e-mail and title of work on page one.

Send paper entries to:

Mississippi Review Prize 2014
118 College Drive #5144
Hattiesburg, Mississippi 39406-0001

OR: Enter online at SUBMITTABLE

 

 

 

The Fat City Review "exhibits work from the established to the emerging and unrecognized. We recoil from imposing limits or censorship on our content, feeling that it is insincere to classify the breadth of the human experience under narrowly defined parameters. Following this philosophy, we welcome diverse styles, visions, and forms, using excellence as our sole guideline. Welcome to our city." Submissions of text, art, audio, and video art accepted. For complete guidelines, visit http://fatcityreview.com/submit 

 

 

Commons Magazine is now accepting submissions to their poetry column, UNCOMMON/WORD, through December 31 at 11:59 p.m. PST. Commons Magazine reviews work twice yearly, often on a theme or specific subject. The current theme is “water." You can also learn more about On the Commons, and the commons movement, here. Six poets will be selected and featured in the magazine during each submission round. See full submission guidelines, and please note there is a limit of THREE (3) poems per person, per submission round. Email work to poetrysubmissions@onthecommons.org

The 2014 Bristol Short Story Prize is open to all published and unpublished writers, UK and non-UK based, over 16 years of age. Stories can be on any theme or subject and
entry can be made online via the website or by post. Entries must be previously unpublished
with a maximum length of 4,000 words (There is no minimum). The entry fee is £8 (about $13 USD) per story. The closing date for entries is April 30th 2014.

Prizes:
1st £1000 (about $1,600 USD) plus £150 Waterstone's gift card
2nd £700 (about $1,100 USD) plus £100 Waterstone's gift card
3rd £400 (about $640 USD) plus £100 Waterstone's gift card
17 further prizes of £100 (about $160 USD) will be presented to the writers whose stories appear on the shortlist. All 20 shortlisted writers will have their stories published in the Bristol Short
Story Prize Anthology Volume 7.

Full details and rules at www.bristolprize.co.uk

Seeking PROSE ON POETRY for possible inclusion in POETRY CITY, USA, vol. 4, an anthology of poems read at the Great Twin Cities Poetry Read (GTCPR) plus various prose on poetry. Doesn't matter what form the prose takes (review, interview, essay, missive, etc.). No length requirements. The GTCPR is an annual reading, held in April, at which 30 or so poets all read a single poem each. A year after the reading, the anthology comes out. That means that the GTCPR held on April 26, 2014, with be the fifth anniversary reading. That night will also be the night POETRY CITY, USA, VOL. 4 launches. Deadline for submission is Friday, Jan. 3, 2014. Send pieces to mauchmauch [at] gmail [dot] com.

 

Postcard Poems and Prose Magazine is expanding their publication schedule.  On January 1, 2014 they'll begin publishing a new feature every other day. With that in mind they are once again calling for submissions of poetry and flash. Guidelines may be found here.

 

 

Main Street Rag's Poetry Book Award Prize: $1,200.00. Entry fee: $25.00. Deadline: 01-31-2014. Send between 48 and 84 pages of poetry, no more than one poem per page. No restriction on content style or subject. Winner receives 50 books and $1200. Runners up also considered for publication. The Main Street Rag Poetry Award is an annual full-length poetry book contest sponsored by Main Street Rag. Detailed entry guidelines at: http://www.mainstreetrag.com/PoBkCont.html

Michael Madonick's new poetry collection now available

CW Professor Michael Madonick's latest poetry collection, Bulrushes, has just been published by The Backwaters Press. About Bulrushes, William Wenthe writes, "Through extraordinary range and mastery of diction and music, Madonick pits the confusions and destructions of the present, both natural and human, against the consolation and tested experience of lyric."

LeAnne Howe Interview at Superstition Review

A terrific interview with CW Professor LeAnne Howe is featured in the latest issue of the Superstition Review, the online literary journal published at Arizona State University.

VOICE Reading Series, Thursday 12/5

Come hear UIUC creative writing grad students Khaleel Gheba, Roya Khatiblou, and Lucilena Williams read poetry and fiction at the Krannert Art Museum on Thursday, December 5, at 7:30 p.m.

Max Somers Featured on Verse Daily

Illinois alum Max Somers is the featured poet today at Verse Daily! His poem "Nocturne," featured at the site, was originally published in Third Coast.

Calls for submissions and opportunities for writers, 11/15

  NO INFINITE is a new journal of poetry, art, and protest published at UMass Boston. Submission deadline is November 24--submissions may be sent to noinfinitejournal@gmail.com




















The deadline for the Walt Whitman first book award has been extended to December 1, 2013. The Walt Whitman award is an annual prize given to a U.S. poet who has not yet published a collection of poetry. The award includes publication, a $5000 honorarium, and a one-month residency at the Vermont Studio Center. This year's judge is Rae Armentrout. For complete guidelines and submission information, visit http://www.poets.org/



HOLD, a new literary journal published out of Oakland, California, is now accepting submissions for the first issue. The theme for this first issue is MAGIC. MAGIC? The strange, the everyday, the deep sea, outer space, witches, spells, the moon, sunsets, the unknown, science, mysteries, getting out of bed in the morning. Accepted forms are oems, stories, essays, interviews, visual art, telegrams, candygrams, photographs, sculptures, anything that speaks to the magical.

Send all submissions as attachment (.doc, .docx, .pdf, and .rtf [.jpg for visual art, please]) with a cover letter to holdajournal@gmail.com. In the subject line include the category that best describes your submission and title of your piece (eg. FICTION: the hour of the star). There are no word limits per se, but really, most work should be under 4,000 words. You can send us up to five poems. Make sure all of the poems are in one document and make sure that document is under ten pages. Visit holdajournal.com


Wordrunner eChapbooks publishes four online collections annually of fiction, poetry, or memoir, each featuring one author, and the occasional anthology. Submissions are open for the December 2013 memoir/personal narrative e-chapbook from October 1 through November 30, 2013.

At least 1/4 of the collection should be previously unpublished. No fee to submit. Payment: $65.

Detailed guidelines are posted at www.echapbook.com/submissions.htm


Memorious: A Journal of New Verse & Fiction (www.memorious.org) seeks a fiction editor to join the staff of our literary magazine as we enter our second decade of publishing poetry and fiction online. Please visit our blog for details about the position and application instructions (please note that this is a volunteer position): http://memoriousmag.wordpress.com/2013/10/30/fiction-editor-wanted/




The Press 53 Award for Short Fiction will be awarded to an outstanding, unpublished collection of short stories. This contest is open to any writer, regardless of his or her publication history, provided the manuscript is written in English and the author lives in the United States. The Press 53 Award for Short Fiction includes publication by Press 53 of the winning short story collection; $1000 cash advance; travel expenses to Press 53 headquarters for a reading/book launch party at the Community Arts Café in downtown Winston-Salem, NC, on Friday, October 17, 2014; and attendance as our special guest to the Press 53/Prime Number Magazine Gathering of Writers on Saturday, October 18, 2014.

Submission period: September 1 – December 31, 2013. Reading Fee: $30. For complete details, visit: http://www.press53.com/Press_53_Award_for_Short_Fiction.html


Poets are invited register for the 2014 Austin International Poetry Festival and to submit up to 3 poems (no longer than 32 lines) for 's 2014 Anthology competition.  Each year, AIPF produces a stunning anthology that publishes some of the finest poems and poets in the Country and beyond.   For further information about registration and submission details for the anthology competition please visit www.aipf.org. The 2014 festival will be held April 3-6.

Calls for submissions 11/8

Cooper Dillon Books, a poetry press run by U of I alum Adam Deutsch, is accepting submissions of full-length and chapbook poetry manuscripts. For complete guidelines and to submit, visit cooperdillon.com/submissions.html


The deadline for the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival's 6th Annual Fiction Contest is November 15. The winner will receive a $1500 honorarium, publication in Louisiana Literature, and an invitation to read at the New Orleans Literary Festival, airfare and accommodations included. To submit, visit http://con13.tennesseewilliams.net/fiction-contest/


The ninth annual Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize is now open for submissions. The deadline is December 1st. The prize is given annually for a poetry collection by an author who has published no more than one previous collection, and rewards the winner with a purse of $3,000, publication on both sides of the Atlantic, and a reading with the judge at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington D.C. More information and submissions guidelines are available at
http://waywiser-press.com/news.html#hechtprize9


The deadline for the Crab Orchard Review's Special Issue Feature Awards is November 15th. One winner will be chosen in each category: Fiction, Poetry, and Literary Nonfiction. The special issue's theme is "The West Coast and Beyond." More information is available at https://craborchardreview.

submittable.com/submit

The Popcorn Farm, a new journal dedicated to film-inspired poetry, short stories, and essays, is now accepting submissions. Complete guidelines are available at
http://popcornlitkernels.wordpress.com/submission-guidelines/


Compose: A Journal of Simply Good Writing is now accepting fiction, poetry, nonfiction and artwork for their Spring 2014 issue. Submission guidelines: http://composejournal.com/submissions/



The Vermillion Literary Project (VLP) at the University of South Dakota is
currently seeking submissions of poetry, short fiction, and creative nonfiction
for its April 2014 issue of the VLP magazine, the University's only
student-produced literary journal. The deadline is December 15. For submission guidelines, visit
 http://sites.usd.edu/projlit/vlp-magazine/submit-your-work

calls for submissions 11/1

Bird's Thumb, a new online literary journal devoted to publishing new and emerging writers, is accepting submissions of poetry, short stories, and essays. For complete guidelines, visit birdsthumb.org


Waxing Press is accepting submissions of full-length fiction manuscripts for the inaugural Tide Lock Prize. The submissions may be in the form of a novel, a novella, or a collection of short stories. Deadline is February 1, 2014. For complete guidelines, visit waxingpress.com.


Dzanc Books is currently accepting entries to its sixth annual Short Story Collection competition. The winning manuscript will be published in late 2016, and the author will receive a $1000 advance. Deadline is January 31. Entries are also still being accepted for the  Dzanc Nonfiction Competition. For complete guidelines and to submit to either contest, visit www.dzancbooks.org/submissions/.


Faultline: Journal of Arts and Letters is currently seeking submissions for its Spring 2014 issue. Complete submission guidelines can be found at faultline.sites.uci.edu/submit/


Bluestem, Eastern Illinois University's literary journal, is seeking fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. For guidelines and to submit, visit www.bluestemmagazine.com


The 2014 Colorado Prize for Poetry is accepting submissions of full-length poetry manuscripts. The winner will receive a $2000 honorarium and publication by the Center for Literary Publishing at Colorado State University. Deadline is January 14, 2014. For complete guidelines, visit coloradoreview.colostate.edu/colorado-prize-for-poetry/

Calls for submissions, 10/25

Soundings Review is the literary journal of the MFA program at the Northwest Institute of Literary Arts on Whidbey Island, Washington.  The magazine welcomes submissions of high quality writing in any area (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, children's/young adult). "We are open to different styles and voices, but are passionate about accessibility and depth. We seek articles that create a connection with a reader on the first reading and spur increase understanding and pleasure after further readings. (Our only taboo: hate literature, which includes pornography, gratuitous violence, and all the "isms" that stereotype or disrespect others)." 

The next submission deadline is January 1. Soundings Review is published twice a year. See submission guidelines at http://www.nila.edu/soundings/



Summer Literary Seminars announces their 2014 Literary Contest, held this year in affiliation with Fence Magazine, with prizes sponsored by the Center for Fiction, St. Petersburg Review, and Graywolf Press. Judging the contest are award-winning writers Aimee Bender (fiction), Dorothea Lasky (poetry), and Phillip Lopate (nonfiction). The Arkadii Dragomoshchenko Prize for Innovative Poetry will be judged by Eugene Ostashevsky, and the Sutzkever Prize by André Aciman.

Full contest guidelines can be found here.



The Southern Review invites you to send your fiction, nonfiction, and poetry manuscripts for consideration. Prose manuscripts accepted until December 1; poetry accepted until February 1. Visit the submissions page for details.



A River & Sound Review, in association with the Rainier Writing Workshop low-residency MFA Program, is accepting submissions for its poetry and fiction contests. General submissions are also open.

For the contests, submit 3 poems or 1 story/essay (no length limit on either genre) for a chance at $500 plus publication. Entry fee is $15. All contest entries will be read anonymously and considered for publication. For more details visit https://riverandsoundreview.submittable.com/submit


James Hearst Poetry Prize, sponsored by the North American Review, is accepting submissions until October 31.

First Prize: $1,000. You may submit up to five previously unpublished poems. All contact information should be entered in your cover letter. No names or addresses should appear on manuscripts. please. Your poems will be assigned log numbers so they can be "read blind." Simultaneous submission to other journals or competitions is not allowed. Payment will be required as part of the sign up procedure which will provide you with a one-year subscription of North American Review.

Rosalie Morales Kearns Founds Shade Mountain Press for Women Authors

MFA alumna Rosalie Morales Kearns has founded a new literary press for women authors, Shade Mountain Press. The press has two titles forthcoming in 2014: Egg Heaven, a story collection by Robin Parks; and Her Own Vietnam, a novel by Lynn Kanter. To support Shade Mountain Press, visit the Shade Mountain Press Indiegogo page.

Lillian-Yvonne Bertram Featured in New American Poets series

Illinois alumna Lillian-Yvonne Bertram was selected by Aracelis Girmay for the Poetry Society of America's New American Poets feature. Of Lillian's debut collection But a Storm Is Blowing from Paradise, Girmay writes, "The poems move us through and over the terrain of a wild and changing geographic and linguistic landscape." A well deserved recognition--congrats, Lillian!

Calls for Submissions 10/18

Perugia Press is now accepting submissions for the Perugia Press Prize for a First or Second Book by a Woman. The prize includes a $1000 honorarium and publication. Entry must be received by November 15, 2013. Contest guidelines may be found at http://www.perugiapress.com/contest.html and manuscripts may be submitted at:

http://www.perugiapress.com/submission_manager/index.php

3Elements Review, an online journal with e-book versions forthcoming, is accepting submissions submissions for their second issue, due December 1.

For each issue, they require that all three of the current elements be in the piece of writing. The current elements are helix, cower, and hammock. View submission guidelines here: http://3elementsreview.com/submission-guidelines.html.



The upcoming double-issue of Sonora Review will feature explorations of the Mind & Body. They invite submissions of " work that connects, separates, interrogates, unpacks, packs up, misinterprets and examines in every which way the body, the mind and their intersections." Read through the guidelines and visit the submissions page  for more info.



Minerva Rising is sponsoring its first chapbook contest. Two winning chapbooks, one in prose and one in poetry, will be selected. The press is looking for "submissions that speak creatively, powerfully, thoughtfully and maybe even uniquely to our theme 'Daring to be the Woman I Am.'" Prose submissions may be a collection of short stories or a long short story (up to 45 pages). Poetry submissions should be a collection of poems, 12 - 15 pages.

Submissions will be accepted from October 1, 2013 through December 1, 2013. Publication is planned for March 2014 to coincide with Women's History Month.

Submission fee: $20

Prize: $250 each and 10 copies of the book.

The Judge: Rosemary Daniell, author of Secrets Of The Zona Rosa: How Writing (and Sisterhood) Can Change Women Lives

For more information: www.minervarising.com

Calls for submissions 10/11

The Lascaux Review announces the inaugural Lascaux Prize in Short Fiction and invites writers to submit their best stories. Stories may be unpublished or previously published. Winner will receive $500 and publication in The Lascaux Review; entry fee is $5 per submission. For more information, visit www.LascauxReview.com/contest.

Call for Papers: Modern Language Studies Special Issue: Teaching Creative Writing, edited by Lewis Land, Bucknell University. Deadline, March 31, 2014. For a special issue on creative writing pedagogy, Modern Language Studies invites essays that attempt to address the nuts and bolts of teaching creative writing in inventive, contemporary, and stimulating ways. Papers should seek not merely to identify flaws within current methods of instruction in creative writing, but instead address how to correct those flaws and/or to consider in their stead effective and rewarding teaching methods for both students and instructors. Download the complete CFP with contact information here.

The first annual Better Prizes in fiction and poetry, awarding $1,000 and publication to one story and one poem are now open for submissions. Deadline is January 7. This year's fiction judge will be Robert Lopez, author of Kamby Bolongo Mean River, Part of the World, and Asunder. The poetry prize will be judged by Srikanth Reddy, author of Voyager and Facts for Visitors.

The Ladies' Home Journal's annual personal essay contest is open for submissions. This year's theme is "The Best Decision I Ever Made." Deadline is December 6. The contest winner will receive $3,000 and the chance to have his/her essay published in Ladies' Home Journal. Essays not chosen as winner may also be considered for publication.

The Poet's Billow has extended the deadline for the Atlantis Award from October 1st to November 1st. The winner of The Atlantis Award, given for a best poem, receives $100, publication, and the opportunity to be interviewed on The Poet's Billow web site. The winning poem will also be nominated for any other award for which it qualifies, including a Pushcart Prize.


The Quaker, a national literary magazine dedicated to the work of outstanding undergraduate creative writing, is accepting submissions from undergraduate student writers.

VOICE reading this Thursday 10/10

This semester's first VOICE reading is happening on Thursday 10/10--if you're in C-U, mark your calendars!

Who: Natalie Mesnard, Rachel Samanie, Sean MacIntyre

 

Where: Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Main Library Floor 3 1408 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana 

 

When: Thursday, 10/10, @ 8 P.M.

 

VOICE is the graduate student reading series hosted by the MFA in Creative Writing Program at UIUC

American Indian Studies and Creative Writing Fall Reading, Wednesday, Oct 9

Wednesday, Oct 9
4:30 pm
Illini Union Bookstore, Author's Corner

Come see Professors LeAnne Howe, Joy Harjo, and Brenda Farnell read from their latest works!

Professor Howe's most recent book, Choctalking on Other Realities, is out this month from Aunt Lute Books.

Professor Harjo's most recent book, Crazy Brave: A Memoir, appeared in 2012 from W.W. Norton and was awarded the 2013 PEN Center USA Award in Creative Nonfiction and also just received the 2013 American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation.

 Professor Farnell is the author of Do You See What I Mean?: Plains Indian Sign Talk and the Embodiment of Action  and Dynamic Embodiment for Social Theory.

Stephanie Hemphill's Latest Book Now Available

CW Alumna Stephanie Hemphill's most recent book, the verse novel Hideous Love: The Story of the Girl Who Wrote Frankenstein, has just been published by Balzer + Bray Press. Publisher's Weekly calls Hideous Love "a gripping story," and Kirkus Reviews says it's a "gripping portrait of the artist as a young woman."

Calls for Submissions

It's Friday, so here's a big round-up of calls for submissions we've received this week--students, faculty, alumni looking for places to send your work, check these out!


Fugue Literary Journal, a magazine run by English and Creative Writing graduate students at the University of Idaho, Moscow, is currently open for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry submissions.

Fugue has just celebrated their 25th anniversary last year, and continues to publish quality writing from new and established writers. For full submission guidelines and to browse last year's magazine, please visit their website at http://fuguejournal.org/.


Gambling the Aisle announces their first chapbook contest, open to both fiction and poetry submissions. Prize: Publication, 25 copies (sent upon publication). Five runners-up will receive recognition in the winter edition of Gambling the Aisle, a free copy of both the Winter 2013 issue and the winning chapbook.

For full contest details and to submit, visit https://gamblingtheaisle.submittable.com/submit


Poor Yorick: A Journal of Rediscovered Objects is now accepting submissions for its online launch scheduled for the fall of 2014. They welcome entries "in any and every literary genre, and from any visual or audio medium, including, but not limited to, poems, stories, essays, profiles, digital video shorts, photoessays, scholarly articles, songs, short plays, and innovative writing and productions about lost objects and images of material culture: sculptures and paintings in the back rooms of museums or in hidden corners of public spaces; murals forgotten in plain view; lost photographic archives and restored films; newly discovered letters or manuscripts; knickknacks in attics; oddities and curiosities in misbegotten sideshows; forgotten stories that remind us of pasts that we cannot afford to forget." Please see www.pooryorickjournal.com for more information and submission guidelines.


White Stag is a biannual journal publishing poetry and flash fiction from well-known and new writers. "We offer the literary community a uniquely distinct taste for dark comedy, phantasmagoric imagery, complete dishonesty, and love poems to die for (and yes, pun is intended and strongly encouraged). White Stag strives to publish only the deepest emotion, the rawest of images, and the most unique language and syntax." Please go to: http://whitestagjournal.com/submit.html for submission prompt and guidelines.



Water~Stone Review announces the 2014 Judith Kitchen Prize in Creative Nonfiction. The winner will receive $1000 and publication in Water~Stone Review. All submissions should be original, unpublished work. Submissions accepted October 1-December 1, 2013.

Literary nonfiction submissions only. An entry fee of $20 (check made payable to Water~Stone Review) must accompany your manuscript. Entry fee includes a one-year subscription.

Submit online at www.waterstonereview.com


New Delta Review is seeking to increase the presence of the nonfiction genre in its literary magazine. They are interested in personal essays that either elevate the form or challenge it through experimentation. They accept both online and print submissions (6,000 word limit). To be considered for the Winter 2013 edition, please send work by October 22, 2013. For more information: http://ndrmag.org/submissions/

New Delta Review is also opening submissions for their annual chapbook competition, judged this year by acclaimed poet and novelist Mark Yakich. NDR is looking for brilliant, inventive, mind-bending manuscripts of unpublished poetry, fiction, or hybrid work. The winner will receive a $100 prize and 20 complimentary copies of the chapbook, to be published in the spring of 2014.
Deadline for entry is December 2, 2013. All submissions require a $15 entry fee and must be sent through submittable: https://newdeltareview.submittable.com/submit/8669. Manuscripts should be 20-40 pages in length.



ROAR Magazine, a print literary journal dedicated to providing a space to showcase women's fiction, creative nonfiction and poetry, is now accepting submissions for their 2014 Spring issue. For detailed guidelines, please visit our website at www.roarmagazine.org

Ryo Yamaguchi Named Finalist for Noemi Poetry Prize

CW alumnus Ryo Yamaguchi was named a finalist for the 2013 Noemi Press Book Award for Poetry for his collection titled The Refusal of Suitors, which the press will also be publishing. Congratulations to Ryo!

High Rise Stories Reviewed in Chicago Trib & WSJ

Prof. Audrey Petty's newly released High Rise Stories: Voices from Chicago's Public Housing is receiving strong reviews nationwide--recent reviews have appeared in the Chicago Tribune and the Wall Street Journal. The Trib calls High Rise Stories "powerful" and an "invaluable book."

Calls for Submissions & Other Opportunities, 9/23

Here are a few recent calls for submissions and other opportunities for writers & students:

Twelve Winters Press Anthology
Twelve Winters Press is accepting submissions for an anthology of poetry, prose poetry, and flash fiction (1,000 words maximum) inspired by the theme of "extinguished and extinct."  Certainly contributors will want to think in terms of animals that have become or are fast becoming extinct, but also plants, insects, even bacteria and viruses.

Feel free to think of extinguished and extinct in more abstract terms as well: disappeared ecosystems; eras; political, social, cultural, and artistic movements.  As long as you're thinking extinguished and/or extinct, we want to take a look at it.

Contributors may submit up to five total pieces (poem, prose poem, and/or flash fiction).

Contributors will be paid in two copies of the anthology, which is planned for a 2014 release. We look forward to reading your work. (twelvewinters.submittable.com/submit)


Philip Levine Prize in Poetry: Deadline 9/30
The submission deadline for the 2013 Philip Levine Prize in Poetry is Sept. 30.  This year's contest will be judged by Philip Levine, former U.S. Poet Laureate and recent winner of the prestigious Wallace Stevens Award for Outstanding and Proven Mastery in the Art of Poetry.  New this year: easy online payments! Just follow the links  for the full guidelines or to access the online payment area, or see flier below:
Guidelines:
http://www.fresnostate.edu/artshum/english/graduate/mfa/guidelines.html
Online Payment Option:
https://commerce.cashnet.com/cashnetc/selfserve/EditItem.aspx?PC=EM_LEVINE-P&ItemCount=1
The winning manuscript will receive publication and a $2,000 prize.


NEA Lit Dept Internships
Black Lawrence Press's Fall 2013 Black River Chapbook Competition is currently open and accepting submissions of poetry and short fiction through October 31. For full guidelines and to submit, visit the website 

U of I News Bureau Features Pyg Lit

The University of Illinois News Bureau published a feature today in their campus news showcasing our upcoming Pygmalion Literary Festival. The festival, co-sponsored by Ninth Letter and the Carr Reading Series, is scheduled for September 27-28 in various venues in Urbana and Champaign. The complete article can be read here.

Professor Joy Harjo Performs at KCPA, 9/21/13

Global Transfer Afterglow:
Joy Harjo and the Arrow Dynamics Band

Saturday, September 21, 2013, at about 9:30pm

Stage 5

Krannert Center for the Performing Arts
500 South Goodwin Ave, Urbana, IL 61801

 Admission Free

 Joy Harjo and the Arrow Dynamics Band

Best known for her stark, powerful poems, Joy Harjo (Mvskoke/Creek Nation) has won the William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers Circle of the Americas. Her memoir, Crazy Brave, won the 2013 PEN Center USA Literary Award for Creative Nonfiction. With her band, she plays a raucous sax, sings and speaks her poetry, and unites Native American music with jazz and rock. The Arrow Dynamics Band features Joy Harjo (saxophone, vocals), Larry Mitchell (guitar), Howard Cloud (bass), and Tony James (drums).

Faculty/Staff News

Associate Director Steve Davenport's essay "No Apology for Happiness," originally published in the Northwest Review, is featured this week on the Breast Cancer Consortium website.

Professor Audrey Petty is on tour this fall for her new book, High Rise Stories: Voices from Chicago Public Housing (McSweeney's Voices of Witness Series). Appearance dates and info about the book can be found at the McSweeney's website.

Professor LeAnne Howe's latest book, Choctalking on Other Realities, will be published in October. Professor Howe will join Professor Joy Harjo at the Illini Union Bookstore on October 9 for a reading from their latest works.

Calls for Submissions

It's the beginning of submission season! Fiction writers, poets, and creative nonfiction writers--if you are looking for places to send your work, here are some opportunities.

The Missouri Review Editors' Prize Competition accepting submissions until October 1 in fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction. Winner receives $5000 prize and publication. Contest fee also gets you a one-year subscription to the Missouri Review, a long-respected literary journal published at my alma mater.

Thin Air Magazine, published at the University of Northern Arizona, is accepting submissions for its 20th issue until December 1.

For poets with a full-length manuscript, The OSU Press/The Journal Wheeler Prize for Poetry is now accepting submissions. The selected winner will receive a $2500 honorarium and publication by OSU Press. All entrants will receive a subscription to The Journal with their entry fee.

The Guild Literary Complex is currently accepting submissions for its 2013 Prose Awards. This is an annual competition for short fiction and short nonfiction, with a cash prize of $250 in each category. The competition is open to Illinois residents 18 years old and older, and the deadline to submit is Tuesday, October 1, 2013.

The Southern Review is now open for submissions and is offering a 25% discount on subscriptions to members of MFA programs with offer code MFA25.

Welcome to the U. of Illinois Creative Writing Blog

Welcome, readers! As the new Director of Creative Writing here at UIUC, and inspired by the most excellent English Department Blog, I decided that our program needs a more dynamic digital space to post alumni news, program announcements, events, and all other items creative-writing-related. I hope you'll stay tuned!