Genre: Fiction

Granum Foundation Prizes

Granum Foundation
Entry Fee: 
$0
Deadline: 
August 1, 2025
A prize of $5,000 is given annually to a poet, fiction writer, or creative nonfiction writer to support the completion of a manuscript-in-progress. Up to three finalists are awarded at least $500 each. A Translation Prize of at least $1,500 is also given. Using only the online submission system, submit 12 poems or a prose sample of up to 25 pages by August 1. There is no entry fee. Visit the website for the required entry form and complete guidelines.

Book Awards

Washington Writers’ Publishing House
Entry Fee: 
$28
Deadline: 
July 15, 2025
Three prizes of $1,500 each, publication by Washington Writers’ Publishing House, and 25 author copies are given annually for a poetry collection, a short story collection or novel, and a poetry collection in translation. Writers who live in Washington, D.C., Maryland, or Virginia are eligible. Using only the online submission system, submit a manuscript of 70 to 100 pages of poetry or 150 to 250 pages of prose with a $28 entry fee by July 15. Following these guidelines, translators may submit a poetry manuscript in English along with the matching selection in the original language. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Radcliffe Institute Fellowships

Harvard University
Entry Fee: 
$0
Deadline: 
September 11, 2025
Fellowships of $78,000 each, as well as office space at the Radcliffe Institute and access to the libraries at Harvard University, are given annually to poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers to allow them to pursue innovative projects. Fellows, who are expected to reside in Cambridge, Massachusetts, or the surrounding Boston area during the fellowship period, September through May, also receive $5,000 to cover project expenses. Poets who have published a full-length collection or at least 20 poems in magazines or anthologies in the last five years and who are in the process of completing a manuscript are eligible. Fiction and nonfiction writers who have published one or more books, have a book-length manuscript under contract for publication, or have published at least three shorter works are eligible. Writers who are graduate students or enrolled in a degree-granting program at the time of application are not eligible. For 2026–2027 fellowships, submit up to 10 poems of any length or a short story, a recent book chapter, or an essay totaling no more than 30 pages; a curriculum vitae; a project proposal; and contact information for three references by September 11. There is no entry fee. Visit the website for the required entry form and complete guidelines.

Housatonic Book Awards

Western Connecticut State University
Entry Fee: 
$25
Deadline: 
July 18, 2025
Three prizes of $1,000 each are given annually for books of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction published in the previous year. The winners also receive $500 in travel expenses and a hotel stay to give a reading and teach a master class at Western Connecticut State University’s low-residency MFA program. Using only the online submission system, submit a PDF of a book published in 2024 with a $25 entry fee by July 18. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Isabel Allende: My Name Is Emilia del Valle

Caption: 

At this Dominican University of California event, Isabel Allende talks about her latest novel, My Name Is Emilia del Valle (Ballantine Books, 2025), the importance of women characters who don’t compromise, and the class structure of Chile which informed her writing in a conversation with Matthew Félix.

Genre: 

Keiichiro Hirano: The Question of Selfhood

Caption: 

At this Japanese Literature Night event hosted by the Japan Society, Keiichiro Hirano delivers his keynote speech titled “The Question of Selfhood” in which he shares how his upbringing in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka during the eighties and nineties inspired his interest in literature and how he attempts to tackle questions of the individual’s place in modernity through his novels.

Genre: 

Clam Down

6.11.25

Can a typo inspire a story? In the opening paragraph of Anelise Chen’s memoir, Clam Down: A Metamorphosis (One World, 2025), the narrator recalls a text message from her mother wherein the phrase “calm down” has been transformed, whether through a typo or autocorrect, into “clam down.” This cryptic mistake becomes the premise for a story of metamorphosis and connections, withdrawal and closing up, and family history, as Chen weaves in mollusk science and explores a long-ago period of her father’s retreat from the family. Spend some time observing words and language you see in your daily life from text messages, signage, advertisements, and labels. Select a phrase that has the potential to be interpreted in an open way and leads you into writing a new story, perhaps one that incorporates science, the natural world, and elements of the fantastic.

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