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“I still believe that we listen more closely to a whisper than to a shout.” In this PBS NewsHour interview with Jeffrey Brown, Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Rita Dove speaks about history, rage, the power of poetry, and her latest collection, Playlist for the Apocalypse (Norton, 2021).
Submissions are open for the National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowships. Given in alternating years to prose writers and poets, in 2022 the NEA is accepting applications in poetry. Grantees will receive $25,000 each to “enable the recipients to set aside time for writing, research, travel, and general career advancement.” Writers who are citizens or permanent residents of the U.S., and who have published a poetry collection of at least 48 pages, or 20 or more individual poems or pages of poetry over the last seven years are eligible to apply.
Using only the online submission system, submit a completed application, which includes a brief project description, seven to ten pages of poetry, and a list of publications, by March 10. There is no entry fee. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Through this fellowship program the NEA “seeks to sustain and nurture a diverse range of creative writers at various stages of their careers and to continue to expand the portfolio of American art.” Applicants can expect to receive a notification on the final status of their applications by December, at the earliest. Fellowship recipients will start to receive financial support for their literary projects between January 1, 2023, and January 1, 2024, and may have this support extended for up to two years. Recent creative writing fellows include prose writers Steve Almond, Marci Calabretta Cancio-Bello, Melissa Febos, Tope Folarin, Kelli Jo Ford, Shruti Swamy, and Laura van den Berg, and poets Threa Almontaser, Oliver Baez Bendorf, Kayleb Rae Candrilli, Leila Chatti, Oliver de la Paz, Diana Khoi Nguyen, and Valencia Robin. Through this fellowship program the NEA “seeks to sustain and nurture a diverse range of creative writers at various stages of their careers and to continue to expand the portfolio of American art.” Applicants can expect to receive a notification on the final status of their applications by December, at the earliest. Fellowship recipients will start to receive financial support for their literary projects between January 1, 2023, and January 1, 2024, and may have this support extended for up to two years. Recent creative writing fellows include prose writers Steve Almond, Marci Calabretta Cancio-Bello, Melissa Febos, Tope Folarin, Kelli Jo Ford, Shruti Swamy, and Laura van den Berg, and poets Threa Almontaser, Oliver Baez Bendorf, Kayleb Rae Candrilli, Leila Chatti, Oliver de la Paz, Diana Khoi Nguyen, and Valencia Robin.
“Quiet thinking is like a current in the sea and moves freely until it’s disturbed by its own voice, and then it becomes a music each individual sings when speaking. This is what we hear when we hear Ilya read,” says poet Fanny Howe introducing Ilya Kaminsky at this 2018 reading of his poetry collection Deaf Republic (Graywolf Press, 2019) at Harvard University’s Woodberry Poetry Room.
In this virtual discussion, poet, novelist, and playwright Fred D’Aguiar speaks with Daljit Nagra, chair of the Royal Society of Literature, about their shared experience of breaking ground in the poetry landscape and their favorite poets, as well as D’Aguiar’s book Year of Plagues: A Memoir of 2020 (Harper, 2021).
As many turn to gardening in warmer temperatures, so come the unwanted but sturdy weeds, popping up regardless of how often they’re removed. Louise Glück’s poem “Witchgrass” explores this perspective from an anthropomorphized incarnation of witchgrass, a common summer annual weed of field crops and small fruit. The result is a testament to the sheer force of nature, as well as a critique of humanity’s obsession with weeding out the seemingly unnecessary: “I don’t need your praise / to survive. I was here first, / before you were here, before / you ever planted a garden.” Write a poem from the perspective of a pesky, unwanted plant or animal. What strength can you find in the underdog?
“Then summer came and there was a lightning moment.” —Yanyi, author of Dream of the Divided Field
“This is not a work of history. It is a report full of holes,” reads the late C. D. Wright from her book One With Others: [a little book of her days] (Copper Canyon Press, 2010) in this 2015 recording of an event at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University.
With a new month on the horizon, we’re looking ahead to contests with deadlines of March 14 or March 15. These awards offer opportunities for poets, fiction writers, and nonfiction writers! The contests include awards that celebrate women writers over the age of 40 and Latinx poets; all offer cash prizes of $1,000 or more, with opportunities for a handful of lucky winners to receive $10,000.
Airlie Press Prize: A prize of $1,000 and publication by Airlie Press is given annually for a poetry collection. The editors will judge. Deadline: March 15. Entry fee: $25.
Bellingham Review Literary Awards: Three prizes of $1,000 each and publication in Bellingham Review are given annually for works of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. The 49th Parallel Award for Poetry is given for a poem or group of poems. The Tobias Wolff Award for Fiction is given for a short story or a flash fiction piece. The Annie Dillard Award for Creative Nonfiction is given for an essay or a flash nonfiction piece. All entries are considered for publication. Deadline: March 15. Entry fee: $20.
Colorado Review Nelligan Prize for Short Fiction: A prize of $2,500 and publication in Colorado Review is given annually for a short story. Ramona Ausubel will judge. All entries are considered for publication. Deadline: March 14. Entry fee: $15 ($17 for online submissions).
Fourth Genre Steinberg Memorial Essay Prize: A prize of $1,000 and publication in Fourth Genre is given annually for an essay. Mary Cappello will judge. All entries are considered for publication. Deadline: March 15. Entry fee: $20.
Hidden River Arts Eludia Award: A prize of $1,000 and publication by Sowilo Press is given annually for a first book of fiction by a woman writer over the age of 40. Deadline: March 15. Entry fee: $20.
James Jones Literary Society First Novel Fellowship: A prize of $10,000 is given annually for a novel-in-progress by a U.S. writer who has not published a novel. Runners-up will each receive $1,000. Deadline: March 15. Entry fee: $33.
National Poetry Series Open Competition: Five prizes of $10,000 each and publication by participating trade, university, or small press publishers are given annually for poetry collections. The 2022 publishers are Beacon Press, Ecco, Milkweed Editions, Penguin Books, and University of Georgia Press. Deadline: March 15. Entry fee: $35.
Prairie Schooner Raz-Shumaker Book Prizes: Two prizes of $3,000 each and publication by University of Nebraska Press are given annually for a poetry collection and a short story collection. Kwame Dawes will judge. Deadline: March 15. Entry fee: $25.
Robinson Jeffers Tor House Foundation Poetry Prize: A prize of $1,000 is given annually for a single poem. Forrest Gander will judge. Deadline: March 15. Entry fee: $10.
University of Notre Dame Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize: A prize of $1,000 and publication by University of Notre Dame Press is given biennially for a debut poetry collection by a Latinx poet residing in the United States. Alexandra Lytton Regalado and Sheila Maldonado will judge. Deadline: March 15. Entry fee: None.
Verse Tomaž Šalamun Prize: A prize of $1,000 and publication by Factory Hollow Press is given annually for a poetry chapbook. The winner will also receive a monthlong residency in summer 2023 in a private apartment at the Tomaž Šalamun Center for Poetry in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Prose poetry, hybrid works, and translations of works of poetry by living writers from any language into English are also eligible. Ilya Kaminsky will judge. Deadline: March 15. Entry fee: $17 ($13 for students).
The Word Works Washington Prize: A prize of $1,500 and publication by the Word Works is given annually to a U.S. or Canadian poet for a poetry collection. Deadline: March 15. Entry fee: $25.
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.
“My impression is that there is a much bigger audience for poetry than there was when I was young,” says the late poet John Ashbery in this 2011 interview with Belinda Luscombe for TIME Magazine on fame, poverty, art criticism, obscurity, and why he dislikes poetry readings.
In this Poets House video for their Hard Hat Reading series, Monica Youn reads from her collection Blackacre (Graywolf Press, 2016) and from A Woman’s Mourning Song (Writers & Readers, 1993) by the late bell hooks.
