Genre: Poetry

Poetry Award

42 Miles Press
Entry Fee: 
$25
Deadline: 
June 15, 2025
A prize of $1,000, publication by 42 Miles Press, and 50 author copies is given annually for a poetry collection. The winner is also invited to give a reading at Indiana University in South Bend in fall 2027. David Dodd Lee will judge. Current or former students at Indiana University in South Bend are ineligible. Using only the online submission system, submit a manuscript of 48 to 120 pages with a $25 entry fee by June 15. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

May Sarton New Hampshire Poetry Prize

Bauhan Publishing
Entry Fee: 
$30
Deadline: 
June 30, 2025
A prize of $1,000, publication by Bauhan Publishing, and 50 author copies is given annually for a poetry collection. Anthony Walton will judge. Using only the online submission system, submit a manuscript of 50 to 80 pages with a $30 entry fee by June 30. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Canadian First Book Prize 

Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry
Entry Fee: 
$0
Deadline: 
June 20, 2025
A prize of $10,000 Canadian (approximately $6,960) is awarded for a debut poetry collection by a living Canadian poet or permanent resident. The winner is also offered a six-week fellowship with the Civitella Ranieri Foundation in Perugia, Italy. Publishers may submit four copies of a book of at least 48 pages in length published between January 1 and June 30 by June 20. The deadline for submitting books published during the second half of the year is December 19. There is no entry fee. Visit the website for the required entry form and complete guidelines.

Signs of Spring

4.15.25

What signals to you that spring has finally arrived? While there are signs of transformation throughout the year, the signs of spring often feel particularly special following on the heels of winter as many look forward to the tiniest indications of vernal revitalization. Buzzing bees, daffodils and tulips, pollen that makes you sneeze, the end of clanging heater pipes, wearing shorts, outdoor picnics, and opening windows—there are many associations with the freshness of the season. This week write a series of short poems that focus on the small, perhaps idiosyncratic changes that signify to you, personally, that a new season is upon us.

Zell Visiting Writers Series: Jane Wong

Caption: 

In this event hosted by the Helen Zell Writers’ Program at the University of Michigan, Jane Wong reads “To Love a Mosquito,” a chapter from her memoir, Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City (Tin House, 2023), and pieces of her mother’s diary, followed by a discussion about her approaches to poetry versus creative nonfiction.

Dear Poet 2025: Meg Day

Caption: 

“I knew I was a god / when you could not / agree on my name // & still, none you spoke / could force me to listen / closer.” In this video, Meg Day reads “Portrait of My Gender as [Inaudible]” as part of Dear Poet, the Academy of American Poets’ educational project for National Poetry Month.

Genre: 

Boardwalks in Winter

In Sean Baker’s film Anora, which won best picture at this year’s Academy Awards, the title character spends the majority of her time zigzagging around New York City with various characters and in one particularly indelible shot, she strides past the iconic Cyclone roller coaster at a deserted Coney Island boardwalk on a gray winter afternoon. This week write a poem that revolves around an iconic location with a depiction that is unconventional or atypical in juxtaposition. You might consider how this locale is usually thought of in the popular imagination, how it was designed to function, or how it looks in different seasons. Play around with diction and rhythm to amp up a sense of tension and upend conventional expectations of your subject.

Palestinian Writing From the Diaspora: Susan Muaddi Darraj

Caption: 

In this episode of the Ehkili podcast, Sahar Mustafah talks to author and editor Susan Muaddi Darraj to discuss her anthology, Ask the Night for a Dream: Palestinian Writing From the Diaspora (Palestine Writes Press, 2024), and the significance of amplifying Palestinian literary voices.

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