Genre: Poetry

Sunburns and Shade

The Time Is Now
7.1.25

Summer is often a season of extremes with scorching pavement and icy drinks, painful sunburns and soothing shade, chaotic activities and calming stillness. Write a poem that explores the tension or intimacy between extremes. Consider a specific, concrete pairing, such as a cold popsicle melting down your wrist in 100-degree heat or the boisterous laughter at a backyard barbecue countered by the silence of an abandoned porch swing. Focus on how contrast sharpens a sensation and can uncover deeper emotional truths. Try to avoid naming the opposites directly, instead, evoke them through details like textures, temperature, tone, and movement. You might also experiment with form to reflect duality by including couplets or mirrored stanzas.

Magic Net

The Time Is Now
6.24.25

In the essay collection Exophony: Voyages Outside the Mother Tongue, translated from the Japanese by Lisa Hofmann-Kuroda and published by New Directions in June, Yoko Tawada explores various aspects of life, communication, and art through a lens of linguistic and cultural hybridity. In “Paris: This Language Which Is Not One,” Tawada writes about a poem by Paul Celan in which the German words for dwindling (Neige) and snow (Schnee) appear in adjacent lines, pointing out that Neige means snow in French. “To me, Celan’s poems have a multilingual structure akin to a magic net that even captures Japanese, a language he never knew,” Tawada notes. Write a poem in which you deploy a “magic net” that allows you the freedom to play with associative, expansive thinking, capturing any basic knowledge of words in other languages or dialects or registers. What unexpected connections can be made?

MacDowell

July/August 2025

MacDowell offers residencies of up to six weeks year-round to poets, fiction writers, creative nonfiction writers, and translators on 450 acres near Mt. Monadnock in Peterborough, New Hampshire. Residents are provided with a private studio and work space, as well as three daily chef-prepared meals and access to the James Baldwin Library. Stipends and travel reimbursement grants are available based on financial need.

Type: 
RESIDENCY
Ignore Event Date Field?: 
no
Event Date: 
March 1, 2026
Rolling Admissions: 
no
Application Deadline: 
September 10, 2025
Financial Aid?: 
yes
Financial Aid Application Deadline: 
September 10, 2025
Free Admission: 
yes
Contact Information: 

MacDowell, 100 High Street, Peterborough, NH 03458. (603) 924-3886, ext. 113. David Macy, Resident Director.

David Macy
Resident Director
Contact City: 
Peterborough
Contact State: 
NH
Contact Zip / Postal Code: 
03458
Country: 
US
Genre: 
Poetry
Fiction
Creative Nonfiction
Translation

Desert Nights, Rising Stars Writers Conference

July/August 2025

The Desert Nights, Rising Stars Writers Conference, sponsored by the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing at Arizona State University (ASU), will be held from October 9 to October 11 at the Memorial Union and Old Main buildings on the university’s campus in Tempe, Arizona. The theme for the 2025 conference is “Iconic Stories: Today and Tomorrow.” Programming includes craft talks, classes, generative workshops, panels, readings, and events focused on the business of writing for poets, fiction writers, creative nonfiction writers, and translators.

Type: 
CONFERENCE
Ignore Event Date Field?: 
no
Event Date: 
October 9, 2025
Rolling Admissions: 
no
Application Deadline: 
July 30, 2025
Financial Aid?: 
yes
Financial Aid Application Deadline: 
August 1, 2025
Free Admission: 
no
Contact Information: 

Desert Nights, Rising Stars Writers Conference, c/o Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing, P.O. Box 875002, Tempe, AZ 85827. (210) 294-3669. Sheila Black, Assistant Director.

Sheila Black
Assistant Director
Contact City: 
Tempe
Contact State: 
AZ
Contact Zip / Postal Code: 
85281
Country: 
US
Add Image: 
Genre: 
Poetry
Fiction
Creative Nonfiction
Translation

Frost Farm Poetry Conference

July/August 2025

The tenth annual Frost Farm Poetry Conference will be held from August 15 to August 17 at the Robert Frost Farm in Derry, New Hampshire. The conference features workshops, readings, and one-on-one consultations for poets. The faculty includes poets Meredith Bergmann, Elijah Perseus Blumov, Brian Brodeur, and Alfred Nicol. Poet and creative nonfiction writer Angela Alaimo O’Donnell will deliver the keynote address. The cost of the conference is $475, which includes tuition and meals. Lodging is available at area hotels and inns. Register by August 1.

Type: 
CONFERENCE
Ignore Event Date Field?: 
no
Event Date: 
August 15, 2025
Rolling Admissions: 
no
Application Deadline: 
August 1, 2025
Financial Aid?: 
no
Financial Aid Application Deadline: 
July 18, 2025
Free Admission: 
no
Contact Information: 

Frost Farm Poetry Conference, Trustees of the Robert Frost Farm/Hyla Brook Poets, 280 Candia Road, Chester, NH 03036. (603) 845-6931. Robert Crawford, Conference Director.

Robert Crawford
Conference Director
Contact City: 
Derry
Contact State: 
NH
Country: 
US
Genre: 
Poetry

Storyknife Writers Retreat

July/August 2025

Storyknife offers two- to four-week residencies from April through October to women poets, fiction writers, and nonfiction writers on ten acres of wilderness overlooking the Aleutian Range outside of Homer, Alaska. Each resident is provided with meals and a private cabin equipped with a bathroom and a living room that includes a desk and work space. Residents are responsible for their own travel expenses; travel cost stipends may be requested via the application form. To apply, submit up to 10 pages of poetry or prose with a $40 application fee by August 31.

Type: 
RESIDENCY
Ignore Event Date Field?: 
no
Event Date: 
April 1, 2026
Rolling Admissions: 
no
Application Deadline: 
August 31, 2025
Financial Aid?: 
yes
Financial Aid Application Deadline: 
August 31, 2025
Free Admission: 
yes
Contact Information: 

Storyknife Writers Retreat, P.O. Box 75, Homer, Alaska 99603. (907) 302-6032. Erin Coughlin Hollowell, Executive Director.

Erin Coughlin Hollowell
Executive Director
Contact City: 
Homer
Contact State: 
AK
Contact Zip / Postal Code: 
99603
Country: 
US
Add Image: 
Storyknife
Genre: 
Poetry
Fiction
Creative Nonfiction

Willapa Bay AiR

July/August 2025

Willapa Bay AiR offers monthlong residencies from April through October to poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers on 20 wooded acres near Oysterville, Washington. Residents are provided with a private cottage with living and work space, a bathroom, and all meals. The residency is free to attend. To apply, submit up to 10 pages of poetry or no more than 20 pages of prose with a $30 application fee by August 31. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Type: 
RESIDENCY
Ignore Event Date Field?: 
no
Event Date: 
April 1, 2026
Rolling Admissions: 
no
Application Deadline: 
August 31, 2025
Financial Aid?: 
no
Financial Aid Application Deadline: 
July 18, 2025
Free Admission: 
yes
Contact Information: 

Willapa Bay AiR, P.O. Box 209, 32101 Douglas Drive, Oysterville, WA 98641. (360) 665-6782.

Contact City: 
Oysterville
Contact State: 
WA
Contact Zip / Postal Code: 
98641
Country: 
US
Genre: 
Poetry
Fiction
Creative Nonfiction

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