Ten Questions for Oyinkan Braithwaite
“I have learned that it isn’t wise to wait for inspiration; inspiration will meet me at my desk.” —Oyinkan Braithwaite
Genre: Fiction
Upcoming Prose Contest Deadlines
Planning to get some writing done over the break? There are a number of contests for fiction and nonfiction writers with upcoming deadlines.
Narrative Fall Story Contest: A prize of $2,500 and publication in Narrative is given annually for a short story, a short short story, an essay, or an excerpt from a longer work of prose. A second-place prize of $1,000 and publication in Narrative is also awarded. The editors will judge. Entry fee: $26. Deadline: November 30.
Fish Short Story Prize: A prize of €3,000 (approximately $3,400) and publication in the annual Fish Publishing anthology is given annually for a short story. The winner will also be invited to attend a five-day short story workshop at the West Cork Literary Festival in July 2019. Mia Gallagher will judge. Entry fee: $24. Deadline: November 30.
Dappled Things J. F. Powers Prize for Short Fiction: A prize of $500 and publication in Dappled Things will be given annually for a short story. The editors will judge. Entry fee: None. Deadline: November 30.
Quarter After Eight Robert J. DeMott Short Prose Contest: A prize of $1,008.15 and publication in Quarter After Eight is given annually for a prose poem, a short short story, or a micro-essay. Entry fee: $15. Deadline: November 30.
American Library Association W. Y. Boyd Literary Award: A prize of $5,000 is given annually for a novel published in the previous year that is set in a period when the United States was at war. Entry fee: none. Deadline: December 1.
David J. Langum Sr. Prize in American Historical Fiction: A prize of $1,000 is given annually for a book of historical fiction published during the previous year. Entry fee: none. Deadline: December 1.
Stanford University Wallace Stegner Fellowships: Ten two-year fellowships, five in poetry and five in fiction, are given annually to allow emerging writers to develop their craft in workshops with senior faculty members at Stanford University. Entry fee: $85. Deadline: December 1.
Visit the contest websites for complete submission details, including eligibility guidelines and poem length requirements. For a look at more writing contests with upcoming deadlines, visit our Grants & Awards database and submission calendar.
Barbara Kingsolver on Literature
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“I didn’t know real people could be writers when they grew up. That would have been like saying that I wanted to be a fairy or a movie star.” Barbara Kingsolver, the author most recently of Unsheltered (Harper, 2018), talks to the Free Library of Philadelphia about how a childhood love of books made her a “citizen of the world” despite growing up in a small town in Kentucky. Kingsolver and Richard Powers speak about writing fiction in “A Talk in the Woods” in the November/December issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
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William Goldman
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“That was one of the freakiest experiences of my life. I was earning a living as a writer.” In this 2013 video for Open Road Media, screenwriter, playwright, and novelist William Goldman speaks about publishing his first novel, his experiences in the movie business, and his fame in dental offices. The author of the novels Marathon Man (Delacorte Press, 1974) and The Princess Bride (Harcourt Brace, 1973) died at the age of eighty-seven on November 16, 2018.
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Word of the Year, Tommy Orange on Thanksgiving, and More
George Saunders weighs in on American politics; Jonathan Franzen offers ten rules for novelists; writers recommend books that represent America; and other news.
Nunez, Acevedo Win 2018 National Book Awards
The winners of the 2018 National Book Awards were announced at a ceremony tonight in New York City. Sigrid Nunez took home the award in fiction for her novel The Friend (Riverhead Books), and Elizabeth Acevedo won the prize in young people’s literature for her novel, The Poet X (HarperTeen). Justin Phillip Reed won the prize in poetry for his debut collection, Indecency (Coffee House Press), and Jeffrey C. Stewart won the prize in nonfiction for his biography of Alain Locke, The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke (Oxford University Press). This year the National Book Foundation also awarded a prize in translated literature to Yoko Tawada for her novel The Emissary (New Directions Publishing), translated from the Japanese by Margaret Mitsutani.
The annual awards are given for the best books of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, young people's literature, and translated literature published in the previous year. The winners each receive $10,000.
Emceed by actor Nick Offerman, the ceremony celebrated the importance of literature and books. “In our inexorable pursuit of freedom and human rights, books serve us as weapons and shields,” he said. “They are perhaps the greatest creation of human kind, one that is living and ever growing.”
Earlier in the evening, writer Luís Alberto Urrea presented the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters to Isabel Allende, who has published more than twenty books, most recently the novel In the Midst of Winter (Atria Books, 2017). Allende, who is the first Spanish-language author to receive the award, spoke about what the award meant to her as a Chilean writer living in America. “I have always been a foreigner… This award means maybe I’m not alien anymore,” she said. “Maybe I can plant roots. Maybe I’m not going anywhere.”
Hidden Figures author Margot Lee Shetterly presented the Literarian Award for Outstanding Contribution the American Literary Community to Doron Weber of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for his work on the intersection of literature and science.
Established in 1950, the National Book Awards are among the largest literary prizes given in the United States. The 2017 winners were Frank Bidart in poetry, Jesmyn Ward in fiction, Masha Gessen in nonfiction, and Robin Benway in young people’s literature.
Photos (clockwise from top left): Sigrid Nunez, Elizabeth Acevedo, Justin Phillip Reed, Jeffrey C. Stewart, Yoko Tawada.
Graffiti Palace
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“The city erupts into a riot. The people chant, ‘Burn, baby, burn.’ The city is on fire.” In this video, A. G. Lombardo introduces his debut novel, Graffiti Palace (MCD Books, 2018), which is a retelling of The Odyssey set during the 1965 Watts riots in Los Angeles. Lombardo is featured in “5 Over 50” in the November/December issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
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Strange Brew
“Graffiti Palace was the amazing confluence of three worlds that crashed together: The Odyssey, graffiti, and the Watts riots,” writes A. G. Lombardo in “5 Over 50” in the November/December issue of Poets & Writers Magazine. Lombardo describes the circumstances in his life, such as his job as a high school English teacher, that combined to form “this strange brew of ideas” around which his debut novel revolves. Write a short story that combines several elements of your life, perhaps including hobbies or passions, political events of national importance, and favorite works of art or entertainment. How can you crash these disparate interests together to form a cohesive narrative arc?
King Lear
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William Shakespeare’s tragic play King Lear has been adapted into a made-for-television film set in a highly militarized version of present-day London. Directed by Richard Eyre, the film stars Anthony Hopkins as the titular character, and Florence Pugh, Emma Thompson, and Emily Watson as his three daughters.
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Matt Gallagher on War Stories
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“These are human stories of life and love and loss.” Matt Gallagher, a former U.S. Army captain and a writing instructor at the nonprofit Words After War, discusses the war stories that inspired his debut novel, Youngblood (Atria Books, 2016).
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