Genre: Fiction

Corruption and Consequence

2.19.25

“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely,” wrote English Liberal historian and moralist Lord Acton in an 1887 letter to scholar and ecclesiastic Mandell Creighton about his concerns for political and religious leaders. This week write a short story that chronicles a character’s turn toward corruption after gaining a degree of power. You might decide to revolve the narrative around a lighthearted scenario with some humor, in which the corruption that results has relatively inconsequential stakes. Or you might set up a situation in which your character gains access or control over a significant position of authority, resulting in criminal behavior with far-reaching ripple effects. How do other characters respond to the newfound power of your main character?

Literary Prizes

New Ohio Review
Entry Fee: 
$22
Deadline: 
April 15, 2025
Three prizes of $1,500 each and publication in New Ohio Review are given annually for a poem or group of poems, a short story, and an essay. Submit a poem or group of poems of up to six pages or a story or essay of up to 20 pages with a $22 entry fee, which includes a subscription to New Ohio Review, by April 15. All entries are considered for publication. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

La Baldi Residency

The La Baldi Residency, sponsored by the arts collective Cultivate, will offer two-week and one-month residencies from April through October to poets, fiction writers, creative nonfiction writers, and translators in apartments and a small terratetto house in the historic hilltop village of Montegiovi, Italy. Residents will stay in private lodging with a fully equipped kitchen, a bathroom, and an outside sitting area. Some lodging options include a study. Individual writers and collaborative teams may apply.

Type: 
RESIDENCY
Ignore Event Date Field?: 
no
Event Date: 
April 1, 2025
Rolling Admissions: 
ignore
Application Deadline: 
June 27, 2025
Financial Aid?: 
no
Financial Aid Application Deadline: 
June 27, 2025
Free Admission: 
no
Contact Information: 

La Baldi Residency, 15504 Moravia Court, Derwood, MD 20855. Susan Main, Cultivate Director.

Susan Main
Cultivate Director
Contact City: 
Montegiovi
Country: 
IT

Iceland Writers Retreat

The 2025 Iceland Writers Retreat was from April 23 to April 27 at the Fosshotel in Reykjavík. The retreat features workshops, panels, lectures, receptions, and time to write for fiction and nonfiction writers, as well as literary tours of Iceland. The faculty included fiction writers Kevin Chong, Pedro Gunnlaugur Garcia, Meng Jin, Jonas Hassen Khemiri, and Curtis Sittenfeld; fiction and nonfiction writers Jann Arden, Yrsa Daley-Ward, Helen Macdonald, and Danny Ramadan; and nonfiction writers Thordis Elva and Rick Jervis. The cost of the retreat was 310,000 ISK (approximately $2,202).

Type: 
RESIDENCY
Ignore Event Date Field?: 
yes
Event Date: 
June 27, 2025
Rolling Admissions: 
ignore
Application Deadline: 
June 27, 2025
Financial Aid?: 
no
Financial Aid Application Deadline: 
June 27, 2025
Free Admission: 
no
Contact Information: 

Iceland Writers Retreat, P.O. Box 76, 212 Gardabaer, Iceland. Erica Jacobs Green and Eliza Reid, Cofounders. 

Erica Jacobs Green and Eliza Reid
Cofounders
Contact City: 
Reykjavík
Country: 
IS

Squam Writes Retreat

Squam Writes offered a retreat from June 5 to June 8 to fiction and creative nonfiction writers at Rockywold Deephaven Camps, a historic resort campsite on the shores of Squam Lake in Holderness, New Hampshire. Residents were provided lodging in cottages, cabins, and lodge rooms along the shores of the lake; time to write; and the opportunity to join optional craft-focused workshops led by the codirectors as well as optional peer critique groups. Professional feedback on your writing was available for an additional $75. The faculty included novelists Jilly Gagnon and Melissa Hed.

Type: 
RESIDENCY
Ignore Event Date Field?: 
yes
Event Date: 
June 27, 2025
Rolling Admissions: 
ignore
Application Deadline: 
June 27, 2025
Financial Aid?: 
no
Financial Aid Application Deadline: 
June 27, 2025
Free Admission: 
no
Contact Information: 

Squam Writes Retreat, 18 Bacon Road, Holderness, NH 03245. Jilly Gagnon and Melissa Hed, Codirectors.

Jilly Gagnon and Melissa Hed
Codirectors
Contact City: 
Holderness
Contact State: 
NH
Country: 
US

Fiction Meets Science Residency

The Fiction Meets Science Residency offers up to two residencies of three to ten months annually to fiction and nonfiction writers at the Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg Institute for Advanced Study in Delmenhorst, Germany. Residents are provided with a private apartment and office space at the institute, where they will connect with an interdisciplinary community of guest scientists. Residents are expected to give one lecture or reading and to attend the weekly lectures given by the scientist fellows at the institute.

Type: 
RESIDENCY
Ignore Event Date Field?: 
yes
Event Date: 
June 27, 2025
Rolling Admissions: 
ignore
Application Deadline: 
June 27, 2025
Financial Aid?: 
no
Financial Aid Application Deadline: 
June 27, 2025
Free Admission: 
no
Contact Information: 

Fiction Meets Science Residency, Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg, Lehmkuhlenbusch 4, 27753 Delmenhorst, Germany. Susan M. Gaines, Project Director. 

Susan M. Gaines
Project Director
Contact City: 
Delmenhorst
Contact Zip / Postal Code: 
27753
Country: 
DE

Association of Writers & Writing Programs Conference and Bookfair

The 2025 AWP Conference and Bookfair was held from March 26 to March 29 at the Los Angeles Convention Center and also included a virtual component comprising prerecorded and live streamed events. The conference featured panel discussions, readings, discussion rooms, and a bookfair. Prior to March 25, the cost of the conference for in-person preregistration, including all virtual programming and content, was $375 for nonmembers, $255 for members, $105 for seniors, and $70 for students.

Type: 
CONFERENCE
Ignore Event Date Field?: 
yes
Event Date: 
June 27, 2025
Rolling Admissions: 
ignore
Application Deadline: 
June 27, 2025
Financial Aid?: 
no
Financial Aid Application Deadline: 
June 27, 2025
Free Admission: 
no
Contact Information: 

Association of Writers & Writing Programs Conference and Bookfair, 440 Monticello Avenue, Suite 1802, PMB 73708, Norfolk, VA 23510. (240) 696-8273.

Contact City: 
Los Angeles
Contact State: 
CA
Contact Zip / Postal Code: 
90015
Country: 
US
Add Image: 

Rockland Residency

The Rockland Residency will offer three-week residencies from October 8, 2025, to October 29, 2025, and from January 8, 2026, to January 29, 2026, to poets, fiction writers, nonfiction writers, and translators in the Rockland Woods, located on the Kitsap Peninsula across the Salish Sea from Seattle. Writers who are at least 25 years old and are not enrolled in a creative writing program are eligible.

Type: 
RESIDENCY
Ignore Event Date Field?: 
no
Event Date: 
October 8, 2025
Rolling Admissions: 
ignore
Application Deadline: 
June 27, 2025
Financial Aid?: 
no
Financial Aid Application Deadline: 
June 27, 2025
Free Admission: 
no
Contact Information: 

Rockland Residency, 2615 E Pike Street, Seattle, WA 98122. (206) 799-8209. Jodi Rockwell, Cofounder. 

Jodi Rockwell
Cofounder
Contact City: 
Kitsap Peninsula
Contact State: 
WA
Country: 
US

A Rally of Writers

The 38th annual A Rally of Writers conference was held on April 12 at the West Campus of Lansing Community College in Lansing, Michigan. The conference featured workshops, craft classes, panel discussions, and readings in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. Participating writers included poets Dennis Hinrichsen and Ruelaine Stokes; fiction writers Caitlin Horrocks and Alex Kourvo; and nonfiction writer Robert M Weir. Fiction writer Erin Bartels gave the keynote address.

Type: 
CONFERENCE
Ignore Event Date Field?: 
yes
Event Date: 
June 27, 2025
Rolling Admissions: 
ignore
Application Deadline: 
June 27, 2025
Financial Aid?: 
no
Financial Aid Application Deadline: 
June 27, 2025
Free Admission: 
no
Contact Information: 

A Rally of Writers, P.O. Box 4253, East Lansing, MI 48823. Rob Edwards, President. 

Rob Edwards
President
Contact City: 
Lansing
Contact State: 
MI
Contact Zip / Postal Code: 
48917
Country: 
US

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