"the consequence of light—" by poetry finalist Joe Jiménez

Joe Jiménez is the author of The Possibilities of Mud (Kórima 2014) and Bloodline (Arte Público 2016).  Jiménez holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University Los Angeles.  The short film “El Abuelo,” based on Jiménez’s poem, has been screened in Belgium, the Netherlands, Mexico, France, Argentina, Ireland, England, and the US. He lives in San Antonio, Texas, and is a member of the Macondo Workshops.  For more, visit joejimenez.net.

Our Prose Selection for 2016

London coffeehouse c. 1705 via Public Domain Review

After announcing our poetry selections last month, Augury is happy to reveal its selections for prose today. The editors’ reading period for prose submissions was equally intense, but also equally gratifying. To be sure, selecting one manuscript out of dozens of strong submissions never gets easier. It is with pleasure that we announce Sara Schaff’s short story collection Say Something Nice About Me as our prose selection for 2016. Below are the finalists whose work we will feature in the coming weeks:

Alley Stories—Nona Caspers

Everything Beautiful—Sarah Pape

Girl with a Goat’s Voice—Nate Liederbach

Grieving for Guava—Cecilia Fernandez

Home for Wayward Girls—Melanie Bishop

In Josaphat’s Valley—Joshua Bernstein

Mick Jagger’s Green Eyed Daughter…—Elizabeth Denton

Stick-Light—Joshua Bernstein

Swarm—Harmony Button

The Heart is a Slow Learner—Mary Larkin Phd

The World is All that Does Befall Us—Thomas Walton—Too Smart for her Own Good—Evelyn Somers

True Love and Other Dreams of…—Micah Perks

Wee Hours—Ellen Winter

Woman, Running Late, in a Dress—Dallas Woodburn

Stay tuned for excerpts from each of our fourteen finalists, as well as from Sara Schaff!

PSA’s Annual Awards and Chapbook Fellowships: Accepting Submissions Through December 22nd

The Poetry Society of America has announced that it is currently accepting a variety of submissions for poets at all stages in their career now through December 22nd. Submissions are free for members and you are welcome to submit work to all seven categories with no more than one entry for each.

From a recent PSA message:

Annual Awards judges include:
Cyrus Cassells, Eduardo Corral, Elaine Equi, Yona Harvey, Rebecca Gayle Howell, Laura Kasischke, Jennifer Moxley, Rowan Ricardo Phillips, Carmen Giménez Smith, and others

Chapbook judges:
Rigoberto González, Linda Gregerson, Major Jackson, and Marilyn Nelson

Each year from October to December the Poetry Society offers contests for poets at all stages of their careers, from a prize for high school students, to our Chapbook Fellowships for poets who have not yet published a full-length collection, to our first book contest, and our award for a poet over forty who has published no more than one book.

We’re thrilled to announce we’re currently accepting submissions, which are free to members.

Begin your submission today. Good luck!

 

See the PSA’s website for more information on individual contests and submission guidelines.

“[When I Was a Horse Thief]” by poetry finalist Gregg Murray

Gregg Murray is an assistant professor of English at Georgia Perimeter College, as well as the editor of Muse A Journal. He has recent poems in Josephine Quarterly, Caketrain, Souwester, DIAGRAM, Pank, New South, Birmingham Poetry Review, Carolina Quarterly Review, RealPoetik, alice blue, Horse Less, Phantom Drift, decomP magazinE, Berkeley Poetry Review, Quiddity International, LEVELER, Free State Review, The Mondegreen, Spittoon, Menacing Hedge, Midway, interrupture, and elsewhere. Gregg also has a chapbook, Ceviche, from Spittoon Press.

"Ode on Simultaneity" by poetry finalist Elizabeth Whittlesey

Elizabeth Whittlesey was born in Harare, Zimbabwe, grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah, and lives in New York City, New York.  She is a two-time finalist for the “Discovery”/Boston Review poetry contest and was a featured guest on WKCR’s “Studio A” this past August. She has worked as an Assistant Editor at Parnassus: Poetry in Review and was an official blogger for Bryant Park’s Word-for-Word reading series in 2014.  Her poem-film “What Happened” appeared in Panoply 2006 and was shown at “Wednesdays at the Wall” on 55 Broad Street, and her work has appeared in journals including Gulf Coast, jubilat, Boston Review, POOL, Two Serious LadiesWestern Humanities Review, Phantom Books, JERRY, and BETTER.  She is passionate about light, yoga, the earth, playing the piano, and dancing to and DJ’ing electronic music.

Our Poetry Selection for 2016

In the Giant’s Lair (1892) by Gerhard Munthe, Wikimedia Commons

Following a plentiful reading period full of outstanding work, Augury Books is very happy to announce Arisa White‘s you’re the most beautiful thing that happened as our poetry selection for 2016. We received so many great submissions, and paring down one manuscript from our finalist pool was a difficult feat. We are glad to highlight the work of our poetry finalists here:

Architect, Garden by Andrew Seguin

brightness this by Franciszka Voeltz

I Wanted Everything by Elizabeth Whittlesey

Majnun by Mark Faunlagui

Pinocchio: The Whale Years by Patrick Moran

Schematics for Manhood & Flight by Joe Jimenez

Snow Farmer by Benjamin Gantcher

there are some things that are easier to mention by Aimee Herman

When I Was an Octopus by Gregg Murray

On behalf of the editors, we thank you all for your extended patience. Stay tuned for more on Arisa, an excerpt from her manuscript, excerpts from several of our finalists, and a prose selection in November!

Submit to ‘La Casa de Colores,’ a Nation-Wide Poetry Project

Origanum from De Materia Medica, courtesy of the Public Domain Review

U.S. poet laureate Juan Felipe Herrera, the 21st poet to hold this position and first Hispanic poet to do so, recently announced his new nation-wide poetry project, “La Casa de Colores.” The project will form one giant epic poem by compiling submissions from the public. Herrera believes “La Casa de Colores, ‘the House of Colors,’ is a house for all voices. In this house we will feed the hearth and heart of our communities with creativity and imagination. And we will stand together in times of struggle and joy.” Each month will address a new theme. Submissions opened this week; anyone can submit up to 200 characters per 30 days to the project on the Library of Congress’ website. From now until Oct. 15, submissions should address the subject of family.

Learn more about La Casa de Colores here.

Kenyon Review Call for Submissions

Illustration from a 16th century manuscript, courtesy of the Public Domain Review

The Kenyon Review is looking for poetry, fiction, essays, and drama involving science, ecology, and the environment for a special issue to be published in Sept/Oct 2016. Surrounding this special issue, the Kenyon Review will host an online discussion of writers, editors, and scientists on the question of what makes science writing literary. Find out more on submitting your work here!

Off the Grid Press Contest for Poets Over 60

From the 19th-Century Album of Ottoman Fashion courtesy of the Public Domain Review

Off the Grid Press is currently accepting manuscript submissions of previously published work from poets over the age of sixty. The contest runs through September 15th, and one winning poet will receive $1,000, plus a published collection of their work. Founded in 2005, Off the Grid Press is a non-profit focusing on providing a forum for older, perhaps recently overlooked poets.

To learn more and submit your manuscript, visit their site.

 

Museo de la Palabra Micro Fiction Contest

The Museo de la Palabra has recently announced its third short tales contest! This edition’s theme is “Words and Freedom.” The Micro stories Award aims to represent people, cultures and nations of many different traditions. In the past two editions of the competition, over twenty thousand stories were submitted from upwards of a hundred different countries. The competition is free to enter and the overall first prize for best story is $20,000. The Museo de la Palabra, a Palace in the heart of the Cervantine route, stands as a place for study and exchange, and remains an emblem of the Fundación César Egido Serrano. Check out more about the contest here!