Ninth Letter's 2013 Literary Awards
Ninth Letter is pleased to announce our first annual Literary Awards competition! We'll be accepting entries from March 1 to April 20 for our Literary Awards in four categories: Fiction, Poetry, Creative Nonfiction, and Literature in Translation. The winner selected in each category will receive a $1000 prize and publication in our Fall/Winter 2013-14 issue (vol. 10, no. 2).
The fee for entering each of the four categories will be $17, and all entrants will receive a one-year subscription to Ninth Letter. Your entry fee will cover one submission in one category; you are welcome to send multiple submissions in multiple categories provided a fee is paid for each entry. Electronic submissions may pay by credit card through our secure payment system; submissions sent by USPS should send payment by check or money order made to Ninth Letter.
Formatting guidelines: please include a cover letter with your name, the title(s) of your submission, your mailing address, and your email. Please do not include your name anywhere on the manuscript itself. For translation submissions, please also include the name of the original author and the original language of publication, along with a statement verifying that you have permission to publish a translation of the work.
Submissions can be made via our submissions manager or via USPS to Ninth Letter, c/o Literary Awards, Dept of English, 608 S. Wright St., Urbana, IL 61801.
Fiction
Our fiction award will be judged by Margot Livesey, author of seven novels, including most recently The Flight of Gemma Hardy (HarperCollins 2012), and a collection of short stories. Margot is Distinguished Writer-in-Residence at Emerson College
Submissions to our fiction contest must be no more than 8000 words and may not be previously published. Flash fiction is also welcome; for flash pieces please send up to three, maximum 8000 words total.
Poetry
Our poetry award will be judged by G. C. Waldrep, author of four full-length collections of poetry, including Archicembalo (2009), winner of the Dorset Prize, and his latest, Your Father on the Train of Ghosts (2011), co-authored with John Gallaher. He is the Margaret Hollinshead Ley Professor of Poetry and Creative Writing at Bucknell University, and is the editor of West Branch.
Poets may submit up to 3 poems, no more than 12 pages total, and the work may not be previously published.
Creative Nonfiction
Our creative nonfiction award will be judged by Lia Purpura, author of three collections of poetry and three collections of essays, the most recent of which is Rough Likeness (Sarabande Books, 2011). Lia is Professor and Writer in Residence at Loyola University
Submissions to our creative nonfiction contest must be no more than 8000 words and may not be previously published.
Literature in Translation
Our literature in translation contest, co-sponsored by the Center for Translation Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, will be judged by Alexis Levitin, who has published 31 books of translations, including Clarice Lispector's Soulstorm and Eugénio de Andrade's Forbidden Words (both from New Directions). He is a Distinguished Professor at SUNY-Plattsburgh.
Submissions to our translation contest may be either fiction or poetry: translated fiction submissions must be no more than 8000 words; translations of poetry may include up to 3 poems, 12 pages total. Submitted works must be unpublished in English in the U.S. Your entry fee for the translation contest will cover one submission in either fiction or poetry; if you wish to submit in both categories, a fee for each submission will be required.
Current and former employees of Ninth Letter, current and former students and faculty of the creative writing and translation studies programs at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and current and former students of our guests judges are not eligible to enter these contests.
