2010 SLS Unified Literary Contest
***CONTEST DEADLINE EXTENDED TO MARCH 5th!***
Summer Literary Seminars is announcing its annual unified (Montreal, Lithuania and Kenya) literary contest, held this year in affiliation with Fence Magazine. We are thrilled this year to have Mary Gaitskill judging the fiction, and Mary Jo Bang judging the poetry.
Contest winners in the categories of fiction and poetry will have their work published in Fence, as well as the participating literary journals in Canada, Lithuania and Kenya. Additionally, they will have the choice of attending (airfare, tuition, and housing included) any one of the SLS-2010 programs – in Montreal, Quebec (June 13 - 27); Vilnius, Lithuania (August 1 - 14); or Nairobi-Lamu, Kenya (December).
Second-place winners will receive a full tuition waiver for the program of their choice, and third-place winners will receive a 50% tuition discount.
A number of select contest participants, based on the overall strength of their work, will be offered tuition scholarships, as well, applicable to the SLS-2010 programs.
Contest Deadline: Extended to March 5, 2010
Poetry Judge: Mary Jo Bang is professor of English and director of the Creative Writing Program at Washington University. Her fifth book, "Elegy," won the National Book Critics Circle Award, and she is also the recipient of a Pushcart Prize and Guggenheim Fellowship, among others. Her work has appeared in many journals including The Paris Review, The New Yorker,The New Republic, Denver Quarterly and Harvard Review.
photo © Mark Schäfer
Fiction Judge: Mary Gaitskill is an author of essays, short stories and novels. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's Magazine, Esquire, The Best American Short Stories and The O. Henry Prize Stories (1998). She was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2002 and a PEN/Faulkner Award nomination for Because They Wanted To in 1998. "Veronica" (2005) was a National Book Award nominee, as well as a National Book Critics Circle finalist. Her story "Secretary" was the basis for the film of the same name.
The complete guidelines for the 2010 contest are as follows:
One short story or novel excerpt, maximum 25 pages per entry.
Entries can be submitted electronically, to: SLS Fiction Poetry Contest: sls.contest@gmail.com (NOTE: Please do not send payments to this address - we request that if you pay online you use the Paypal button below.)
A $15 US reading fee must accompany each entry. Multiple entries are permissible, as long as they are accompanied by separate reading fees.
Fees can paid paid online, via Paypal, or to the address below, by cheque.
NOTE: Online submissions and payments are much preferred, but if you would rather submit the hard copy and pay by cheque, the address is below:
Summer Literary Seminars
Literary Contest
English Department
Concordia University
1455 de Maisonneuve Blvd. W.
Montreal, Quebec H3G 1M8 Canada
These are the complete contest guidelines.
Do not hesitate to contact SLS with any questions, by e-mail: sls@sumlitsem.org, or mike@sumlitsem.org – or by telephone: (514) 848-2424x4632.
We wish each and every one of you the best of luck with the contest!
Please note that SLS programs, including those offered as a prize for this contest, may be subject to change or cancellation at any point, and without prior warning. If a winner has selected to attend a program that is cancelled or changed, they may elect to attend a future program instead or to receive a cash prize of US$1,500, prize in full. Summer Literary Seminars also reserves the right to substitute a cash prize of $1,500 for any prize offered, and at their sole discretion.
All SLS programs, as described in its publications, brochures and on the website, may be subject to change or cancellation, without prior warning, and neither the Summer Literary Seminars and its employees, affiliates, or agents shall be responsible or liable for any expenses or losses that may be sustained because of these changes or cancellations.