ASSOCIATION OF WRITERS & WRITING PROGRAMS CONFERENCE
Welcome to our AWP virtual book exhibit! Attending the conference virtually or perhaps can’t make it? Check out our virtual book exhibit for the same great books and conference discount. Use code 6AWP24 at checkout for 40% off plus free shipping through 3/1/2024.
We welcome new submissions. Submission guidelines can be found here.
FEATURED SERIES
Tobias Wolff, series editor
The singular American life is a source of endless diversity, and the methods of telling the life are as important as the details themselves. The American Lives series, called “splendid” by Newsweek, features works of creative or literary memoir that, whether evoking moments of death or disease, in family or marriage, history, politics, religion, or culture, provide glimpses into singular American lives. Taken together, these stories coalesce into a richly textured and colorful portrait of our contemporary culture.
Rob Taylor, managing editor
“Outdoor Lives” is a series that features creative or literary accounts of outdoor adventure and travel. Though broad in subject matter, from skiing to sailing, from hunting and fishing to hiking, from bicycle touring to road trips and other travel-related themes. The common fabric for each book in the series is the way in which humans interact with the world outside and how those experiences can be informative and inspiring.
Ron Hansen, series editor
The books in the Flyover Fiction series are set on the Great Plains, a region located in the center of the country and referred to either sentimentally as the Heartland or dismissively as flyover country, a region more clearly defined by what it is not than by what it is. Books in this series actively engage–through plot, character, setting, or theme–with what it means to inhabit this region.
All manuscripts must be submitted electronically via Submittable.
Timothy Schaffert and SJ Sindu, series editors
Zero Street will be committed to LGBTQ+ literary fiction with commercial potential, providing marginalized authors opportunities for a wide readership in the trade fiction market. The series editors are Timothy Schaffert, bestselling author of The Perfume Thief, and SJ Sindu, author of Blue-Skinned Gods. The series seeks LGBTQ+ literary fiction of all kinds, from stories of modern life to innovations on traditions of genre and are particularly interested in BIPOC authors, trans authors, and queer authors over 50.
Submissions to the series are accepted annually November 1–April 1.
All manuscripts must be submitted electronically via Submittable.
Courtney Ochsner, managing editor
Sponsored by the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP), this annual competition is open to all authors writing in English regardless of nationality or residence and is available to published and unpublished authors alike.
THE JAMES ALAN MCPHERSON PRIZE FOR THE NOVEL
The James Alan McPherson Prize for the Novel honors James Alan McPherson, the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and a beloved teacher, humanitarian, and mentor to countless writers at the University of Iowa’s Writers’ Workshop.
Sponsored by the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) and supported by the James Alan McPherson endowment, the annual competition is open to all authors writing in English regardless of nationality or residence and is available to published and unpublished authors alike.
The endowment provides funding for a $5,500 cash prize and publication by the University of Nebraska Press. Submission guidelines for the prize series can be found on the AWP website.
Courtney Ochsner, managing editor
The Backwaters Prize in Poetry, an international poetry book competition initiated by The Backwaters Press in 1998, has produced award-winning books by some of America’s finest authors. Building upon an impressive backlist in poetry and prose that contributes to the cultural landscape of our state and region, one poetry manuscript is selected each year as a winner, and one as a honorable mention, by a committee of preliminary judges and one final judge for inclusion in this series. The selected volumes are published by the University of Nebraska Press. Submission guidelines for the prize series can be found at nebraskapress.unl.edu/the-backwaters-press-prize/.
THE BACKWATERS PRIZE IN POETRY
The winner will be awarded a $2,000 cash prize and the honorable mention will be awarded a $1,000 cash prize. Both winners will be awarded the publication of their book by the University of Nebraska Press under its imprint, The Backwaters Press. The judge for the 2023 contest is Hilda Raz. The Backwaters Prize submission period is April 1–May 1.
Click here for more information.
Kwame Dawes, series editor
Under the helm of series editor Kwame Dawes, the African Poetry Book Series seeks to discover and highlight works of African poetry with a wide-ranging scope; from classic works to modern and contemporary voices. The greatest challenge facing African poetry in English is a lack of access to both classic works and the stream of works from new African writers. Currently there is no press in the United States, or elsewhere, that devotes itself entirely to the publication of African poetry written in English. This series looks to rectify this gap and also collect works of classic African poetry that have otherwise been forgotten.
With the help of an Editorial Board made up of gifted and internationally regarded poets, Kwame Dawes looks to publish two to three new titles per year. Submission guidelines for the series can be found on the African Poetry Book Fund website.
Matthew Shenoda, series editor
Under the helm of series editor Matthew Shenoda, the On African Poetry series seeks to engage works of nonfiction that take at the center African poetry and poetics whether that be through scholarship, theory, the creative essay, or translation. With a wide-ranging scope; from classic works to modern and contemporary voices the series seeks to highlight the breadth of African poetry and its impacts on myriad cultures and societies. Currently there is no press in the United States, or elsewhere, that devotes itself to the publication of critical works on African poetry and poetics written in English. This series looks to rectify this gap and also expand the scholarship on the subject.
Guided by an Editorial Committee made up of gifted and internationally regarded poets and scholars, the On African Poetry series looks to publish one to two new titles per year. Submission guidelines for the series can be found on the African Poetry Book Fund website.
TED KOOSER CONTEMPORARY POETRY
Ted Kooser, series editor
THE RAZ/SHUMAKER PRAIRIE SCHOONER BOOK PRIZE IN FICTION
Kwame Dawes, series editor
Throughout its years of continuous publication Prairie Schooner has consistently maintained a national reputation for literary excellence. Building upon this venerable history, the journal selects one short story collection from contemporary writers each year for this prize series. The series is sponsored and vetted by the staff of Prairie Schooner and a venerable committee of judges, and the selected volumes are published each year by UNP. Submission guidelines for the prize series can be found on the Prairie Schooner website: prairieschooner.unl.edu/book-prize.
THE RAZ/SHUMAKER PRAIRIE SCHOONER BOOK PRIZE IN POETRY
Kwame Dawes, series editor
Throughout its years of continuous publication Prairie Schooner has consistently maintained a national reputation for literary excellence. Building upon this venerable history, the journal selects one poetry collection from contemporary writers each year for this prize series. The series is sponsored and vetted by the staff of Prairie Schooner and a venerable committee of judges, and the selected volumes are published each year by UNP. Submission guidelines for the prize series can be found on the Prairie Schooner website: prairieschooner.unl.edu.
SHOP ALL OUR AWP TITLES
To save 40% enter the code 6AWP24 in the promotion code field of your shopping cart and click “Add Promotion Code.” Offer expires March 1, 2024 and is good for U.S. and Canadian shipments only.
To purchase books outside of North America, please contact Combined Academic Publishers by email at enquiries@combinedacademic.co.uk.
NEW IN CREATIVE NONFICTION
NEW IN FICTION
NEW IN POETRY
SELECTED BACKLIST
JOURNALS FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA PRESS
Click here for more information and special offers on the latest issue and subscriptions.
