ASSOCIATION OF WRITERS & WRITING PROGRAMS
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 6AWP23 at checkout for 40% off plus free shipping through 3/30/2023.
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.

Timothy Schaffert and SJ Sindu, series editors
Zero Street invites submissions of novels and short story collections, from LGBTQ+ authors new and established, that feature LGBTQ+ characters and/or themes. We are particularly interested in BIPOC authors, trans authors, and queer authors over 50. Zero Street is committed to literary fiction with commercial potential, and to providing marginalized authors opportunities for a wide readership in the trade fiction market. We are seeking literary fiction of all kinds, from stories of modern life to innovations on traditions of genre.
Zero Street Fiction invites submissions of novels and short story collections from new and established LGBTQ+ authors that feature LGBTQ+ characters and/or themes. Submissions to the series are accepted annually November 1–April 1 via Submittable.

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.
Emily Casillas, 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

An annual prize of $2,000 for the top poetry collection and $1,000 for an honorable mention. 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 2022 contest is Christine Stewart-Nuñez, South Dakota poet laureate from 2019–2021. 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.
TED KOOSER CONTEMPORARY POETRY
Ted Kooser, series editor
THE RAZ/SHUMAKER PRAIRIE SCHOONER BOOK PRIZE
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 and 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/book-prize.
SHOP ALL OUR AWP TITLES
To save 40% enter the code 6AWP23 in the promotion code field of your shopping cart and click “Add Promotion Code.” Offer expires March 30, 2023 and is good for U.S. and Canadian shipments only.
To purchase books outside of North America, please contact Charlotte Anderson at Combined Academic Publishers by email at charlotteanderson@combinedacademic.co.uk using the discount code CS2020UNP.
NEW IN CREATIVE NONFICTION
NEW IN FICTION
NEW IN POETRY
NEW IN PAPER
From Chernobyl with Love
Exiled
War Flower
Fidelis
LITERATURE IN TRANSLATION
SELECTED BACKLIST
VIEW OUR CREATIVE WRITING CATALOG
JOURNALS FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA PRESS
Click here for more information and special offers on the latest issue and subscriptions.