This contest for a full-length creative nonfiction essay collection is open to any essayist writing in English who has not yet published more than one full-length book in creative nonfiction (writers with multiple chapbooks are eligible), and offers a cash prize of $1,000 and publication, as well as ten copies of the published book. This contest is open.
The brilliant Jenny Boully will judge the contest.
A ลูกครึ่ง (half-child), she was born in Thailand and grew up on the southwest side of San Antonio, Texas. She attended Hollins University, where she double majored in English and Philosophy and then went on to earn an MA in English Criticism and Writing. Her other degrees include an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Notre Dame and a Ph.D. in English from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. She currently teaches at Bennington College and the Bennington Writing Seminars.
Entries will first be read by Ghost Peach Press’s panel of editors, and 2023 judge Jenny Boully will choose the winning collection from ten finalists. All manuscripts should include a title page, table of contents, and an acknowledgements page (if applicable). No identifying information should be included in the submission. Manuscripts should be paginated and formatted in a pleasant-to-read font (as in, not comic sans), with no more than one poem per page. Manuscripts should consist of 48 – 75 pages of poetry (not including front and back matter). We prefer that you are ethical and do not submit if you are related to/work with/are besties with or otherwise have personal connections to the judge which could cause your work to be recognized.
Ghost Peach Press accepts the $22 entry fee exclusively through our Submittable page. The entry fee is due at the time of submission. Please email us at coatofbirdseditors@gmail.com if this fee causes a financial burden. The contest runs from July 1st, 2023 – November 1st, 2023. The winner will be announced by May 2024 and publication is expected in the spring of 2025.
GPP titles include: Laura Page, Dove and Coyote (available here), Mirande Bissell, Stalin at the Opera (available here), Gion Davis, Too Much (available here) and Loisa Fenichell, wandering in all directions of this earth (available for preorder here).
