Contest and Scholarships
The ILP International Literature Award
The charge went that American literature is too insular, that it’s neither concerned with nor does it engage the outside world. The critic was the Secretary of the Swedish Academy that decides the Nobel Prize. You can be sure that Canadian literature was lumped in there as well. We’re afraid that, to a degree, he was right.
Also, of course, in many ways he was wrong. Maybe a certain stripe of North American literature is too insular. Maybe a certain stripe does not engage the outside world. But the rivulets of work that do engage and which are anything but insular—these rivulets run deep.
The ILP hopes to encourage this tradition with its annual contest, which seeks to award the author of the winning entry airfare, accommodations, and tuition to the Disquiet program in Lisbon, Portugal in 2011 AND publication of the winning piece in the magazine of art and politics Guernica. Finalists and other entrants deemed to be of the highest quality will be offered partial tuition scholarships and may be considered for publication.
What to submit: We wish to cast the net wide in our definition of eligible entries. Work of any genre (poetry, fiction, nonfiction) that broadens the landscape of North American literature outside of the borders of North America is eligible. Examples of eligible entries, to give you an idea, might include a poem about a Hungarian grandmother; an essay based on your time in some foreign land--maybe travel writing, maybe more conventional journalism, maybe something in between; a short story featuring a North American abroad a la, perhaps, Paul Bowles... But these should not be read as sign posts. We wish to be surprised. In general, if your work flies in the face of this charge of insularity, submit it.
Eligibility: Entries must be in English. Writers must live or have lived in Canada or the United States but need not necessarily be citizens or permanent residents. Entries may not be previously published.
Length: One entry may include three poems or a single prose piece up to thirty double-spaced pages in length. Multiple entries must be accompanied by multiple reading fees. Poets wishing to submit more than three poems may do so by including additional reading fees. Prose submissions more than thirty pages are ineligible.
Reading fee: $15 USD (Checks made payable to Dzanc Books; if check is drawn in Canadian funds, please use converter here for the proper amount.) Reading fee may be applied to ILP tuition in the event entrant does not win.
Deadline: Postmark or electronic mail date stamp of Jan. 31, 2011.
How to enter:
By regular mail: Send the entry and the reading fee, to one of the following addresses
Dzanc Books
ILP International Literature Award
1334 Woodbourne Street
Westland, MI
USAElectronically:
-Save your entry in Rich Text Format (RTF).
-Submit your reading fee via Paypal using the button below.-Forward the email confirmation of your reading fee with your entry attached as an RTF file to ilp.lisbon@gmail.com. The subject line MUST read “ILP International Literature Award.”
Questions: ilp.lisbon@gmail.com
*In the event that a winner is not chosen, all entrants will receive refunds in full on their entry fees. Though unlikely, the ILP reserves the right to award the winner a cash prize of $1,000USD in lieu of the ILP related prize (airfare, accommodations, and tuition).
Scholarships
A collaboration between Dzanc Books and the Luso-American Development Fund (FLAD) has made possible four full scholarships for writers of Luso descent from North America to attend the ILP in Lisbon in 2011.
To be eligible for the scholarship, entrants must be residents of the United States or Canada who have a genealogical link to a Lusophone country.
The four winners will receive airfare, accommodations, and full tuition to the 2011 ILP in Lisbon to attend Frank Gaspar's multi-genre workshop "Writing the Luso Experience" with other writers from Portugal and North America.** Runners-up will be offered partial tuition scholarships.
What to submit: 1) A 250-word statement about your background and what the scholarship would mean to you. 2) A maximum ten page writing sample in any genre (poetry, ficion, nonfiction).
Reading fee: $20 USD (Checks made payable to Dzanc Books; if check is drawn in Canadian funds, please use converter here for the proper amount.) Reading fee may be applied to ILP tuition in the event entrant does not win.
Deadline: Postmark or electronic mail date stamp of Jan. 31, 2011.
How to enter:
By snail mail: Send the entry and the reading fee to
Dzanc Books
ILP Scholarship for Writers of Luso Descent
1334 Woodbourne Street
Westland, MI
USAElectronically:
-Save your entry in Rich Text Format (RTF).
-Submit your reading fee via Paypal using the button below.-Forward the email confirmation of your reading fee with your entry attached as an RTF file to ilp.lisbon@gmail.com. The subject line MUST read “ILP Scholarships for Writers of Luso Descent.”
**In the event that a winner is not chosen, all entrants will receive refunds in full on their entry fees. This prize is contingent on funding allotments from FLAD and while it is unlikely it is possible that the number or the amount of individual awards may be reduced. In this eventuality winners will be notified in advance.
Questions: ilp.lisbon@gmail.com