What's that you say? You're a poet, you're under 40 years of age, you haven't had a book published yet, you'd like someone to publish your manuscript, you'd like to spend a couple of months in a swanky mansion (pictured above), and you'd like $10,000? We at Lake Forest College have got you covered! It's time to apply for the Madeleine P. Plonsker Emerging Writer's Award. Past winners include Jessica Savitz (for poetry) and Gretchen Henderson (for prose).
I'm one of the judges, but please don't send anything to me directly — everything has to be handled via the official snailmail and email addresses below.
You've got two weeks before the deadline.
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Each spring, Lake Forest College, in conjunction with the &NOW Festival, sponsors emerging writers under forty years old—with no major book publication—to spend two months in residence at our campus in Chicago's northern suburbs on the shore of Lake Michigan. There are no formal teaching duties attached to the residency. Time is to be spent completing a manuscript, participating in the annual Lake Forest Literary Festival, and offering a series of public presentations.
The completed manuscript will be published (upon approval) by &NOW Books imprint, with distribution by Northwestern University Press. The stipend is $10,000, with a housing suite and campus meals provided by the college.
2011 Guidelines (Deadline April 1, 2010):
We invite applications for an emerging poet under forty years old, with no major book publication, to spend two months (February-March or March-April 2011) in residence at Lake Forest College.
Send:
1) Curriculum vita
2) No more than 30 pages of manuscript in progress
3) A one-page statement of plans for completion to:
Plonsker Residency
Department of English
Lake Forest College
Box A16
555 N. Sheridan Road
Lake Forest, IL 60045.
Submissions must be postmarked by April 1, 2010 for consideration by judges Robert Archambeau, Davis Schneiderman, Joshua Corey, and Jennifer Moxley. Direct inquiries to andnow@lakeforest.edu with the subject line: Plonsker Prize.
