Kore Press Short Fiction Award

KORE PRESS

SHORT FICTION AWARD

2013 Judge: Kate Bernheimer

Kate Bernheimer teaches in the MFA Program in Creative Writing at the University of Arizona in Tucson. She has been called “one of the living masters of the fairy tale” by Tin House, and is the author of four books of fiction, most recently the final novel in a trilogy, The Complete Tales of Lucy Gold. A new story collection, How a Mother Weaned a Girl from Fairy Tales, is forthcoming from Coffee House Press in 2014. She also edits fabulist anthologies including the World Fantasy Award-winning My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me: Forty New Fairy Tales, with her fourth anthology, xo Orpheus: 50 New Myths, forthcoming from Penguin this year.

The 2013 Short Fiction Award Deadline: April 30, 2013

To uphold our commitment to running a fully competitive contest by gathering work that represents the breadth and depth of women's voices worldwide, Kore Press has extended the deadline for the 2013 Contest.

A prize of $1,000 plus chapbook publication by Kore Press
is given annually for a short story written in English.

Eligibility

This competition is open to any female-identified individual writing in English, regardless of nationality.

How to Submit

The contest is currently OPEN. You can submit your manuscript and the $15 non-refundable entry fee here. Please read through submission guidelines before submitting.

Comment box should include:

daytime and evening telephone numbers
where you heard about the contest

All entrants will be notified of results via email.

Manuscripts must be:

• NO DOCX FILES. ONLY DOC, PDF, AND RTF.

• a minimum of 4,000 words and a maximum of 12,000 words
• double-spaced and paginated
• ANONYMOUS (do not include your name anywhere on the manuscript, and please do not include a title page with names).
• original fiction written by the applicant (translations are not eligible)

• unpublished at the time of submission (if the story is accepted elsewhere during our deliberation process, please notify us immediately)

• acknowledgments unnecessary

Ethics Statement

We endorse and agree to comply with the following statement released by the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses:

CLMP's community of independent literary publishers believes that ethical contests serve our shared goal: to connect writers and readers by publishing exceptional writing. We believe that intent to act ethically, clarity of guidelines, and transparency of process form the foundation of an ethical contest. To that end, we agree to:

1) conduct our contests as ethically as possible and to address any unethical behavior on the part of our readers, judges, or editors;

2) provide clear and specific contest guidelines -- defining conflict of interest for all parties involved; and

3) make the mechanics of our selection process available to the public.

This Code recognizes that different contest models produce different results, but that each model can be run ethically. We have adopted this Code to reinforce our integrity and dedication as a publishing community and to ensure that our contests contribute to a vibrant literary heritage.

The Process

Manuscripts are delivered to about 6 preliminary readers of diverse backgrounds and literary perspectives. Manuscripts selected by these preliminary readers are then reviewed and ranked by a second reader. A group of approximately 20 semifinalists are then forwarded to our judge, who generally chooses 2 or 3 finalists and a winner.

For more information e-mail us or call us at 520.327.2127.

2012 Short Fiction Winner

A Parallel Life

by Mary Byrne

Judge: Karen Brennan

Available Spring 2013

Brennan: "This remarkable story traces the life of a Serbian woman, Zorica, marooned for years in Paris, struggling with illiteracy, bureaucracy, aging and the forces of history that have shaped her life. Told by a nameless narrator with an effortless blend of humor and pathos, “A Parallel Life” is structured like a document— eschewing the traditional dramatic action of literary realism and straddling the borderland between fiction and nonfiction. . .from start to finish, it rings with integrity and wisdom."

Byrne was born in County Louth, Ireland, and currently lives in Normandy France after long spells in Paris, south of France and Morocco. She has taught at various French universities in Paris and Normandy and is now a freelance translator. Her short fiction has been published or broadcast in Europe, North America, Australia. She is anthologized in Faber Book of Best New Irish Short Stories (Fabers 2007), Queens Noir (Akashic 2008), Best Paris Stories anthology, May 2012. She is also the winner of Fiction International short fiction contest 2011.

2011 winner

The Death of Carrie Bradshaw

Patricia Grace King

Judge: Antonya Nelson