A prize of $1,000 plus book publication by Kore Press
will be given for a book-length poetry manuscript.

This competition is open to any female writer who has not published a
full-length collection of poetry. Writers who have had chapbooks of less than

42 pages printed in editions of no more than 400 copies are eligible.

How to Submit

Submit your manuscript and $20 reading fee on-line here.

Comment box should include:

• daytime and evening telephone numbers
• where you heard about the contest
  

Manuscripts must be:
• a minimum of 48 pages and a maximum of 80 pages. no cover letter needed.
• anonymous (do not include your name anywhere on the manuscript)
• original poetry written by applicant (translations are not eligible)

Click here to read an interview from Poetry Contest Insider

with publisher Lisa Bowden and fiction editor Shannon Cain

For more information email kore@korepress.org,
or call 520-327-2127.

Special Deal for Entrants!

For $39, your manuscript will be entered into the contest and you will receive one copy each of the two latest First Book Award winners. For $45, you will be entered and will receive one copy each of the three latest First Book Award winners.

2011 First Book Judge

Bhanu Kapil

Bhanu Kapil is a British-Indian writer, and new U.S. citizen, who lives now in Colorado, where she is core faculty at Naropa University's Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics.  She also teaches writing at Goddard College in Vermont.  She is the author of four books: "The Vertical Interrogation of Strangers" (Kelsey Street Press, 2001), "Incubation: a space for monsters" (Leon Works, 2006), "humanimal [ a project for future children]" (Kelsey Street, 2009), and "Schizophrene" (forthcoming from Nightboat Books, 2011.)   

2010 First Book Award Judge

Claudie Rankine

“Claudia Rankine has made of her savage and stern intelligence, her ruthlessness and her terror, great art.” —Louise Glück

Whether writing about intimacy or alienation, Claudia Rankine’s voice is one of unflinching and unrelenting candor, and her poetry is some of the most innovative and thoughtful to emerge in recent years. Born in Kingston, Jamaica, and educated at Williams College and Columbia University, Rankine is the author of four collections of poetry, including the award-winning Nothing in Nature is Private.

Rankine co-edited the anthology American Women Poets in the 21st Century: Where Lyric Meets Language, and her work is included in several anthologies, including The Garden Thrives: Twentieth Century African-American Poetry. Her work has been published in numerous journals including Boston Review, TriQuarterly, and The Poetry Project Newsletter. Claudia Rankine lives and teaches in California.

(from Blue Flower Arts)

Past Winners:

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.