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

POSTMARK Deadline: July 31st, 2008

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

Please send one copy of the manuscript, a cover sheet, a $20 reading fee payable to Kore Press, a self-addressed stamped postcard to acknowledge receipt of the manuscript, and include an email address for award notification. Please note that manuscripts cannot be returned.

Send submissions to:
Kore Press, First Book Award
P.O. Box 43927
Tucson, AZ 85702-3044

Cover sheet should include:

• name
• address
• daytime and evening telephone numbers
• email address
• title of manuscript
• where you heard about the contest
  

Manuscripts must be:
• a minimum of 48 pages and a maximum of 70 pages
• typed on standard white paper
• paginated
• bound with a clip (do not permanently bind in any way)
• 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 co-directors Lisa Bowden and Shannon Cain

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.

For more information email kore@korepress.org,
or call 520-629-9752.

Special Deal for Entrants!

For $39, your manuscript will be entered into the contest and 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.

Rigging the Wind   Various Modes of Departure  The Errant Thread   Loveliest Grotesque

Jenny Barber          Deborah Fries                       Elline Lipkin         Sandra Lim       

2003 winner           2004 winner                          2005 winner        2006 winner

OR: Purchase all five First Book Winners for the price of four.

Click here for details.

Click here to read an interview from Poetry Contest Insider with Kore Press co-directors Lisa Bowden and Shannon Cain

Chicago native Patricia Smith is the author of four books of poetry, including Teahouse of the Almighty, a 2005 National Poetry Series selection, winner of the 2007 Hurston-Wright Legacy Award and the 2007 Paterson Poetry Prize. Teahouse was also voted the Best Poetry Book of 2006 by About.com. Blood Dazzler, a book of poems chronicling the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, will be published by Coffee House Press in 2008. Her work has appeared in Poetry, The Paris Review, TriQuarterly and many other journals.

She is also the author of the groundbreaking history Africans in America and the children's book Janna and the Kings, winner of a Lee & Low Books New Voices Award. In addition, she is a Pushcart Prize winner, a Cave Canem faculty member and a four-time individual champion of the National Poetry Slam. In 2006, during a ceremony at the Gwendolyn Brooks Center of Chicago State University, she was voted into the National Literary Hall of Fame for Writers of African Descent.

2008 Winner

Souveniers of a Shrunken World

Holly Iglesias
Judge: Harryette Mullen

forthcoming fall 2008

2007 Winner

Benjamin's Spectacles

Spring Ulmer
Judge: Sonia Sanchez