Posts By: Britt Ashley

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Announcing the 2015 Nonfiction Prize Winner!

Judge Kiese Laymon has selected “Black (in) Time,” by John Murillo III, as the winner of Indiana Review’s inaugural Nonfiction Prize! Murillo’s piece will appear in the 2015 Winter issue of Indiana Review. We received hundreds of submissions of outstanding quality and variety. All work was read anonymously and closely by our editors. Thanks to all who submitted their work for consideration and made this year’s 2015 Nonfiction Prize possible.

2015 Indiana Review Nonfiction Prize Winner:

“Black (in) Time”

John Murillo III

Laymon has this to say about the winning piece: “I’ve never read an essay that so courageously and really out of necessity blended the mystery, ruthless joy and temporality of black life in this country. The piece moves in and out of music, dramatic scene, playwriting and buoyant social critique not effortlessly, but so, so effectively. It’s one of the most amazing pieces of prose I’ve read in the 21st century.

Congratulations also to our finalists, all of whom submitted excellent nonfiction for consideration in our inaugural nonfiction contest that made the final call a close and difficult one.

Nonfiction Prize Finalists:

Kendra Atleework, “Santa Cruz Blur”

Meilan Carter-Gilkey, “Carnival”

Chris Emslie, “Suffer Us to Famish”

Sari Fordham, “The Foreign Government Dances Back and Forth”

Hafeez Lakhani, “Big Enough”

Maurine Ogbaa, “Something Between Us”

Aaron Orbey, “Boy Problems”

Adrienne Perry, “A Dark and Simple Place”

Abel Shifferaw, “Untitled (Oscar, or Me, or Us)”

Don Stoll, “The Aspect of an Unknown Planet”

Jordan Thomas, “The Murder of Crows”

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Announcing Our 2014 Fiction Prize Winner!

Judge Roxane Gay has selected “The Passuer,” by Erin Lyons, as the winner of Indiana Review‘s 2014 Fiction Prize! Lyons’ story will appear in the 2015 Summer issue of Indiana Review. We received more than 500 submissions, a record number of outstanding quality and variety. All work was read anonymously and closely by our editors. Thanks to all who submitted their work for consideration and made this year’s 2014 Fiction Prize possible.

2014 Indiana Review Fiction Prize Winner:

“The Passeur”

Erin Lyons

Gay has this to say about the winning piece: “The Passeur is a subtle and smart story about what it really looks like when “well meaning” Westerners try to insert themselves into countries with fraught and violent climates. The story artfully reveals, among other things, how good intentions are not nearly enough to solve the very real problems of the world.”

Runner-Up:

“Come Go With Me” by Nora Bonner

Honorable Mentions:

“El Gritón” by Jose Alfaro

“Going Mean” by Dana Diehl

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Special Calls for Nonfiction Submissions!

We a happy to announce two special calls for submissions in Nonfiction! These submissions are exempt from our usual non-subscriber reading fee and are open from December 18 through February 15.

Nonfiction Manifestos

We’re looking for your most marauding manifestos. We don’t want your past; we want your future. We want the culmination of philosophies spawned by all of your cancer-surviving, new-city-visiting, masturbating, real-life soapboxing. We want to know what’s buzzing inside the hive mind of contemporary literature, that work of real necessity. What do you believe will be the next breakthrough? What do you think we should all pay attention to? Dare to tell us all what we should be doing.

Nonfiction Graphic Memoir

When drawing and text are combined to explore the realm of memoir, readers are allowed to enter the headspace of the writer in a way that is akin to walking into someone’s dreams. Somewhere out there, we hope there is a team of benevolent scientists and artists creatively collaborating on inventing a machine that will actually allow us walk through one another’s dreams. When that true genius comes into fruition, rest assured Indiana Review will be the first literary magazine out there turning Dream Walks into a Call for Submissions. In the meantime, we would like to see what you cartoonists, you purposefully lonely and most unsung of all contemporary writing beasts, are doing in your hobbit holes, your hands covered in ink. Collaborative submissions are very welcome.

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Announcing the 2014 Poetry Prize Winner

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Judge Eileen Myles has selected “2006,” by Cecilia Woloch, as the winner of Indiana Review‘s 2014 Poetry Prize! Her poem will appear in the Winter 2014 issue of Indiana Review. We received more than 1000 poems of impressive quality and range, all of which were read anonymously by our editors. We’re happy to also announce the runners-up and finalists.

 

2014 Indiana Review Poetry Prize Winner

“2006”

Cecilia Woloch

On why she chose Woloch’s poem, Myles writes:  It’s “2006” no question.  I like the incantatory structure and it’s full of timely modal shifts to season (Spring) and nature becomes a train.  It rhymes with itself to create a somber effect and glints with dark humor just when you want it. And then it slides away with anonymity and beauty.  It’s sad like history and nature is sad. It’s a profound and simple poem and very rich and kinetic. I admire it a lot. This is a very smart and talented poet.

Runners-Up

“Passport”

Emily Wilson

“To the Falcon Next to Me on Qatar Airways Flight 835”

Emily Mohn-Slate

 

Congratulations to our winner and runners-up and thank you to everyone who submitted. We truly appreciate your thoughtful and excellent work.

Finalists

Caitlin Scarano, “The City that Taught You”

francine j. harris, “canvas”

Joshua Bennett, “Still Life with Best Friend”

Talin Tahajian, “Aviary”

Samiya Bashir, “Universe as an Infant: Fatter than Expected, and Kind of Lumpy”

Danez Smith, “Pitch for a Movie: Dinosaurs in the Hood”

Brandon Rushton, “Portrait of the Body with Bear Trap”