Canadian writers in the early stage of their career are being invited to submit their work for the Kalamalka Press second annual John Lent Poetry-Prose Award.
“We’re looking for chapbook-length works of poetry, short fictions or hybrids thereof,” said contest coordinator Kevin McPherson, who is editor-in-chief of Kalamalka Press and an English professor at Okanagan College.
Named after Lent, a Vernon-based novelist and poet, co-founder of Kalamalka Press and retired English professor/regional dean at Okanagan College, the award is open to early-stage writers who have not published more than two full-length books.
“We especially want to encourage poets and fictioneers to be playful and riskful from the get-go of their careers,” said McPherson.
Last year, the inaugural award went to Winnipeg writer Ariel Gordon, who was the 2010 recipient of the John Hirsch Award for most promising Manitoba writer. Her submission, How to Make a Collage, was selected from 36 manuscripts.
Since its establishment in the mid-1980s, Kalamalka Press has been committed to working with young and emerging Canadian writers, including now well-known writer Karen Connelly who received the Pat Lowther Award for her book, The Small Words in My Body, published by Kalamalka Press.
The press also works in conjunction with Okanagan College, publishing works produced through the Okanagan College Three-Hour Short Story Contest, and the Mackie Lecture and Reading Series, along with other occasional chapbooks.
Entry fee for the John Lent Poetry-Prose Award is $10, and writers can enter as many times as they wish between now and the May 1 deadline.
The winner will receive a $100 honorarium, and will have their work published in a limited fine-press edition by Kalamalka Press.
For more information about the award, including submission requirements, visit www.kalamalkapress.com.
