Alabama Writers' Forum

Winner of the Fitzgerald Prize for Literary Excellence: An Evening with Ta-Nehisi Coates, Celebrating American Storytelling
2023-09-22 18:30 - 20:00 (America/Chicago) | Ralph Abernathy Hall, 1625 Harris Way, Montgomery, AL, 36106, United States
The Fitzgerald Prize for Literary Excellence is awarded annually by the Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum to an author whose work continues the legacy of American storytelling while also exemplifying the craft, wit, and social insight typified by F. Scott Fitzgerald. F. Scott Fitzgerald was a novelist, short story writer, essayist, screenwriter, playwright, lyricist, poet, and veteran. The Fitzgerald Prize recognizes an author’s contribution in one or more of these areas.
The Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum is pleased to award Ta-Nehisi Coates the 2023 Fitzgerald Prize for Literary Excellence for his work in promoting social and racial understanding as an essayist and novelist, while also fostering American storytelling as an educator and writer across multiple disciplines and genres including screenwriter and graphic novelist.
An Evening with Ta-Nehisi Coates will be held at Alabama State University’s Ralph Abernathy Hall in Montgomery, Alabama on Friday, Sept. 22 from 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm. The evening will include the awarding of the 2023 F. Scott Fitzgerald Prize for Literary Excellence by the Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum, followed by a discussion between Mr. Coates and Dr. Derryn Moten, professor of History at Alabama State University.
Audience members are encouraged to submit questions for the discussion in advance using the Q&A submission link.
Tickets are available through Eventbrite:
https://aneveningwithtanehisicoates.eventbrite.com

Author Andeana Simone Stewart Event
2023-09-22 12:00 - 14:00
Author Andeana Simone Stewart Event: book signing; books for sale. Andeana Simone Stewart has a total of 18 books out now available on amazon.com

Understanding Sickle Cell Disease Community Advocacy Event
2023-09-19 17:30 - 18:30 | The NewSouth Bookstore, 105 S. Court St, Montgomery, 36104, United States
We are proud to host a special educational program called Understanding Sickle Cell Disease: A Community Advocacy Event, arranged in partnership with Sickle Cell Foundation, Greater Montgomery, and Children’s of Alabama. A panel of doctors and researchers collaborating in the treatment of sickle cell anemia will gather to update our friends and neighbors about the disease. Come listen and learn!

Call for Submissions at Thirteen Bridges Review - AUM's professional literary journal
2023-09-18 - 2023-11-01
We are now accepting submissions at Thirteen Bridges Review in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction until November 1.
Accepted stories and poems will be posted to our monthly features gallery on our new website at https://www.thirteenbridgesreview.com/
We have an international focus but always love supporting local writers, so please don’t hesitate to send us your work.
Guidelines and submission links here:
https://thirteenbridgesreview.submittable.com/submit

NewSouth Bookstore hosting Victor Luckerson
2023-09-14 17:30 - 19:00 | The NewSouth Bookstore, 105 S. Court St, Montgomery, 36104, United States
Victor Luckerson comes home to his native Montgomery for this special bookstore program in connection with the release of his new book, Built from the Fire: The Epic Story of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, America’s Black Wall Street, is a multigenerational saga of a community that in one century survived the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, urban renewal, and gentrification. Jelani Cobb of The New Yorker calls Built from the Fire “an American epic — damning in its implications, inspirational in its theme of perseverance no matter the obstacles, and compelling from its opening paragraph to its final sentence.” Victor Luckerson is among the best journalists covering race matters today, writing for The New Yorker, The New York Times, Wired, and other publications. His first Montgomery appearance since the publication of Built from the Fire is bound to be a fascinating one. Please join us.

There IS a Balm in Gilead
2023-09-12 08:30 - 2023-09-14 17:00
“There IS A Balm in Gilead: Healing From The Events of 1963″ is a conference that will take place September 12-14, 2023, in Birmingham, Alabama. We will discuss the events of 1963 that changed the city and inspired similar movements for human and civil rights across the nation and worldwide.
Complete Conference Registration includes:
– Opening Reception
– Access to keynote and breakout sessions
– Breakfast, lunch, and refreshment breaks
Registration Fees and Tickets:
– Full conference: $200
– Pre-conference AM Bus Tour of Historic Civil Rights Sites in BHAM: $50.00
– Pre-conference PM Bus Tour of Historic Civil Rights Sites in BHAM: $50.00
– Refund Policy: Refunds up to 30 days before the event

DISQUIET International Literary Program
2023-09-11 - 2023-12-01
Program applications are open until December 1 for the DISQUIET International Literary Program. Experience contemporary Portuguese literature and workshop your writing next summer with the DISQUIET International Literary Program in Lisbon. Faculty for 2024 will include Jessica Anthony, Chris Feliciano Arnold, Jamel Brinkley, Cyriaco Lopes, T Kira Madden, Diana Khoi Nguyen, Katherine Vaz, Terri Witek, and many more TBA.
Full tuition waivers are available through our writing contest; see our website for details or enter at disquietinternational.submittable.com

Alabama Writers’ Cooperative 100th Anniversary Conference
2023-09-08 16:00 - 2023-09-10 14:00 | O’Neal Public Library, 50 Oak Street, Mountain Brook, AL, 35213, United States
Our in-person conference will feature writing workshops, manuscript consultations, an awards banquet to honor our contest winners, open mic, and the annual AWC membership meeting.

Reading by Ashley M. Jones, Poet Laureate of Alabama
2023-09-07 17:30 - 19:00 | University of South Alabama, Student Center Ballroom, 350 Alumni Drive, Mobile, AL, 36608, United States
Ashley M. Jones will share poems from her powerful books: Magic City Gospel (Hub City Press, 2017), dark // thing (Pleiades Press, 2019), and REPARATIONS NOW! (Hub City Press, 2021). Her poetry has earned several awards, including the Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers Award, the Silver Medal in the Independent Publishers Book Awards, the Lena-Miles Wever Todd Prize for Poetry, and the Lucille Clifton Legacy Award. Featured on several news outlets including Good Morning America, ABC News, and the BBC, Jones lives in Birmingham where she is the Associate Director of the University Honors Program at UAB.

Dr. Lee Farrow Series on 19th-century Russian Writers Begins
2023-09-07 17:30 - 19:00 | The NewSouth Bookstore, 105 S. Court St, Montgomery, 36104, United States
Join us for a special three-part series on Russia’s great nineteenth-century writers led by Lee Farrow, Chair of the Department of History and World Cultures at Auburn University at Montgomery. Farrow’s first program will be held Thursday, September 7, at 5:30pm. Her topic for the evening will be the work of Alexander Pushkin, widely considered Russia’s greatest poet, and his contemporary Nikolai Gogol, who both critiqued Russian society and government through their writing, the only way intellectuals could challenge the autocracy in a (relatively) safe manner. Pushkin, in particular, highlighted the impotency of Russia’s educated upper class and created the trope of the “superfluous man” that would dominate Russian literature for several decades. Three cheers to Steve Brickley, whose request for “intellectually stimulating bookstore programming” led us to reach out to Lee Farrow. Our sincere thanks to Dr. Farrow for gifting us with this program. You won’t want to miss it.

Thin Air Magazine Call for Submissions
2023-09-01 10:00 - 2023-10-16 01:59
Thin Air Magazine is accepting submissions for our 30th issue until October 15th, 2023! This year’s theme is Uprooted! We invite work that reflects on how personal and/ or collective uprooting transforms us. Consider: personal identity, physical locales, relationships, language, life circumstances, and all else. However, all art uproots us so you are welcome to submit your work regardless of how directly it speaks to this year’s theme. We accept fiction and nonfiction up to 3,000 words, or up to three poems. We are also seeking visual art submissions that might serve as the cover for Issue 30. View submission guidelines and submit via the Thin Air Magazine Submittable.
We charge a $3.00 submission fee for our print issue as well as Thin Air Online. This fee will be waived from October 9th to October 11th in celebration of Indigenous Peoples’ Day in an effort to minimize barriers and encourage work from marginalized writers.
We are also accepting submissions for the fourth annual Bird In Your Hands Prize. This contest celebrates and centers BIPOC writers. We accept submissions of under 500 words in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. The winner will receive $500, be published in Issue 30 of Thin Air, and interviewed for Thin Air Online. The winner and runners-up will also be invited to read their work at the Northern Arizona Book Festival held in April 2024. First and second runners-up will be awarded an honorarium. Entries are limited to BIPOC writers, and will be accepted from September 15th to November 5th on Submittable. This year’s judge is National Poetry Series winner Kinsale Drake.

Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald Young Writers Award: Submissions Period
2023-09-01 - 2023-12-31 | Fitzgerald Museum, 919 Felder Avenue, Montgomery, AL, 36106, United States
Montgomery, Alabama native Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald was daring and revolutionary in her life, art, and writing, and The Fitzgerald Museum’s Young Writers Award that bears her name seeks to identify and honor Alabama’s high school students who share her talent and spirit. Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald was inducted into the Alabama Writers Hall of Fame in spring 2020. This award, which was first given the following year, celebrates her life and legacy by recognizing the talents and abilities of young Alabama writers.
General Guidelines:
The Fitzgerald Museum’s fourth annual Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald Young Writers Award is accepting submissions of portfolios from young writers who are currently attending high school (grades 9 – 12) in Alabama. Portfolios should contain literary works (stories, poems, plays or film scripts, multi-genre works) totaling 5 to 15 pages with font sizes no smaller than 11 point. Writers are encouraged to include works that are innovative in style, content, form, and/or technique. Literary works may include artwork, illustrations, font variations, and other graphic elements, but these elements should enhance the work, not simply decorate the page.
The submissions period is open from September 1 until December 31, 2023. Each student may only enter once.
Portfolios will be judged holistically, and only one award will be given each year. The recipient will be announced by March 15, 2024.
Portfolios should be submitted through the web form on the Fitzgerald Museum’s website. Due to issues of compatibility, works should be collected into one PDF named with the author’s first initial [dot] last name [underscore] ZeldaPortfolio (for example, J.Smith_ZeldaPortfolio.pdf). Questions about the award or the entry process may be sent to contest coordinator Foster Dickson at fitzgeraldliterarycontest@gmail.com, with “Zelda Fitzgerald Award Question” in the subject line.
This year’s judge for the award is Lenore Vickrey. Since 2012, Vickrey has been the editor of Alabama Living magazine, which is the largest circulation magazine in the state. She has been a journalist since high school and has more than forty-five years of experience as a newspaper reporter, editor, and corporate communicator.

The Fitzgerald Museum's sixth annual Literary Contest: Submissions Period
2023-09-01 - 2023-12-31 | The Fitzgerald Museum, 919 Felder Avenue, Montgomery, AL, 36106, United States
F. Scott and Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald were daring and revolutionary in their lives and in their art and writing. More than one hundred years after they met in Montgomery, Alabama, the Fitzgeralds’ literary and artistic works from the 1920s and 1930s are still regarded as groundbreaking, and The Fitzgerald Museum is seeking to identify and honor the daring and revolutionary young writers and artists of this generation.
Categories: Grades 9–10, Grades 11–12, Undergraduate
General Guidelines for 2023 – 2024:
The Fitzgerald Museum’s sixth annual Literary Contest is accepting submissions of short fiction, poetry, ten-minute plays, film scripts, and multi-genre works that exhibit the theme “The Best Postman in the World,” which comes from lines in Act III of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1923 stage play The Vegetable. This theme implies works about ambition, the pursuit of a goal, or excellence in one’s work. Works with traditional forms and styles will be accepted for judging, yet writers are encouraged to send works that utilize innovative forms and techniques. Literary works may include artwork, illustrations, font variations, and other graphic elements, with the caveat that these elements should enhance the work, not simply decorate the page.
The submissions period is open from September 1 until December 31, 2023. Works will be judged within three separate age categories, not by genre, so please be clear about the age category. Submissions should not exceed ten pages (with font sizes no smaller than 11 point). Each student may only enter once. Awards will be announced by March 15, 2024. Each age/grade category will have a single winner and possibly an honorable mention.
Works should be submitted through the web form available on the Fitzgerald Museum’s website. Due to issues of compatibility, works should be submitted as PDF to ensure that they appear as the author intends. Files should be named with the author’s first initial [dot] last name [underscore] title. For example, J.Smith_InnovativeStory.pdf. Questions about the contest or the entry process may be sent to contest coordinator Foster Dickson at fitzgeraldliterarycontest@gmail.com, with “Literary Contest Question” in the subject line.
This year’s judges are Zestlan Simmons for the undergraduate category and Jim Hilgartner for the high school categories. Zestlan Simmons is an alumni of the Carver Creative and Performing Arts Center’s creative writing component and has been a high school English teacher for more than twenty years. She was the 2018 Alabama Teacher of the Year. Jim Hilgartner is a fiction writer and teacher who has published work in ACM: Another Chicago Magazine, Greensboro Review, Mid-American Review, New Orleans Review, Vermont Literary Review, Xavier Review, and elsewhere. He has also served as fiction editor at Black Warrior Review, THAT Literary Review, and (currently) Thirteen Bridges Review. Hilgartner retired as Professor of English at Huntingdon College in 2023.
The Literary Contest’s annual themes honor and reflect upon the Fitzgeralds’ literary legacy. The inaugural contest had as its theme “What’s Old is New,” which encouraged students to look to tradition for inspiration. For the second year, the theme “Love + Marriage” celebrated the centennial of the couple’s courtship and marriage. In year three, “The Education of a Personage” centered on themes of growth and maturing aligned with the centennial of Scott’s debut novel This Side of Paradise. Year four harkened back to 1921’s The Beautiful and the Damned with the theme “The Radiant Hour.” Last year’s theme, “Unclassified Masterpieces,” honored the anniversary of the 1922 story collection Tales from the Jazz Age. While these themes do parallel the Fitzgerald’s literary and personal history, they are intended to guide students to consider and examine the present and the future as Scott and Zelda did in their day.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS Literature Today - October 2023 Issue:
2023-08-31 08:00 - 2023-10-15 17:00
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS Literature Today – October 2023 Issue:
Literature Today- an International Literary Journal is inviting submissions for October 2023 issue of ‘Literature Today’. The theme of our October 2023 issue is ‘ Man and Nature’. You can send us poems, short stories, memoirs and one minute plays on :
Website: https://literaturetodayjournal.blogspot.com/
1. Beauty of nature.
2. Destruction of nature by Man.
3. Natural hazards and Man.
4. Conflicts between Man and Nature.
5. Joys of Nature
6. Nature as guide of man
7. Nature as philosopher
8. Any other themes related to ‘Nature’.
Submission Deadline: October 15, 2023
send all submissions to : editorliteraturetoday@gmail.com
PLEASE SHARE THIS EMAIL ON YOUR BIOG/PAGE/WEBSITE
PS. You may also check videos of authors reading their work on our new YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2pArEG14AU&t=1s
Submission Guidelines:
1. Send not more than 4 poems (preferably short poems up to 1 page for each poem).
2. Send not more than 2 short stories (word limit of 500 words for each story)/2 one minute plays (2 pages for each play)/ 2 memoirs (1000 words for each memoire).
3. Work submitted for publication must be original.
4. Simultaneous submissions are also welcome.
5. Send all submissions to editorliteraturetoday@gmail.com
6. Please send a cover letter and short Bio-data, (Maximum 50 words) in third person narrative, with your submission. Please attach a high-resolution photo of yours, too.
#callforsubmissions #poetry #poetrycommunity #authorcommunity #literature #literarymagazine #booklover #drama #OneMinutePlay #DramaAlert #shortstory #callforpoems #callforstory #callfordrama

Goldilocks Zone: $500 for Authors/Artists
2023-08-29 - 2023-09-30 | Online, NC
Sunspot Lit seeks a story, essay, excerpt from longer prose pieces, artwork, graphic novel, or poem that combines excellence in craft with reader or audience appeal. Feedback for fiction and nonfiction submissions available for additional fee. Prize: $500 cash and publication for the winner; publication for runners-up and finalists. Closes September 30, 2023. Enter through Submittable: https://sunspotlit.submittable.com/submit/269320/goldilocks-zone-2023-500-for-fiction-cnf-poetry-art-graphic-novel or Duotrope: https://duotrope.com/duosuma/submit/form.aspx?id=LEAD98D-LIXJW-LeLV84G.

Pulitzer Prize Winner Jefferson Cowie Book Talk
2023-08-16 17:30 - 19:00 | The NewSouth Bookstore, 105 S. Court St, Montgomery, 36104, United States
Count us fortunate! Jefferson Cowie will be our guest on Wednesday, August 16 at 5:30pm with his new Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Freedom’s Dominion: A Saga of White Resistance to Federal Power. In fact, he’ll be in Alabama traveling with the Pulitzer Prize committee. Freedom’s Dominion is a magisterial work — “important, deeply affecting, and regrettably relevant” (NY Times) — which traces the long-running clash between white people and federal authority through the lens of Barbour County, Alabama, the ancestral home of political firebrand George Wallace. The New Republic calls Freedom’s Dominion “outstanding and urgent. A remarkable achievement.” Please join us in welcoming Professor Cowie for a talk about his powerful work of history.

Southern Humanities Review Call for Submissions
2023-08-15 00:00 - 2023-11-01 23:59
Southern Humanities Review is seeking poetry, fiction, and nonfiction for our next quarterly issue. Submissions will be open until November 1st. Poetry is capped at 250 submissions. There are 100 free submissions available for BIPOC writers. Contributors receive a small honorarium.

Dr. Monica Powell Book Signing
2023-08-04 16:30 - 17:30 | Juliette Hampton Morgan Memorial Library, 245 High St., Montgomery, AL, 36104, United States
New Author and Podcaster Dr. Monica Powell will have a “Meet the Author” Book Signing event at the Juliette Hampton Morgan Memorial Library, Friday, August 4, 4:30-5:30. Dr. Powell’s new book is entitled Drop Everything and Pray Journal. The reading and book signing will be held on the 2nd Floor, Adult Fiction section of the library.

Art Talk with Emily Thomas from the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts
2023-08-03 18:00 - 19:00 | The NewSouth Bookstore, 105 S. Court St, Montgomery, 36104, United States
The NewSouth Bookstore hosts Emily Thomas of the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts for an ArtTalk.

SPARK Writing Festival
2023-07-31 09:00 - 2023-08-04 20:00
SPARK 2023: Put Your Words in the World
July 31st – August 4th
SPARK is a community-based creative writing festival. We welcome writers of all experience levels, and we really love bringing new writers to the table. Have you ever felt that small stirring inside of you like you have some words to share? Then SPARK is where you belong!
There are two ways to experience SPARK:
*Ticketed events: grab your ticket for a five-day, in-person experience on UAB’s campus. One ticket gets you into both our immersive and genre workshops.
*Free community events: join us online via Zoom to connect with SPARKers all over the nation. These events are fun creative sessions hosted in the evening and designed to bring us together to celebrate writing.
Immersive Workshops
Each morning we’ll start with an immersive workshop experience that introduces participants to approaching the writing process from a new angle. These workshops will get participants engaging their senses to connect with the world around them.
Monday, July 31: Improv Comedy with Chris Davis
Tuesday, August 1: Movement + Writing with Brandon Shaw
Wednesday, August 2: Nature Writing with Halley Cotton
Thursday, August 3: Zine Making Workshop with Halley Cotton
Friday, August 4: Scent Workshop with Nellie Beckett
Genre Workshops
Have you really wanted to dig in and commit to your writing? Then the genre workshops are for you. We have 4 in-person workshops hosted on UAB’s campus. Choose one workshop and you’ll get to spend time building community and practicing your writing through 4 days of intentional study. Workshops are held from 10am – Noon, July 31st – August 3rd, with a community-building reception on the 4th.
Fiction with Will Walton
Two-time novelist (I Felt a Funeral, in my Brain and Anything Could Happen), Will Walton will create a space for imagination and exploration for those interested in fiction writing.
Poetry with Tina Mozelle Braziel
Phillip Levine Prize poetry winner and Alabama State Council on the Arts Fellow, Tina Mozelle Braziel, will guide participants through the poetic process with prompts that create a greater awareness of the world around us.
Writing for Young Adults with Randi Pink
Critically acclaimed and award-winning author, Randi Pink, will walk workshoppers through the process of constructing and shaping the writing of literature for young audiences. Participants will have the chance to meet and talk with an agent on their last workshop day.
Memoir with Salaam Green
Known for her transformative healing work and ability to bring out the depth of others’ writing, Salaam Green is an award-winning artist and writer. Her workshop will help unlock the writer within and guide writers through the process of putting their life stories down on the page.
Free Community Events
Free and open to everyone. Please register for Zoom link access. The same Zoom link will connect you to all sessions.
All Sessions are hosted at 7pm Central Time
Monday, July 31: Journaling through your work in progress with Javacia Harris Bowser
Tuesday, August 1: How Alabama The Beautiful Magazine is created with Beth Cowan Drake
Wednesday, August 2: Digital Distribution Workshop with Halley Cotton
Thursday, August 3: Print Distribution Workshop with Halley Cotton
Friday, August 4: Digital Poetry/Story Video Workshop with Halley Cotton

Author Andeana Simone Stewart Event
2023-07-29 09:00 - 12:30 | Juliette Hampton Morgan Memorial Library, 245 High St., Montgomery, AL, 36104, United States
Author Andeana Simone Stewart is having her first book sale on Saturday, July 29th at 9:00 a.m., at the Juliette Hampton Morgan Library, 245 High Street in Montgomery. She will have 14 children’s book selections available, the latest being, I Am Enough.

Open calls for writers and artists
2023-07-26 - 2023-09-30 | Online, NC
Sunspot Lit welcomes art and fiction, nonfiction, poetry, scripts, and graphic novels from 4 words to 49,000 words (open calls for longer categories close early). Accepting genre, commercial, mainstream and literary pieces. Pays editor’s prizes and cover art. Submit at https://sunspotlit.submittable.com/submit today!

Alabama Jewish Culture and History Symposium
2023-07-25 09:30 - 15:30 | Temple Beth Or, 2246 Narrow Lane Rd., Montgomery, AL, 36106, United States
The NewSouth Bookstore will be offsite at Temple Beth Or in Montgomery for the Alabama Jewish Culture and History Symposium. The symposium is open to the public. Register for the program at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/alabama-jewish-culture-and-history-symposium-tickets-574706812547?aff=oddtdtcreator. The Alabama Jewish Culture and History Symposium is designed to connect communities, researchers, and ideas to promote collaboration and exchange, with the ultimate goal of strengthening the documentation and preservation of Jewish life in Alabama.

The NewSouth Bookstore hosting James R. Hansen!
2023-07-20 17:30 - 19:00 | The NewSouth Bookstore, 105 S. Court St, Montgomery, 36104, United States
James Hansen joins us on Thursday, July 20 at 5:30pm for the perfect summer book program connected with his new release, Completely Mad. From the New York Times bestselling author of The First Man comes a sweeping saga involving two extraordinary—and extraordinarily different—adventurers who have only one thing in common: the ambition to cross the Atlantic in a rowboat . . . alone. In this bracing adventure tale, the story of John Fairfax and Tom McClean are woven together for the first time. Fairfax would set off from the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa with his sights on Florida. McClean charted a course from Newfoundland to Ireland. Though the two men’s remarkable transoceanic journeys seem pulled from a different era, both finished within days of the first landing on the moon in July 1969. With gripping and insightful prose, James R. Hansen brings to life their nail-biting expeditions.

WGA Member Special: End Summer Strong Tues, August 15th
2023-07-13 08:00 - 2023-08-15 17:00
In solidarity with the WGA, we have three
50% scholarships available for guild members who want to write a new spec in this end of summer start.
10-Week Basic Training: Tuesday, August 15th
Only 5 Roster Spots Remaining
Take Your Script Idea Through Three Drafts in 10 Hours Per Week for 10 Weeks with Founder Jeffrey Gordon
Alumni receive 20% partial scholarship and Pro Members returning to Project Group as Officers receive Basic Training as a complimentary jump-start.
No writer achieves more without a real deadline and, in the absence of an official writing gig, without a regimen of support.
You can join Writers Boot Camp Founder, Jeffrey Gordon for the second summer session, the Basic Training starting shortly after the July roster on Tuesday, August 15th. Basic Training will help you
write your movie, TV pilot or book. The 10-week process will guide you through the same tools as 12,000 past alumni–and success stories of writers and filmmakers with hundreds of major movie and television credits.
As we’ve emphasized for the past 34 years supporting screenwriters and helping launch careers:
If you commit 10 hours per week for 10 weeks, we’ll help you turn your movie or TV idea into a first draft plus two rewrites–while learning unique writing tools and fundamentals of the profession.
As summer fast extends, nearly half of the year gone, you can see that creative resolve and productivity can quickly suffer and you can lose momentum under the weight of other priorities.
Achievement requires renewed commitment–and 10 hours per week can make all the difference.
Writers Boot Camp will help you manage project goals and shift the trajectory of your year ahead. In just 10 weeks, we can help you through three drafts of your TV Pilot or Feature Film script–or to develop and write the story foundation and initial set of pages for a book or novel.
Writers Boot Camp’s tools and strategies have launched hundreds of alumni to careers in television and movies–and the tools apply to prose projects, as hundreds of books by alumni have been published following the experience and struggle of compacting and structuring stories for the big and small screen.
Basic Training Is More Than Basic
The simple, forthright decision to commit to your writing can make all the difference. While Basic Training is more than basic for writers with prior experience, who will appreciate how we put names to key story challenges and writing blocks, newer writers will greatly benefit from the mentoring and support to learn a foundation of comprehensive tools for Concept, Structure, Character Development, and crucial distinctions of the script page.
A positive side effect of the pandemic, the move to zoom has allowed writers and filmmakers outside of LA to participate in the LA groups, which even many past alumni were not able to do.
For more info, please email jg@writersbootcamp.com. Monthly payment plans are very affordable and also may be customized for writers referred by friends and alumni.
As always, we love to hear from alumni with news and success stories!

Call for Submissions: The 2023 X. J. Kennedy Poetry Prize
2023-07-01 - 2023-09-30 | TRP: The University Press of SHSU, United States
2023 Judge: Richard Blanco
Established in 1998, The X. J. Kennedy Poetry Prize highlights one full-length collection of poetry per year. The Prize comes with a $10,000 advance, publication by TRP, and 10 copies of the published book.
Submissions open each year on July 1 and close on September 30. All submissions through Submittable.

Call for Submissions: The 2023 George Garrett Fiction Prize
2023-07-01 - 2023-09-30
2023 Judge: Manuel Muñoz
Established in 1998, The George Garrett Fiction Prize highlights one book a year for excellence in a short story collection or novel. The Prize comes with a $1,000 advance, publication by TRP, and 10 copies of the published book.
Submissions open each year on July 1 and close on September 30. All submissions through Submittable.

INCEPTION: Authors and Artists Eligible for $500 Prize
2023-06-29 - 2023-07-31 | Online, NC
Beginnings have a particular power. For Sunspot Lit’s current Inception contest, send your best fiction, nonfiction, poetry, graphic novel, comic, or art opening. Feedback available.
Close: July 31, 2023
Entry fee: $10
Prize: $500 cash plus publication for the winner.
Enter as many times as you like through Submittable: https://sunspotlit.submittable.com/submit or Duotrope: https://duotrope.com/listing/27249/sunspot-literary-journal.

Lee Durkee Coming to The NewSouth Bookstore!
2023-06-22 17:30 - 19:00 | The NewSouth Bookstore, 105 S. Court St, Montgomery, 36104, United States
Author Lee Durkee will be our very special bookstore guest on Thursday, June 22 at 5:30pm with his new work, Stalking Shakespeare. This book is a darkly humorous and spellbinding detective story that chronicles one Mississippi man’s relentless search for an authentic portrait of William Shakespeare. Stalking Shakespeare is an entertaining and surprisingly moving blend of biography and art history with a dash of madness added in. Lee Durkee with regale us with his adventures in writing this book. Don’t miss the fun!

LGBTQIA+ Contributions Fellowship
2023-06-12 10:00 - 2023-06-27 19:00
Apply by Tues. June 27th, 2023, 5pm (PST)
Three Fellowship Awards for LGBTQIA+ Writers & Filmmakers
You can apply via the application on our website:
Writers Boot Camp Fellowship Application.
Writers Boot Camp continues our support of fresh voices and diverse artists this month by providing three $2500 full scholarships to writers in the Saturday, July 8th 10-Week Basic Training.
In celebration of Pride this month’s theme is LGBTQIA+ Contributions.
Candidates must self-identify as LGBTQIA+ and submit a project focusing on at least one Main Character presenting within that background and involved in a story with related subject matter.
Whether writing about personal challenges, about a relationship or family circumstance, an historical retrospective or modern take on past events, a leadership or political issues piece, or a simply entertaining and engaging project–all formats and genres of TV, movies, books, novels, and non-fiction can be supported and are welcome.
While in many cases, audiences can benefit from authentic representation of any kind, especially in the realm of LGBTQIA+ inclusion, we encourage all writers to consider how a project idea offers a fresh take and contribution to the “ongoing conversation” to rise above cliche or a more generic approach. Of course, that’s the key to any idea in the entertainment industry, which is an idea business.
Our tools are agnostic in that there is no imposition of bias, and Writers Boot Camp’s diversity track record through the years is unparalleled. You can read more about the process at writersbootcamp.com and the fellowship application page.
Writers must verify their availability to write 10 hours per week for 10 weeks during the Basic Training process that has supported more than 12,000 writers and filmmakers over the past 34 years.
We encourage all applicants to read about the professional approach in all of Writers Boot Camp’s educational support, as well as distinctions that have made the learning and productivity environment of our writing groups and individual artists successful through the years.
We discourage applying if there’s any risk that winning could prevent another deserving writer from our support in the case that you might drop or not take full advantage of the award after winning.
While we celebrate our anniversary each October, the first session conducted by founder Jeffrey Gordon (JG ) was in his living room in March 1989 during his last semester of his MFA at USC’s Peter Stark Producing Program. JG currently conducts all Basic Trainings and Pro Membership Project Groups.
Pertinent professional experience combined with cogent answers will complement the project idea to determine the three winners.
Eligibility Notes
Writers Boot Camp alumni who have applied to a prior fellowship within the past six months–or who have won before–may apply for fun yet are not eligible to win. Winners must confirm their availability to participate in Basic Training, along with 10 hours per week for creative exercises and writing for 10 weeks without risk of dropping due to outside conflict or work opportunities. Only winners will be notified individually. All non-winners will be notified by email within a few days of the selection of winners.
Please complete only one application per person. Partners working together may apply via separate applications utilizing the same project. Keep every answer to only one single sentence, including your answers to the four topical questions combined into one four-sentence paragraph.
Please Don’t Wait Until The Last Minute to Apply!
Fellowship Application Deadline: Tuesday, June 27th, 5pm, LA time.
We look forward to supporting three dynamic artists and their writing process with us. We appreciate the efforts and applications of all the candidates, and the staff will follow up with brief notes about their personal expressions and the potential of their project ideas!
For information, call 310 998 1199.
