This year, we’re excited to announce that our Open Genre Book Contest is transitioning to a regular, annual schedule. Each year, submissions will be open from September 1st to November 1st. The winner will be announced by the end of February of the following year.
Starting in 2025, the winner of the contest will receive, in addition to book publication, a standard royalty contract, and a $1,500 cash prize, a three week-long residency at The Rice Place, along the Clackamas River in Damascus, Oregon. We strive to nurture long-term relationships with our authors. This residency, intended to support the whole career of the writer, is an opportunity to start new or continue preexisting projects and to relax. The residency will culminate in an outdoor reading and celebration, free and open to the public.
This year, the FE Open Genre Book Contest will be guest-judged by Brandon Shimoda.
Brandon Shimoda is the author of several books of poetry and prose, including two memoirs of Japanese America, THE GRAVE ON THE WALL and THE AFTERLIFE IS LETTING GO (both from City Lights, 2019/2024), and HYDRA MEDUSA (Nightboat Books, 2023). He’s the co-editor, with Brynn Saito, of THE GATE OF MEMORY, an anthology of poetry on Nikkei wartime incarceration, written by descendants of the WWII prisons and camps.
Previous winners of the FE Open Genre Book Contest include:
- Nora Claire Miller, the author of Groceries, selected by Srikanth Reddy (forthcoming)
- Krystal Languell, the author of Systems Thinking With Flowers, selected by Rae Armantrout