Letras Latinas, the literary program of the Institute for Latino Studies at the University of Notre Dame, in partnership with Red Hen Press in Pasadena, CA, is pleased to support the publication of a second or third full-length collection of poems by a Latino or Latina poet.
The winning poet will receive $1000, a contract from Red Hen Press and, upon publication of the winning book, an invitation to give a reading in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, and Washington, D.C.
The Ragdale Foundation will offer a two-week residency to the poet in the year the winning book appears.
Letras Latinas will also set aside a modest fund to help defray travel costs associated with further promotion of the winning book.
The Letras Latinas / Red Hen Poetry Prize is awarded every other year. There is no entry fee.
The inaugural deadline is January 15, 2012.
Final Judge: Orlando Ricardo Menes
Orlando Ricardo Menes’ poems have appeared in such literary magazines as Ploughshares, The Antioch Review, Shenandoah, Chelsea, Callaloo, Prairie Schooner, North American Review, New Letters, Indiana Review, Crab Orchard Review, and Epoch, among others. His latest poetry collection, Furia, was published by Milkweed Editions in 2005. He is also the author of Rumba Atop the Stones and editor of two anthologies: Re-naming Ecstasy: Latino Writings on the Sacred (Bilingual Press, 2004) and The Opening Light: Poets from Notre Dame, 1991 – 2008 (University of Notre Dame Press, 2011). A book of translations, entitled My Heart Flooded with Water: Selected Poems by Alfonsina Storni, appeared from Latin American Literary Review Press in 2009. Orlando Menes teaches in the Creative Writing Program at the University of Notre Dame, where he is an Associate Professor in the English Department. In 2009, he was awarded a literature fellowship (poetry) by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).
Guidelines
Only submissions following these guidelines will be considered.
Eligibility
Latino or Latina poets who have had one or two full-length books of poetry professionally published: to establish eligibility, authors are asked to include with their submission a photocopy of both the title and copyright page of a first or second book of poems. Authors who have published three or more full-length books of poetry are not eligible.
Manuscripts may be submitted elsewhere simultaneously, but authors must notify the Institute for Latino Studies immediately if a manuscript becomes committed to another press. It is understood that, in the absence of such notification, the winning author is committed to publishing his/her manuscript with Red Hen Press. A manuscript committed to another press is not eligible for the Letras Latinas / Red Hen Poetry Prize. Employees and students of the University of Notre Dame and employees and board members of Red Hen Press are not eligible.
Also, in the interest of widening the circle, winners of the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize—the Letras Latinas first book award—are not eligible.
*TWO hard copies of your manuscript must be submitted.
*Manuscripts must be of original poetry, in English, by one poet who is a citizen or resident of the United States. There are no restrictions on the style of poetry or subject matter. Translations are not eligible.
*The manuscript must be a minimum of 50 numbered pages and a maximum of 100 numbered pages in length. All manuscripts must be paginated. Each new poem must start a new page.
*The manuscript should begin with unnumbered frontmatter: a title page that shows the book’s title and your name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address; a table of contents; and (if applicable) a list of acknowledgements.
*Also, please include a single title page with nothing else on it in order to facilitate the blind reading of your manuscript on the part of the final judge.
*Begin paginating the manuscript after the front matter. If your book is divided into parts or has an epigraph, Page 1 will be the first part title or the epigraph. Otherwise, Page 1 will be the first poem.
*In formatting the manuscript, please make legibility your first priority. If you use a word processor, choose a standard typeface (such as Garamond or Times New Roman) in at least 10-point type. Manuscripts should be single-spaced or 1.5 spaced. Handwritten manuscripts will not be accepted.
*A brief biography may appear at the end of the manuscript. This information is not required and, if submitted, need not be included in the page count.
*Each manuscript should be fastened with a binder clip. Staples, report covers, and other bindings should not be used.
*Authors who wish the ILS to acknowledge the receipt of their manuscripts must enclose a self-addressed, stamped postcard.
*Manuscripts submitted to the contest will not be returned. Please keep a copy of the manuscript.
*Due to staff limitations, only those poets who make it to finalist or short list status will be notified. Otherwise, authors can learn who the winner of the prize is by checking LETRAS LATINAS BLOG.
The Institute for Latino Studies reserves the right to withhold the “Letras Latinas / Red Hen Poetry Prize” in any given year.
Please send TWO copies of your manuscript, via US Mail, postmarked no later than January 15, 2012, to:
Francisco Aragón
Coordinator, Letras Latinas/
Red Hen Poetry Prize
Institute for Latino Studies
230 McKenna Hall
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN 46556
More information here.
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