2012 ORIGAMI ZOO FICTION CHAPBOOK CONTEST
We are pleased to announce the first ever Origami Zoo Chapbook Contest! The final judge will be the cataclysmic Matt Bell. Matt Bell is the author of Cataclysm Baby, a novella, and How They Were Found, a collection of fiction. His debut novel In the House upon the Dirt between the Lake and the Woods will be published by Soho Press in June 2013. He is the Senior Editor at Dzanc Books, where he also edits the literary magazine The Collagist, and he teaches creative writing at Northern Michigan University.
PRIZES: Winner receives $250, publication by Origami Zoo Press in 2013, 25 copies of the chapbook, and plenty of love and affection.
One honorable mention will also be published by Origami Zoo Press in 2013, receive 25 copies of the chapbook, and an equal amount of love and affection.
WHAT WE WANT: We want stories that surprise and thrill. We want words that come alive with longing on the page. Basically, we just want our minds blown by your writing. Send us something we haven’t seen anywhere else. Send us what you think we absolutely must read.
For more of an idea of what we like, check out the work we’ve previously published, which includes chapbooks by Chad Simpson, BJ Hollars, Brian Oliu and Laura van den Berg. Other writers we enjoy include Jorge Luis Borges, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Shirley Jackson, Italo Calvino, Etgar Keret, John Barth, Kelly Link, Aimee Bender, Karen Russell and Benjamin Percy.
GUIDELINES (please read thoroughly before submitting!): Submissions must be received no later than January 5, 2013. Submit manuscripts of 40-80 pages in either doc, docx, pdf, or rtf format. Both novellas and collections are welcome. It’s great if pieces of the manuscript have been previously published as standalone pieces or excerpts, as long as the manuscript as a whole has not been published. Include title page, table of contents and, if necessary, an acknowledgements page. Pages should be numbered. Please do not put any identifying information in the submission itself. In the cover letter field on the submission form, include author’s name, mailing address, phone number and email. The author must not have a close personal or professional relationship with either Matt Bell or the editors of Origami Zoo Press, Rebecca King and Sam Martone. If an author is unsure if this applies to him or her, query us at origamizoopress@gmail.com. Simultaneous submissions are fine as long as you withdraw your manuscript from the submission manager immediately upon acceptance elsewhere. An author may enter the contest an unlimited amount of times, but each submission will require its own reading fee. There are two options of reading fees: a $15 submission fee for consideration, as well as guaranteed personalized feedback from the editors if not chosen. Or, a $20 submission fee for consideration and personalized feedback, plus a copy of the winning chapbook.