Call for entries: Wyoming Writers, Inc., writing contest

Wyoming Writers, Inc., announces contest guidelines:

Hard copy entries much be postmarked by April 9, 2011.

Entry fee:  $10.00 for each entry from members of Wyoming Writers, Inc., $15.00 for non-members,

Member fee for poetry is $10.00 for 3 poems, non-members $15.00 for 3 poems. We encourage non-members to join the organization. Information and membership form are available on www.wyowriters.org. Contest entry forms are also available on the web site, and from flyers in libraries and bookstores, and in the WyoWriters newsletter.  You may photocopy an entry form.

No limit on the number of entries, but there is an entry fee for each manuscript and every 3 poems. Include one check for the total amount. No entry fees will be refunded. 

Eligibility: The contest is open to all writers. All works must be the unpublished and the original work of the   submitter. All works must be in English. Work accepted or under consideration for publication elsewhere, or entered in another contest simultaneously is not eligible. Work that has previously placed or received an honorable mention in a Wyoming Writers, Inc. contest is not eligible. Work may be submitted to other contests or for publication after the contest deadline.

Categories

Adult Fiction: (No horror or erotica) 3000 words maximum

Fiction for Children/Juveniles:  3000 words maximum

Non-fiction:  Personal experiences and Memoirs3000 words maximum

Non-fiction:  Articles and Essays., 3000 words maximum

Traditional Poetry:  28 lines maximum; up to 3 poems per submission.

Free Verse Poetry:  28 lines maximum;  up to 3 poems per submission

Prizes:   First place: $50, Second place: $30,  Third place $20. Each will get a certificate. There will be no Honorable Mentions.  Winners will be notified the latter part of May. Winners will be announced at the WWInc 2011 Conference to be held at the Ramada Plaza Riverside,Casper, WY June 3-5, 2011.

Winners announced for Blanchan/Doubleday awards

The Wyoming Arts Council is pleased to announce the winners of the 2011 Blanchan/Doubleday writing awards.

Recipient of the Neltje Blanchan Memorial Writing Award for nature writing is Patricia Frolander of Sundance. She will receive a $1,000 prize for a series of poems entitled “Married Into It.” Honorable mentions in this category go to Jane Dominick of Laramie for “Cottonwoods” and other poems and Darcy Lipp-Acord of Weston for her creative nonfiction entry, “Homework: Lessons from Allison.”

 
Recipient of the Frank Nelson Doubleday Memorial Writing Award for women writers is Edith Cook of Cheyenne. She will receive a $1,000 prize for her prose manuscript, “A Cold Day in Hell.” Honorable mentions go to Lynn G. Carlson of Cheyenne for her creative nonfiction entry, “With All Due Respect” and Darcy Lipp-Acord of Weston for “Homework: Lessons from Allison.”  

Judge for this year's competition was Ohio poet and fiction writer Jeanne Bryner.

The competition is sponsored by the Wyoming Arts Council and funded by artist and arts patron Neltje.

For more information about the Wyoming Arts Council’s programs for individual artists, contact Michael Shay at 307-777-5234 or mshay@state.wy.us.

UW Eminent Writer in Residence will work with students on Laramie Atlas Project

From a University of Wyoming press release:

Rebecca Solnit, an acclaimed author of numerous celebrated works of nonfiction, is the latest Eminent Writer in Residence in the University of Wyoming's MFA program in Creative Writing.

An activist, art critic and cultural historian, Solnit will spend four weeks at UW guiding an interdisciplinary group of students in creating a unique atlas devoted to Laramie and the region. Her most recent work is "A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities that Arise in Disaster," and "Infinite City: A San Francisco Atlas."

"Rebecca Solnit believes maps and atlases can lead us toward a new way of understanding the places we live in," says MFA faculty member Alyson Hagy. "The sense of place is strong in Wyoming. Solnit's Laramie Atlas Project will invite students to make new maps -- some of them traditional, some of them innovative and even eccentric -- of the region to chronicle its nature and ties to the larger world."

Solnit will visit UW classes across campus and consult with MFA students on their writing during her residency. Her visit is co-sponsored by the Albany County Public Library Foundation, the UW Art Museum, The Helga Otto Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources and the Social Justice Research Center.

Solnit also will conduct two public presentations during her residency.

The first presentation, "Infinite City/Gem City: Reimagining Maps and Atlases," is at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 12, at the Albany County Public Library. She will introduce the Laramie Atlas Project, discuss her latest book and sign books after the presentation.

Her Laramie Atlas Project presentation is similar to the "Infinite City" project in San Francisco. Solnit will solicit input from Albany County residents as she launches the creation of an innovative set of local maps.

The second public event, "The Laramie Atlas Project: Work-in-Progress Discussion," is at 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 31, at the UW Art Museum. Solnit will discuss her effort with UW students to "remap" the community and its resources. A reception follows.

Solnit's residency follows the Eminent Writer residencies of fiction writer Rattawut Lapcharoensap and poets Jan Zwicky and Robert Bringhurst. Previous Eminent Writers in Residence have included Edward P. Jones, Philip Gourevitch, Claudia Rankine and Joy Williams.

For more information, visit the MFA Web site at www.uwyo.edu/creativewriting or e-mail Gwynn Lemler at cw@uwyo.edu.

Photo: Rebecca Solnit is the latest Eminent Writer in Residence in the University of Wyoming MFA program in Creative Writing. (Photo courtesy of Scott Sommerdorf/San Francisco Chronicle)

Next "First Friday" reading series Dec. 3 at Second Story Books in Laramie

Call for blog posts: Creative Nonfiction food issue

From Creative Nonfiction magazine:

Creative Nonfiction is seeking narrative blog posts to reprint in our upcoming food issue.

We’re looking for: interesting, true stories that focus on food, including restaurant reviews; tales of meals gone awry; secrets, tips and kitchen short cuts; confessions from cooks, chefs and/or servers; an examination of the kitchen life; and so on. Narrative, narrative, narrative. Posts that can stand alone, 2000 words max, from 2010. Something from your own blog, from a friend’s blog, from a stranger’s blog.

The small print: We will contact individual bloggers before publication and pay a flat fee for one-time reprint rights. Deadline for nominations: 11:59 PM EST, Monday, November 29, 2010. Nominate as many posts as you like, though we ask that you not nominate the same post multiple times.

FMI: http://www.creativenonfiction.org/blog_nomination.html

Call for entries: Jackson Hole Review

JH Weekly Editor Matthew Irwin sends this info:

The alt-weekly Jackson Hole Weekly recently acquired a fledgling lit mag, called Jackson Hole Review. We will be redesigning the publication and the website, but in the meantime, we're seeking submissions for our winter issue, themed "connect/disconnect." The cutoff date is January 12, 2011. For submission guidelines, an explanation of the theme and our mission, visit http://www.jhreview.com/.

Owen Wister looking for submissions

Luling, who I met at the Gretel Ehrlich writing workshop this past August, is this year's non-fiction editor for the Owen Wister Review, the University of Wyoming's art and literary journal, and has recently sent this notice out. Access their blogsite down below, to submit online.

Submission Guidelines:
Accepting unpublished

• Manuscripts in creative nonfiction, fiction, poetry, and art.
• Reading period is from September 1 through January 15. Submissions received outside that time frame will be recycled.
• One prose piece (4,000 words or less) or up to six poems at one time. You may submit in multiple genres, but please submit each genre separately.
• Up to 4 pieces of art, which includes, but is not limited to, sculpture, sketches, photography, painting, and graphic designs. Art should be submitted digitally at a printable quality, typically 300dpi or higher, in either JPEG or TIFF format. Postal submissions need to be recorded onto a CD-R that is readable in any computer. All art submis-sions will be considered for the forthcoming OWR cover.
• Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but please indicate in the cover letter that you are submitting simultaneously and do notify us promptly if the manuscript is accepted elsewhere. Reporting time is generally one to three months.
• For interviews, book reviews, longer prose submissions (4,000+ words), or general questions please send a query letter first to owr@uwyo.edu.

Formatting Guidelines:

• All written submissions should be typed on one side of the page. Please double-space prose submissions.
• You may submit online through Submishmash by visiting our website or by sending postal submissions to the ad-dress below.
• Address submissions to the specific genre editor and include a cover letter. Cover letters should include author’s name, address, phone number, and e-mail address. If mailing post submissions, please include a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) for replies regarding your submission.

Owen Wister Review [Genre] Editor Dept. 3625 1000 E. University Ave. Laramie, WY 82071

http://www.owenwisterreview.com/

Remembering the 2010 Equality State Book Festival

Lee Gutkind, author and founder of Creative Nonfiction magazine, reads from his work during the WAC creative writing fellowship reading Sept. 24 at the 2010 Equality State Book Festival in Casper. Gutkind served as judge for the fellowships. The reading, held in the Goodstein Foundation Library at Casper College, included fellowships winners Pam Galbreath, Joel Burdess and Jayme Feary and 2010 Blanchan/Doubleday award winner Nina McConigley. Photo: Jane Young

Hiking the nonfiction trail with Lee Gutkind, Part 2

This view of the Tetons is in the late afternoon,
after we'd hiked around the lake.

If you're interested, read part 1 here: http://wyomingarts.blogspot.com/2010/10/if-memory-serves-me-part-1.html

Back in Dubois, we checked into our motel and cleaned up, for dinner at the Rustic Pine Tavern.

We settled into a bottle of Kendall Jackson before our steak dinners arrived. Throughout the night, we told our non-fiction stories about compulsive strangers who just as compulsively disappeared, never to be found again, harmonic healing on a backyard deck and levitating at slumber parties, and deep subjects that broached believing in a spiritual power as opposed to we’re a product of evolution.

Having turned out the all the lights, and us not taking the hint, the bartender came to our table and said, “I hate to be rude, but I’d really like to close up so I can go home and go to bed.” We were the only three people left in the bar (we’d moved into the bar after dinner) except for her and her two friends; it was not quite the midnight hour. We quickly obliged, and made it down the street to another open, but mostly deserted, establishment. Just after we’d arrived, the previous bartender and her two friends showed up. Terry had decided we needed to play pool, and had racked the balls. Somehow, we formed teams. Team Lee and Linda only won because Team Terry scratched twice on the eight ball. I think the teams were organized because Terry was a pool shark, and this would be the only way we had any chance at being contenders.

The next morning was a late start, truth be told. Lee was incredibly chipper after his three cups of large coffee from Kathy’s, the best coffee he’d had so far in Wyoming, he said. Terry was working the crossword, and I was sipping my orange juice and taking tiny bites of my toast and dippy egg, what my daughter and now my grandchildren, call a sunny side up egg.

We loaded up and drove to Grand Teton National Park. Construction on Towgatee Pass looked as if it would take several years to complete, but has moved forward since I passed over it at the end of August. There has been a tremendous amount vegetation shear-off in the the making of steep slopes along parts of the road. We were all convinced that a few added passing lanes could have sufficed to mitigate the traffic problems there.

We drove to the trailhead of Two Ocean Lake, so named because the drainage that flows out of the northeast end of the lake ends up in the Gulf, and the drainage that flows out of the southwest end ends up in the Pacific. The rated easy trail, at one time in the not too distant past, used to circumvent the lake, but for some reason, has been closed off from meeting the west side trail at the south end. You can hike the 4.2 miles over to Jackson Lake Lodge from this point. The Two Ocean Lake trail is about 7.5 miles long.


Not the best view of Two Ocean Lake, but we were almost
at the south end of the lake. You can see the old growth
forest on the west side.

 Terry had hiked the trail numerous times, it’s her favorite, and we were able to make the loop, but for new hikers, this would be confusing and frustrating, as they would have to turn around and go back the same way they came, if they didn’t feel confident enough to look for either side of the trail, the west side being more difficult to find in the forest. She also knew that we should hike the eastern side first. That trail is less shaded and the sun beats down on you. On the western side, old growth forest mostly meets the shoreline and is a cool hike during a hot afternoon. The ground on that side was still damp. Terry and Lee had a discussion about why it was so hard for scientists to admit to the mystery of life. Said Lee, "But what is story without mystery?" Also, that he would now sometimes, when talking about story and mystery, be using the word mystery in place of the word story.

We returned to the Cowboy Café in Dubois and at 4:30 PM, were eating dinner. At 5:30, and were on the road back to Casper and had resumed the telling of our fictional story.

Claudia, now Claudia/Irene and Joe decided to go on a writing workshop in Yellowstone to spend some quality time together, but Joe was afraid to get his feet wet, and wouldn’t cross the river. Claudia/Irene came down with pneumonia, and found herself somewhat attracted to the very ruggedly handsome doctor who was treating her at the hospital. Joe had met Yvette Francois and they stayed out all night on a date. Meanwhile, the Sheriff decided to find Claudia/Irene and sent a telegram to his son, the doctor, asking if he’d seen them. The doc was called away to the emergency room, and threw the note down on the floor because he was not all that happy to hear from his father, because of the love he professed he had for Claudia in the note, seemingly not even thinking about or mentioning his former wife, the good doctor’s mother. Claudia/Irene however picked up the note and read it. She was entirely won over by the love that the Sheriff professed for her in the note and decided then and there to get back to him somehow. She began hitchhiking and low and behold, a carcass-removal Forest Service employee picked her up. She couldn’t stand the smell coming from the back of his carriage, as he had only picked up skunks that day. The horse spooked and the carriage fell over the side of a cliff, taking the employee, too. Claudia/Irene decided she would ride the horse back to where The Sheriff was.

From here the details become…sketchy. There is a need to hunt and kill the albino wolverine for food; Joe needs to make a blow gun for this purpose, which he learned to do from an elder in the rain forest, although he had to use poisonous mushroom paste instead of poison from an Amazon frog; an avalanche; a ride down the river on a log, onto which Joe jumps while holding the still live wolverine, no longer afraid of getting his feet wet after a long stint in counseling; suddenly the water disappears into a black hole and only the Sheriff is left balanced on the cliff of the falls; he will dedicate the rest of his life to studying this “mystery;” Claudia/Irene, Joe and Yvette Francois go to a restaurant and are served french fries…whoops not yet. A man at the restaurant usurps the french-fry-on-sandwiches idea, goes to Casper and opens his own restaurant, but when the owner of the original idea finds out, does away with him. Claudia/Irene sees a stranger in the back of the room, and they are instantly attracted to each other, but before he and Claudia/Irene can get together, he has to go swim forty laps, play two rounds of golf and run twenty miles; they open up their own restaurant back in Meeteetse, where Claudia/Irene, whose stage name is Mindy, sings. You may have guessed that there were “personal details” feeding this half of the story line. Credit Lee for that impetus.

Lee said, "There is no hope for bringing this story around, so I am just going to tell you the name of the restaurant." So, back in the 1950s, truckers delivered their wares to the warehouse district, called The Strip, in Pittsburgh. Produce deliveries never really started until around midnight and when the truck drivers finished unloading their trucks, these guys were hungry. Only one restaurant was willing to open—at 3 AM—for this special clientele. Primanti’s is their name, and putting french fries on every sandwich and, eventually, into chef’s salads, was, and is to this day, their game. After nearly seventy years, Primanti’s has several locations. Lee says you now see guys in tuxes and women in formals eating there. “And that is why you,” Lee concluded, “in Casper, Wyoming, have been served a chef salad with french fries in it.”

It was close to nine when we dropped Lee off at his hotel. He had a very early morning flight out. We hugged and told Lee to come back to Wyoming soon. There is always the promise of more stories to tell.

Linda Coatney

Bell, Box and Jenkins at Albany Co. Library Oct. 13

Laura Bell of Cody, C.J. Box of Cheyenne and Laramie's Mark Jenkins are featured at "Wyoming Writers" event on Wednesday, Oct. 13, 5-6:30 p.m. at the Albany County Public Library in Laramie.

The event is free but pre-registration is required.

FMI: Marjorie Daley at 307-721-2580 x5456.

Hiking the nonfiction trail with Lee Gutkind Part 1

It all started with french fries in my chef’s salad. I thought maybe a couple had unintentionally fallen off another plate, unnoticed by the cook or the waitress, and landed at the edge of the contents of my bowl. But as I ate, I realized the french fries throughout were mixed in too flawlessly to be accidental.

Interesting image I found of Lee

I finally mentioned this in the car to my lunch pals, Mike Shay and Lee Gutkind. It was the first day of the Equality State Book Festival, and we were headed back to the Goodstein Library for the Wyoming Arts Council’s Fellowship readings. Non-fiction was the genre this year, and Lee had been the judge. He would also be reading after the fellowship winners had read, staying for the festival and be part of the nonfiction panel discussion, and then he and longtime friend Terry Rasmussen, English instructor at Casper College, were going hiking around Dubois for a day or two before Lee had to get back to Pittsburgh.

Lee had brought with him the first edition of the new magazine format of Creative Nonfiction, of which he was founder and is still editor. The first issue of Creative Nonfiction came out in 1993 as a literary journal--what turned out to be the only place publishing nonfiction exclusively. But subscriptions/circulation had dipped in recent years, and the staff was looking for a way to bring back the readership.

The new design contains features on nonfiction, as well as nonfiction from new sources, such as blogs and science and technology as narrative. As Lee says in his editorial from this revamped first issue, “In fact, creative nonfiction is the fastest growing segment of the academic writing community and is, even in this dismal economic cycle, one bright spot in the publishing world, continually increasing its share of the market.” Subscriptions are now climbing, and their sales are up thirty-five percent.

So back to french fries. “Doesn’t that seem a little counter intuitive, putting french fries in a green salad?” I asked from the back seat.

“I know the name of the restaurant that started that food trend,” Lee says.

“It’s a trend?” I asked skeptically. “So, what’s the name?”

“I will tell you the name of the restaurant if you buy a subscription to Creative Nonfiction.”

It wasn’t quite that quick of a cut-to-the-chase, but you get the idea where this is going. The mystery of the restaurant’s name hung in the air, at least for me.

The next day at lunch, Terry asked me if I wanted to go hiking with her and Lee. I wasn’t sure that I could. I seemed to feel I had things to do. Lee, who overheard the invitation, said, “I will only tell you the name of the restaurant if you go hiking with us.”

“Oh great,” I whined to Terry. “He said he would tell it to me if I bought a subscription, now it’s if I go hiking.” Lee overheard me, and his telling of the name vacillated vaguely back to hinging on me buying a subscription.

At the event’s ending banquet that evening, Terry asked me if I was going. “Yes, I’ve decided to go.” I’d already bought a two-year subscription that afternoon after the nonfiction panel discussion. “Will you tell me now?” I asked him after I handed over my check.

“If you want me to,” he’d said coyly.

“Oh, I can hear it on the trail. I’m patient.”

We left Casper Sunday morning under a clear autumn sky and summer-like temperatures. The region had been (and still is as of this writing) under a high-pressure weather system for the previous month-and-a-half, and the weather was going to hold for at least the next seven days.
Sometime around Powder River, Lee suggested that we should tell a collaborative story, upon which the ending would lead to his revealing the name of the restaurant in question. Terry began the story, and knew enough that it should include french fries, but wasn’t fully aware just yet of why.
 

We, well they, covered a lot of ground with (some of the names have been changed to protect the unaware) Claudia, Jack and the Sheriff getting to the chopping up of a potato as well as Jack, and both being thrown into a pot on the stove, heated by wood that Claudia had to split (my contribution, as well as something about carrots). The Sheriff became worried about Jack’s whereabouts, knocking on Claudia’s door, where he could finally let loose his hidden attraction for her, and she for him. A stranger named Joe appeared while Claudia was unconscious in the garden while picking vegetables for the salad she was going to serve the Sheriff, and Jack’s skull was offered, or asked for, as some kind of souvenir to take back home, after Joe and Claudia recognized themselves as long-ago-separated mother and son in a fluke of identity. 

 
Fortunately for the story’s sake, we had gotten to Dubois and it was time for lunch at the Cowboy Café. Lee ordered a chef’s salad and I asked the waitress if they put french fries in their salad. She gave me an odd look and shook her head no. Lee and I laughed, and Terry wanted to know more about the french fry/salad thing.

After lunch, Terry driving, we arrived at the trailhead at Brooks Lake that would lead us to Jade Lake, ranked an “easy” hike by trail standards. All along the mountains, Aspen stands uttered their brilliant yellow color with certainty, no matter that the temperature was still in the upper seventies or low eighties.

Early afternoon. A few hikers and a string of packhorses were making their way down the trail that we were headed up. We were at the north end of Brooks Lake and a few gusts had kicked up. A couple of dogs wandered around, half wet from wading into the lake. We were finally ready. It was a five-mile hike up to the first of the two Jade Lakes.

Soon, we were up the first hill of the trail, and into the coolness of the pine forest, stopping occasionally to catch our breath after a steep climb, or just to take in some stunning vista. A woodpecker had found what sounded like a hollow tree and was beating out a message that echoed around the tops of the trees. We reached upper Jade Lake about 4:30 PM. The lake is so named because the water is just that color, which is not an illusion; nor does the color of the water change depending on how the sun is hitting it. A deep lake, you can see the shore drop away just two feet from the water’s edge.

Upper Jade Lake

We pulled out our cameras and took some pictures. Alas, there is not one with all three of us. I didn’t know how to operate my time delay, and by the time Lee figured his out, Terry was ready to get going, reminding us that bears liked to nap during the hot afternoon, but rouse when it begins to cool off. We’d also heard there’d been a carcass discovered on the south trail, which would be attracting scavengers. She had bear spray, but would only use it if she were about to be attacked. “Well, I guess we’re out of luck, Lee,” I laughed uneasily.

Terry wanted to see where lower Jade Lake was, so we hiked just a short distance and saw it rather far below from our vantage point. It would have been a heck of an uphill hike out, and we just didn’t have the time before it would be dusk.
 
Read Part 2 herre:  http://wyomingarts.blogspot.com/2010/10/hiking-nonfiction-wyoming-trail-with.html
 
Linda Coatney

Julianne Couch essay in New West

Laramie's Julianne Couch teaches at UW, works as a free-lance writer, is a member of the Wyoming Arts Council artist roster and is a Wyoming Writers, Inc., board member planning the group's 2011 conference. She's also working on a new book. Whew! She notifies wyomingarts that she just published her first "official" piece in New West. Here are the opening paragraphs:

Shaded under a cluster of evergreens in the Medicine Bow National Forest, I watch the family of our friend Mark deliver part of him back to Wyoming from where he lived in Missouri, a few months after his death.

About 50 friends and family gathered to witness Mark’s wife and daughter scatter his ashes into a swift and shallow mountain stream. His dust the color of bentonite disappears like fiber powder into the waters of Douglas Creek. Part of Mark is bound for the Platte River, then will leave Wyoming for the Missouri River, then the Mississippi, then finally, the Gulf of Mexico and the ocean beyond.

You will want to read the entire essay at http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/a_western_sense_of_place_knowing_who_we_are_by_where_we_are/C39/L39/

Journey to a place where story pitches succeed with author Dina Mishev

From Nicole Burdick at nicole@jacksonholewritersconference.com:

Jackson Hole Writers Conference is excited to present you with the fourth in a series of six FREE writing workshops for 2010. Space is limited, so if you would like to sign up, please reply to this email or nicole@jacksonholewritersconference.com. See the nether part of this message for upcoming opportunities.

"Angle and Pitch to Sell Your Story" on Thursday, September 23, 6-9 p.m., Center for the Arts Conference Room.

No matter how well you can write, if you can't sell an editor on your idea, you're not going to make a living. The more angles you can come up with based on a single idea, the better your chances of selling one of them. Dina Mishev knows from experience. During this workshop she will take writers on a journey to the place where pitches succeed. While she gives you an approachable understanding of the magazine publishing industry, you’ll also have the chance to work on crafting a great pitch, which means you’ll also be on the way to your next great story. So wrap your mind around three angles of the story you really want to tell and bring them with you, or just grab your pen and paper, and come learn how to spin an idea well. Class is free and open to the public, and registration is required. Light snacks included.

Workshop Presenter: Dina Mishev has been living and writing in Jackson Hole, Wyoming since 1997. A graduate of Northwestern University with degrees in Math and Economics, Dina moved to Wyoming immediately following college and one year turned into another. Dina’s writing career started shortly after her arrival in Wyoming when the Jackson Hole News entrusted her to write a bi-weekly column about 20-something life in the valley. Three years later, Dina quit her job managing the Jackson Hole Wine Auction, deciding it was time to sink or swim as a writer. That first year she sent out 1,483 queries to magazines and newspapers. She got one assignment. Slightly disheartened, but never considering giving up... she now writes about travel, sports, adventure, gear, art, people, and lifestyle topics for Sunset, AAA Via, National Geographic Traveler, Outside, National Geographic Adventure, Pain Solutions, Cooking Light, NWA World Traveler, United Hemispheres, Wyoming Tourism, Arizona Office of Tourism, Healing Lifestyles & Spas, and Mobil Travel Guide. She is a Contributing Editor at Travel Squire. Assignments have taken her from spas in Africa to 100 feet under the Caribbean Sea. See Dina's full bio and more, here.

Upcoming FREE workshops with Jackson Hole Writers Conference: Fiction with Lucy Flood on October 21 and nonfiction with Broughton Coburn on December 2. More details to follow.

These workshops were supported by a grant from the Community Foundation, and your generous donations during Old Bill's Fun Run keep publishing opportunities grounded in Jackson Hole. We're lucky to have over 40 well-published writers living and working in this valley. By making a charitable gift to the Conference you ensure a steady stream of stimulating guest speakers from near and far as well as literary education opportunities throughout the year. Do write! Do consider joining us in making the literary arts thrive in Jackson Hole, and in turn filling the bookshelves of tomorrow with your contributions.

FMI: Nicole Burdick, http://www.jacksonholewritersconference.com/, http://www.jacksonholewriters.wordpress.com/, 307-413-5235

Planet JH Weekly profiles WAC fellowship winner

Benjamin R. Bombard wrote a nice profile of Jayme Feary in Planet JH Weekly at http://www.planetjh.com/news/A_106458.aspx. Jayme is a recipient of a WAC creative writing fellowship in creative nonfiction. He will join his the other fellowship winners in a reading on Friday, Sept. 24, 1-3 p.m. in the lobby of the Goodstein Library at Casper College. The event is part of the Equality State Book Festival and is free and open to the public.

WAC announces creative writing fellowship winners

The Wyoming Arts Council is pleased to announce the winners of the 2011 creative writing fellowships in creative nonfiction.

They are Joel Burdess of Casper, Jayme Feary of Jackson and Laramie’s Pam Galbreath. Each of the writers will receive a $3,000 prize. They also will receive a $500 stipend to read their work at the Equality State Book Festival Sept. 24-25 in Casper.

Receiving honorable mentions are Diane Panozzo, Tie Siding, and Mary Beth Baptiste, Laramie.

The judge for this year’s competition was Lee Gutkind, author and founder of Creative Nonfiction magazine. He will join the three recipients for the annual fellowship reading on Friday, Sept. 24, 1-3 p.m., in the lobby of the Goodstein Foundation Library at Casper College. The event is free and open to the public.

This is the 23rd year for the WAC’s creative writing fellowships. The competition is open to Wyoming residents who are 18 years and older and are not enrolled full-time in a high school, college or university arts program. There is no entry fee. Applications are available each spring. Next year's category is fiction.

FMI: Mike Shay at 307-777-5234 or mshay@state.wy.us.

Fellowship deadline is fast approaching

Tick, tock, tick, tock...

The clock is counting down.

Friday, June 18, is the postmark deadline for the 2011 Wyoming Arts Council creative writing fellowships in creative nonfiction. If you're in Cheyenne or just visiting, you may drop off your application at the WAC offices, 2320 Capitol Avenue (right across the street from the Capitol Building) by 5 p.m. on Friday, June 18.

Up to three winners will be chosen, each receiving a $3,000 award plus a $500 travel stipend to participate in the fellowship reading at the Equality State Book Festival in Casper on Sept. 24, 2010.

Judge for this year's competition is author and editor Lee Gutkind, founded of Creative Nonfiction magazine. Lee will travel to Casper to participate in the fellowship reading and to be a panelist in a session about creative nonfiction.

Find a printable application at the WAC web site. WAC can also fax you one if you call 307-777-7742.

Postmark deadline for WAC creative writing fellowships is Friday, June 18

It's difficult to believe, but the postmark deadline for the 2011 creative writing fellowships is one week from today on Friday, June 18.

The competition, open to residents of Wyoming 18 or older, welcomes applications in the creative nonfiction genre. Manuscripts will be judged by Lee Gutkind, author of 15 books and founder of Creative Nonfiction magazine.

Up to three winners will be chosen to receive $3,000 each. They also will receive a travel stipend to read their work with Mr. Gutkind at the Equality State Book Festival Sept. 24 in Casper.

Applications can be downloaded from the Wyoming Arts Council web site at www.wyomingartscouncil.org.

FMI: Mike Shay, mshay@state.wy.us or 307-777-5234.

Creative writing fellowship apps are in the mail

Copies of the application for the 2011 Wyoming Arts Council creative writing fellowships are in the mail and on the way to everyone on the agency's lit mailing list (264 addresses). If you don't receive one by next week, contact the WAC at 307-777-7742 and a staffer will put one in the mail to you.

You can also go to the WAC web site for a pintable application. Go to http://wyoarts.state.wy.us/IndArtist/PDF/2011cwfellowshipappl.pdf.

Judge for this year's fellowships in creative nonfiction is Lee Gutkind, author and founder of Creative Nonfiction magazine. For more about Lee, go to http://www.leegutkind.com/

Postmark deadline is June 18!

FMI: Mike Shay, mshay@state.wy.us or 307-777-5234.

Lee Gutkind to serve as judge for WAC creative writing fellowships in creative nonfiction

The judge for this year’s creative writing fellowships is Lee Gutkind.

Lee Gutkind is founder and editor of the popular journal, Creative Nonfiction, the first and largest literary journal to publish nonfiction exclusively. He is editor of Best Creative Nonfiction, an annual anthology, and author of Keep It Real: Everything You Need to Know about Researching and Writing Creative Nonfiction, both published by W.W. Norton. In all, Gutkind has written 15 books, and edited 18 collections and volumes in the past 25 years.

His newest book is Truckin’ with Sam: A Father and Son, The Mick and The Dyl, Rockin’ and Rollin’, On the Road, SUNY Press. Now in paperback from Bison Books is Forever Fat: Essays by the Godfather, a memoir. His 2007 book Almost Human: Making Robots Think was published in 2007 by W.W. Norton and release in paperback last fall. During a Daily Show interview with Lee, Jon Stewart called Almost Human “a wild book — a crazy suspense story -- fascinating stuff!”

Lee Gutkind is currently the Distinguished Writer in Residence at the Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes and professor in the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication at Arizona State University.

At the Equality State Book Festival & Casper College Literary Conference Sept. 24-25, 2010, Lee will read from his work together with the three fellowship winners.

Applications will be mailed next week to all writers in Wyoming on the WAC mailing list. It also will be available next week on the WAC web site.

Postmark deadline is June 18.

For more information, contact Michael Shay, 307-777-5234 or mshay@state.wy.us, or visit the WAC web site at http://www.wyomingartscouncil.org/.

Call for entries: Non-fiction childbirth stories

Writer Jeffe Kennedy (formerly of Laramie, now in Santa Fe) sent this announcement from writer Kerri Nelson:

I'm writing a non-fiction book! Inspired by my current (and last of 3) pregnancies, I've submitted a project proposal to a publisher who has subsequently commissioned me to compile a book of real childbirth stories. For those of you who don't know, I was once upon a time a Certified Childbirth Educator (educated at Wake Forest University School of Medicine). So, I have both personal and professional experience in the field.

So, now I'm looking for stories to fill the pages of my first non-fiction project. Here's the deal:

1. Stories must be 10,000 words or less;
2. You can submit more than one story;
3. If your story is chosen for the book, you'll receive a flat rate compensation from the publisher (amount to be determined) but no royalties;
4. You may choose to use a pen name or pseudonym for your story if you don't want your "personal" details published;
5. All types of birth stories are welcome including c-sections, multiple births, etc...;
6. Deadline for birth story submissions is February 26, 2010;
7. The publisher is looking for real birth stories (non-fiction) so please keep that in mind although...the fact that some of you are fiction writers will definitely make your stories highly entertaining...I'm sure; and 8. Please submit your story directly to me with your real name, pen name (or name that you want to use on the story), contact e-mail address, final word count in the body of the e-mail (subject line: Birth Story Submission) and your story attached as a Word.doc. You will be contacted if your story is chosen and further details will follow.

If you have any questions, please contact me directly at kerribookwriter@yahoo.com