The Fiddlehead‘sĀ 2022Ā Ralph Gustafson Poetry Contest is now open for submissions and we’re excited to announce that Dominique Bechard, shalan joudry,Ā and Michael Prior are theĀ talented poets who will be judging this year’s entries!
Dominique BĆ©chardĀ is the author of the poetry collectionĀ One Dog TownĀ (Gaspereau Press, 2019) and the chapbookĀ Infinity MirrorĀ (Frog Hollow Press, 2022). She currently lives in Fredericton, on unceded Wolastoqiyik territory.
shalan joudryĀ is a Mi’kmaw mother, poet, playwright, oral storyteller and ecologist. Using her theatrical background, shalan brings Miākmaw stories to a new generation of listeners, as well as recounting personally crafted narratives. The author of three books, her most recent book,Ā Waking GroundĀ (2020) was shortlisted for the J.M. Abraham Atlantic Poetry Award, the Maxine Tynes Nova Scotia Poetry Award, the 2021 Pat Lowther Memorial Award and the 2021 Indigenous Voices Award for Poetry in English. She lives in her home territory of Kespukwitk (southwest Nova Scotia) with her family in their community of LāsÉtkuk (Bear River First Nation).
Michael PriorĀ is the author of two books of poems:Ā Burning ProvinceĀ (McClelland & Stewart, 2020), which won the Canada-Japan Literary Award and the BC & Yukon Book Prizesā Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize, andĀ Model DiscipleĀ (VĆ©hicule Press, 2016), which was named one of the best books of the year by the CBC. Prior was a 2021-2022 Cullman Center Fellow at the New York Public Library and is currently a 2021-2023 Jerome Hill Artist Fellow with the Jerome Foundation. His poems have appeared inĀ Poetry, The New Republic, the Kenyon Review, Narrative Magazine, PN Review, the Academy of American Poetsā Poem-A-Day series, and elsewhere.
$2000 prize for best poem!Ā
Read the contestĀ submission guidelinesĀ for more information.
Good luck to all entrants. This year’s contest deadline isĀ Thursday, December 1, 2022Ā (postmarked for mailed entries and 11:59 pm Pacific Time for Submittable entries).
Click here to submit.