Contact: Jason A. Smith, editor, Wisconsin People & Ideas, 608-263-1692 x21
MADISON—Wisconsin People & Ideas, the Wisconsin Academy’s quarterly magazine of Wisconsin throught and culture, is pleased to announce the lead judges for the magazine’s 2014 statewide poetry and fiction contests: Wisconsin Poet Laureate Max Garland and author Susanna Daniel.
Max Garland of Eau Claire is the current Wisconsin Poet Laureate. A first generation college student, Garland left a ten-year career as a mail carrier to pursue his love of poetry. He earned a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Iowa in 1989 and has been teaching since 1990; currently he is Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire. In his first poetry collection, The Postal Confessions (1995), which earned the prestigious Juniper Prize for Poetry, Garland chronicles his years carrying the mail in a classic American voice, discovering deeply felt significance within everyday experiences often drawn from the lives of the folks who lived on his rural mail route. Susanna Daniel is the author of two novels. Stiltsville (2011) was a winner of the 2011 PEN/Bingham award for debut fiction, and Sea Creatures (2013) was named an Amazon Editors’ Top Pick in August of 2013. Susanna is the co-founder of the Madison Writers’ Studio, a high-quality and casual private writing workshop, and a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and Columbia University. Her work has been published in Newsweek, Slate, Epoch, and elsewhere. She was born and raised in Miami, Florida, and for more than a decade has lived in Madison.
“We are extraordinarily pleased to have both Susanna and Max as lead judges for the 2014 contest,” says contest coordinator and Wisconsin People & Ideas editor Jason A. Smith. “Their participation reflects both the high quality of poetry and prose we receive from across the state, as well as an enduring commitment to supporting homegrown, Wisconsin poets and writers.”
Since 2002, Wisconsin People & Ideas has held annual poetry and fiction contests to recognize new and emerging writers from across the state. The 2014 poetry and fiction contests—so named because the contests are judged and awarded in 2014—will accept submissions from September 15 to December 15, 2013. Students and Wisconsin residents 18 years and older are encouraged to enter their works in both categories.
Both 2014 contests award prizes of up to $500, and first-place winners receive a one-week residency at the Shake Rag Alley School for Arts and Crafts in Mineral Point. First- through third-place winners in both the poetry and fiction contests will have their prizewinning works published in a special print and online editon of Wisconsin People & Ideas and will be asked to appear at a contest reading for the public at the 2014 Wisconsin Book Festival.
Visit the Wisconsin People & Ideas Poetry Contest Page and Fiction Contest Page for more details and complete contest rules. These annual contests are sponsored by the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters with support from the Wisconsin Book Festival and Shake Rag Alley School for Arts and Crafts.
About Wisconsin People & Ideas
Wisconsin People & Ideas is the only magazine in the state to focus on contemporary Wisconsin thought and culture. This award-winning magazine features articles by and about the artists, scientists, scholars, writers and others who create Wisconsin’s unique culture, as well as cutting-edge fiction, poetry, and visual art. The best resource for an informed and independent perspective on the people and ideas that shape Wisconsin, Wisconsin People & Ideas has been published quarterly since 1954 and is distributed to Wisconsin Academy members and available by subscription and at libraries and bookstores throughout the state. For more information on Wisconsin People & Ideas or to subscribe, visit wisconsinacademy.org/magazine.
