With 2018 long rung-in and the first month of the new year already slipping away, we’re excited to break through the winter doldrums with an exciting announcement: we have the short list for the Fall 2017 Black River Chapbook Competition! From nearly 700 entries, we’ve narrowed things down to 15 semi-finalists and 10 finalists. (As always, this was definitely not easy! We read and agonized over many more than these 25 exciting, well-crafted entries. There are excellent manuscripts that aren’t reflected in this list, and there were a few chaps we loved that were withdrawn along the way. We appreciate every one of you deeply. Please keep making our jobs difficult.)
Entries were read blind by an editorial panel consisting of judges (previous BRCC winners and published finalists) and BLP editors. Entries were kept blind until today–so we can unveil the lists to you!
To all the semi-finalists, congrats & thank you! We will announce the winner from among our list of finalists shortly.
FINALISTS (alphabetical)
The Feral Children by Michael Beeman (fiction)
The Finest Fog by Susan Bruce (poetry)
Blueprints by Sarah Burke (poetry)
Blood/letting by Joseph Han (poetry)
Something Like the End by Ashley Hermsmeier (fiction)
Things You Won’t Tell Your Therapist: Stories by Colleen Rich (fiction)
Grimoire by Cherene Sherrard (poetry)
Best True Love Stories by Jan Stinchcomb (fiction)
The Cartography of Sleep by Laura Villareal (poetry)
Before the Rain by Jill Widner (fiction)
SEMI-FINALISTS (alphabetical)
The Invitation by Marie Baleo (fiction)
Monuments to Jefferson Davis by Craig Beaven (poetry)
A Wilderness by Stephanie Cawley (poetry)
sorry for the delay by Yujane Chen (poetry)
Love Story in Sixty Seconds by Kevin Chesser (poetry)
The Truck was Cursed by Shonté Daniels (poetry)
Contestant by Emily Koehn (poetry)
What the Dead Require by Danielle LaVaque-Manty (fiction)
Painted Lair by Cecilia Llompart (poetry)
Where Else Would I Go by Sam Martone (fiction)
The Ire Barn by Tracy Mishkin (poetry)
Hers by Nicole Miyashiro (fiction)
More Salt, All the Time by Matthew Rowe (poetry)
Husbandry by Anna Sutton (poetry)
Aquí No Más by Edward Willy (fiction)