Announcing The L Magazine's Fourth Annual Literary Upstart Competition
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 Ladies and gents, writers and drinkers, it is with pleasure and pride bordering on the creepily parental that we here at The L Magazine announce our fourth annual Literary Upstart, The Search for Pocket Fiction competition, a showcase for and celebration of the true talent lurking amid our fair city's teeming creative underclass. And also an excuse to all get drunk and yell "take off your shirt" at writers, which is the kind of thing that will tend to get you kicked out of let's just say for instance a PEN World Voices Festival event, unless things have changed considerably since last year. Anyway.
Yes, it's Lit Up time once again. Our American Idol-style live readings, wherein selected submitters read in front of a panel of judges (led as always by the New Yorker's Ben Greenman), competing for their affections, cash, and a place in the L's annual Summer Fiction Issue, will be held beginning in the spring.
A more official-sounding announcement, and our Submission Guidelines, are after the jump. We look forward to hearing from you.
Call for Submissions: The L Magazine Wants Your Short Fiction
Following the enormous success of our first three competitions, The L Magazine is proud to announce the fourth annual Literary Upstart, The Search for Pocket Fiction.
Writers are encouraged to submit their best short fiction (maximum of 1,500 words) to fiction@thelmagazine.com. Semi-finalists will be asked to participate in one of three live readings at a dark and writerly NYC tavern, where they’ll square off in front of a live audience and a panel of judges that’s composed entirely of members of the local literati, including our Distinguished Spokesjudge, the New Yorker‘s Ben Greenman (previous judges have come from Random House/Doubleday and the Curtis Brown Agency).
Three semi-finalists will advance to our final reading in June, where they’ll have the opportunity to win a cash prize, gift certificates from various sponsors, and, of course, the admiration of his/her peers. The three semi-finalists will also be published in The L Magazine’s annual Summer Fiction Issue, which has previously featured stories by Jonathan Ames, Darin Strauss, Ned Vizzini and others.
Submission deadlines are on a rolling basis for the three semifinal readings, which will be held in the spring and early summer.
Submission guidelines:
Entries (please limit yourself to two submissions) should be polished little labors of love of no more than 1,500 previously un-published words. Content, style, subject, et cetera is at the discretion of the writer.
Kindly email submissions as an attached Word document in a standard, 12-point font to:
fiction@thelmagazine.com.
You can also send a hard copy of your story (please include your email address) via post to:
Fiction Editor
The L Magazine
20 Jay Street, Ste. 207
Brooklyn, NY 11201
While curlicues and bubble fonts make us blush, they also make our poor eyes bleed, so please keep it simple and please double space. Please include your name, the title of your story, and your email address, at least on the first page your story and perhaps even on subsequent pages.
Last, but not least, please remember that the live readings are a major component of this competition, so if you're not living in the NYC area or cannot arrange to be here for a reading or two between March and June, you may wish to reconsider submitting your work.
Happy Writing,
The L Magazine
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