Kloppenburg Hybrid Grain Contest
Are you looking for a writing challenge?
If so, we’re looking for literary-based hybrid work that defies genres, bends rules, scavenges, juxtaposes, toys with truth. Our new Kloppenburg Hybrid Grain Contest is not for the meek of pen! It’s for writers who create their own literary landscape.
The contest is open from August 1 to October 15, 2022
1st prize
Two $1000 Cash Prizes
2nd prize
Two $750 Cash Prizes
3rd prize
Two $500 Cash Prizes
What do we mean by hybrid work? Think conceptual, outside the rubik’s cube, ripoff and mashup, Oulipo to algorithms, graphics and collage, photo-unrealism, sound work and found play, words as code, writing as a visual form, bio poetry, neural fiction, constraint-based writing, the everlasting sentence. The word is your oyster!
Some writers and examples to inspire you: Sue Howe, Paul Dutton, Lily Hoang, Renee Gladman, Charles Bernstein and A.E. Stallings, Jason Huff, Adam Dickinson, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Sylvia Legris, Bhanu Kapil.
Grain is a print publication, so we can’t take:
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Strictly digital work.
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Coloured text or images (as we print in black and white only).
Judges
Liz Howard
Liz Howard's debut collection Infinite Citizen of the Shaking Tent won the 2016 Griffin Poetry Prize, was shortlisted for the 2015 Governor General’s Award for poetry, and was named a Globe and Mail top 100 book. A National Magazine Award finalist, her recent work has appeared in Canadian Literature, Literary Review of Canada, Room Magazine and Best Canadian Poetry 2021. Her second collection, Letters in a Bruised Cosmos, was shortlisted for the 2022 Griffin Poetry Prize and the Trillium Poetry Prize. Howard received an Honours Bachelor of Science with High Distinction from the University of Toronto, and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph. She has completed creative writing and Indigenous arts residencies at McGill University, University of Calgary, UBC Okanagan, Douglas College, Sheridan College, and The Capilano Review. She is the Shaftesbury Creative Writer-in-Residence for Victoria College (University of Toronto) and serves on the editorial board for Buckrider Books, an imprint of Wolsak & Wynn. She is of mixed settler and Anishinaabe heritage. Born and raised on Treaty 9 territory in Northern Ontario, she currently lives in Toronto.
Steven Ross Smith
Steven Ross Smith has engaged with hybrid writing on the page and as a sound/performance poet. During his tenure as Director, Literary Arts at the Banff Centre, he created and led the In(ter)ventions program supporting innovative writers working in cross-genre, conceptual, collaborative, performative, and other non-normative forms derived from literary practice.
He has published fourteen books of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, and is an arts journalist. He is known for his seven-book poetic exploration fluttertongue. Two collaborative chapbooks - coda: fluttertongue 7, (with Saskatoon designer Brian Kachur), and Table for Four (with Winnipeggers Ted Landrum, Jennifer Still, and Colin Smith), were published by Jackpine Press in 2021 and 2020 respectively. Smith was Banff Poet Laureate, 2019-2021. His 2022 book is Glimmer: Short Fictions, published by Radiant Press.
Entry Guidelines
Types of Work We Consider
Send typed, unpublished material only (we consider work published online to be previously published). If work is submitted simultaneously, please let us know as soon as possible if it is accepted elsewhere. Please only submit work in one genre at one time.
Poetry: Individual poems, sequences, or suites up to a maximum of 6 pages.
Fiction: To a maximum of 3500 words.
Literary Nonfiction: To a maximum of 3500 words.
Other writing: Queries for submissions of work in other forms (i.e. short plays, comics, etc.) are welcome. You may submit such queries through Submittable or by mail.
Visual work: Mainly by invitation, though queries are welcome.
Contributor Payments
All contributors, regardless of genre, are paid $50 per page to a maximum of $250, plus two copies of the issue in which their work appears. Visual work published inside the magazine (in black and white) and on the cover (in colour) is paid at the same page rate as text contributions to a maximum of $500.
Rights
Grain purchases first Canadian serial rights only. Copyright remains with the writer or artist.
Sending Work
Before submitting, please ensure that your work adheres to the following:
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Submissions must follow industry formatting standards: typed in readable font (ideally 12 point, Times Roman), double-spaced for prose, free of typos, printed on one side only. No staples. Pieces of more than one page must be numbered.
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Please include a cover letter with all contact information, title(s) and genre of work you are submitting, and a total page and word count. A brief bio is highly recommended.
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You may submit your work through the mail or online through Submittable. We do not accept emailed submissions.
Mailed submissions can only be returned if you include a SASE of appropriate size for your writing with sufficient Canadian/International/US postage included. Or, if you'd like to save on postage and paper, we will reply by email if you provide an email address for that purpose only. Submissions that do not include one of these reply methods will not be read nor returned.
Response time is typically within six months.
To Send Work Through Submittable
Please visit https://grainmagazine.submittable.com/submit.
NOTE: We have a monthly Submittable cap, and if we reached the said cap, online submissions will be closed until the following month. If you’d like to submit but our account is full, you can either submit by mail or wait until the 1st of the following month.
Send Mailed Submissions To:
Editor, Grain Magazine, PO Box 3986, Regina, SK, S4P 3R9, Canada
Submission Tips
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If you are submitting work from outside Canada, please include a valid email address for reply purposes, as we cannot use non-Canadian postage.
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Please do not send your submission via email. We accept submissions only through the mail and through Submittable. To be considered for publication or to receive a response, you must include either a SASE or an email address.
FAQ's
Can I enter more than once?
You may enter as many times as you like, provided you include another entry fee for each entry beyond the first; therefore, two Canadian entries would cost $80.
Do I need to send a separate cover page for each piece I enter?
No. If you are sending more than one piece per submission, send only one cover page that includes all the information for every piece of hybrid writing you are entering up to five pages. [Example, a one-page piece could be mostly visual and another four-page piece mostly text]. Don't forget to include your complete contact information!
And what happens to my free subscription if I enter more than once?
Your Grain subscription will be increased by four issues for each entry fee received beyond the first. So, if you enter twice, you will receive a two-year (eight-issue) subscription to Grain Magazine. If you already have a subscription to Grain, we'll simply add another four issues to your current subscription for each entry fee received. If you’d rather your additional entry fee go towards a subscription for someone else, please indicate this on your cover letter, and provide your friend’s name and mailing address.
Will entrants be notified of the winners?
No. Winners and the names of the winning pieces will be posted on our website in February.
What if the postmarked deadline falls on a weekend when the post offices are closed?
Because we are using a postmarked deadline, if the deadline falls on a day when the post offices are closed, we will accept entries postmarked on the next business day.
Payment
Pay Online!
You may pay for your online entry by paper means (cheque or money order) or online via PayPal. Use the form below to submit your online payment. Remember: each entry of UP TO two poetry entries or UP TO two fiction entries requires one entry fee. If you submit a poetry entry and a fiction entry, that’s two entry fees. If you submit four fiction entries, that’s two entry fees. All fees are subject to GST (5 %).
After paying, please print a copy of the PayPal receipt for your records.We will match your payment with your entry by your name. If there is any doubt, we will contact you to confirm your receipt number.
Our Funders
Grain is grateful to its funders: Sask Lotteries, Canada Council for the Arts, and the financial support from its private donors.
Grain is published by the Saskatchewan Writers' Guild.