The Smoking Poet's Page

The Smoking Poet Second Annual Short Story Contest Deadline: May 31, 2009

First prize, $200; second prize, $100; third prize, $50. All of the winners will be published in the summer issue of The Smoking Poet, online in mid June, 2009.

An entry fee of $10 per submission is required. Once you have sent in your submission, we will send you the PayPal link for payment with an invoice for your records.

Entries must be submitted as a Word doc file, one per e-mail, in Times New Roman, 12-point font, double-spaced. The author’s name, address, and telephone number must appear in the upper right hand corner. Word count must not exceed 5,000. Please include a bio statement, not to exceed 100 words, in the body of your e-mail.

Submission deadline is May 31, 2009. Please send your submission with the subject line, CONTEST/Last Name to thesmokingpoet@gmail.com If the subject line does not state CONTEST, we will assume it is a general submission. We look forward to reading your best work!

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It seems a very long time ago when my co-editor and I sat on a bench in Austin, Texas, on a spring-like January evening in 2006, smoking cigars, holding a just purchased crystal ashtray from our fountainhead, Palacio, between us, and enjoying the Texas warmth, unseasonable to two Michiganders, and chatting about something called The Smoking Poet. It was the seed of an idea. It would take until the end of 2006 for us to post the first issue of this literary ezine, a combination of our love for fine cigars and fine literature.

It has been a pleasant surprise—how quickly TSP has grown. In response to our first call for submissions, the stories and essays and poems just kept rolling in, and the level of quality has indeed been fine. There are a great many artists out there in the smoky beyond, names known and unknown, and it has been an inspiration and a pleasure to offer a forum to but a chosen few of you. Those who haven’t (yet) made it onto the TSP pages should remain hopeful. We receive a great many quality submissions, and a response of “pass” does not mean your work is not worthy.

It’s been a grand year. Feature author interviews with such literary shining lights as Dominic Smith, Ingrid Hill, Dorianne Laux, Paul Levinson, Russell Rowland, Sue Miller and Lynn Stegner. Feature poets have included Lori Williams, Aberjhani, Harry Owen, William Doreski. Each and every one of these names has provided us with inspiration to reach for more, from ourselves and from our writers. It has been an honor.

What is to come in TSP’s second year? All I can and will say at this time… is that you can expect great changes. If the first year is one of learning, much has been learned indeed, and expectations are high for year two. This has been a time-consuming venture, with no pay for our literary labors but the wonderful networks we’ve built with so many of you—and the gratification of putting into print so many deserving works. Among other goals is perhaps a dedicated Web site… perhaps a hard print copy of TSP as a magazine, something to keep on your coffee table and bookshelf… perhaps some stylistic and editorial changes, requiring refreshed dedication. We invite you along for wherever that smoky ribbon in the sky leads us… the future is promising.

THE SMOKING POET - DEADLINE: August 31, 2008


Zinta Aistars

Managing Editor


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Poetry contest coming soon!