University of Arizona Poetry Center

Fieries and the Snuffies* Residency for Emerging Writers

Since 1994, the Poetry Center’s Residency Program has offered emerging poets, fiction and non-fiction writers a month-long opportunity to develop their work. The residency includes a $500 stipend and a month-long stay in a studio apartment located within steps of the Center’s renowned library of contemporary poetry. The residency is awarded through a national juried competition and is offered between June 1 and August 31.

Past residents have gone on to receive the Lambda Literary Award, the Kenyon Review Book Prize and the Barnard New Woman Poet’s Prize for first books they worked on while in residence at the Poetry Center.

Guidelines

The Poetry Center offers a residency each summer (to take place between June 1 and August 31). Poets and prose writers are invited to apply in alternate years. In 2010, we will be accepting prose manuscripts only.

Applications must be received by
February 26, 2010. (This is not a postmark deadline! Send early.) Winner will be announced on this website on or before April 16th.

Judge: Ander Monson

Personal friends or current and former students of Ander Monson are not eligible for this year’s award.

At the time of submission applicants shall not have published more than one full-length book. Self-published works and chapbooks are exempted. Unpublished writers are encouraged to apply. University of Arizona faculty, staff, students, and Tucson residents are not eligible to receive the Fellowship. Applicants must be U.S. residents.

Submission packets should include:

Cover letter stating name, address, day/evening phone numbers, e-mail address and titles of submitted work. Please include a one-page resume.

Submit three copies of work; no more than 10 pages of poetry or 20 pages of fiction or literary non-fiction. Manuscripts should be typed on white, letter-sized paper. Name should not appear on work.

Please include SASE for reply. Manuscripts will not be returned.

Reading fee: $15. Checks should be made payable to The University of Arizona Poetry Center.

How we judge contests:

Program assistants process contest applications removing all identifying material from applications and filing it for use at the end of the contest process. Judges determine if they would like to use a reader and select one reader of their choice. All manuscripts are given to readers and judges anonymously. The judge selects a winner and a runner up in the event that the winner is unable to accept the award.

Send submissions to:

Fieries and Snuffies Residency
University of Arizona Poetry Center
1508 E Helen Street
Tucson, AZ 85721-0150.

*For background on the Fieries and Snuffies see
A Brief History of the Poetry Center

Past Residents

The Fieries and Snuffies resident for summer 2009 was James Allen Hall, selected by poet Richard Siken.

James Allen Hall's first book, Now You're the Enemy, was a winner for the 2008 University of Arkansas Poetry Series. Poems from the book first appeared in journals such as Boston Review, TriQuarterly, American Letters & Commentary, Alaska Quarterly, and elsewhere. Now You're the Enemy was recently recognized by the Texas Institute of Letters as the Best Book of Poems of 2008. James holds a PhD from the University of Houston and an MFA from Bennington College. Currently an Assistant Professor at the State University of New York--Potsdam, he teaches creative writing and literature while working on a second manuscript of poems and a memoir about a particularly colorful family.

2008: Shashi Baat
2007: Anna Green
2006: Cody Walker
2005: Eric Abbott
2004: Naomi Alderman
2003: Esther Lee
2002: Rebecca Davidson
2001: Joshua Poteat
2000: Jonathon Keats
1999: Beth Ann Fennelly
1998: Martha Silano
1997: Caroline Langston
1996: Lise Goett
1995: Kymberly Taylor
1994: Mark Wunderlich