News and Events
Southeast Missouri State University Press TEMPORARILY CLOSED TO ORDERS
Hello,
Just a quick note to let you know that, as of Monday, March 23, Southeast Missouri State University Press will be TEMPORARILY UNABLE TO SHIP ORDERS until late April due to the temporary closure/online move of most University Departments and Business. If you’ve ordered from us in the last week, or so, we will hopefully be able to get those orders shipped before parts of the University go off line.
Additionally, it is likely that contest results for the Nilsen Prize for a First Novel and potentially the Cowles Prize for a Book of Poetry will be a bit behind schedule. We’re still working through all those submissions, but slower than usual.
We appreciate your understanding at this time and we’ll see you on the flipside. Until then, be safe and keep social distancing.
Sincerely,
James Brubaker
Big Muddy Announces Winner and Finalists of Wilda Hearne Flash Fiction Prize
We are excited to announce the winner and finalists for the Wilda Hearne Flash Fiction Contest. The winner will be published in the upcoming issue of Big Muddy, and will receive $500. Picking a winner this year was quite difficult due to the many, many, many excellent stories we received.
This year’s winner is:
“I Haven’t Forgotten You” by Leslie Blanco
And this year’s finalists were:
“Shades of Tippi Hedren Headed For a Phone Booth” by Pamela
Balluck
“Eli” by Elizabeth Enochs
“Bitten” by Barney Haney
“On the Fly” by Daryl Scroggins
Now, this is usually the part where I’d encourage everyone to submit again for this year’s contest. Unfortunately, we won’t be running the contest in 2020. Reading contest submissions on top of non-contest submissions, and keeping up with other work for Big Muddy and Southeast Missouri State University Press is…a lot. This isn’t a financial decision at all, as these contests pay for themselves. Once we’ve had a bit of a breather, the contest will likely come back, but for the time being, we need a break! Thank you all for sharing your wonderful words with us, and I hope to read more from you all in the future.
Sincerely,
The Big Muddy Editorial Team
Big Muddy Announces Winner and Finalists of the 2019 Mighty River Short Story Contest
We are excited to announce the winner and finalists for the Mighty River Short Story Contest. The winner will be published in the upcoming issue of Big Muddy, and will receive $1,000. Picking a winner this year was quite difficult due to the many, many, many excellent stories we received.
This year’s winner is:
“Payback for Mongoose Charlie” by Bryce Berkowitz
This year’s finalists were:
“No Matter Her Leaving” by Noley Reid
“Where the False Have a Merry Time” by Basmah Sakrani
“Geraniums for Autumn” by Sarah Elizabeth Schantz
“The River and the Change it Brings” by Rebecca Wurtz
Now, this is usually the part where I’d encourage everyone to submit again for this year’s contest. Unfortunately, we won’t be running the contest in 2020. Reading contest submissions on top of non-contest submissions, and keeping up with other work for Big Muddy and Southeast Missouri State University Press is…a lot. This isn’t a financial decision at all, as these contests pay for themselves. Once we’ve had a bit of a breather, the contest will likely come back, but for the time being, we need a break! Thank you all for sharing your wonderful words with us, and I hope to read more from you all in the future.
Sincerely,
The Big Muddy Editorial Team
ANNOUNCING THE WINNER OF THE 2019 COWLES POETRY PRIZE
We are excited to announce the winner of the 2019 Cowles Poetry Book Prize. The winning manuscript, selected by judge Brad Aaron Modlin, will be published in October, 2020, and the poet will be awarded $2000. We received more manuscripts this year than we ever have before, so the competition was fierce.
Winner:
Look Alive by Luiza Flynn-Goodlett
Luiza Flynn-Goodlett is the author of five chapbooks, most recently Tender Age, winner of the 2019 Charlotte Mew chapbook contest, forthcoming from Headmistress Press. Her poetry can be found in Third Coast, Pleiades, The Journal, The Common, and elsewhere. She serves as editor-in-chief of Foglifter and lives in sunny Oakland, California.
Finalists:
Naming the Lifeboat by Justin Gardiner
Terra Incognita by Sara Henning
After by Emily Jaeger
The Right Blue Dream House by Claire McQuerry
Soft Palate by Anna Sutton
Semi-Finalists:
Eat the Marrow by Mara Adamitz Scrupe
Bluebird by James CrewsBluebird by James Crews
The Amateur Scientist’s Notebook by Jesse Delong
The Likes of Us by R.M. Kinder
Revoke by Joy Manesiotis
Dawn’s Early by Gloria Muñoz
Easy Victims to the Charitable Deceptions of Nostalgia by Emily Schulten
What Falls Away Is Always by Richard Terrill
House of Broken Tables by Allison Wilkins
The 2020 Cowles Poetry Prize is currently open for submissions. You can learn more, here.
New Releases
Claire, Wading Into the Danube By Night
Author of the award-winning Prague Summer returns with a new story collection that explores American lives both at home and abroad in the age of anxiety—a world gone sour with regret...
Inside Ball Lightning
To enter the Inside of Inside Ball Lightning is to listen to a startling voice—or is it to be startled by a listening voice? A voice like a perpetual aside in a play written by dusk and the sensation of salt granules on the tongue.
The People’s Field
With attention to the Japanese occupation, the Korean War and its aftermath, The People’s Field reflects on the sounds, ideas and histories of the Korean peninsula.
Avery Colt Is a Snake, a Thief, a Liar
"Ron Austin writes sentences so sharp you could cut meat with them, characters so real you swear you're fighting with them. This book is a special treat. Avery Colt may be a snake, a thief and a liar, but the teller of his stories is a master." –Rion Amilcar Scott
Featured Author
Ron A. Austin
Avery Colt Is a Snake, a Thief, a Liar
Ron A. Austin’s short stories have been placed in Pleiades, Story Quarterly, Ninth Letter, Black Warrior Review, and other journals. Avery Colt Is a Snake, a Thief, a Liar, his first collection of linked stories, won the 2017 Nilsen Prize. Austin’s work has garnered a 2016 Regional Arts Commission Fellowship and a special mention in the 2015 Pushcart Prize Anthology. He, his partner Jennie, and son Elijah live in St. Louis.
More about Avery Colt Is a Snake, a Thief, a Liar| https://www.ronaaustin.com/