Ecotone: Reimagining Place


Ecotone is a literary journal of place that seeks to publish creative work about the environment and the natural world while avoiding the hushed tones and clichés of much of so-called nature writing. In the natural world an ecotone is a landscape where two separate ecosytems overlap, a place of danger and opportunity for animals. As we try to reimagine a new literature of place, our journal embraces literary ecotones, writing that breaks across genres and seeks out edges. These edges—between science and literature, the urban and rural, the personal and biological—are places that are alive and electric, as well as new and dangerous.

Ecotone Evolution Contest ($1000)

In Spring 2009, Ecotone will publish a special issue celebrating the bicentennial of Charles Darwin’s birth and the sesquicentennial of the publication of The Origin of Species. We are now accepting submissions in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction for the Ecotone Evolution Contest, which will creatively reflect the subject of evolution. The reading period is October 15, 2007 – April 15, 2008. One Grand Prize winner will receive a $1,000 honorarium, a limited-edition chapbook of the winning manuscript, and publication in Ecotone’s Spring 2009 “evolution” issue. Two runners-up will receive chapbooks of their manuscripts and publication in Ecotone. The contest entry fee is $15 per manuscript. We are looking for bold interpretations about a theory that has radically altered the experience of being human: What does it mean to share our DNA with other animals? What are the consequences of our diminishing biodiversity? Why have political lines hardened around an issue so rooted in science? The Ecotone Evolution Contest will be judged by Jennifer Ackerman, author of Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream and Notes from the Shore. [more about jennifer] Please include your name, genre, contact information, and “Ecotone Evolution Contest” on all entries. All manuscripts and correspondence regarding submissions should be accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope (S.A.S.E.) for a response; no replies will be given by e-mail. For further information, e-mail [evolution at ecotonejournal dot com] or read the general [submission guidelines]. A printable PDF version of this announcement is available for download [here] Please mail contest submissions, along with a check made out to the UNCW Creative Writing Department (memo: Ecotone Evolution Contest), to: Ecotone Evolution Contest Creative Writing Department University of North Carolina Wilmington 601 South College Road Wilmington, NC 28403-3297

Deadline:4/15/2008