Spring 2019 Fiction and Poetry Contest Judges Announced

/
2 mins read

This Spring, we’re tackling doubt in its many forms and how we go about expressing it in our forthcoming issue 76. Our fiction and poetry contest is now open, and we are pleased to announce our judges for the contest.

R.O. Kwon

Fiction Contest Judge

R.O. Kwon’s nationally bestselling first novel, The Incendiaries, was published in 2018 by Riverhead. The book is an American Booksellers Association Indie Next #1 Pick and Indies Introduce selection, and it was named a best book of the year by over forty publications. The novel is a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Award for Best First Book and Northern California Independent Booksellers Association Fiction Prize, and is nominated for the Aspen Prize and American Library Association Carnegie Medal. Kwon has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, Yaddo, and MacDowell.

Raquel Salas Rivera

Poetry Contest Judge

Raquel Salas Rivera is the 2018-19 Poet Laureate of Philadelphia. They are the author of while they sleep (under the bed is another country) from Birds, LLC and the inaugural recipient of the Ambroggio Prize from the Academy of American Poets for their book x/ex/exis. They are also the author of six chapbooks and four other full-length poetry books. Their fourth book, lo terciario/the tertiary, was on the 2018 National Book Award Longlist, and was selected by RemezclaEntropyLiterary HubmitúBook Riot, and Publishers Weekly as one of the best poetry books of 2018. From 2016-2018, they were co-editor of The Wanderer and co-editor of Puerto Rico en mi corazón, a collection of bilingual broadsides of contemporary Puerto Rican poets. They have received fellowships and residencies from the Sundance Institute, the Kimmel Center for Performing Arts, the Arizona Poetry Center, and CantoMundo. They love and live for Puerto Rico, Philadelphia, and a world free of white supremacy.