2022 The Heartland Review
Chapbook Contest

The 2022 Chapbook winner is  Betsey Cullen!  Her work is titled We Hold the Bones. 10/27/22
 

Judge Carrie Jerrell writes:

In We Hold the Bones, Betsey Cullen explores the myriad ways the loss of a parent during one's childhood echoes throughout adulthood with a grief as certain in its ebb and surge as a seatide. The poems are compelling in part because of their directness of emotion (see the endings of "Letter to My Six-Year-Old Self," "Hot Water," and "Pretense"), and in part because of the rich texture of details: the brother who deals with loss by unscrewing neighbors' Christmas lights, the red-spined scrapbook of grade school report cards and shipyard launches, the dropped plate of wedding crystal, the scruffy beard of a father against the neck of the child he embraces. Through heartache and memory, Betsey Cullen rescues and reimagines the people and places and events of her past. We Hold the Bones is a beautiful and moving collection. 

Deadline to submit was  August 1, 2022  so this contest is now closed.  

$500 Grand Prize
+ 15 copies

Calling all Poets

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Submit no more than 30 pages of the best work. The submitted manuscript will be be a Word file and must contain a cover page with contact information, a biography of no more than 100 words and a list of publications if applicable.

THRP is not concerned with the poet who has the most publications; rather, we wish to award the best writing that contributes the most to the craft of poetry. No identifying marking should appear on any page of the manuscript. Submissions that fail to comply are automatically disqualified.

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THRP retains First North American Serial Rights and may use portions of the winning title to promote the press and/or other events in perpetuity.

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At the close of the contest, all entrants will be asked to record a reading of their work that will be published on THRP's Facebook page.

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THRP asks for a $20 donation to support the contest and our Creative Writing Club. Each submitter will receive a copy of the winning manuscript

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Deadline August 1, 2022

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Meet the Judge

Carrie Jerrell is the author of After the Revival, winner of the Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize and published by Waywiser Press in the U.S. and U.K. Her work has appeared in the Midwest Review, Birmingham Poetry Review, Zone 3, and Image, among other publications. She is an Associate Professor of English at Murray State University, where she also coordinates the Creative Writing Program and serves as an Assistant to the Dean of the College of Humanities and Fine Arts.