Iranian-American writer Elizabeth Eslami received her MFA from Warren Wilson College in 2003. Her debut novel, Bone Worship, was published this year by Pegasus Books, and she’ll read at Broadway Books on Tuesday, March 16 at 7 pm. 
We caught up with Elizabeth to talk to her in more detail about Bone Worship…and to give you a chance to win a free copy of the book. Enter to win by leaving a comment on this post, or by linking back here from your own blog or site. We’ll choose a winner at random later this week. (You must be in the U.S. to win.)
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An announcement from McKenzie Books and Cash4Books:
McKenzie Books and Cash4Books are happy to announce our Book-A-Day Giveaway!
A lucky reader will get a chance to win any book (priced $5 or less) in our inventory.
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The Oregon Humanities is holding an Essay Contest on your most Mind-Changing Moments. In 500 words or less tell them about a moment that changed the way you thought about the world or a particular thing in it. You can snag more info from their website. Deadline is April 5th, so you’ve got plenty of time to polish up a little something for the contest.
NPR has decided to run another of its 3-Minute Fiction Contests. The exciting contest brings back a contest they’ve run before with a new Judge and a new challenge. Judged by All Things Considered book critic Alan Cheuse the contest deadline is 11:59 p.m. ET on Feb. 28, 2010. Be sure to polish your fiction, the first round of reads will go through students at the Iowa Writer’s Workshop.
Find more information on the NPR Website.
The winner of January’s Reading Local Contest is…Gilion Dumas! Gilion has proved once again that she is the queen of commenting! Reading Local is grateful to have such an active member of our community. Gilion has decided to take the $25 gift certificate provided by Broadway Books and the $10 gift certificate provided by Second Glance Books as the just reward for her victory.
The other randomly drawn winners of the remaining gift certificates are:
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Willamette Writers just sent out word that their Kay Snow Writing Contest is still open for submissions until April 23rd, 2010. You can send an
Entry in the Fiction, Non-Fiction, Poetry, Juvenile Short Story, Novel excerpt or Article – Fiction or Non-Fiction, Screenwriting, and Student Writing categories.
This annual writing contest awards one first prize of $300, one second place prize of $150, and a third place prize of $50 per winning entry in each of the six categories; fiction, nonfiction, juvenile, poetry, student writer and screenwriting. Student writers are awarded $50 for first place in three grade divisions, $20 for second place, and $10 for third place.
Find out more by reading the Kay Snow Contest Guidelines. A printer-friendly registration form link is available at the end of the guidelines. The deadline for the next contest is April 23rd, 2010.
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Local comics publisher Dark Horse is offering a full run of Season 8 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer comics to a lucky Twitterer. But Tweet fast–the contest’s only on today.
Full contest rules are here.
After all of the points were tallied and then re-tallied, Cara Holman came out on top and is the winner of the December edition of Reading Local’s Monthly Contest! Thanks to her activity on Reading Local’s Facebook page, a new wrinkle that started with December’s contest, as well as her comments left on the blog Cara was able to pull ahead of the pack. Cara has decided to take the $25 gift certificate provided by Annie Bloom’s, and the $10 gift certificate provided by Second Glance Books, as the just reward for her victory. Cara also has decided to become Reading Local’s newest contributor, a development we are very excited about! We will have a full announcement on that shortly.
The other randomly drawn winners of the remaining gift certificates are:
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I told myself that I was done posting for the Holidays, but then I stumbled onto The Book Pirate’s post about him stumbling into Murder By The Book for the first time and the ensuing contest he was inspired to hold as a result, and felt compelled to post one more time before hibernating through the Holiday weekend.
Upon his initial foray into the Hawthorne District landmark, Colin (aka The Book Pirate) came across MBTB’s “mystery presents.” These are pre-wrapped collections of books intended to bring the element of mystery to Christmas morning. Colin decided to pick up two of these presents, one for himself and one for the winner of his proposed contest.
The rules are pretty straight forward: Read the rest of this entry »
Building on the success of the 2nd annual Sledgehammer Contest held this past August, Indigo Editing & Publications decided to bring back the event if only in a slightly more “miniature” way. Instead of 36 hours to come up with a story, participants have 36 minutes, which in some ways that might actually be a larger “sledgehammer” with which to break ones writers block.
The first Mini-Sledgehammer Contest was held this past weekend at the Cloud and Leaf Bookstore in Manzanita and was declared a hit! Tobi Nason’s winning story “You Better Watch Out” can be read here. The second Mini-Sledgehammer Contest will be held this Saturday (12-12) at 2:00 at St. John’s Booksellers. Here are the official contest details:
Participants will be given 4 writing prompts: a character, a fragment of dialogue, an action, and a prop. A timer will be set for 36 minutes. Each participant will produce a new work of fiction on the spot, using the prompts provided, before the timer runs down. All work must be new, and produced especially for this contest. There is no minimum or maximum length. At the end of 36 minutes, participants will read their stories aloud for the audience and our panel of judges: the current Sledgehammer titleholder, a representative of St. Johns Booksellers, and a representative of Indigo Editing. Entries will be judged for completeness, overall quality of writing, and best use of all prompts. Judges’ decisions are final.
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In what proved to be the closest race yet, the winner of the November Reading Local Contest is….Helen Koba! Helen has been one of Reading Local’s earliest and most active supporters. It’s amazing how often I come across instances where she has actively worked to increase the awareness of Reading Local within the Portland community, the most visible being getting Reading Local featured on KATU’s “The Click.” So it’s with great pleasure that I pass along the two gift certificates Helen has chosen, the $25 gift certificate provided by Broadway Books and the $10 gift certificate provided by A Children’s Place Bookstore.
The other randomly drawn winners of the remaining gift certificates are:
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The December 31st deadline for the 3rd Annual Burnside Review Fiction Chapbook Competition is fast approaching, but there is still time to get your entries in. Besides sometimes the best writing comes out when you are under the gun and forced to focus (as my writing clearly indicates I am neither under the gun or forced to focus…). Here is what you will need to submit:
—Up to 10,000 words of fiction. This can be one longer story or multiple shorter pieces. The writer’s name should appear nowhere on the manuscript.
—2 cover sheets, one with the title of the manuscript, your name, telephone number, and address. The second cover sheet should list only the title of the manuscript.
—A page acknowledging previously published work.
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