Hot Tin Roof is a program to showcase current literary work produced in Iowa City. The series is organized and juried by representatives of three Iowa City-based cultural advocacy organizations: The Englert Theatre, Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature and Little Village magazine. Financial support comes from these three organizations and from private business donor Mark Ginsberg of Ginsberg Objects of Art, who we can’t thank enough for his tireless support of local artists.
The series takes its name from a famous play and movie by former Iowa City resident Tennessee Williams, who graduated from the University of Iowa in 1938. He was chosen as our patron saint because his artistic life refused to be confined to work in any one genre. Moreover, it seemed right, given the many acclaimed writers to have lived and worked in Iowa City, to honor one who, at the time, was a relatively obscure undergraduate.
It is a pleasure to invite you to become part of Hot Tin Roof–a sampling of Iowa City’s renowned, yet growing, literary tradition.
~Little Village
Contest Overview:
Each month a selected piece of creative writing up to 1,000 words will be published in the pages of Little Village, Iowa City’s News and Culture Magazine.
Oh, and the author will receive an honorarium of $100. That’s right, $100, to one writer, every month.
Submission Guidelines:
Judges will consider creative work in all genres and formats up to 1,000 words. These might include short fiction, short literary nonfiction, poetry, or even two pages of dialogue from a play or scenes from a graphic novel. Work may be pulled from a larger piece, but it will be judged on its ability to stand on its own. We are only interested in work that has not been published elsewhere–in print, online, or otherwise.
The series is designed to highlight new work produced in Iowa City, so entrants must live or work in the Iowa City area at the time of submission. Please include your current address with your submission.
Submit your work to: htr@littlevillagemag.com. Please attach your work as a Word Document, PDF, or Rich Text file. Your name and contact information will be removed from your entry and it will be judged anonymously. Judges will be Andre Perry (UI Nonfiction MFA graduate and executive director of the Englert Theatre), Hugh Ferrer (associate director of the UI International Writing Program and board member at Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature) and Matt Steele (publisher and managing editor of Little Village magazine).
The reading period at Hot Tin Roof is currently open year-round: please submit your work at any time to htr@littlevillagemag.com. Response time is 8 – 12 weeks. If your work is selected for publication in another journal before we get back to you please send us an email to withdraw your piece with us.
Winners are eligible to enter again only after 12 months have passed since the publication of their work.
Rights
Submitted work must be the intellectual property of the entrant only.
For all published pieces we buy first North American serial rights for the print magazine and first worldwide serial rights for our website. All subsequent rights revert back to the author.
NOTE: These guidelines have been recently updated (Feb. 2012). We are now working with “rolling” submissions. If we are keeping your piece on hand for future consideration we will contact you, and you will have the opportunity to pull your piece or keep it in contention. If your piece is published elsewhere in the interim, please advise htr@littlevillagemag.com. Thank you!
Submit your piece now to HTR@LittleVillageMag.com
“Hermaphrodite in Iowa” by a certain Vi Khi Nao published in August 2011 was just below even the lowest standards of word abuse. Utterly insipid would be a major compliment. Bordering on retarded, a a slightly more favorable description. (The three judges coates in tar and feathers are to be safely escorted out of Iowa City ; ) …
Well damn, then it sounds like you missed out on your chance to win an easy $100.
Wow! Todd Case’s story “Handgun” is a stunning piece of art. My favorite by far.