The Missing Slate is nominating work for the Pushcart Prize for the second time. Organized by the Pushcart Press in New York, the prize has been described as “the most honored literary project in Americaâ€, and previous winners include Joyce Carol Oates, Paul Muldoon, Raymond Carver, Junot Diaz and Missing Slate contributor Kwame Dawes.
Magazines are allowed to nominate up to 6 pieces, and we’ve decided to send 3 poems and 3 fiction pieces.
Our Nomination Process
Narrowing all the work we’ve published this year down to just 6 pieces was always going to be difficult, so we’ve decided to do what we did for last year’s Pushcart Prize: we’re asking for some help from our readers…
We began by asking all our editors for their nominations, and the pieces with the most nominations moved forward to two shortlists: a poetry shortlist with 5 poems, and a fiction shortlist with 5 stories. Now we’re asking you to choose which pieces receive our final nomination.
How to Vote
Below, you’ll find links to all 10 pieces (5 poems and 5 pieces of fiction) on our shortlist. Read them as many times as you like, then vote in one or both of the polls (located directly underneath the shortlists).
The polls will be open from midday on Friday (Pakistan time) until midday on Sunday, giving you 48 hours to register your vote. If, for any reason, you’re having trouble accessing the poll, please leave the name of the writer/work you’d like to vote for in the comments.
Our poetry shortlist
the trials and tribulations of a well-endowed woman, by Hira A
Analogy, by Ikhda Ayuning Maharsi
Canvas, by Esther Phillips
La Disparue, by Frederick Pollack
Asphalt Story #84, by Kat Soini
Our fiction shortlist
The Bus, by Najwa Barakat (excerpt translated from Arabic by Luke Leafgren)
Always Coca-Cola, by Alexandra Chreiteh (excerpt translated from Arabic by Michelle Hartman)
Hair, cuts, by Fiona Inglis
The Wines of the Shakespeare Estate, by Zsolt Láng (translated from Hungarian by Erika Mihálycsa)
Whatever the Wounds, Whatever the Damage, by Shahaduzzaman (translated from Bengali by Shabnam Nadiya)
[…] Later in the year I was honoured to be included in the three poems the magazine included in its Pushcart Nominations following a […]