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Each year, december is honored to host a Guest Judge for our poetry and prose contests. Our judges are writers whose work is beloved and whose contributions to the literary […]

Read Bob Hicok’s poems from Vol. 35.1 here. He has this to say about his work, “My poems only have meaning for me while I’m writing them: I rarely go back to them unless I’m putting a book together, and mostly have a relationship with their birth. Writing poems is my job — job in the best sense: something I like to do, that makes me feel more” connected to life — so the existence of these poems, especially the first two, means I did my job on the days they were written.

We’re thrilled to announce Maggie Smith as guest judge for 2025 Marvin Bell Memorial Poetry Prize contest judge this fall!

Read Sayantika’s essay “Mother Tongue” from Vol. 35.1 here. As Sayantika says, “This essay comes from a very special place: my mother. She was insistent on giving me all the opportunities that she missed, and one of them was going to an English-medium school. On the other hand, she also kept me grounded, and I believe this essay comes from there. My mother was elated to see this essay, but unfortunately, she suffered a stroke just a few days after publishing it, which has been debilitating for her. She is recovering slowly right now.”

Video and audio from our inaugral Off the Page event. Hear our guest Judge Dorianne Laux and the winners of our 2024 Marvin Bell Memorial Poetry Prize.

All of this will one day end, she says, be it bigots, beauty, Beyoncé, the need for commas

The first time I talk to Paul after his episode, my chair is uneven; it keeps rocking diagonally. We are on the outdoor patio of the Residence Inn in Florence, Alabama, and the front-right chair leg, upon landing, makes this uneasy scraping sound.

The interview process is a gauntlet. Tomás is asked about rare illnesses and their absence from his lineage. He plays a virtual reality game in which he must make waffles while the kitchen tilts at unexpected angles.

Please join december on July 17 for our inaugural Off the Page event, the first in a series of free online conversations with our Guest Judges. Learn and enjoy with some of your favorite writers and the december team. 

Our Spring/Summer issue Vol. 35.1 is here! Don’t miss it. Subscribe or order your copy today!