This prize awards $1,000 and possible publication in The Thomas Wolfe Review to a piece of short fiction under 3,000 words. Submit here.
Crystal Wilkinson will judge.
Crystal Wilkinson is the award-winning author of The Birds of Opulence (winner of the 2016 Ernest J. Gaines Prize for Literary Excellence), Water Street, and Blackberries, Blackberries. Nominated for both the Orange Prize and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, she has received recognition from The Kentucky Foundation for Women, The Kentucky Arts Council, The Mary Anderson Center for the Arts, The Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, and is a recipient of the Chaffin Award for Appalachian Literature. She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and her short stories, poems and essays have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies including most recently in the Oxford American and Southern Cultures. She currently teaches at the University of Kentucky where she is Associate Professor of English in the MFA in Creative Writing Program.
The Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize is facilitated by the Great Smokies Writing Program at the University of North Carolina at Asheville. The program offers opportunities for writers of all levels to join a supportive learning community in which their skills and talents can be explored, practiced, and forged under the careful eye of professional writers. The program is committed to providing the community with affordable university-level classes led by published writers and experienced teachers. Each course carries academic credit awarded through UNC-Asheville.
The Thomas Wolfe Review is the official journal of The Thomas Wolfe Society, publishing articles, features, tributes, and reviews about Wolfe and his circle. It also features bibliographical material, notes, news, and announcements of interest to Society members.
Recent contributors include Michael Gaspeny, Andrew Scrimgeour, and NC Literry Hall of Fame inductee and former NC Poet Laureate Shelby Stephenson, as well as the winners and some finalists of past Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize competitions.
North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame inductee Thomas Wolfe (1900-1938), was born in Asheville. His Look Homeward, Angel is considered one of the most important coming-of-age novels in the English language. Wolfe was considered at the time of his death to be the greatest talent North Carolina had given to American literature. His novels and collected short stories go beyond autobiography, trying to, in William Faulkner’s words, “put all the experience of the human heart on the head of a pin.” His intense poetic language and thoughtfully developed symbology, combined with his uncanny ability to enter the minds of his other characters and give them powerful voices, elevate the books from memoir to undeniable literary art.
The winner of the 2021 Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize was Lou Schlesinger of Shelby, for his short story “Post-Traumatic MoonPie.”
The full competition guidelines are listed below and can be found at www.ncwriters.org.
Eligibility and Guidelines
- The competition is open to all writers regardless of geographical location or prior publication.
- Submit two copies (if submitting by mail) of an unpublished fiction manuscript – short story or self-contained novel excerpt – not to exceed 3,000 words, double-spaced, single-sided pages (1″ margins, 12-pt. Times New Roman font).
- Author’s name should not appear on manuscripts. Instead, include a separate cover sheet with name, address, phone number, e-mail address, word count, and manuscript title. (If submitting online, do not include a cover sheet with your document; Submittable will collect and record your name and contact information.)
- An entry fee must accompany the manuscript: $15 for NCWN members, $25 for nonmembers.
- The entry fee is per submission. You may submit multiple entries.
- You may pay the member entry fee if you join the NCWN with your submission. Checks should be made payable to the North Carolina Writers’ Network.
- Entries will not be returned.
- The winner is announced each April.
- Simultaneous submissions ok, but please notify us immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere.
- When you submit online at https://ncwriters.submittable.com/submit, Submittable will collect your entry fee via credit card ($15 NCWN members / $25 non-members). (If submitting online, do not include a cover sheet with your document; Submittable will collect and record your name and contact information. For more information about Submittable, click here.)
- To submit as a Member of NCWN ($15), click here.
- To submit as a Non-Member of NCWN ($25), click here.
- To submit by regular mail:
Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize
Great Smokies Writing Program
UNC Asheville
1 University Heights – CPO 1915
Asheville, NC 28804
Questions? Please contact Lilly Danzis, ldanzis@unca.edu.