Contests

In a new Kensington Publishing contest, your book club could receive a Skype visit from four authors who focused on World War II in their books.

The following authors have agreed to participate in the online chat: Kristina McMorris (Bridge of Scarlet Leaves), Ruta Sepetys (Between Shades of Gray), Jenna Blum (Those Who Save Us) and Sarah McCoy (The Baker’s Daughter). The party package includes up to 25 copies of each of the authors’ novels (depends on how many members there are in the winners’ group) and several WWII-era items.

Follow this link to enter the contest. Simply submit your full name as well as the name of your book club, a cell phone number and an email address. A winner will be randomly selected on February 28th. All four authors have agreed to join a book club on March 10th.

Thurber House has launched the “John E. Nance Writer-in-Residence Program.” One writer will receive a $4,000 stipend and a two-month stay at the boyhood home of famous humor writer, James Thurber.

Follow this link to learn more details and download the application. The contest closes on March 15, 2012. The program honors celebrated photojournalist John E. Nance who devoted four decades of his life to photography and writing.

Here’s more from the release: “Nance himself was a Thurber House Writer-in-Residence in 1995 and 1998.  He served on the Thurber House Board of Trustees from 2003 to 2009, acted as its official events photographer, and contributed features and book reviews to The Columbus Dispatch.  He died in March 2010 … Reviving a program that ran from 1984-2002, the residency is intended to provide a writer with the gift of time to develop his or her work, while enjoying the opportunity to live in Thurber’s boyhood home.”

Author Susan Orlean has joined a charity auction to benefit the American Humane Association. Orlean recently published a biography titled Rin Tin Tin: The Life & Legend which chronicles Rin Tin Tin‘s journey from puppyhood to silent film acting career.

Here’s more from the announcement: “The winning bidder will spend time with Orlean at the Riverside Metropolitan Museum looking through the private archives of Lee Duncan and the legendary Rin Tin Tin. Included in the auction are accommodations for two nights at the Mission Inn Hotel & Spa.”

As of this writing, the highest bid was $1,008 and the prize package is valued at $15,000. Interested parties have until November 30th to submit their bid. Follow this link to learn more details about the auction item.

The new literary journal Unstuck is sponsoring a free micro-lit writing contest to promote its first issue. Submissions should focus on the theme of “Lovemarks.”

We’ve listed the unique submission guidelines below to help you format your entry. Here’s more: “we’re interested in work that explores ideas like: ‘respectful, intimate, committed, trust-based love relationships’ between human beings and corporations; corporate personhood; corporate mythology; corporate empathy; brand/product/design fetishism; and the mystery and ‘sensuality’ of logos and other everyday symbols.”

The annual journal will focus on “literary fiction with elements of the fantastic, the futuristic, the surreal, or the strange,” publishing work by Aimee Bender, Joe Meno and many others.

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HarperCollins has created the official C.S. Lewis Twitter account. The Twitter feed will include famous quotes, future opportunities and news about his books. As of this writing, the account counts 6,775 followers.

Currently, anybody who tweets about the Twitter feed will receive a free e-Booklet. On November 16th, Lewis’ stepson, Douglas Gresham, will be hosting a live twitter event.

The publisher will also host a book giveaway. Winners will be selected through a random drawing and will receive one of the following books: The C.S. Lewis Bible, A Year with Aslan, A Year with C.S. Lewis or The C.S. Lewis Journal. Follow this link to learn more about the official rules. (Lewis picture via)

Bomb Magazine and FSG Originals seek visual art submissions for the “Something out of Something” contest honoring the work of Israeli short story writer and filmmaker Etgar Keret.

The winner will receive $500, a signed copy of Keret’s forthcoming Suddenly, a Knock on the Door and a spot in a future Keret short story or film. The pieces should incorporate or be inspired by one of Keret’s short stories.

Here’s more from the release: “Something out of Something, which takes its name from a passage in the title story of Keret’s forthcoming collection Suddenly, a Knock on the Door (April 2012), will be run on a Tumblr of the same name, where submissions can be viewed and commented on by other entrants, readers, and Keret fans. Twenty-five finalists will be selected by judges from Farrar, Straus and Giroux and BOMB Magazine staff, as well Keret himself, and will be announced on Something out of Something on March 15, 2012. Finalists’ work will be sold in a silent auction on April 29, 2012, with proceeds to benefit the PEN American Center.” (Photo Credit: Yanai Yeohiel)

In the video embedded above, novelist John Green unveiled the cover for The Fault in Our Stars. His publisher also announced a contest to create a new cover for his 2006 book, An Abundance of Katherines. Follow this link for more contest details.

The new cover was created by Rodrigo Corral, the artist behind covers for Chuck Palahnluk‘s Pygmy, Colson Whitehead‘s Sag Harbor, Junot Diaz‘s Drown and many more titles.

Here’s more from the release: “When John Green first announced The Fault in Our Stars on June 29, 2011 it shot to #1 on Amazon and BN.com on the basis of title alone. Immediately, fans began creating their own covers for the unfinished book, posting them [to Tumblr]. This creative outpouring resulted in hundreds of fan-generated covers and inspired Penguin Young Readers Group to launch the ‘An Abundance of Covers’ contest to redesign the Printz Honor winning book about a boy named Colin Singleton who has dated–and been dumped by–19 Katherines.”

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The National Education Association (NEA) has teamed up with the NEA Foundation to host “The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse Charity Auction.”

The proceeds derived from the Internet auction will benefit the NEA Foundation’s “Art Inspires Learning, Learning Inspires Art” initiative. This project funds arts education grants for teachers. Follow this link to check out the artwork.

Here’s more from the release: “This initiative was inspired by Eric Carle‘s picture book The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse, which celebrates imagination and artistic freedom. Each donated piece of art will feature that artist’s interpretation of a horse and celebrates imagination and the many and varied ways that each artist sees the world around him/her. The auction will include three waves of art: Group 1 will take place October 17th-27th. Group 2 will take place October 31st-November 10th. Group 3 will take place November 14th-24th.”

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To celebrate the publication of Life…The Reader’s Digest Version: Great Advice, Simply Put, Reader’s Digest will host the “Your Life…” contest. The grand prize winner will receive $25,000, and ten runner-ups will win $2,500. The eleven honorees’ stories will also be published on ReadersDigest.com.

In addition, Facebook fans will have the chance to vote for their favorite stories. The most popular Facebook entry will also receive $2,500. To enter, submit your life story in 150 words or less on Reader’s Digest‘s Facebook page. The deadline has been set for November 1st. Glee actress Jane Lynch submitted the first entry in the contest. Perhaps it’s a teaser for her soon-to-be-published memoir Happy Accidents?

Global editor-in-chief Peggy Northrop had this statement in the release: ”We’ve collected hundreds of thousands of stories and jokes from our readers over the years.  This opens the door for them to share in a whole new way and to get their friends, families and fellow readers involved in the action.”

Jack Around has won the beach towel Photoshop contest at The Paris Review. The image embedded on the side showcases “Ernest Hemingway,” the winning photograph.

The winner edited six photos for the contest. The pictures feature highly prolific writers such as George Orwell, Sir Salman Rushdie and Vladimir Nabokov.

Here’s more from the announcement: “The entries were truly staggering in their creativity and execution … Like I said, this wasn’t easy—but we were not going to argue with a man pointing a gun at us.”