The L Magazine's Literary Upstart May 10, 2007

Cheap Drinks, short fiction!

The L Magazine announces the first semifinal reading for its third annual Literary Upstart, The Search for Pocket Fiction competition. In the competition, writers are encouraged to submit their best unpublished short fiction (maximum of 1,500 words) to fiction@thelmagazine.com. At each reading, semi-finalists selected from the pool of submissions (to date we've received more than 200) will appear at a dark and writerly NYC tavern, where the drink specials flow liberally. The writers and their stories willl square off in front of a live audience and an opinionated panel of judges, who will then hold forth, American Idol-style, on the stories. The judges, members of the local literati, are: the New Yorker magazine’s Ben Greenman, Random House’s Christine Pride, Curtis Brown Literary Agent Katherine Fausset, Gawker.com’s Gabriel Delahaye (the champion of last year’s Literary Upstart), and The L Magazine’s own Adam Bonislawski.

Three semi-finalists will advance to our final reading in June, where they’ll have the opportunity to win a cash prize, gift certificates from various sponsors, and, of course, the admiration of his/her peers. All three semi-finalists will also be published in The L Magazine’s annual Fiction Issue alongside professional authors (who last year included Jonathan Ames, Ben Greenman and Patrick Somerville).

Official Website: http://thelmagazine.com