Hotel Congress Poetry Contest

SEEKING SUBMISSIONS FOR POETRY CELEBRATING HOTEL CONGRESS’S 100TH ANNIVERSARY YEAR!

Hotel Congress is celebrating its historic 100th anniversary year with a contest celebrating its unique history. The University of Arizona Poetry Center is seeking poems written about Hotel Congress, the hotel’s history, or programs and events with significant memories of this Tucson fixture.

Please submit one unpublished poem about Hotel Congress, which will be read and judged by Tucson’s Poet Laureate TC Tolbert. Twelve poems will be chosen – one for each month of the anniversary year – and winners will receive a $100 gift card to Hotel Congress.

Each month, a different winning poem will be framed and featured at Hotel Congress. There will also be a poetry reading and reception at Hotel Congress for the poets in the fall, with a space to invite their friends and family to hear their poem and see the presentation. Lite bites will be provided.

Please only submit one poem per entrant. The contest is open to all poets—those who live in Tucson and beyond. Submissions will be accepted from May 15 through August 1.

Winners will be chosen and announced on or before September 2018.

About the judge: TC Tolbert often identifies as a trans and genderqueer feminist, collaborator, dancer, and poet but really s/he’s just a human in love with humans doing human things. The author of Gephyromania (Ahsahta Press 2014) and 4 chapbooks, TC is also co-editor (along with Trace Peterson) of Troubling the Line: Trans and Genderqueer Poetry and Poetics (Nightboat Books 2013). S/he is an EMT and spends his summers leading wilderness trips for Outward Bound. TC was recently named Tucson’s Poet Laureate. Gloria Anzaldúa said, Voyager, there are no bridges, one builds them as one walks. John Cage said, it’s lighter than you think.  www.tctolbert.com