Well Fed Head Books is pleased to announce the five short story finalists for the Well Fed Head Books Fiction Prize. The finalist authors are (in random order):

Brigitte Koenig – (Marilu)
Matthew Stowe – (The Angel)
Paul Johns – (A Flood of Memories)
Jordan Shiveley – (Without Fanfare)
Chad Woody – (Gram vs. the Groundhog)

On Friday, March 7th at 6:30 PM we will hold an award ceremony to announce the grand prize winner. There will be readings from each story and general merriment. We hope you can join us.

We would like to thank all the authors who submitted work for the inaugural Well Fed Head Books Fiction Prize.

What an awesome MOpoetry week. First, everyone who knows Michelle Briggs needs to give her a shout out and hug. She won the Women of the Ozarks Poetry Slam on this past snowy, January 31. She will travel to Detroit as our rep at the Women of the World Poetry Slam on March 13. Our next slam on Saint Valentines Day is dedicated to helping our new poetry sweetheart make this trip. You need to be there, 9:00 PM at Well Fed Head Books (more on that later). And to Rosalyn, Lauryl, Veronica, and Virginia, you all rocked it. Such great poetry from each of you, it was close all night long. Thank you, thank you for making this slam so much fun.

Then on Saturday, a crew of MOpoetry NPS 2007 poets took a trip down to Fayetteville for a Win & You Are In bout. These W&YI bouts are important if you want to send poets to the 2008 National Poetry Slam in Madison. Matthew Mercer, Brian Lewis, Lauryl Wagoner Ames and Seth White did a great job locking in a spot for Springfield.

And many thanks to Thursday Feature Poet Ed Mabrey. Our snowy town is now better than you found it.

Just wanted to let you all know about some fun poetry events that are coming up in the next few weeks.

Mark your calendar for 7:00 PM, Thursday, January 31st, and our very first Women of the Ozarks Poetry Slam. I have just registered our MOPoetry Slam as a venue that will send 1 woman poet to the Women of the World Poetry Slam which will be held this March 13-15 in Detroit, Michigan. The Women of the World Poetry Slam, organized and sponsored by Poetry Slam, Inc. (a non-profit dedicated to the promotion of spoken word poetry), will be three days of fantastic poetry, workshops, open-mic events and much more. PSi also organizes the National Poetry Slam and the Individual World Poetry Slam, two events that are centered around the finest performance poetry on the planet. There are only about 70 poets that will perform on stage for this event, and one of them will be a poet from the Ozarks.

January 31st is going to be a special night for poetry in Springfield. In addition to the Women of the Ozarks Slam at The Outland, we are pleased to announce that Ed Mabrey will be our Feature Poet for this evening. Ed Mabrey is the current, 2007 Individual World Poetry Slam Champion. He has been on the semi-final, finals and indie finals stage at the National Poetry Slam. He is also a two time Haiku National Slam Champion. Quite simply, Ed Mabrey is a great poet and he will be in Springfield for our Women of the Ozarks Slam.

Also this night we will host a Signature Poem Open Mic from 7:30-8:00. Bring the ONE poem that everyone identifies with you, or the poem you would like to be identified with. The open mic is just that…open to everyone. Let me know early if you would like to read for the open mic as we may have more poets than available time. The sign-up begins now.

Here’s the recap for the Women’ Slam:

Women of the Ozarks Poetry Slam

Where: At The Outland (326 South Ave, Downtown Springfield)
Cover: Admission is $5.00 (Your cover charge will help us send the winning poet to Detroit. Thanks!)
Evening Schedule:
7:00 Doors Open
7:30 Signature Poem Open Mic (Guys, you’re welcome too)
8:00 Feature Poet Ed Mabrey
8:30 Ozark Women Slamoff (Slam stage for women competitors only)

For more information call 417-832-9333 or email info@wellfedhead.com

If you are a woman and interested in competing this night, we want you on stage. Just call us and let us know.

We’ve got a busy February for Slam Poetry too. More to follow on the upcoming events:

Saturday, February 2nd:
Win & You’re In Bout in Fayetteville Arkansas – Team Springfield vs. Oklahoma City vs. College Station Texas vs. Little Rock.
(Team Springfield will head to Fayetteville to compete in a W&YI bout. This important qualifier is a big step on the road the National Poetry Slam in Madison, Wisconsin, this August.

Thursday, February 14th
Love Poetry and Erotica Slam. Here at the Well Fed Head we will host a Love Poetry Slam at 9:00 PM. This night will also be a fundraiser for the Woman poet we send to the Women of the World Slam.

The story submission deadline for the first Well Fed Head Short Fiction Prize is just a month away – December 15, 2007 – and a print publication of the winners is in the works. So get cracking on your story, and you just might find yourself a published author.

We are pleased to announce our contest judges who represent an incredible mix of great readers and great writers:

Julie Bloodworth
Julie Bloodworth is the Director of the Missouri Fine Arts Academy (mfaa.missouristate.edu), a state-supported summer Academy for artistically gifted high school students. She’s a former English teacher; a sometimes writer; a member of the board of Directors of Writers Hall of Fame, Ozarks chapter; an avid reader, and a great lover of short stories.

Nicole Chilton
Nicole Chilton is co-owner of Moxie Cinema (www.moxiecinema.com), Springfield’s finest independent movie theater. As a film promoter and book lover, she naturally has a hard time reading a novel (or short story) without wanting to immediately cast the characters for the film adaptation. Nicole is proud of the fact that she has attended 17 of the last 21 Book Club gatherings held by Well Fed Head Books, and knows this because of her extensive book-related record keeping.

Katie Estill
Katie Estill (www.katieestill.com) is the author of two novels, Evening Would Find Me (2000) published by Joyce Carol Oates’s Ontario Review Press and Dahlia’s Gone (2007) released by the St. Martin’s Press. Her new short story, The Drinking Gourd, was just published in the SURREAL SOUTH anthology. Katie is a graduate of Kenyon College and has an M.F.A. from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.

Kelly Knauer
Kelly Knauer is the Managing Editor of TIME Books in New York City. An employee of TIME since 1981, Mr. Knauer assumed his present position in 1992. He has written and edited more than 50 books under the TIME imprint, on subjects ranging from photography, architecture, history and current events to science, weather and health. Mr. Knauer worked with the longtime White House Correspondent, Hugh Sidey, on the book Hugh Sidey’s Portraits of the Presidents. Among his recent books are Hurricane Katrina; The Middle East; Global Warming; and a 256-page large-format photographic history of the U.S., America: An Illustrated History.

Jerry Lentz
Jerry Lentz (www.jerrylentz.com) has a radio show heard coast to coast, runs a traveling acting workshop, has directed a Pearl Jam concert film, had a TV series on IFC, has been written about in the New York Times, LA Weekly, CityBeat LA, Dallas Observer, Details, Guardian UK, reads about 5 books a week, and accepts almost all friend requests to his myspace page.

Elise Winn
Elise Winn is an Honors graduate in English and Writing from Drury University. In 2005 and 2006, she was the instigator/editor of the nearly notorious journal, Things That Are True (truethings.pitas.com). Elise is currently in the M.A. Creative Writing program at the University of California, Davis. She enjoys short and flash fiction (the kind that sticks to your ribs), cooking (the kind that you get to eat), and Missouri trees (the kind that change color).

Daniel Woodrell
Daniel Woodrell (HachetteBookGroupUSA.com) left school and enlisted in the Marines the week he turned seventeen, received his bachelor’s degree at age twenty-seven, graduated from the Iowa Writer’s Workshop, and spent a year on a Michener Fellowship. His last five novels were selected as New York Times Notable Books of the Year, and Tomato Red won the PEN West award for the novel in 1999. His most recent book, Winter’s Bone, was a shortlist finalist for the 2006 Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Woodrell’s second novel, Woe to Live On (1987), was adapted for the film Ride with the Devil (1999), directed by Ang Lee. Daniel currently lives in the Missouri Ozarks.

Beth Buczynski and Michael Sowers
Beth and Mike opened Well Fed Head Books (www.wellfedhead.com) in 2002. Since they rarely get to read for pleasure while at the bookstore, they are thrilled that this inaugural Short Fiction Contest gives them a chance to read on the clock. Beth received her undergraduate degree in English from Truman State University and her M.A. in English from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. Mike received a B.A. in History from Truman State University and his M.A. from Alaska Pacific University.

During a recent road trip, Mike and I were talking about all the things that have happened in the five years since we opened Well Fed Head Books, and as we talked, we found that we wanted to do something different to kick off the next five years. We already know what fantastic readers we have in our community, and we also know from our slams the extent of poetic creativity around, but what do we know of our regional fiction writers? Not nearly enough.

So, we hereby establish our first-ever short fiction contest, The Well Fed Head Short Fiction Prize. The fictional short story is a compelling literary format that really should enjoy greater popularity. And now is your chance to do something about it.

We want this to be a regional award, and given that the term “Ozarks” is somewhat nebulous, Mike suggested that we make our geographic boundary one hour from Springfield if you were driving 100 mph (not that he recommends that you drive that fast). So if you live within a hundred miles of our bookstore, you are eligible.

Unlike most short story contests, we are not going to pack our panel of judges with other writers (though there may be some) or creative writing faculty (though there may be one or two of those, too). We’re going to select judges from among the great READERS we know. Some may have been English majors, but most will not. What they will have in common is a good critical eye and a desire to be entertained, enlightened, and enraptured.

So there you have it. Sharpen your pencils, craft a ripping-good story of no more than 2,500 words, and get it to us by the deadline of December 15, 2007, and you might just find yourself the first recipient of this soon-to-be estimable award.

RULES

1. Each story must be no longer than 2,500 words.

2. Each story must be the unpublished (and not under consideration of being published), original work of the entrant.

3. Entrants must reside within 100 miles of Springfield, Missouri.

4. All entries must be accompanied by an official entrance form (Download Application), which contains the name, address, e-mail address, and phone number of the author, as well as the title of the story. Each entry must be typed, double-spaced on one side of 8+1/2 x 11 paper and no longer than 2,500 words.

5. Names and copyright markings must be omitted from the manuscript, which will go to judges anonymously. Include the title and page number at the head or foot of each page.

6. Only one entry per person. A $15 fee in advance is required for each story submission. This fee goes toward prizes and contest expenses.

7. Do not send originals – no entries will be returned.

8. Entries must be received by 9:00 PM, December 15, 2007. Mail or hand deliver a hard copy of your story to Well Fed Head Books, 331 S. Campbell, Springfield, MO 65806. Also provide a digital copy by email to info@wellfedhead.com or on a CD.

9. Copyrights of winning manuscripts remain in the name of the authors, but Well Fed Head Books, LLC reserves the right to publish the winning entries and any honorable mentions and to reproduce them electronically on our website.

10. Prizes – $250 to be split among the winning stories. Winning stories will be published on wellfedhead.com.

So for the last several years we kept telling ourselves, “We have a lot to say, we should start a blog, it’s time to start a blog.” But we procrastinated and took comfort in the words of Mark Twain, “Why put off till tomorrow what you can do day after tomorrow just as well.” Since it is now easily the day after the day after the day after tomorrow, we finally set up the blog so that it would be ready before, ahem, next week. Anyhow, check back here for updates on all Well Fed Head Books events, musings, and other obtuse observations.