(a Press 53 Online Publication)
Welcome to our 12th Anniversary issue of Prime Number Magazine! In this special issue we are celebrating Press 53’s 2020 and 2021 “Pandemic Authors,” those poor souls who spent years working toward a book and months planning their tours, only to have their launch parties canceled in the final hours. These authors deserve some time in the spotlight, so we are giving this issue of Prime Number Magazine to them, so you can sample a poem or story from each of their books. We are also celebrating our winners of the April, May, and June 53-Word Story Contest, our free, monthly writing competition open to writers around the world. Scroll down and happy reading! But first, a little promotion. . .
Open Now for Entries!
Open until July 31. A FREE contest for a poetry form invented by Press 53 editors, with our top four picks published in Issue 229 on October 1. Details here
Open until July 31. We’re looking for an outstanding, unpublished poetry collection. Reading fee: $30. Winner receives publication, a $1,000 advance, and 50 copies. Details here
Open until July 31. Reading fee: $11. First Prize $251; Second Prize: $151; Third Prize $53, plus publication for all three in Issue 229 on October 1. Details here
Read the winners of our FREE monthly
53-Word Story Contest
It's free, it's fun; the winner gets published in Prime Number Magazine and receives a free book from Press 53.
Get the new prompt for this month’s competition here.
Prompt for our winners below in parentheses: Write a 53-word story about (_____)
April 2022 (a date): “Dusk” by H.T. Grossen
May 2022 (meditation): "St. Maria’s Cathedral Yoga: 6 - 7 a.m." by Cora Rowe
June 2022 (a flag): “Letting It Fly” by Steve Saulsbury
Press 53 Award-Winning Books for 2020/2021
Our 2020/2021 authors had limited or no opportunity to get out to in-person events but they fared well with the book contests that remained open to them. We’d like to congratulate and celebrate those authors and their books. Click on the images or titles to sample a poem or story.
“Effluctress” from The Dark Side of North by Anthony S. Abbott (Winner of the 2021 Roanoke-Chowan Award for Poetry)
“Found and Lost” from A Small Thing to Want: Stories by Shuly Xóchitl Cawood (Independent Publishers Book Awards Bronze Medal: Short Stories)
“Baptism” from Drowning in the Floating World by Meg Eden (Winner of the 2021 Towson University Prize for Literature)
Three poems/voices from Hope of Stones by Anna Elkins (Winner of the 2021 Stafford/Hall Award for Poetry, Oregon Book Awards)
“New Bathing Suit” from A Sun Inside My Chest by Terri Kirby Erickson (Winner of the 2021 International Book Award for Poetry)
“As You Can Imagine, This Makes Dating Difficult” from Tales the Devil Told Me by Jen Fawkes (2021 Foreword Magazine INDIES Silver Medal Award: Short Story, and winner of the 2020 Press 53 Award for Short Fiction)
“Death Valley February” from Sailing the Bright Stream: New & Selected Poems by David Treadway Manning (Winner of the 2021 Brockman-Campbell Award for Poetry)
“In the Sunroom with Raymond Carver” from In the Sunroom with Raymond Carver by Dannye Romine Powell (Winner of the 2020 Roanoke-Chowan Award for Poetry)
“Bailed Out” from Anything That Happens by Cheryl Wilder (Second Finalist, 2022 Poetry Society of Virginia North American Poetry Book Award
Press 53 2020/2021 Craft Books
The Abiding Image: Inspiration and Guidance for Beginning Writers, Readers, and Teachers of Poetry by Cathy Smith Bowers is part handbook, part memoir, and part stand-up comedy routine. This collection of essays and lectures will provide inspiration and guidance for any writer, reader, and teacher of poetry. Mr. Potato Head Vs. Freud: Lesson on the Craft of Writing Fiction by Clint McCown, the only two-time winner of the American Fiction Prize, delivers ten powerful essays on writing fiction, from getting started to dealing with writer's block. We are sharing samples from both books in this issue.
Press 53 2020/2021 Poetry
“To the Frustrated Mother in Starbucks with Her Three-Year-Old Son” from Smile, or Else by Chanel Brenner (Winner of the 2021 Press 53 Award for Poetry)
“My Lover Feeds Me Grapefruit” from My Lover Feeds Me Grapefruit by Mohja Kahf (Winner of the 202o Press 53 Award for Poetry)
Press 53 2020/2021 Short Fiction
“We Were Angry” from We Were Angry: A Novella and Stories by Jennifer S. Davis (winner of the 2021 Press 53 Award for Short Fiction
Meet Our Guest Editors for Issue 233 (Jan-Mar 2023)
Get to know our guest editors for Issue 233. Read a poem by Joseph Mills and a story by Stephanie Carpenter before you send them your work. Submissions are open now through Submittable until August 31.
prime number
: any integer other than 0 or ± 1 that is not divisible without remainder by any other integers except ± 1 and ± the integer itself (Merriam-Webster's Dictionary)
In literature: poetry and prose that is distinctive and unique (Prime Number Magazine)
Prime Number Magazine is a Press 53 publication, founded by Clifford Garstang and Kevin Morgan Watson on July 17, 2010, beginning with Issue 2, and continuing with all issues in prime numbers