Thanks for your interest in Dzanc Books. General submissions are now closed. Beginning March 1, we will take submissions for our two annual contests:
- The Prize for Fiction, which recognizes novels that are daring, original, and innovative, and offers a $5,000 advance and publication; and
- The Short Story Collection, which seeks well-crafted and powerful book-length collections and offers a $5,000 advance and publication;
Our contests close September 30. The winner of each contest, along with a short list of finalists, will be announced by the end of the year.
*Dzanc does not accept any submissions that are AI generated or where AI has been used in the writing process in any form. Please send us work drawn from your human artistry and ingenuity.
For any questions about the contests or our submissions policy, please email michelle@dzancbooks.org. We look forward to reading your work.
Dzanc House is a home and a hub for regional and national literary and cultural arts programming, and now offers a dedicated residency program, aimed at providing a nurturing space for emerging artists and writers to hone their craft and develop their unique voice.
Our residencies are open to writers, poets, translators, artists (working in all mediums), actors, directors, dancers, etc. from all over the world.
Submissions will open on April 1 and close on September 1, 2026.
Please contact Dzanc House via email with any questions: residency@dzanchouse.org
Dzanc House is a home and a hub for regional and national literary and cultural arts programming, and now offers a versatile Day Studio residency program for local artists and writers who seek a nurturing and quiet space to work on their creative projects without needing to stay the night.
Our Day Studio residencies are limited to writers, poets, translators, artists (working in all mediums), actors, directors, etc. from Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor, and Washtenaw County.
Submissions will open on March 1. Applicants will be notified of their acceptance status by April 15 or May 15. Day Studio Residencies will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Day Studios run from March 15–June 15 2025.
Please contact Dzanc House via email with any questions: gallery@dzancbooks.org
Dzanc House is a home and a hub for regional and national literary and cultural arts programming, and now offers a dedicated summer writing intensive, aimed at providing a supportive workshop environment with professionals in the literary space for established and emerging writers to hone their craft and develop their unique voice.
This offering is open to writers from all over the world.
Registration for Summer Writing Intensives is open now through April 15. Applicants will be notified of their acceptance status by May 1, 2026. The Summer Writing Intensive Week 1 will run from June 14–June 20, 2026 and Week 2 will run from June 21–June 27, 2026.
The Dzanc Books Prize for Fiction recognizes daring, original, and innovative novels (generally over 40,000 words, but there is no hard minimum). A $5,000 advance and publication by Dzanc Books will be awarded to the winner. Finalists will be compiled in-house and passed along for evaluation to this year’s judges: Alyssa Quinn (Habilis), Alan Michael Parker (Bingo Bango Boingo), and Ruyan Meng, author of One Is Three, which was chosen as the winner of last year’s Prize for Fiction. The contest is open to new, upcoming, and established writers alike. Agented submissions are also eligible, and we ask that you include all agency contact information with the application. All submitted works must be previously unpublished novel-length manuscripts and should include a brief synopsis, author bio, and contact information. The full work should be formatted as a PDF, Word .doc or .docx file.
We will accept submissions from March 1 through midnight on Sept 30. There is a $25 submission fee. (Note: we will not accept physical entries.) Simultaneous submissions allowed. The winning submission and a short list of finalists will be announced on the Dzanc web page in December.
Dzanc Books is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. All contest fees will go toward funding the prize as well as supporting Dzanc’s commitment to producing quality literary works, providing creative writing instruction in public schools through the Dzanc Writers-in-Residence program, and offering low-cost workshops for aspiring authors. Active and former Dzanc authors and employees are not eligible for the prize.
The Dzanc Books Short Story Collection Prize celebrates imaginative and inventive writing in book-length collections (generally over 40,000 words, but there is no hard minimum). Past winners include Suzi Ehtesham-Zadeh (Zan), Nino Cipri, (Homesick), Anne Valente (By Light We Knew Our Names), Chaya Bhuvaneswar (White Dancing Elephants), Jen Grow (My Life as a Mermaid), Julie Stewart (Water and Blood), and David Nikki Crouse (When I Was a Stranger). The winning submission will be awarded a $5,000 advance and publication by Dzanc Books.
The contest is open to new, upcoming, and established writers alike. Agented submissions are also eligible, and we ask that you include all agency contact information with the application. All submitted works must be previously unpublished collections and should include a brief synopsis, author bio, and contact information. (Individual stories are allowed to have been previously published.)
We will accept submissions from March 1 through midnight on September 30. There is a $25 submission fee. (Note: we will not accept physical entries.) Simultaneous submissions are accepted. The winning submission and a short list of finalists will be announced on the Dzanc web page in December.
Dzanc Books is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. All contest fees will go toward funding the prize as well as supporting Dzanc’s commitment to producing quality literary works, providing creative writing instruction in public schools through the Dzanc Writers-in-Residence program, and offering low-cost workshops for aspiring authors. Active and former Dzanc authors and employees are not eligible for the prize.