The Mookse and the Gripes discussion

This is a US-based prize run by the Community of Literary Magazines & Presses (CLMP), focusing on independent publishers. The prize has been around for almost a decade but 2022 was the first year they offered a cash prize.

From the website:

The CLMP Firecracker Awards for Independently Published Literature are given annually to celebrate books and magazines that make a significant contribution to our literary culture and the publishers that strive to introduce important voices to readers far and wide. Prizes are awarded in the categories of Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Poetry, Magazine/General Excellence, and Magazine/Best Debut. Each year, CLMP also awards the Lord Nose Award, given to a publisher or editor in recognition of a lifetime of work in literary publishing.

Each winner in the books category will receive $2,000—$1,000 for the press and $1,000 for the author or translator—and each winner in the magazine categories will receive $1,000. In addition, a national publicity campaign spotlights and promotes our winning titles each year.

https://www.clmp.org/programs-opportu...

The 2022 finalists were quite strong. Here were the finalists in the fiction category:

Farthest South & Other Stories by Ethan Rutherford, published by A Strange Object
Householders by Kate Cayley, published by Biblioasis
The House of Rust: A Novel by Khadija Abdalla Bajaber, published by Graywolf Press
Pleasantview by Celeste Mohammed, published by Ig Publishing
The Trees by Percival Everett, published by Graywolf Press

Pleasantview was the winner.

The archive of all past winners indicates that translated works have historically done quite well: https://www.clmp.org/programs-opportu...

It will be interesting to see how the US/Canada iteration of the RoC carves out a niche separate from this prize.

Pleased (several months after the event) for Pleasantview which also won the overall 2022 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, as well as being winner in the fiction category.

Yes this does seem to overlap with the RofC. Perhaps more emphasis on diverse voices than creative risk taking although in practice the two overlap. Although having two such awards is no bad thing. Incidentally speaking to one of the judges the US/Canada RofC is getting close to a longlist.

This year looks like for Firecracker

Finalists will be announced in spring 2023; the winners will be announced in June 2023.

Multiple awards in this space is definitely needed. One difference might be in the definition of which presses are included. Graywolf and Tim House, for example, might not meet the RoC definition of small press. Either way, it gives the RoC more leeway to emphasize creative risk taking with the firecracker award already out there. I was excited to stumble across this.

It’s interesting to see that they accept submissions from outside the US. I realize the time/effort involved in putting together a submission may not be worth it for many small presses, but I could see some (Galley Beggar?) being interested.

I’m surprised we’ve never come across CLMP Firecracker Prize before.

Finalists announced today:

- Grove Atlantic. Brother Alive by Zain Khalid.
- A Public Space Books. God's Children Are Little Broken Things: Stories by Arinze Ifeakandu.
- Deep Vellum. Stories of a Life by Nataliya Meshchaninova, tr. Fiona Bell.
- Feminist Press. Violets by Shin Kyung-sook, tr. Anton Hur.
- Graywolf Press. When I sing, the mountains dance by Irene Solà, tr. Mara Faye Lethem.

It's great to see translations well represented.

The full list of finalists - including those in creative nonfiction, poetry, and other categories - can be seen here: https://www.clmp.org/programs-opportu...

The winners will be announced on June 22, 2023, 6PM ET, at the virtual Firecracker Awards Ceremony.

The winner is Grove Atlantic for Brother Alive.

The finalists were announced yesterday. Looks like a strong fiction list:
- Landscapes by Christine Lai, published by Two Dollar Radio
- You Were Watching from the Sand by Juliana Lamy, published by Red Hen Press
- The Simple Art of Killing a Woman by Patrícia Melo, translated by Sophie Lewis, published by Restless Books
- The Girl Before Her by Line Papin, translated by Adriana Hunter and Ly Lan Dill, published by Kaya Press
- Dearborn by Ghassan Zeineddine, published by Tin House

https://www.clmp.org/press-center/clm...

I'm very pleased with the recognition of The Simple Art of Killing a Woman. That was a powerful read.

Landscapes is wonderful. I will have to investigate the others. I'm adding the links so I can easily find them again on this thread!
You Were Watching from the Sand
The Simple Art of Killing a Woman
The Girl Before Her
Dearborn

Landscapes is indeed brilliant