Novel
Accepted during General Submission periods only: Oct. 1–Dec. 1 and Feb. 15–May 15. Please read guidelines before submitting.
Nonfiction
Winner receives a $1000 cash prize+publication. Finalists may also
be offered publication. Submissions open October 1 – December 1, 2020.
Poetry
Chapbook winner receives a $500 cash prize+publication. Finalists may also
be offered publication. Submissions open October 1 – December 1, 2019.
Book Prize winner receives a $700 cash prize+publication. Finalists may also
be offered publication. Submissions open October 1 – December 1, 2019.
Compilation
Accepted during General Submission periods only: Oct. 1–Dec. 1 and Feb. 15–May 15. Please read guidelines before submitting.
welcome!
Why open a small press?
Someone once told me, “The greatest story ever told was probably never finished.” The idea might have manifested itself on the page, but for one reason or another never made it to publication.
I want to give those writers who have a great story to tell or stellar poems to share an outlet for their voice. I want to publish authors I believe in.
V Press LC is small. I like it that way. There’s more flexibility. I can publish works that are fresh and original, works that empower, educate, encourage or inspire–the best works are those that get into the bones. And I look forward to reading pieces that will live inside my marrow.
—Torie Amarie Dale, Director & Managing Editor
2019 Pushcart
Prize Nominations
POETRY
Milton Bates for “TRANSLATION”
Derek Berry for “MUSK EATER”
Chapman Hood Frazier for “RIFFLING THROUGH THE RUINS”
Tim Harkins for “DISENCHANTED”
Ellen Birkett Morris for “ABIDE”
FICTION
Wilma W. Reitz for “TRAVELING WITH WALTER”
latest news
- “Change.”
Collaborative Poem by Room 230 entitled, “Change.” Performed on stage at Black Mountain College Museum + Art Center’s September “ReVIEWING” conference at the University of North Carolina at Asheville by Lee Lawson Stockdale, Chris Kamm, Allen Guest, Torie Amarie Dale and Molly Lena Silverstein.
- Queens Alumni Professional Development Weekend. Torie Amarie Dale taught Queens University of Charlotte’s MFA Alum how to write the sex scene and participated in a panel discussion along with April Ford, Wendi Berry, Mimi Milan, and Cliff Garstang on continuing education after the MFA and transitioning between genres.
- Search for the Words — Poetry & Word Art Workshop for Greer Relief and Resources Agency’s RENEW Program.
Torie Amarie Dale taught how some great poets used language to convey thoughts effectively. Then the class wrote poems that were turned into Art–Word Art to be precise.
- Special Guest Speaker at Safe Harbor Domestic Violence Counseling Center.
Torie Amarie Dale shared her story of overcoming abuse and recovery and taught a sketch journaling class that focuses on getting the negative feelings out and putting positive thoughts/ideas/goals in.
REBECCA BRIDGE
Our $500 Poetry Chapbook Winner
How to Make Butter Like a Pilgrim
Pour a cup of milk into your pocket and then visit the
house of every human you’ve ever met and tell them,
“It was a pleasure knowing you in this lifetime, hope to see you
once more in the next.” Never look behind you, just head
out West at a slow churn.
“This little poem, along with all the others in Rebecca Bridge’s A Month’s Worth of Instructional Poems, seems the product of a marriage between Seneca’s wit
and brevity and Emily Dickinson’s stunning lyricism. From each poem’s title to its last word, I found myself in awe of this poet’s ability to sustain such freshness
of language and imagination, and to hold in perfect balance such profundity and lightness. Though her Instructions for How to Be Instructed suggest we read
one poem a day, I dare anyone who opens this book to try to stop at just one…”
— Cathy Smith Bowers, V Press LC Guest Editor, and former Poet Laureate of North Carolina
CHRISTINA ERTESZEK
Our $1000 Nonfiction Book Prize Winner
The First Lady of Underfashions is a nonfiction saga-like memoir written by Christina Erteszek with excerpts of her parents,’ Jan and Olga Erteszek’s, (now deceased) unpublished memoirs included.
Jan and Olga escape from WWII and start a business in America for a few dollars that grows to millions, earns co-owner and designer, Olga Erteszek, the title of the woman with most patents for any female lingerie designer, becomes a trendsetter in the business industry and sets records for its innovative business practices. But as this husband and wife team think of retiring, they merge with another company, which proves to be a fatal downfall when a loophole in the law allows for a hostile takeover of this groundbreaking business the parents started in their small efficiency apartment.
This is a story of a husband and wife who flee from Nazi and Russian occupied territory, and with no more than a few dollars create a lasting legacy in America.
This is also the story of one daughter’s need to find herself in, around, and under this brand and these successful and prestigious parents whom we later find out, have many secrets—some that will never be revealed.
The First Lady of Underfashions is a complex, layered and nuanced story that bridges the violence of war, the innovation of thought, the singularity of religion, the quest for identity, and the intrigues and intricacies of family into a book you won’t easily be able to set aside, even after the reading is done.
New Releases
Coming November 2019.
A Month’s Worth of Instructional Poems
Coming June 2020.
The First Lady of Underfashions
Coming Summer 2020.
Lyrics for Rock Stars
by Heather Sappenfield