Acclaimed Canadian poet Lisa Robertson will serve as the final judge for this year’s Madeline P. Plonkser Emerging Writers Residency Contest. Each year, thanks to the generosity of Madeline Plonsker, Lake Forest College hosts an emerging writer of fiction or poetry who has yet to publish a full-length book. The winner receives a $10,000 stipend, spends two months on the campus of Lake Forest College as writer in residence, and upon approval by the editors, has his or her book published by the &NOW Books imprint of Lake Forest College Press, with distribution by Northwestern University Press.

Lisa Robertson is the author most recently of R’s Boat, published by the University of California Press, and Lisa Robertson’s Magenta Soul Whip, published by Coach House Books. Among her other works of poetry are Xeclogue, Debbie: An Epic, The Weather, and Occasional Work and Seven Walks from the Office for Soft Architecture. Long associated with the famed Kootenay School of Writing in British Columbia, she has been a judge of the Griffin Poetry Prize, Canada’s most prestigious poetry prize, and has served as the Holloway poet-in-residence at the University of California—Berkeley. She lives in France.

The editors at &NOW Books / Lake Forest College Press invite applications from a poet with no major book publication who is under 40 years old to submit a 30-page excerpt of a poetry manuscript in progress and a one-page statement of plans for completion via the online service Submishmash. The deadline is March 1^st. After initial review by editors Joshua Corey, Davis Schneiderman, and Robert Archambeau, the finalist manuscripts will be sent to Lisa Robertson, who will then make the final decision.

Complete guidelines are available here.