three candles press is pleased to announce the first annual Three Candles Prize. The Prize is awarded for a best first book of poems. This year's contest will be judged by Joseph Millar, author of the book Overtime.

Award: Winner receives $750.00 and 25 copies of the winning book. Deadline May 18th (post-mark date). The winner will be notified at the end of October. The book will be available on the three candles website, through online retailers such as Amazon and Barnes and Noble, and at fine booksellers nationwide. The winner will receive a standard royalty contract.

Guidelines: Manuscripts of 60 - 90 pages should have one cover page containing the poet's name, address, phone number, email address and title of manuscript, and another with only the name of the manuscript. Please include only one acknowledgements page. The final round of materials will be judged anonymously (without coversheet or acknowledgements page). The judge will be asked to sign an affidavit attesting that the winning manuscript is not from a current or former student that he has worked on a manuscript with in whole or in part. Manuscripts should be printed on one side only and bound with a sturdy clip. Include an SASE for contest results. Contest entry fee is $20.00. Make checks payable to "Steve Mueske".
    Send materials to:

    three candles press
    PO Box 1817
    Burnsville MN 55337
Praise for Joseph Millar: his poems come out of the American landscape like runaway diesel trucks loaded with miners, electricians, waitresses, ditch diggers, mechanics, factory workers, the homeless, the hopeless, and the lost. Billy Collins writes, "his impulse is to tell a story, but he never forgets, as a poet, to tell it one line at a time.

  read more about Joseph Millar's book Overtime here.

three candles was established as a literary arts journal on the web in 1999. In over five years of publication, the journal has published new poems by Ray Gonzalez, Joyce Sutphen, Paul Guest, Jim Moore, Jeffrey Levine, Michael Dennis Browne, Deborah Keenan, J.P. Dancing Bear, Peter Kane Dufault, and others. The press was established in 2005. Website to follow.

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