Latest News
Brooke Champagne Joins the River Teeth Team
Hello from the confluence of River Teeth here at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, on the kind of gorgeous fall day that makes a person want to leash up the dog and head out into the fields and woods–but not so fast because submissions opened on September 1st and we’ve got a lot of reading to do. Happily, we love to read.
"After all that, he comes back for the curtains. The blackout curtains that helped him sleep in on so many school days—past the alarms I begged him to set, past all my fruitless shouting, past noon."
-from "He Comes Back for the Curtains," this week`s Beautiful Things essay by Jill Currie
Read the rest: https://riverteethjournal.com/beautiful-things/he-comes-back-for-the-curtains/
Take a moment to admire our past River Teeth covers and welcome our new furry cover stars 🦝🤩 The cover isn’t the only place you’ll find animals furried, feathered, or scaled. Take a look inside River Teeth issue 26.1 and you’ll find a joke about a foul-mouthed parrot, small dogs listed as obstacles to avoid while navigating unfamiliar spaces, and a lost cat named Zane.
The issue features essays by Richard Bausch, George Estreich, David Fowler, Stephen Haines (@stephenluke1), Heather Lanier (@heatherklanier), Will McMillan, Lindsey Pharr (@lindsey_a_pharr), Suzanne Roberts (@suzanneroberts28), Jennifer Taylor-Skinner (@jennifertaylorskinner), William Torrey, and Nicole Walker (@nikwalker28). Subscribe via our Submittable page, or enjoy it via ProjectMUSE.
#RiverTeeth #CreativeNonfiction #LitMag #WritersOfInstagram #EssaysThatMatter #LiteraryJournal #Bookstagram #Publishing #BookPrize #WritingCommunity #NewIssue
🗣️New Book Review! 🎉This month Glen Retief reviews Patricia Coral’s memoir “Women Surrounded by Water.”
“Such profound and intersecting forms of powerlessness might be expected to lead to outrage. However, rather than anger, a tone of tender melancholy permeates Women Surrounded by Water. At times Coral’s calmness is deeply moving, as when she comments on a picture of her great-grandmother: ‘I wonder if this photo was taken before or after your husband hit you.’”✏️
✨Visit our website to read more: https://riverteethjournal.com/book-reviews/colonized-bodies-colonized-islands/
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"My inefficiencies are clear. But perhaps none of these are flaws. Who ordained that one’s body must be heavy lifting, that this is the only way to be?"
-from "Soft," this week`s Beautiful Things essay by Stephanie Mei
Read the rest: https://riverteethjournal.com/beautiful-things/soft/
River Teeth 26.1 is now available, and we can`t wait for you to read it. The issue features essays by Richard Bausch, George Estreich, David Fowler, Stephen Haines (@stephenluke1), Heather Lanier (@heatherklanier), Will McMillan, Lindsey Pharr (@lindsey_a_pharr), Suzanne Roberts (@suzanneroberts28), Jennifer Taylor-Skinner (@jennifertaylorskinner), William Torrey, and Nicole Walker (@nikwalker28). Subscribe via our Submittable page, or enjoy it via ProjectMUSE. #creativenonfiction #writing #LiteraryMagazines #riverteeth #essaysthatmatter
"Tonight, on a video call, a friend mentions her wayward garden, the way everything is overgrown and overwhelming."
-from "Kindness Which Feeds Us Another Way," this week`s Beautiful Things essay by Allison Macy-Steines
Read the rest: https://riverteethjournal.com/beautiful-things/kindness-which-feeds-us-another-way/
It’s so great!🤗💃 Submissions to our print journal River Teeth and our online micro magazine Beautiful Things are open now!😆We look forward to reading your submission!
Submit here: https://riverteethjournal.com/print-journal/
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🎉Happy New Year’s Eve from our River Teeth Family! 🌟 Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365-page book. Write a good one! 🎊
#RiverTeeth #CreativeNonfiction #LitMag #WritersOfInstagram #EssaysThatMatter #LiteraryJournal #Bookstagram #Publishing #Booklover #Writer #BookPrize #WritingCommunity #ReadMoreBooks #Indiana #ProjectMuse #FlashNonFiction #NewYearsEve #2025
"Komorebi is Japanese for the sunlight passing through the leaves of trees, literally “tree leaking sun.” Recently, my friend saw trees leaking fog, which reminded her of spiderwebs."
-from "Leaking," this week`s Beautiful Things essay by Andrew Taylor-Troutman
Read the rest: https://riverteethjournal.com/beautiful-things/leaking/
🔥Introducing the River Teeth Revisited column!🔥
We’re starting a new online feature called River Teeth Revisited where guest writers will choose essays they love from the River Teeth or Beautiful Things archives, think about particular elements and strategies the writers use to transform real life into essays that speak to the core of the human experience, and provide the gift of a writing prompt at the end.
Click the link below to read the new page front. Editor Jill Christman reflects on how the River Teeth Revisited column was born, what it means to her and her students, and how you can use River Teeth in your own classroom.💡📝
📖Check out the new page here: https://riverteethjournal.com/features/river-teeth-revisited/
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Feeling bored?😴🙃 Visit the Beautiful Things page on our website to revisit some of your favorite micro essays 🤗 Or discover some new ones! Each essay is only a 2 min read!🌸
Check them out here: https://riverteethjournal.com/beautiful-things/
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"The Swap Meet thrummed with desert heat, high summer, a hundred people trying to buy and sell, trade the worn and tattered for the not-quite-new."
-from "Swap Meet," this week`s Beautiful Things essay by Melissa Sevigny
Read the rest: https://riverteethjournal.com/beautiful-things/swap-meet/
Mark your calendars! ✍️Submissions to our print journal River Teeth and our online micro magazine Beautiful Things will open up January 1st! 🥳We look forward to reading your submission!
Submit here: https://riverteethjournal.com/print-journal/
#RiverTeeth #CreativeNonfiction #LitMag #WritersOfInstagram #EssaysThatMatter #LiteraryJournal #Bookstagram #Publishing #Booklover #Writer #BookPrize #WritingCommunity #ReadMoreBooks #Indiana #SubmissionsOpen #FlashNonFiction #Midwest
⚡Bringing this essay back to your attention!⚡You can read Sonya Huber’s essay, “If Woman is Five” from RT 17.2, in print or on Project Muse.
“But what was wrong with her? Could it happen to us? We didn’t know; no one said. It turns out that what happened to her could happen to us, but we did not believe that then.” 💡
#RiverTeeth #CreativeNonfiction #LitMag #WritersOfInstagram #EssaysThatMatter #LiteraryJournal #Bookstagram #Publishing #Booklover #Writer #BookPrize #WritingCommunity #ReadMoreBooks #Indiana #ProjectMuse #FlashNonFiction
"Outside, the lilacs pant in good measure, their sugar scent somersaulting toward heaven. The woman counts her breaths like new pennies."
-from "Bubby and Zaidy 1983," this week`s Beautiful Things essay by Laura Bernstein-Machlay
Read the rest: https://riverteethjournal.com/beautiful-things/bubby-and-zaidy-1983/
🎉New Book Alert!🎉
Late Stage by River Teeth Editor Mark Neely is now out in the world!📖
Take a sneak peek or purchase your own copy here: https://jacarpress.com/late-stage/
#RiverTeeth #CreativeNonfiction #LitMag #WritersOfInstagram #EssaysThatMatter #LiteraryJournal #Bookstagram #Publishing #Booklover #Writer #BookPrize #WritingCommunity #ReadMoreBooks #JacarPress #NewBook
🗣️New Book Review! 🎉This month Lara Lillibridge reviews Lydia Paar’s essay collection “The Exit is the Entrance: Essays on Escape” (part of the Crux series)
“The essays are an exploration of liminal spaces, both the physical spaces, such as onboard greyhound buses and other modes of transportation, or the hostel where she lives and works for a time; and more figurative spaces, such as liminal friends and experiences. ”✏️
✨Visit our website to read more: https://riverteethjournal.com/book-reviews/standing-on-the-threshold-between-an-exploration-of-liminal-spaces-and-transitions/
#RiverTeeth #CreativeNonfiction #LitMag #WritersOfInstagram #EssaysThatMatter #LiteraryJournal #Bookstagram #Booklover #Writer #BookPrize #WritingCommunity #ReadMoreBooks #BookReview
"After the eggs hatch, we sneak glimpses of the dove parents feeding the babies, their fuzzy heads just visible in the hanging basket."
-from "For Life," this week`s Beautiful Things essay by Jess D. Taylor
Read the rest: https://riverteethjournal.com/beautiful-things/for-life/
🗣️We are thrilled to announce our nominations for the 2025 Pushcart Prize 🤩
Issue 25.2
✨“Ground” by Jenna Hammerich
✨“The Voicer of God” by Sarah Minor
✨“Naloxone, Syringes, and Pipes” by Melody Glenn
Issue 26.1
✨“A Memory, and Sorrow (An Interval for Bobby)” by Richard Bausch
✨“Literature is a Winding Way Into Your Life: On Dorothy Wordsworth” by George Estreich
✨“The Body of Apologies” by Heather Lanier
🌿✨Join us in congratulating all of our nominees in the comments below! 🙌💖
#RiverTeeth #CreativeNonfiction #LitMag #WritersOfInstagram #EssaysThatMatter #LiteraryJournal #LitJournal #Bookstagram #Booklover #Writer #BookPrize #WritingCommunity #ReadMoreBooks #BallStateEnglish #PushcartPrize #PushcartPrizeNominee #PushcartPrize2025
River Teeth is on Bluesky!🌟
Follow us at https://bsky.app/profile/riverteeth.bsky.social for the latest updates, essays, and inspiration! 🌤️
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In Other News
Beth Nguyen Announced As River Teeth’s 2024 Literary Nonfiction Book Prize Judge
by Ethan Rice
"We are thrilled to announce the final judge for the 2024 River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Book Prize. Beth Nguyen is an author and professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she directs the MFA Program in Creative Writing..."
Meet River Teeth’s Spring 2024 Interns
Hello! We are excited to shine light on some of the creative minds and passionate spirits that have been working with us this past spring semester: our interns! From painting the beautiful rocks you might’ve seen at AWP to writing captions for Instagram posts to moving book reviews from our old website to our new website - our interns have been with us through it all and we couldn’t have done it without them. Each intern brings a unique blend of enthusiasm, curiosity, and dedication to our team. They had so much fun interviewing each other for this article, so we hope you enjoy getting a glimpse of them as much as we have loved working with them.
Laura Julier Wins River Teeth’s 2023 Literary Nonfiction Book Prize
We are delighted to announce that Laura Julier has won the 2023 River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Book Prize. Her manuscript, Off Izaak Walton Road, will be published by the University of New Mexico Press in Spring 2025. Julier will also receive a $1,000 honorarium. All entries were screened by the editors, and our guest judge, Lacy M. Johnson, chose a winner from among the finalists. All of us at River Teeth are grateful to the many writers who submitted their books to the competition this year and to Lacy M. Johnson for sharing her time and expertise to choose the winning manuscript and runner-up.
Join Us Offsite of AWP: A Creative Nonfiction Celebration with Fourth Genre, Hippocampus, River Teeth, & Under the Gum Tree
By Megan Lutes
Kick off your Friday night by coming out to celebrate the essay with Fourth Genre, Hippocampus, River Teeth, & Under the Gum Tree at an Irish pub just one mile north of the convention center with food and drink (for purchase) and short readings from featured essayists across all journals (see specifics below).
Sarah Capdeville Wins River Teeth’s 2022 Literary Nonfiction Book Prize
We are delighted to announce that Sarah Capdeville has won the 2022 River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Book Prize. Her manuscript, Aligning the Glacier's Ghost, will be published by the University of New Mexico Press in spring 2024. Capdeville will also receive a $1,000 honorarium. All entries were screened by the editors and our guest judge, Natasha Trethewey, chose a winner from among the finalists...
Robert Lunday Wins River Teeth’s 2021 Literary Nonfiction Book Prize
We are delighted to announce that Robert Lunday has won the 2021 River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Book Prize. Fayettenam: Meditations on Missingness will be published by the University of New Mexico Press in spring 2023. All entries were screened by the editors and our guest judge, Rigoberto González, chose a winner from among the finalists. Everyone at River Teeth is grateful to the many writers who submitted their books to this year’s competition and to Rigoberto González for sharing his time and expertise to choose a winner.
Walter M. Robinson Wins River Teeth’s 2020 Literary Nonfiction Book Prize
We are delighted to announce that Walter M. Robinson has won the 2020 River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Book Prize. His winning manuscript, What Cannot Be Undone, will be published by the University of New Mexico Press in Spring 2022. All entries were screened by the editors and our guest judge, Megan Stielstra, chose a winner from among many exceptional manuscripts. River Teeth is grateful to the many writers who submitted their books to this year’s competition and to Megan Stielstra for the difficult service of choosing among them.
Kevin Honold Wins 2019 River Teeth Book Prize
We are thrilled to announce that Kevin Honold is the winner of this year’s River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Book Prize. His winning manuscript, The Rock Cycle, will be published by the University of New Mexico Press in Spring 2021. All entries were screened by the editors and our guest judge, Bret Lott, chose a winner from among the exceptional finalists.
Megan Stielstra To Judge the 2020 River Teeth Book Prize
We are delighted to announce that acclaimed author, Megan Stielstra will judge the 2020 River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Book Prize. Stielstra is the author of three books of essays: The Wrong Way to Save Your Life, Once I Was Cool, and Everyone Remain Calm.
River Teeth Finds New Home at Ball State
After twenty years at Ashland University in Ohio, River Teeth will now be housed in the Department of English at Ball State University with Jill Christman and Mark Neely as Senior Editors and Professor Todd McKinney as the Managing Editor. River Teeth is a portfolio of literary editing projects anchored by one of the top literary nonfiction magazines in the country. It includes a bi-annual, print magazine (River Teeth: A Journal of Nonfiction Narrative), a weekly online magazine (Beautiful Things), and a nonfiction book contest with an annual winner published by the University of New Mexico Press. Founding editors, Joe Mackall and Dan Lehman, wished to find a new home for the literary journal after their retirement from teaching at Ashland University.
River Teeth part of a 4-journal CNF reading during Portland AWP Writers Conference
Join Under the Gum Tree, Fourth Genre, Hippocampus, and River Teeth for an AWP happy hour of telling true stories. Four journals, all publishing exclusively nonfiction, are partnering on this event to bring you a line up of previous contributors—many of whom will be descending on Portland for the 2019 Association of Writers & Writing Programs annual conference (AWP).
Essay Collection by Joan Frank Wins 2018 River Teeth Book Prize
Congratulations to Joan Frank, the winner of this year’s River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Book Prize. Her winning manuscript Try to Get Lost: Essays on Travel and Place is focused, most broadly, upon travel and place—but also and equally, popular culture and, by default, autobiography. The essays in the collection explore the breach between a traveler’s vision and the actual.
River Teeth Nonfiction Conference 2018
Join us for readings, seminars, and optional manuscript consultations.
2016 Book Prize Winner a Finalist in WILLA Literary Awards
Earlier this month Women Writing the West (WWW) announced the 2018 WILLA Literary Award Winners and Finalists...The 2016 River Teeth book prize winner, Rough Crossing: An Alaskan Fisherwoman’s Memoir by Rosemary McGuire, was one of two finalists in the category of Creative Nonfiction.
2014 Book Prize goes to Angela Morales, The Girls in My Town: Essays
The Girls in My Town: Essays by Angela Morales wins the 2017 PEN Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for Art of the Essay! River Teeth is pleased to announce the winner of the 2014 Nonfiction Book Prize is Angela Morales of Pasadena, Calif. Her collection of essays entitled The Girls in My Town was selected by contest series final judge Cheryl Strayed. The book will be published by The University of New Mexico Press and made available in the spring of 2016.
2009 Book Prize Winner – Ana Maria Spagna
We are thrilled to announce that Ana Maria Spagna is the winner of this year’s River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Book Prize. Her winning manuscript, Test Ride on the Sunnyland Bus: A Daughter's Civil Rights Journey, will be published by the University of Nebraska...
2010 Book Prize goes to Lisa Catherine Harper A Double Life: Discovering Motherhood
A Double Life: Discovering Motherhood wins 2011 National Book Critics Circle Small Press Highlight!
“In A Double Life Lisa Catherine Harper delivers a complex, heartfelt exploration of pregnancy and motherhood. Smart, accessible, and emotionally compelling, it is part memoir, part manifesto—a riveting read for anyone who is a mother, or hopes to become one.”—Michelle Richmond, author of The Year of Fog and No One You Know
2007 Book Prize goes to The Enders Hotel: A Memoir by Brandon R. Shrand
2010 Book Prize goes to Brandon R. Schrand for "The Enders Hotel: A Memoir." Wins 2008 Summer Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection and School Library Journal Best Adult Books For High School Students.
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