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. Her latest collection, The Wrong Way to Save Your Life, won the Chicago Review of Books’ 2017 Book of the Year in Creative Nonfiction, among many other honors. Her work has also been featured in The Best American Essays, The New York Times, The Believer, The Rumpus, and numerous fine periodicals. In fact, she is so good, Roxane Gay—author of the the best-seller Hunger and Bad Feminist—has called Stielstra a “masterful essayist.” Not only is Stielstra a highly regarded writer, but she also serves as a mentor and coach to other writers with her work at Catapult and The OpEd Project. If you would like to learn more about her and her writing, she recommends beginning with this self-interview at The Nervous Breakdown.
Anne Goldman Wins the 2025 River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Prize
We are delighted to announce that Anne Goldman has won the 2025 River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Book Prize. Her manuscript, House of Fragile Things, will be published in Spring 2027 by the University of New Mexico Press.









