Deadline: Dec. 1, 2018.
Now in its third year, the Kalanithi Award is accepting submissions of unpublished short stories, essays, and poems that address patients and providers facing chronic or life limiting illness. The contest, hosted by Stanford’s Palliative Care Section, awards three writers an honorarium and, subject to editorial review, publication in Pegasus Review.
Submit less than 4,000 words for short stories and essays and less than 50 lines for poetry via the contest’s online submission form. Remove all identifying information from the piece, such as your name. Please do not submit previously published work and submit only one piece per submission.
Although Stanford affiliates are encouraged to submit their writing, the contest is open to all. Among last year’s winners was “Two Notes” by Cassie Myers from the Department of Medicine. The piece was recognized with an honorable mention and is forthcoming in Pegasus Review.
The Award was created in the memory of Paul Kalanithi, a physician-writer and neurosurgery resident at Stanford University. In the final years of his training, he was diagnosed with metastatic lung cancer. His memoir, When Breath Becomes Air, beautifully chronicles his reflections on living with illness and legacy.
Stanford faculty including Lucy Kalanithi and Abraham Verghese will judge the contest.