Bring your poetry, short prose, and other creative pursuits! Come to participate and share, or come merely to listen and admire. All are welcome. Wednesday night, November 16th, from 7:30 to 9:00pm.
Open Mic on Wednesday!
poetry
Saturday Workshop: Ready, Setting, Action!
“Places are never just places in a piece of writing. If they are, the author has failed,” author Carmen Maria Machado insists. “Setting is not inert. It is activated by point of view.”
Whether we land our readers in Hogwarts or in Wonderland, at 221B Baker Street, London or 31 Spooner Street, Quahog, Rhode Island, whether they witness the unraveling tales of Derry, Maine or of Forks, Washington, the setting of a story does more than simply mark a spot on a real or fictional map. As Machado notes, setting is often overlooked, but it plays a crucial role in the creation of a story, and in some stories, setting is a role in the story; it becomes a character all its own.
Come join the Saturday Workshop to discuss the necessity of setting, examine the effects of setting on plot, and to garner techniques for creating parallels between setting and other integral story elements like characters, foreshadowing, symbolism, and theme.
Traveler Literary Selections for 2021-2022
After extensive review of nearly 100 submissions, we are happy to announce the selections for our Traveler: Arts & Literary Magazine. Congratulations to our selected authors, and thank you to everyone who submitted. We are honored to read your work, and we hope that you will continue to submit your creations to Traveler during your time at GCC. Thank you, as well, to our student readers and our faculty and community judges. We could not do this without you!
Fiction
- 1st Place: Half Life, by Carol Powell
- 2nd Place: Cuyahoga Cuspidor Company, by Peter Faur
- 3rd Place: I’m Afraid, by Jack Nichols
- Honorable Mention: Call Me Bathysklera, by Francis Wiget
- Honorable Mention: You Get What You Pay For, by Francis Wiget
Creative Nonfiction
- 1st Place: Paper Jungle, by Angela Lilu
- 2nd Place: God Loves Ugly, by Chuck Wan
- 3rd Place: The Lynx Lake Trail, by Joselyn Maria Lopez
Poetry
- 1st Place: Fury, by Abbigayle McCall
- 2nd Place: The Lonely Trees, by Joselyn Maria Lopez
- 3rd Place: To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, by Abbigayle McCall
- Honorable Mention: Enochs, by Payton Sparks
- Honorable Mention: A Box of Memories, by Joselyn Maria Lopez
One-Act Play/Drama
- 1st Place: A Primer on Kimmerian Witchcraft, by Francis Wiget
- 2nd Place: Shadow Valley, by Sterling O’Ray
Traveler Deadline Approaching
The deadline to submit your creative work to The Traveler, GCC’s Arts & Literary Journal, is quickly approaching. Submit your stories, poems, creative essays, and plays by Sunday, December 5th to be considered for publication.
Some reminders:
- You can submit directly on our website here.
- If you have any trouble with the form, you can email your submissions directly to jeffrey.baker@gccaz.edu.
- You can submit up to 5 poems, 3 short stories, 3 creative essays, and 3 plays/scripts per year.
- Your submission documents should not list your name anywhere, so be sure to scrub it from headers and bylines.
- Submitting to the Traveler won’t interfere with your Artists of Promise submissions or future plans to publish your work at national journals with larger circulation.
Final Day to Submit to Artists of Promise
Today (11/24) is the deadline for Maricopa’s Artists of Promise writing contest. If you are an active student in any of the Maricopa Community College District’s schools, such as GCC, you are eligible to enter. You can submit one entry in each of the following categories: fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and one-act play/drama. If you have questions, or trouble submitting, you can email jeffrey.baker@gccaz.edu
For full submission rules, and to submit your work, head here: Artists of Promise Submissions
The clock is ticking!
The Traveler OPEN for Submissions (Fall 2021)
Submit Here: SUBMISSIONS
Artists of Promise Contest – 2021!
2021-22 Artists of Promise: Creative Writing Competition
Each year, the Maricopa Community Colleges sponsor a districtwide competition to encourage and recognize student achievement in the following categories:
- Essay
- Fiction
- One Act-Play/Script
- Poetry
Winning students will receive cash awards, be published in Maricopa’s literary magazine, Passages, and be recognized at the virtual Artists of Promise Event during the Spring of 2022.
Also, the first-place winners in each category will be submitted by the district to then compete at the National Level in the League of Innovation in the Community Colleges Creative Writing Competition.
For competition rules, eligibility requirements, the submission and judging process please go to https://www.maricopa.edu/creative-writing
Awards
Winners will be notified in early February 2022 by the Maricopa Center for Learning & Innovation (MCLI).
First-place work in each category will be recognized at the Virtual Artists of Promise performance scheduled for Spring 2022.
All awards will be issued via student accounts in SIS shortly after the Artists of Promise gala.
- $300 for first place
- $200 for second place
- $100 for third place
Additionally, First Place winners will be entered in the League for Innovation in the Community College’s National Student Literary Competition and be required to complete League application materials, which will be provided by the MCLI.
Application Close Date: Wednesday, November 24, 2021
Second Annual Humorous Poetry Contest!
Spring is near, and soon it will once again be time to be funny and make money. On March 18th, from 6PM to 8PM, students can compete for not one, but two awards for humorous poetry. First place in the Randy Smith Award will earn $100 and second place will earn $50.
As with last year, if you would like to participate, bring an original poem, read/perform it in front of our live and supportive audience, laugh at the hilarity of your peers, and possibly take home some extra cash. Participants will be afforded three minutes to read their work, and they must be registered GCC students. See the flyer below and direct any questions to jeffrey.baker@gccaz.edu.
Traveler Literary Selections for 2019-2020
After two months of reading and deliberation, we are ready to announce the selections for Issue #53 of the Traveler, GCC’s Arts & Literary Magazine. Thank you to our student and community readers, and to our faculty judges. Thank you to everyone who submitted their creative work and who made these selections so difficult.With over 100 submissions, the process was highly competitive. We hope that those who were not selected this time around will submit again when he Traveler reopens for submissions in Fall.
The authors and stories listed below will be published in the new issue, due out in April 2020. We will also have a celebratory reading on March 18th, open to the public, where the authors can read their winning work.
Fiction
- 1st Place: “Symbology” by Malka Daskal
- 2nd Place: “Alone” by Shannon Fernando
- 3rd Place: “Antimatter” by Malka Daskal
- Honorable Mention: “Heart of Ice” by Dawn Gibbs
Creative Nonfiction
- 1st Place: “Length of a Moment” by Taylor Boucher
- 2nd Place: “The Third Generation” by Malka Daskal
- 3rd Place: “A Tuesday Morning Apocalypse” by Taylor Boucher
- Honorable Mention: “Worthless” by Dawn Gibbs
Poetry
- 1st Place: “A Decade of Yesterdays” by Bette Griffen
- 2nd Place: “Double-Edged” by Shannon Fernando
- 3rd Place: “Stormy Love” by Angel Fletcher
- Honorable Mention: “Timeless” by Cynthia Herda
One-Act Play/Drama
- 1st Place: “Sugar Script” by Jacob Nguyen
New Contest: The Robert W. Miller Award for Love Poetry
We are proud to offer yet another contest for writers at GCC–and one with a monetary reward! Because the calendar has turned to February, and because February is so frequently associated with love and romance, this new contest focuses on love poetry. Thanks to a generous donation by GCC’s English Department Chair, David Miller, we are able to offer two students $100 for their original, creative work. The contest ends on March 1st. Full details and the submission form can be found here: The Robert W. Miller Award for Love Poetry.
GCC Creative Writing 
