Announcing the First Book Prize Semi-Finalists

We are delighted to announce the semi-finalists of the IHLR/TTU Press First Book Prize contest. Iron Horse Literary Review’s annual Book Prize is an invitation for writers to submit their collection of prose manuscripts, either short fiction or nonfiction. The Iron Horse Prize seeks stories from and about places and people that are often overlooked and underrepresented in contemporary letters, but we have no preferences as to subjects or themes. We hope to publish the winning collection in the summer of 2025 by Texas Tech University Press.

            For now, congratulations to our semi-finalists and their amazing works. The writing community is such an important aspect of the writing and publis

hing industry/craft, and we are so happy to be a part of it. We would like to encourage writers to support each other, and you can follow our semi-finalists via their social media handles.

            Again, congratulations to all the talented writers in the list below!

Semi-Finalists:

(Nonfiction)

Brandon Lewis, How to Not Disappear Completely

Laurie Uttich (@laurieuttich), Crazy Talk: A Memoir in Essays

(Fiction)

Clayton Bradshaw-Mittal (@writerclaytonb), Soft Goodbyes through Broken Veils

Yvonne Conza (@yvonneconza), Desire to Live

G Currier, We Will Not Grieve

Bernard Grant, Ourselves and Other People

Joseph Levens, Critical Cartography and Other Stories

Paul Linczak, Believers

Bleah Patterson (@littlemissbleah), The Beaver and Other Stories

G G Silverman (G.G. Silverman), The Blood Year Daughter: Stories

Alan Sincic, Peripheral Vision

Lana Spendl, Kaput

Patrick Torres, All the Fallen Stars

J.T. Townley, Sun Salutations & Other Stories

L Vocem, Red Land

To read some of the previous First Book Prize winners, visit this link