George Saunders judging Lit POP 2015. Deadline: July 1st. US & Canada only.

Major Announcement: George Saunders and Damian Rogers to judge Lit POP 2015

Our Fiction Judge, George Saunders POP Montreal and Matrix Magazine present: Lit POP 2015 We are thrilled to announce that our 2015 judges are George Saunders (Fiction) and Damian Rogers (Poetry). The submission period is open now. The POP Montreal International Music Festival and Matrix Magazine have once again joined forces to bring you North America's most innovative and exciting literary competition. We are looking for great stories and poems that really pop. Winners will have their work published in Matrix, and receive free travel to POP Montreal for a night in their honor. The winners, one from each category, will receive a round-trip ticket to POP Montreal from September 16 – 20, 2015, a VIP pass to POP Montreal, free accommodation at a hotel, fall publication in Matrix Magazine with full honorarium, and will participate in a presentation at a special Matrix Lit POP event during the festival.

Our Poetry Judge, Damian Rogers This contest is open to residents of Canada and the United States. The deadline for all submissions is July 1st 2015. Winners will be notified in August. Poets are asked to send no more than 5 poems; fiction writers should send stories of no more than 3000 words. Each entry is 25$ and entries can be made throughMatrix's Submittable app or mailed to: Matrix Publications, 1455 de Maisonneuve Blvd W., LB 658, Montreal QC, H3G 1M8. Please include your email address. Cheques or money orders should be made out to "Matrix Publications." For those who would prefer not to use the Submittable app or pay with a cheque or money order, PayPal is also available. Multiple entries are welcome. Entries can also be emailed to Litpop2015@gmail.com and will be considered valid once payment is verified. Full contest rules and regulations can be found here. This year’s judges are the acclaimed writers George Saunders (Fiction) and Damian Rogers (Poetry). Enter via Submittable right now George Saunders's most recent book, Tenth of December (stories), was published in 2014, was a National Book Award finalist, and was named one of the best books of the year by People, The New York Times Magazine, NPR, Entertainment Weekly, New York, The Telegraph, BuzzFeed, Kirkus Reviews, BookPage, and Shelf Awareness. He is also the author of Pastoralia and CivilWarLand in Bad Decline, both New York Times Notable Books, and The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip, a New York Times children's bestseller. In 2000, The New Yorker named him one of the "Best Writers Under 40." He writes regularly for The New Yorker and Harper's, as well as Esquire, GQ, and The New York Times Magazine. He won a National Magazine Award for Fiction in 2004 and his work is included in Best American Short Stories 2005. He teaches at Syracuse University. Originally from the Detroit area, Damian Rogers now lives in Toronto where she works as the poetry editor of both House of Anansi Press and The Walrus, and as the creative director of Poetry in Voice, a national recitation contest for Canadian high-school students. Her first book of poems, Paper Radio, was nominated for the Pat Lowther Memorial Award.