22nd Annual Scissortail: The Poster

22nd Annual Scissortail: Featured Authors

Kelli Jo Ford is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. Her debut novel-in-stories Crooked Hallelujah was longlisted for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel, The Story Prize, the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, The Dublin Literary Award, and The Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize. She is the recipient of honors and awards such as The Paris Review’s Plimpton Prize, an NEA Literature Fellowship, a Creative Capital Award, a Dobie Paisano Fellowship, and a Native Arts & Cultures Foundation Fellowship. She teaches writing at the Institute of American Indian Arts.

Wayne Miller is the author of six poetry collections, most recently The End of Childhood (Milkweed, 2025) and We the Jury (2021). His awards include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, as well as the UNT Rilke Prize, two Colorado Book Awards, two Pushcart Prizes, six awards from the Poetry Society of America, and a Fulbright Distinguished Scholarship to the Seamus Heaney Centre in Northern Ireland. He has co-translated three books by the Albanian writer Moikom Zeqo—most recently the prose collection Sellers of Chaos, forthcoming from Unbound Edition Press. He teaches at the University of Colorado Denver, co-directs the Unsung Masters Series, and edits Copper Nickel.

Vu Tran is the author of Dragonfish – a New York Times Notable Book and a San Francisco Chronicle Best Books of the Year – as well as a forthcoming novel, Your Origins. His criticism and short fiction have appeared in publications like the New York Times, The O. Henry Prize Stories, The Best American Stories, Virginia Quarterly, and McSweeney’s. Born in Vietnam and raised in Oklahoma, Vu received his MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and his PhD from the Black Mountain Institute in Las Vegas, and is also the recipient of a Whiting Writers’ Award and fellowships from the NEA, MacDowell, Yaddo, and Bread Loaf. He teaches English and Creative Writing at the University of Chicago, where he is an Associate Professor of Practice in the Arts and Director of Undergraduate Studies.

23rd Annual R. Darryl Fisher Creative Writing Contest

East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma presents

Oklahoma’s Most Prestigious High School Writing Competition

Fiction: 1 "Superior"Award: $300; 4 "Outstanding"Awards @ $150; Five "Excellent" Awards @ $50

Poetry: 1 "Superior"Award: $300; 4 "Outstanding"Awards @ $150; Five "Excellent" Awards @ $50

Guidelines:

* All Oklahoma high school students (9th - 12th grade) are eligible.

* Poetry (up to 100 lines) or Short Fiction (up to 6,000 words) is acceptable.

* Limit 5 poems and 1 short fiction piece per student.

* All entries must be the original work of the student.

* Absolutely, any use of AI, computer-generated “work” is unacceptable!

* All entries must be neatly typed; please double-space fiction entries.

* Entries will not be returned, so keep your originals.

* No identifying marks should be on the manuscript itself, except for the title.

* Provide cover page with contact information: 1) Student’s name; 2) High School and Teacher’s name 3) Classification (senior, junior, etc.) 4) Phone number, Email and student’s mailing address. (Work submitted without a mailing address for each student will not be judged)

DEADLINE: Conventional mail must be postmarked on or before Monday, February 16, 2027. Email entries must be sent via email by 11:59 p.m. on February 16, 2027. There will be no exceptions.

Awards will be recognized by May 1, 2027. The names of winning writers will be posted on this website. Awards will be mailed to students.

Poetry Submissions: send work electronically as attached files to jgrasso@ecok.edu or mail to Dr. Joshua Grasso, East Central University, Dept. of English & Languages, 1100 E. 14th St., Ada, OK 74820

Fiction Submissions: send work electronically as attached files to peterbattlebiles@gmail.com or mail to Peter Biles at 14577 CR 1569 Ada, OK 74820

Contest Information: Dr. Joshua Grasso (580-235-3197).
Scissortail Creative Writing Festival Information: Dr. Ken Hada (580-559-5557)

Winners of the 22nd Annual Daryl Fisher Creative Writing Contest

Poetry winners:

First Prize:
Ryli Wilkinson, “In Realms of Youth,” Marietta HS (Instructor: Mrs. Neble)

Second Prize:
Pablo Benton, “The Battle of Roquefort,” Ada HS (Micah Gordon)

Third Prize:
Lydia Wiley, “Secrecy’s Chokehold,” North Rock Creek HS (Holly Kubiak)
Paul Potts, “I speak with the same tongue,” Dale Senior HS (Allison Robinson)
Anna Arnold, “Grown Too Quick,” Salina HS (Mackenzie Greene)

Honorable Mentions:
Lily Ashley, “What is Stronger Than a Human Heart?” New Lima HS (Mrs. Forman)
Logan Heard, “School,” New Lima HS (Mrs. Forman)
Reece Ellison, “Monotonous Mountain of Molasses,” Latta HS (Mrs. Bryant)
Cyanna Bagent, “stargazing from my bedroom,” Pryor HS
Lacey Moon, “Love and Hate,” Edmond North HS (Tessa Phillips)

Fiction winners:

First Prize:
Orion Riden, “Love in War,” Ada HS (Instructor: Megan Mosier)

Second Prize:
Lydia Wiley, “A Girl, A Gate and a Glimmer,” North Rock Creek HS (Holly Kubiak)

Third Prize:
Phoebe Denison, “Midnight Rain,” Beaver HS (Jinger Looper)
Blake Mueggenborg, “The Art of Skipping,” Edmond North HS (Samantha Choate)
Omia Milton, “The Room Has Eyes,” Byng HS (Joni Moore)

Honorable Mentions:
Fiorella Lucia Montilla Pulgar, “The Hallucination,” Deer Creek HS (Julia Miller)
Reece Ellison, “A World of Placebo,” Latta HS (Hayley Bryant)
Zoey Coffee, “The Host Family,” Deer Creek HS (Julia Miller)
Austin Talkington, “The Tale of Arachnidsman,” Madill HS (Lori Hartin)

21st Annual Scissortail: The Poster

2026: Schedule of Readings

21^st Annual: Scissortail Creative Writing Festival
April 2 - 4, 2026
East Central University
Ada, Oklahoma 

Thursday, April 2

I. 9:30 – 10: 45 Estep Auditorium 

Cody Baggerly: East Central University
Hardly Been Born
Ann Howells: Carrolton, Texas
Travelin Shoes
Paul Austin: Norman, Oklahoma
Two Love Stories: Lost and Found 

II. 11:00 – 12: 10 Estep Auditorium

Tom Murphy: Corpus Christi, Texas
To All the Women
Linda Neal Reising: Poseyville, Indiana
One Hundred Years of Kicks
Walter Moore: Tarleton State University
My Lungs are a Dive Bar & other poems 

III. 11:00 - 12:10 Boswell Chapel

Ron Wallace: Durant, Oklahoma
Somewhere There’s a Horse
Luri Owen: Albuquerque, New Mexico
Along the Way
Alan Gann: Dallas, Texas
Consider the Dirt 

*** Lunch ***

21st Annual Scissortail: Featured Authors

Traci Brimhall, a University Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing and Narrative Medicine at Kansas State University, is celebrated for her unique poetry that intertwines the ordinary with the surreal. She has authored five poetry collections, including the upcoming "Love Prodigal" (Copper Canyon Press, 2024), and her work has been prominently featured in journals such as The New Yorker, Orion, The New Republic, and The New York Times Magazine. Brimhall's teaching experiences, supported by fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, National Parks Service, and Academy of American Poets, have spanned diverse settings from farm schools to medical communities, reflecting her commitment to fostering creative expression across varied environments.

As the current Poet Laureate of Kansas, Brimhall has focused her initiatives on uniting the state's agricultural heritage with literary arts. Her advocacy includes projects like poetry cookbooks, food-based mad lib poems, and bringing poetry to the State Fair, aiming to enrich the lives of all Kansans through language.

Brimhall's literary contributions extend beyond poetry to include essays published in prestigious journals such as Georgia Review, The Southern Review, and Prairie Schooner. Her accolades include awards like the Barnard Women Poets Prize for "Our Lady of the Ruins," and her work has been recognized in Best American Poetry anthologies.

Educationally, Brimhall holds degrees from Florida State University (BA), Sarah Lawrence College (MFA), and Western Michigan University (PhD). At Kansas State University, where she directs the creative writing program and holds the Donnelly Faculty Award in English, she continues to inspire and mentor aspiring writers.

Her numerous residencies and fellowships include an Artist-in-Residence position at Bighorn Canyon through the National Parks Service and the My Time fellowship from the Writers Colony at Dairy Hollow. Brimhall's scholarly pursuits also include the Karnes Fellowship from Purdue Libraries, focusing on the unpublished poems of Amelia Earhart.

Traci Brimhall's career exemplifies a profound dedication to poetic innovation, community engagement, and scholarly exploration, making her a pivotal figure in contemporary American poetry and beyond.

Joseph Fasano is a writer and educator. He studied mathematics and astrophysics at Harvard University before changing his course of study and earning a degree in philosophy, with a focus on philosophy of language after Wittgenstein. He did his graduate study in poetry at Columbia University, working with Mark Strand, Lucie Brock-Broido, Richard Howard, and others. Beyond his Professorships, Fasano is passionate about developing inclusive learning communities outside the walls of academic institutions. As an educator, his mission is to help each student synthesize diverse fields of study to develop a unique and informed voice, a depth of attention, and a capacity to break free of reductive mindsets. His "Poetry Prompts," originally designed to help children create, have spread around the world, helping millions of people of all ages find their voices through the craft and magic of poetry.

Fasano is the author of two novels: The Swallows of Lunetto (Maudlin House, 2022) and The Dark Heart of Every Wild Thing (Platypus Press, 2020), which was named one of the "20 Best Small Press Books of 2020." His books of poetry are The Last Song of the World (forthcoming from BOA Editions, 2024); The Crossing (Cider Press Review, 2018), praised by Ilya Kaminsky for its "lush drive to live, even in the darkest moments"; Vincent (2015), which Rain Taxi Review hailed as a "major literary achievement";  Inheritance (2014), a James Laughlin Award nominee; Fugue for Other Hands (2013), which won the Cider Press Review Book Award and was nominated for the Poets' Prize, "awarded annually for the best book of verse published by a living American poet two years prior to the award."

A winner of the RATTLE Poetry Prize, he serves on the Editorial Board of Alice James Books, and he is the Founder of the Poem for You Series, a digital space offering recitations of listeners' favorite poems by request. His writing has appeared in The Times Literary Supplement, The Yale Review, The Southern Review, The Missouri Review, Boston Review, American Poets, Measure, Tin House, American Poetry Journal, The Adroit Journal, American Literary Review, Verse Daily, the PEN Poetry Series, the Academy of American Poets' poem-a-day program, and other publications. It has been widely anthologized and translated into many languages, including Spanish, Swedish, Lithuanian, Chinese, Russian, and Ukrainian. He is also a songwriter, and his debut album, The Wind That Knows The Way, is available wherever music is sold or streamed.

Chera Hammons is a winner of the 2017 PEN Southwest Book Award through PEN Texas and the 2020 Helen C. Smith Memorial Award through the Texas Institute of Letters. She holds an MFA from Goddard College and formerly served as writer-in-residence at West Texas A&M University. Her work, which is rooted in love for the natural world, appears in Baltimore Review, Pleiades, Poetry, Rattle, The Southern Review, The Sun, The Texas Observer, and elsewhere. Her fifth full-length poetry collection, Birds of America, is forthcoming from The Dial Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House. She lives on the windswept prairies of the Texas Panhandle. In her free time, she enjoys reading, birdwatching, spending time with her horses and donkeys, and caring for her houseplant collection, which is slowly but surely taking over her entire living space.