Paul Kalanithi was 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 the meaning of legacy. The Paul Kalanithi Writing Award was created in his memory. 

Open for submissions: September 19, 2022 

This short documentary by Stanford videographer Mark Hanlon captures Paul Kalanithi’s shifting perception of time while living with terminal cancer.

Lucy Kalanithi often visits the gravesite of her husband, Paul Kalanithi, with the couple’s daughter, Cady, to picnic and leave flowers. (Photo by Timothy Archibald)

Submissions Open: September 19, 2022- January 8, 2023 

Medicine & the Muse is pleased to announce an open call for unpublished short stories, essays or poetry addressing patients and providers facing chronic or life limiting illness. Fiction and non-fiction submissions are welcome. 

Contest Guidelines
Short Stories/Essays: Less than 2500 words
Poems: Less than 50 lines

Dual submissions permitted, if they are in different genres. No more than two submissions. Simultaneous submissions permitted, but please withdraw your piece if it gets published elsewhere. Collections of poems are permitted, but please adhere to the line limit. The submission fee is $35 per entry. There is no charge for students, residents and fellows.

SUBMIT HERE

SUBMIT HERE (STUDENTS, RESIDENTS, FELLOWS)

Submission Deadline January 8, 2023
Winners announced March 11, 2023

Judges Include Drs. Lucy Kalanithi and Daniel Mason, Stanford physician writers, Dr. Jay Baruch, Brown University Alpert School of Medicine physician writer, Dr. Irène Mathieu, Assistant Director, Program in Health Humanities, University of Virginia, Grace Li, MD candidate and author of NYT bestseller, PORTRAIT OF A THIEF, and Executive Director of Stanford Medical Humanities & Arts program, Jacqueline Genovese

Award
Total of 3 Winners: First place $500, Second place $250, Third place $250.
Honorarium made possible by the generosity of a Stanford Palliative Care benefactor.

Winners will be published in Anastomosis, Stanford University School of Medicine’s humanities and literary journal. 

Open to all. Please share widely.