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. 

Currently closed for submissions

Submissions Open: November 11, 2024 - January 6, 2025

Medicine & the Muse is pleased to announce an open call for unpublished short stories, essays or poetry addressing patients and providers facing chronic or life limiting illness.

Entries will be evaluated within their own genre: poetry, fiction and non-fiction. 

Contest Guidelines
Short Stories/Essays/Fiction/Non-fiction: Less than 2500 words
Poetry: 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 FREE)

Submission Deadline January 6, 2025
Winners announced on March 21, 2025 

Judges have Included 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, and Executive Director of Stanford Medical Humanities & Arts program, Jacqueline Genovese

Award
Total of 3 winners, one from each genre will be awarded a cash prize of $300. 

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. 

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)