Call for Submissions of Flash Fiction and Poetry: Silver Birch Press

With apologies to George “My Sweet Lord” Harrison (RIP), Silver Birch Press announces the MY SWEET WORD call for submissions of poetry and flash fiction. For many of us, some of our most significant memories (pleasant or otherwise) involve sweets and treats — running to catch up with the Good Humor truck, baking cookies during the holidays, trick or treating, visiting the corner candy store, making a trip to Dairy Queen, learning to share our goodies, and so much more. We want to hear all about your sweet (or bittersweet) memories in a poem, prose poem, or flash fiction. Please send a photo of yourself at any age to accompany the writing.

PROMPT: Tell us your recollections about sweets in a poem (any reasonable length) or prose poem/flash fiction piece (200 words or less). For the series, you can also submit found or erasure poems based on a “sweet” recipe or article from a cookbook or magazine (please cite source).

WHAT: Submissions can be original or previously published poems or flash fiction. You retain all rights to your work and give Silver Birch Press permission to publish on social media and in a potential print edition.

WHEN: We’ll feature the poems/flash fiction during the Silver Birch Press MY SWEET WORD Poetry/Flash Fiction Series starting in September (actual dates to be determined, based on number of submissions).

HOW TO SUBMIT: Email one poem or prose poem/flash fiction to:

SBPSUBMISSIONSATgmailDOTcom (Change AT to @ and DOT to . ) 

as an MSWord attachment — and in the same file include your name, contact info (including email address), one-paragraph author’s bio (written in third person), and any notes about your creative process or thoughts about your piece. Please put all this information in one MSWord document and title the file with your last name (and only your last name). Write”Sweet” in subject line of email. Please send a photo of yourself — at any age — to accompany the poem, and provide a caption for the photo (when, where). (We’d love to see Halloween photos, ice cream eating photos, kids with cookies photos — but will accept photos sans sweets.)

SUBMISSION CHECKLIST To help everyone understand our submission requirements, we’ve prepared the following checklist.

1. Send ONE MS Word document TITLED WITH YOUR LAST NAME (e.g. Smith.doc or Jones.docx).

2. In the same MS Word document, include your contact information (name, mailing address, email address).

3. In the same MS Word document, include an author’s bio, written in the third person (e.g., Mary Anderson has been writing since age eight…”).

4. In the same MS Word document, include a note about your poem/flash fiction or creative process (this is optional).

5. In the same MS Word document, include a caption for your photo (including where, when and/or date taken).

6. Send a photo of yourself at any age as a SEPARATE jpg attachment (not in the MS Word document). Title the photo with your last name (e.g.,Jones.jpg).

7. Email to:

SBPSUBMISSIONSATgmailDOTcom (Change AT to @ and DOT to . )

— and put SWEET in the subject line.

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: Tuesday, September 30, 2015