Artist Residencies for BIPOC Artists and Writers in Greater New Orleans Area: Replenish Residencies

Replenish Residencies provides 1-2 week restorative visioning retreats to local BIPOC artists and culture bearers; the heart of New Orleans culture. In light of the many racial disparities still present in our society at large and the arts economy specifically, we offer these residencies to provide time to rest and restore, vision, and create. The call is open to BIPOC artists and culture bearers from the Greater New Orleans area who have not attended a residency before.

The Studio focuses on interrelated areas of programming, including residencies for artists and scholars, forest restoration, and science-inspired art engagement for children and adults. We center interdependence, wonder, care, and inclusivity in all of our work and believe the essential and transformative powers of art and the natural environment are central to a thriving future for all.

The 2023 Info Session is available here. Register for the 2024-25 info session here.

PLEASE REVIEW OUR FAQ BEFORE YOU BEGIN YOUR APPLICATION 

ARTIST ELIGIBILITY – Local (Greater New Orleans Area), BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) artists and culture bearers who have not participated in an artist residency before.

DATES – Residencies are one to two weeks and will be scheduled between August 2024 – June 2025 according to the mutual availability of the artist and A Studio in the Woods. 

Applications due March 13, 2024 with notification by May 8, 2024.

SUPPORT – Recipients will be provided with a $1600* stipend, a one to two week residency, staff support and an opportunity to have a documentation session with a photographer. We additionally fund optional field trips such as boat rides and eco/history tours. Depending on the needs of the artist, we may be able to assist artists in accessing Tulane University faculty consultants or research collections. Selected residents receive full room and board including food, utilities for living, and studio space. Residents are expected to cover personal living expenses, additional materials and supplies, and any other expenses relating to the cost of producing work incurred while in residence.

SELECTION PROCESS – A multidisciplinary jury will judge proposals on the creativity and integrity of the proposal as well as the artist’s demonstrated commitment to their practice. Submissions will be judged solely on the content of the proposal and work samples, not the quality of the documentation.

APPLICATION – The application consists of three components: an online form, a written or recorded narrative, and work samples. The narrative can be submitted as up to 2 written pages OR 4 minutes of audio recording. We aim to make this application as accessible as possible. Applicants who don’t have reliable access to a computer or internet may call 504-392-4460 to complete their application over the phone.

NARRATIVE TOPICS – Up to 2 written pages OR 4 minutes of audio recording Brief bio about yourself and history as an artist and/or culture bearer

Artist statement or description of your work

What the opportunity to be in residence at A Studio in the Woods might mean for you and your work

WORK SAMPLES – Up to 5 images OR 5 minutes audio or video recording OR 5 written pages (double spaced).

*Replenish Residencies are one-two weeks and include a $1600 stipend. This is based on our stipend scale of approximately $800 per week. This is in addition to other residency supports such as grocery reimbursements, documentation, and field trips.

Residency application and more information here.

Call for Submissions: Does It Have Pockets

Please read below prior to submitting stories to Does It Have Pockets.

We are looking for fiction, creative non-fiction, and poetry. We also welcome pitches for columns (monthly or quarterly), interviews, book reviews, and other literary adjacent projects. Of particular interest are digital art, hybrid, and cross-genre works that straddle the lines of classification.

Some specifics:

• Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please let us know in your cover letter. We appreciate timely notification if a piece under consideration has been accepted elsewhere.

• We will be glad to look at previously published work (reprints) as long as:

• You have the rights, and it has been at least 24 months since published online or three months if published in a small print-only run, and;

• You provide the prior publication credit at submission.

Poetry: 3-5 poems

Fiction: up to 5K words

Creative Nonfiction: up to 5K words

Please limit submissions to two per category until we’ve replied.

Flash fiction is welcome and you may send 3-5 flash pieces (up to 5K words) in a single document.

Pitches: For periodic features or one-off interviews, reviews, etc., please use the pitch submission option. Explain your idea, intended frequency, and your intended audience. Pitch submissions are free.

Artwork submissions are free. Your pocket artwork is especially welcome. All images must be sized as 1080 pixels by 1080 pixels and submitted as a jpeg. Please use the Pitch Pockets submission category.

Submissions fees for literary works are $3 and is used for artist payments and administrative costs (Submittable, website, etc.). We hold fee-free periods for the last two weeks of every February and August, to ensure cost is not a barrier for any writer.

All rights remain with the author before, during, and after publication. We request non-exclusive permission to feature your work on our site, our social media channels, archives, and special projects (anthologies, collections, etc).

If published, we pay $10 per issue (including artwork). We understand this is nowhere near what writers/artists deserve, and we will raise rates as soon as we are able.

Submit your work here.

Call for Submissions: Gully

 

Gully is open to submissions year-round, and charges no submission fee.

We are currently soliciting work for our inaugural issue, which will be published in mid-2024. The deadline to submit to Issue #1 is March 1, 2024. We are an annual magazine, and any submissions received after this date will be considered for Issue #2, which will launch in 2025.

We pay US$15 for poems and Gullets (flash fiction and non-fiction of less than 1,000 words) and US$30 for features and longer fiction (1,000 words and over). In exchange, we expect to receive first serial rights for our print and online editions and a six-month exclusive from the date of publication, after which the author is free to resell the work with an acknowledgement (e.g. “First published in Gully Magazine”). Authors retain copyright of their work.

For poetry, send no more than five poems at a time. For photography, art, and ephemera, no more than eight pieces. For prose, we will consider works of short fiction and short non-fiction for our Gullets section and works of 1,000 words and up for our features section. There is no word limit, but please use your judgment. Fiction must be submitted as a complete draft; for non-fiction, we prefer pitches.

For visual work, please send high-quality scans (300 dpi) in a .png, .jpg or .pdf format. For written work, Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) or .pdf files; text should be double-spaced, 12 point font size, Times New Roman or Arial. Files should be labeled “title_firstname_lastname”.

We do not accept previously published work. Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please inform us as soon as your work is accepted elsewhere.

Send pitches and work to:

gullysubmissions@gmail.com

Call for Submissions: Haymaker

Haymaker was founded as a magazine to reflect our small, Midwestern college town, surrounded by farms and nature, unique among its bigger Rust Belt neighbors. We are interested in thought provoking work, grounded in that natural world. We believe the quotidian, daily world to be consequential and essential to human experiences. While these environs may sound like traditional Americana, work that expresses them need not be. We intend Haymaker to be a space for formal experimentation to exist alongside new work in traditional modes.

We are open to submissions in 2024 from January through March. Please submit no more than once per genre category per reading period.

Simultaneous submissions are accepted and encouraged; please let us know promptly if your work is picked up elsewhere.

Please submit work itself without any identifying information or contact information in heading or footing. Include a maximum 100 word bio on the submission form.

If you feel your work defies traditional genre categorization, please choose the category that it most resembles and note how you would better describe it in your cover letter. 

Please submit all work in .docx format. See our specific genre guidelines.

Unfortunately, we are not a paying publication at this time. We offer three copies of the magazine to all contributors.

All rights revert to the author upon publication. We appreciate your online shoutouts and acknowledgments if work that originally appeared here is included in any full-length publications, chapbooks, or dissertations/theses. 

More information and submission link here.

Writing Competitions: 2024 Nimrod Literary Awards

The 2024 Nimrod Literary Awards, The Katherine Anne Porter Prize for Fiction and The Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry, are open! The Awards offer first prizes of $2,000 and publication and second prizes of $1,000 and publication. Winners will also take part in a Virtual Awards Ceremony and Reading with our final judges in autumn 2024. This year's final judges are Kelly Link (fiction) and Paisley Rekdal (poetry). 

The deadline to submit is April 1st.

The Awards are among the most distinguished literary prizes in the country. The contest winners will be published in the fall issue of Nimrod, as will all finalists and selected semi-finalists. Finalists and published semi-finalists will be paid at a rate of $10/page. 

Contest Rules
The 46th Nimrod Literary Awards: The Katherine Anne Porter Prize for Fiction & The Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry

First Prize: $2,000 and publication
Second Prize: $1,000 and publication

Contest Begins: January 1, 2024
Postmark Deadline: April 1, 2024

Poetry: 3-10 pages of poetry (one long poem or several short poems)

Fiction: 7,500 words maximum (one short story or a self-contained excerpt from a novel)

International submissions are welcome. 

Winners, finalists, and selected semi-finalists will be published.

No previously published works or works accepted for publication elsewhere. Author's name must not appear on the manuscript. 

Online Submissions: Submit Online via Submittable.

Postal Submissions: Include a cover sheet containing major title and any subtitles, author's name, full address, phone, and email. Manuscripts should be stapled, if possible; if not, please bind with a heavy clip. "Contest Entry" should be clearly indicated on both the outer envelope and the cover sheet. Include SASE for results only.  If no SASE is sent, no contest results will be sent; however, the results will be posted on Nimrod's website. Manuscripts will not be returned. Send postal submissions to Nimrod Journal, Literary Contest, The University of Tulsa, 800 S. Tucker Dr., Tulsa, OK 74104. Please also mark fiction or poetry (whichever is applicable) on the outer envelope.

Entry Fee: Each entry must each be accompanied by a $20 fee (additional $3 fee for online submissions).  Make checks payable to Nimrod. Entry fee includes both entry fee & a one-year subscription (two issues, print or digital options).

Questions: nimrod@utulsa.edu 

Call for Submissions: The Plentitudes

We are currently open for submissions for our 2024 Summer issue.​

Submissions windows typically open three months prior to the publication of each quarterly issue, according to the following schedule (subject to change):

Summer issue submissions are accepted in the months of February and March.

Fall issue submissions are accepted in the months of May and June.

Winter issue submissions are accepted in the months of August and September.

From 2023 onwards, our Spring issues will be devoted to showcasing the winning pieces of our annual Plentitudes Prizes (open in the months of November and December).

​ Submission Guidelines:

During our general submissions period, we accept submissions through Submittable and Duotrope.

We charge a small reading fee ($5.00 per entry) to cover maintenance costs and operating expenses.

Poets should submit no more than five poems, and no more than ten pages, per submission, and should place all poems in a single document.

Prose authors may submit one short story or one personal essay between 1,000 - 5,000 words.

Please limit formats to .doc, .docx, and PDF.

We suggest 12-point Times New Roman font, and double-spacing all prose submissions.

We do not publish previously published work.

We allow multiple submissions by the same writer--each entry should be separately submitted and accompanied by a reading fee.

Simultaneous submission are permitted; please notify us if your piece has been accepted elsewhere.

Upon publication, we retain the right to be the sole publisher of the works for the first year from the initial date of publication. Thereafter, contributors may republish their works, with The Plentitudes Journal credited as the initial publisher. We retain the right to re-publish works designated for print publication in an anthology and on our social media platforms.

Marginalized voices, including BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and Disabilities writers, are particularly encouraged to submit.

We pay an honoraria of $50 for published work.

Submit your work here.

Call for Submissions: Hunger Mountain

 Hunger Mountain accepts unsolicited fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and hybrid forms during our spring and fall submission periods.

General guidelines: Please submit prose of no more than 5,000 words or up to three flash/hybrid pieces all in one document. For poetry, submit up to five poems all in one file.

Hunger Mountain strives to provide a platform for traditionally silenced voices, and we reserve at least 50% of each issue for unsolicited work.

We welcome simultaneous submissions but ask that if your work is accepted elsewhere, you withdraw it through Submittable as soon as possible.

Current students and faculty in the MFA in Writing Program at VCFA cannot submit to the magazine. Alumnx must wait two years after the date of graduation to submit.

Due to copyright laws, we cannot accept pieces that include song lyrics. 

Deadline: May 1, 2024

Submit your work here.

Call for Submissions: Centaur

Centaur is on the lookout for writing that’s inspired, bold, and surprising. With four seasonal issues a year, and up to eight pieces in each, there’s only room for your best 400 words or fewer. Learn more about Centaur in the interview Six Questions.

Centaur’s pledge to its writers and artists 

• You will not pay a submission fee. Ever. You’ll get a nice acceptance or an equally nice decline within two months of story or artwork submission.

• Writers: Centaur will nominate pieces for each of the annual literary competitions or anthologies, including Best Small Fictions, Best Microfiction, and Best of the Net.

• Additionally, your editor will light her Dolly Parton candle for Centaur’s writers at each issue’s launch, in hopes that your work may be honored and anthologized elsewhere. (Please just credit Centaur as first publisher.)

• Centaur will feature its author and artist books on its Bookstore page.

• Your published story or art will be its own prize—shined (copyedits on stories), shown (social media), and shared (however, all rights reserved and rights revert to creator upon publication).

• Your published story or art will receive $20 in payment and a fortune in goodwill.

Your pledge to Centaur 

• Your work is original and previously unpublished. Neither gratuitously violent nor hateful will it be. No AI generated work, please.

• Writers: Submit a mashup of fiction with poetry or nonfiction, also known as hybrid. Fantasy, reality, and everything in between. But please 400 words maximum and words only—no mixed media or multimedia. Words only. Only one submission every three months. If your work is published by Centaur, please wait a year before submitting again.

• Paste your submission in 12-point Times New Roman font in the body of an email sent to:

 centaurliterature@gmail.com 

 

No need for a bio unless your work is accepted. But please do include the word “Submission,” your piece’s title, and your surname in the subject line, like this: Submission: The Orange Chair – Smith.

• Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please let the editor know immediately if your piece has been accepted elsewhere.

• Artists: Centaur is not accepting art at this time; covers are scheduled through 2024. Check back later! Thank you and keep creating!

• Everyone: You won’t be a horse’s ass, a blockhead, or both and hassle the editor. Examples include pulling your story or art after it’s been accepted for publication, questioning the editor’s decision to decline a piece, or missing deadlines.

Call for Submissions to Anthology: Woman, Life, Freedom: Poems for the Iranian Revolution

We are accepting submissions in English or translated into English from all countries and continents for:

Woman, Life, Freedom: Poems for the Iranian Revolution 

Editors: Bänoo Zan and Cy Strom 

Submissions: https://guernicaeditions.submittable.com/submit

Submission deadline: March 14, 2024

Submissions are free. Poets and translators will receive a free contributor copy and a small honorarium depending on the success of our fundraiser and international rules regarding countries under sanctions. 

Guidelines:

*Before submitting, we encourage you to read this piece by the anthology's editors, in which they explain what kind of poems they are looking for.

Please read the call carefully and follow the instructions. 

1.  Poems in English or translated into English (accompanied by the original text).

2.  Open to residents of all countries and continents.

3.  We strongly encourage submissions by minorities within Iran and among Iranian diaspora communities in terms of gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion (or lack thereof), language, etc., as well as people of Iranian heritage and background.

4.  We also encourage submissions by poets from the Middle East.

5.  For translations 

(a)  submitted by the poet: Please include the translator’s permission, the translator’s and poet’s bio (maximum 100 words each), and contact information plus website and social media links for both.

(b)  submitted by the translator: Please include the poet’s permission, the poet’s and translator’s bio (maximum 100 words each), and contact information plus website and social media links for both. 

  Please submit both the original poem and the translation. 

6.   Maximum 3 poems and a total of 6 pages. 

7.  Include all poems in ONE Word document, Ariel or Times New Roman 12 point size, single spaced. 

8.  We are unable to accept print or email submissions. All submissions should go through Guernica Editions Submittable portal. Submittable is an online portal that makes the submission process streamlined and easy. It allows writers to submit their work to magazines, publishers, and contests online.

9.  Multiple submissions will be discarded. Submit only once, one document of maximum 6 pages including maximum of 3 poems.

10. Include the biographical information of poet and translator in the 'Cover Letter' section on Submittable. 

11. Simultaneous submissions are allowed, but please withdraw your poems if accepted elsewhere. If you want to withdraw one poem, use the message or note section of Submittable to send us a note about unavailability of the poem. We do accept poems previously published on social media. 

12. All poets and translators whose work is chosen will be asked to sign a declaration that the work is their own original creation and that they hold full rights to it. 

13. Submissions to this anthology are free.

14. All poets and translators will be paid with one copy of the anthology.

15. If our fundraiser is successful, we would like to pay a small sum to the contributors in addition to a copy of the anthology.

16. Share the fundraiser with your network.  

Donations to fund this anthology's publication and support the creative voices it features may be made through the GoFundMe page.

We will acknowledge all donations. 

Please note that all poems submitted will be evaluated anonymously for inclusion regardless of financial donations made to the anthology.

Call for Philosophical Submissions on Theme of "Love": Book XI

 

Book XI is a journal of literary philosophy, combining creative writing and philosophical reflection. We are looking to publish creative and literary work that draws on, addresses, or illuminates broadly philosophical themes.

We will consider only previously unpublished and philosophically informed creative work (though our understanding of “philosophically informed” is capacious). Please submit only one prose manuscript or up to five poems for each issue. Please submit poems in one document. All submissions should be made through Submittable. There is no submission fee.

We pay $200 for each piece that we publish (or $50 for each poem we publish).

We are generally looking for pieces that are between 2,000 and 7,000 words, though we will happily consider submissions that are shorter or longer than this. However, please do not submit any work that is more than 10,000 words.

We realize that you might also want to submit the same manuscript to other literary journals. If you do, please include a note to that effect in the cover letter you include with your submission and notify us immediately if the piece(s) you sent to us is(are) accepted for publication by another magazine or journal.

Please direct all inquires about the journal to:

 

bookxi@hamilton.edu

We are currently looking for submissions for our 14th edition on the theme of love. Submit now!

 

Submit here.

Call for Submissions: The Evergreen Review

 

Since its inception in 1957, The Evergreen Review has sought out writers and artists who embrace experimentation and tell stories that aren’t often heard in mainstream spaces. Evergreen now welcomes general submissions of original fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and video art—and we’re especially excited by works which blur the lines between multiple genres and forms. 

We pay essayists, short story writers, poets, and videographers a minimum of $250. We will also consider excerpts from forthcoming books, as long as they haven't been published elsewhere. Read our current issue to get a sense of what we like.

Because we are a volunteer editorial staff, it may take us several months to get back to you. We ask that you please do not submit additional work if you're still awaiting our decision on a submission currently in the queue.

For poetry: send 5–10 of your best unpublished poems directly to Jee Leong Koh at:

jeeleong@evergreenreview.com

 —no fee is required for poetry submissions.

Our $5.00 submission fee helps cover contributor payments and general operating expenses. If you are unable to afford it, you may choose not to pay the fee upon submission. This option is meant to support writers facing severe financial hardship, so please only opt to waive the fee if it is absolutely necessary.

For questions about our submission process, contact:

info@evergreenreview.com

Writing Competition: Changing Light Prize for Novel-in-Verse

Livingston Press announces its new annual Changing Light Prize for a Novel-in-Verse!

Recommended length: 90-160 pages.

$500 prize plus 20 copies, standard royalty contract. Publication in trade paper, e-book, and Kindle.

There is no entry fee.

Submission deadline: May 25.

Send Word attachment including contact information, brief bio, and letter to:

 jwt@uwa.edu 

(Please list Novel-in-Verse on your subject line.)

Previous similar titles from Livingston:

An Art, A Craft, A Mystery – Laura Secord

Don Quickshot – William Van Wert

Forthcoming title: Near Where the Blood Pools – Ben Terry

Call for Submissions: Third Street Review

Third Street Review

Literally On the Edge

Located on the Pacific Ocean in the artists’ colony of Laguna Beach, California, Third Street Review lives on the edge, both literally and figuratively. California has always been synonymous with exploration and innovation and, in creative expression, with boundary expansion and the dynamic re-invention of artistic forms. Third Street Review is no different. Share your best writing and visual art. We welcome traditional formats as well as pieces that push boundaries, embrace experimentation, and reflect artistic excellence.

For fiction and nonfiction/creative nonfiction, we are looking for work under 1000 words. If you wish to submit micros, please do so in one document, with each piece of writing on a separate page, and make sure the total word count does not exceed 1000 words.

For poetry, you may send up to 3 poems in one document; make sure each one is on a separate page.

For art and photography, please send 1 image in one document. Please upload the highest resolution that you have available.

FOR ALL SUBMISSIONS: Please make sure that neither your name nor any other identification is on the document you submit or in the title of your submission. All work must be original and previously unpublished. This includes personal blogs or other social media platforms. Simultaneous submissions are fine – just let us know if your work gets accepted elsewhere.

If the category you are looking for is not on the list, it means we have met our submission cap.

We pay $25 (via PayPal) if your work is accepted.

Online Rights: If we publish your work, we require exclusive electronic rights to it for 3 months and non-exclusive rights indefinitely so we can include it in our online archives.

Print Rights: We require non-exclusive print rights for potential annual anthologies and promotional materials.

All other rights remain yours.

Deadlines: March 1-9, 2024 (Check specific listings in Submittable.) 

Submission link here.

Call for Submissions: The Lascaux Review

The Lascaux Review publishes accessible fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction of literary quality. Book excerpts are welcome.

Writing of literary quality venerates the language and speaks to the human condition. We make no effort to define these terms—we know it when we see it. Accessible literature is poetry and prose that can be understood and appreciated without annotation.

Fiction and other prose may be any length, but efficient writing is favored. Please use Times New Roman 12 point and double space your prose manuscripts.

Poetry should be formatted conventionally, without “sculptural” elements that can’t be detected by an audience during a public reading. We understand there is call for experiments in form and content, but they’re not for us. Submit as many as five poems at a time; patch them into one document.

Creative nonfiction may include memoirs, chronicles, personal essays, humorous perspectives, literary journalism—anything the author has learned, experienced, or discovered. Creative nonfiction should be written in a nonacademic style.

Wait until you have heard back from one submission before sending another. We consider previously published material and we assume all submissions are simultaneous. Artists wishing to show us their work should email a link to their online gallery to:

lascauxreview at gmail dot com (Remove extra spaces and change at to @ and dot to . )

Submissions are read year round. Accepted pieces are published on a rolling basis.

Payment varies.

Because editors are dispersed geographically the review is unable to accept submissions via postal mail. The review accepts work for nonexclusive appearance and archiving on its website. Authors retain all rights to their work at all times. FAQ for the paranoid may be found here. If you don’t know how to submit to a literary journal, go here. The following link will take you to our online submission form at Submittable.

Writing Competition: The Hazel Rowley Prize for First-Time Biographers

$5,000 Prize for Best Proposal from a First-time Biographer

The Hazel Rowley Prize rewards a first-time biographer with: funding (the $5,000 award); a careful reading from an established agent; a year’s membership in BIO (along with registration to the annual Biographers International [BIO] conference); and publicity for the author and project through the BIO website, The Biographer’s Craft newsletter, etc. The prize is a way for BIO—an organization of biographers, agents, editors, and biography devotees—to advance its mission and extend its reach to talented new practitioners.

Eligibility

The prize is open to all first-time biographers anywhere in the world who are writing in English, who are working on a biography that has not been commissioned, contracted, or self-published, and who have never published a book-length biography, autobiography, history, or work of narrative nonfiction. Biography as defined for this prize is a narrative of an individual’s life or the story of a group of lives. Innovative ways of treating a life (or lives) will be considered at the committee’s discretion. Memoirs, however, are not eligible.

Applicants should:

Complete the on-line entry form. (Please note that the form can be tricky. When filling out one’s address, for example, “city” and “state” go in the boxes above the words, not below.)

Upload a proposal, writing sample, and resume in one document totaling no more than 20 pages. The proposal and writing sample should be double-spaced, with 12-point type and standard margins. The proposal should include a synopsis, a proposed table of contents, and notes on the market and competing literature. The document must be a PDF. Please include your name as part of the file name of the PDF that you submit.

Sign the online entry form by checking the box affirming your understanding of the rules and procedures.

Submit $25 for the application fee using a major credit card or by check. Payment instructions are on the entry form.

You will receive an acknowledgment of your entry within several days. If you do not, please contact Michael Gately.

Terms and Conditions

The deadline for entries is March 1, 2024. Application forms will be available after September 1, 2023. Receipt of all applications will be acknowledged by email. Thereafter, only applicants on the final shortlist for the prize will be contacted. Formal announcement of the winner will be made at the annual conference.

In submitting this prize entry form, you agree to all the terms and conditions of the BIO Hazel Rowley Prize. You affirm that the proposal you are submitting is not (and will not be) under consideration by any publisher until after the winner has been announced in May 2024. Only one entry per applicant. In submitting this entry form, you affirm that you are the sole author (or, if co-authored, authors) of the proposal. You also affirm that in the event of winning the prize, you will make your best effort to market your proposal for publication as a book and that you will acknowledge BIO’s support in any publications that result from the Rowley Prize. BIO also requires that you submit a brief paragraph reporting on your progress within a year after receiving the Prize. All decisions by the judges are final.

FAQ’s

Does memoir qualify?
No, it does not.

Do I have to be a member of BIO when I apply?
You do not have to be a member when you apply, but we would be pleased if you joined.

Am I eligible if I write young adult biographies?
Yes.

Am I eligible if I am represented by an agent or if my proposal is under consideration for publication?
No, the purpose of the award is to aid exceptional first-time biographers in securing representation and publication.

Am I eligible for more than one BIO fellowship in a given year?
Yes.

Will I receive feedback on my submission?
Due to the number of submissions we receive, we are unable to provide written or verbal feedback on applications.

For further questions, contact Michael Gately

Call for Submissions: FICTION

We publish literary and experimental fiction and translations of works previously unpublished in English. We favor stories of under 7,500 words. Although FICTION publishes a variety of stories, please understand that we do not accept unsolicited artwork, graphic stories, novel excerpts, or interviews.

We do NOT accept the following:Short fiction under 1,000 wordsLong fiction over 20,000 words or full-length novelsGenre fiction such as science fiction, romance, erotica, detective fiction, or young adult fictionNon-prose fiction such as plays, poetry, non-fiction, or hybrid work that is a heavy mix of any of these elements

How to Submit

We regret that we cannot accept unsolicited submissions directly by email or postal service.

To submit electronically please read the guidelines below.

Our reading period runs from October 15 through April 15

You can upload your piece on our Submissions Manager: submissions.fictioninc.com

We accept .doc, .docx, .pdf, .rtf, .txt

Under “comments” please include publications with major literary magazines or presses, literary awards, or past contributions to FICTION

🙟Can I submit more than one story at a time?
Please only submit one story at a time. Our Submissions Manager will prevent you from submitting a second story until after the first has been responded to by our staff. Do not include multiple stories in the same document when uploading to our Submissions Manager. Any submissions that we receive which exceed these limitations will regretfully be declined.

🙟Can I submit a story to FICTION and another magazine at the same time?
Simultaneous submissions are encouraged. However, if your piece has been accepted elsewhere, we ask that you immediately withdraw it using our Submissions Manager. Failure to withdraw your piece only causes an increase in our response time.

🙟When will I hear back about my submission?
As you might imagine FICTION is comprised of a small staff of dedicated readers and we therefore operate on a rolling submission basis. While we try our best to respond within 3-6 months, please be aware that response times may vary as we do not maintain office hours in January or during summer months. Your patience is appreciated.

🙟Do you pay your contributors?
Due to our funding changing from year to year, the amount of payment is determined upon publication. Published authors receive two contributor copies and a two issue subscription.

FICTION | City College of New York | Convent Ave. @ 138th St. | New York, NY 10031

Since its inception, FICTION has aimed to bring the experimental to a broader audience, and to bring new voices to the forefront, publishing emerging authors alongside well known and established writers.

Find out more about getting published in FICTION at our Submissions page.

Call for Submissions: The Keeping Room

The Keeping Room is an online magazine for all women writers and artists.

We are looking to publish your short stories, essays, free writing, and photo essays that touch on topics related to Women’s Wisdom, Lessons Learned, Self-care, Bodies, Relationships, and Community.

Writers selected for publication will be paid $25

The Keeping Room Submission Guidelines:

Prose: Fiction and Creative Non-fiction (including social commentary) pieces may be up to 5,000 words in length and may include facilitating original artwork or photography. Stock or unoriginal photos must include credit to the original source.

All contributors: Any relevant links should be included in the body of the submission. Please include a short bio (75 words or less) as well as a headshot to be published with your submission if accepted.

Accepted Prose will receive $25 via PayPal. 

Submission link and more info here.

Writing Fellowships: Letras Boricuas Fellowships for Puerto Rican Writers

A Fellowship Aimed at Supporting Puerto Rican Writers Across Literary Genres

Home to a rich literary tradition, Puerto Rico has produced some of today’s most celebrated writers, yet there are few dedicated platforms for the elevation and amplification of Puerto Rican literary voices, including funding to support artists in the field. The Letras Boricuas Fellowship aims to identify and connect writers from diverse backgrounds and identities who embody the vastness, diversity and complexity of Puerto Rican experiences.

What is the Letras Boricuas Fellowship?

The Letras Boricuas Fellowship is an opportunity sponsored by the Mellon Foundation and the Flamboyan Arts Fund that will impact 100 writers -20 selected in each of the five cohorts- with $25,000 per fellow.

Applications open from March 15, 2024-April 30, 2024.

For more information and to apply, subscribe to their newsletter here.

Call for Submissions on Theme of "Pets in Space": Solstitia

Issue #1

Release Date: June 2024

Submissions Open: February 1, 2024

Submissions Close: March 1, 2024

Theme: Pets in Space

Our theme is a loose through-line for the magazine and not strictly enforced.

We accept all genres (yes, even literary fiction) and all submission types (fiction, non fiction, poetry, art). Word count 20,000 or less preferred.

Simultaneous submissions welcome, but please withdraw your piece from Solstitia if you accept publication elsewhere. If the submission has been previously published, please include the date and publication it appeared in. Maximum 3 submissions to Solstitia per author per issue.

There is no submission fee. Accepted submissions will have a token award of $50 per piece.

Submit your work here.

Call for Submissions on Theme of "Disobedience": Adi

Adi is seeking new short fiction for an upcoming issue. Send us your work! 

We’re looking for short fiction about the past, present, and future of disobedience to orthodoxies of all kinds – from political doctrines to religious creeds to artistic or intellectual frameworks. We want stories of the rebellions, heresies, theoretical revolutions, and moments of civil disobedience that catalyze this world and alternative worlds.

This should be interpreted expansively and imaginatively. Please familiarize yourself with the range and spirit of our archives; Adi tends toward creative, experimental approaches to political writing, measuring the effects of policy through the intimate lives and experiences of people with a particular focus on those on the margins and in the global south. We’ve previously published fiction on ghosts in a post-fossil fuel world;intervention through the eyes of a fugitive lion; healthcare bureaucracy and restrictions on reproductive rights; and the reimagination of the myth of the faceless woman.

We do not want dreary political agitprop. We love work that bends genres, that embraces the absurd, that excavates interior lives alongside external conflicts. Send us work that satirizes, fabulizes, and fantasizes, that disturbs, beguiles, moves, challenges, surprises, and ignites.

Translators: we’d love to hear from you! If you have unpublished work from writers who fit the bill, please get in touch. (If the story’s already been translated, just go ahead and submit, but if not, feel free to email us with a blurb about the potential story and we’ll take it from there).

For full-length stories, up to 5,000 words, payment is $500.

For flash fiction, under 1,000 words, payment is $200.

The deadline for submissions is February 29th, 2024, though we welcome them earlier.

One submission per author, please.

We plan to make selections by the end of March.

SUBMIT YOUR WORK VIA SUBMITTABLE. 

Adi is a literary journal of global politics. Founded in 2019, we’ve published new work from such writers as Tracy K. Smith, Nadifa Mohamed, Meena Kandasamy, Evie Shockley, Terese Mailhot, K-Ming Chang, and Rafia Zakaria. Named after a Tamil word with three meanings—protest, intervention, and violence—Adi’s aim is to platform political writing rooted in lived experience and a commitment to inventiveness, both formally and conceptually.

Call for Submissions: The MacGuffin

General Guidelines

• We do not accept previously published work (either in print or online).

• No cover letters are required. The information you include in the Submittable form will suffice.

• We accept simultaneous submissions if informed. We expect prompt notification if the work is accepted elsewhere. Manuscripts may be withdrawn until we send an acceptance notification to you.

• We do not consider translations.

• Do not send revisions unless our editors have requested them.

• All files must be sent as .doc, .docx, or .rtf. We will not make any edits to your submission without informing you first. Authors whose work is accepted will receive galley proofs before publication.

• Please use Times New Roman 12pt. For work that requires specific spacing/formatting, use Palatino or Book Antiqua.

The MacGuffin is published by Schoolcraft College. Upon publication, all publishing rights revert back to the author. Contributors receive two copies. 

Poetry 

• We will consider up to five poems at a time.

• All poems must be submitted in one file with each poem beginning on a new page.

• Poems up to 200 lines will be considered.

Fiction and Creative Nonfiction

• We will consider no more than two pieces of fiction, creative nonfiction, or one of each, at a time. When sending multiple works, please send them in separate Submittable forms.

• Submissions must be double-spaced with 1” margins all around.

• The maximum word count is 5000 words.

Artwork

• All artwork must be at least 2700p in height and 1800p in width, and submitted as a .png, .tiff, or .jpg.

• Artists may send up to 10 works per submission. Please wait to hear back from us before sending more work.

Submit your work here.

Writing Competition: Tom Howard / John Reid Fiction and Essay Contest

Submit stories and essays on any theme, up to 6,000 words each. The winning story and essay will each receive $3,500. Ten Honorable Mentions will receive $300 each. The top 12 entries will be published online. Mina Manchester is the final judge. This contest is proudly co-sponsored by Duotrope, which will award two-year gift certificates to the top two winners, a $100 value.

For this contest, a story is any short work of fiction, and an essay is any short work of nonfiction. You may submit published or unpublished work. This contest accepts multiple entries (submit them one at a time). Please omit your name from your entries. We prefer 12-point type or larger. Please avoid fancy, hard-to-read fonts. Double-spacing is recommended.

No restriction on age of author. All countries eligible except Syria, Iran, North Korea, Crimea, Russia, and Belarus (due to US government restrictions).

First time entering? We prepared this brief video to guide you. See also our short entry checklist.

Fee per entry: $22.

 

Deadline: May 2, 2024 

Submission link here.

Writing Competition: Hayden's Ferry Review

HFR will accept contest submissions in poetry and fiction between Feb 1-29, 2024. This year’s poetry judge is Diana Khoi Nguyen, author of Ghost Of and Root Fractures, forthcoming 1/30/24 from Scribner. This year’s fiction judge is Venita Blackburn, author of How to Wrestle a Girl and Dead in Long Beach, California, forthcoming 1/23/24 from Macmillan.

There will be two prizes of $1,500 each and publication in Hayden’s Ferry Review (online in summer 2024 and in the fall/winter 2024 print issue) for a poem or a group of poems and a work of fiction. A runner-up in each category will receive $250 and publication. All entries are considered for publication.

Guidelines & entry fee

Submit 1-3 poems totaling up to 10 pages or a short story or novel excerpt of up to 20 pages with a $20 entry fee, which includes a 1-year print subscription (US addresses) or a digital subscription (international addresses)* with a waived shipping fee. Your 1-year subscription will begin with our spring/summer 2024 issue 74. Current subscribers will receive a 1-year renewal. Writers may submit multiple entries, but each entry must include its own $20 fee.

*If you have an international shipping address and are interested in a 1-year print subscription, we are happy to accommodate this with an additional shipping fee. Please get in touch before submitting and no later than February 25th to discuss details at haydensferryreview (at) gmail (dot) com.

We will accept free submissions during a short free submissions window or until we hit our cap of 50 in each genre. *Please subscribe to our free newsletter by February 7th. We’ll let our subscribers know via newsletter when our free submissions period will take place.* All will be able to submit for free during the free submission period or until we hit our cap; however, only newsletter subscribers will know in advance exactly when the free submission period will take place. Free submissions do not come with a 1-year subscription.

Judges will pick the winners and runner-ups from a list of finalists chosen by HFR editors. All entries are considered for publication in the fall/winter 2024 print issue. Our team has decided not to read submissions anonymously. These articles helped inform our decision: “The Politics of Gatekeeping: On Reconsidering the Ethics of Blind Submissions” in Poets & Writers; “The Politics of “Blind Submissions” Policies” in Apogee; and “How Can Literary Magazines Counter Their Biases?” in Electric Lit.

How to submit

Between Feb 1-29, submit your work to the appropriate genre at https://hfr.submittable.com/ 

Submitted work must be original work by the writer and unpublished. If your work is accepted elsewhere for publication, please withdraw your submission. If only a part of your poetry submission has been accepted elsewhere, please leave a note in Submittable.

Eligibility

Close friends, family, or former and current students of the judges should refrain from submitting. We define a "former or current student" as someone who has done a semester-length course with the judge or who the judge has served as a thesis advisor. If you attended a one- or two-week-long workshop or similar with the judge, you are still eligible.

If you were published in one of HFR's print journals or web issues in the past two years, you CAN submit to this contest. (See our "general notes on submission" for specific guidelines for our print and web issues, which may differ from contest guidelines.)

Anyone affiliated with ASU (staff, faculty, and graduate/undergraduate students) is not eligible to submit to this contest and should refrain from submitting to HFR until they have been unaffiliated from ASU for three years.

All individuals are able to submit without regard to sex, race, national origin, religion, disability or any other characteristic protected by law.

Call for Poetry Submissions: Naugatuck Review

Naugatuck River Review is now open for submissions (no fee) January 1st through March 1st, 2024 for our summer/fall 2024 issue! Guidelines and a link to submit your work is below.

We accept ELECTRONIC SUBMISSIONS ONLY through Submittable. Please submit no more than 3 unpublished NARRATIVE poems (for our definition of narrative poetry, see below). Please, no more than 50 lines per poem in ONE MSWord file, Times New Roman 12 or Callibri 11 preferred (.doc or .docx or .rtf preferred). Please remove your name from the file with your poems, as the poetry is read blind by our editorial staff.

Questions ONLY: Feel free to email us with questions at:

naugatuckriver@aol.com 

All poems will be considered for publication. Accepted poems will be published in the summer/fall issue of NRR. Simultaneous submissions are fine as long as you let us know right away if your poem has been picked up by another publication. We claim first North American publication rights, so rights revert to the author after the initial publication period, just please give us credit. We will only consider work that has not been previously published. Member CLMP.

What is narrative poetry?

We get this question quite often. What NRR is looking for are poems that tell a story, or have a strong sense of story. They can be stories of a moment or an experience, and can be personal or historical. A good narrative poem that would work for our journal has a compressed narrative, and we prefer poems that take up two pages or less of the journal (50 lines max). We are looking above all for poems that are well-crafted, have an excellent lyric quality and contain a strong emotional core. Any style of poem is considered, including prose poems. Poems with very long lines don’t fit well in the format. Hope this helps.

Submit your work here.

Call for Submissions: Two Hawks Quarterly

We accept submissions in the following genres:

• Art

• Creative Nonfiction

• Flash Creative Nonfiction

• Fiction

• Flash Fiction

• Genre X

• Poetry

Send us your submissions

Two Hawks Quarterly is looking for exquisitely crafted work that will astonish, surprise, challenge, and delight us. THQ accepts simultaneous submissions, but please inform us immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere. All work received is reviewed by at least three editors and often read aloud in a group setting. We strive to respond to every submission within four months or less.

Please send no more than one piece of fiction or creative nonfiction of 5,000 words maximum length at a time, or five pieces of flash fiction or flash creative nonfiction. We discourage novel excerpts unless they stand alone and work as satisfying short stories.

We’re interested in all forms of creative nonfiction: memoir, personal essays, and hybrid forms, but not straight reportage, academic essays, travel writing, or editorializing rants.

Poetry: Our tastes in poetry are eclectic; we like narrative, we like lyrical, we can get excited over edgy too, but please send no more than five poems at a time. And no first drafts or 2:00 a.m. at the bar compositions—you'll hate yourself in the morning.

Include a brief cover note with your submission that includes a mini-bio, list of prior publications, and contact information. We tend to read cover notes after we’ve read your work so as not to be swayed by them.

We also feature drawings, paintings, photographs, and/or mixed media works in each issue. If you are interested in having us consider your art, please submit it under the Art category.

If your work is experimental or doesn't fit cleanly into the above categories, please submit as Genre X.

All correspondence with THQ goes through our online submissions system Submittable. Once we accept your work, we will send a link where you can submit a more detailed biography and photo.

We look forward to enjoying your work!

Call for Submissions from LGBTQIA Community on Theme of "Still": Rough Cut Press

Rough Cut Press publishes fiction, nonfiction, visual art, and poetry. We release a monthly issue with works by emerging and established voices from within the LGBTQIA community.

We seek personal, lyrical, critical, and experimental work in under 650 words. We accept submissions year-round, we don’t charge a submission fee, and we offer each writer an honorarium.

Submit Your Work

We seek work of all genres by writers from the LGBTQIA community. We do not define or gatekeep what it means to be a queer writer: if you think your work belongs here, then it belongs here. To get a sense of what we publish please read some of our former issues. We don’t know what we like until we see it. Each month we announce a different theme, but don’t worry if the work you submit doesn’t quite fit: we often build issues and themes around work that takes us by surprise.

Simultaneous submissions are encouraged; we ask that you notify us if your work is accepted elsewhere. Written submissions are limited to 650 words. Please leave your name off of the submission itself and send one piece per submission, in PDF format. We do not charge a submission fee or a subscription fee; we offer all published artists a $25 honorarium as compensation.

 

Deadline: Feb. 27, 2024

 

Submit your work here.

AWP24

Hello from AWP24 where 13,000 writers, publishers, editors, teachers, and students have gathered to share and discuss all things writing-related. This is my first time back since 2017, before the pandemic, and it's been wonderful. Due to the fact that I'm traveling, the writing opportunities posted today will be brief, but I will have lots more goodies for you on Tuesday, so stay tuned! In the meantime, enjoy the few I've had time to post...

Call for Submission to Anthology on Theme of "Partnerships, The Untold Stories": Armed Services Arts Partnership

Armed Services Arts Partnership (ASAP) is excited to launch a 2024 anthology with publisher Unleash Creatives. We seek authentic, compelling, and polished short stories, creative nonfiction, humor, poetry, photography, and visual art.

Theme: Partnerships, The Untold Stories

Partners are an integral aspect of military life, at home and afar, during deployment and after homecoming. Partnerships drive military action and extend beyond being a battle buddy, wingman, or crew member. Some are planned while others arise entirely unexpectedly. Spouses, family, old or new friends, community, faith leaders, and medical specialists all support the military community. Despite their importance, the stories of these partnerships often go untold. This anthology aims to correct that: We will highlight the nuances, surprises, joy, sorrow, heroism, tears, healing power, and ache of partnerships. We invite you to submit the story about partnerships from your journey, so we can help tell it.

Prizes

We are offering an Editors’ Choice Grand Prize of $500 and three genre prizes of $250 for winners in prose, poetry, and the visual arts. All finalists will be considered for publication.

Guidelines

Deadline: March 1, 2024

Accepting submissions from U.S veterans, service members, military spouses, family members, and caregivers. Leave all identifying information off the submission itself. The first round will be judged anonymously. You can submit one submission per category. Reprints accepted if not published within the last year. The writer / artist must retain rights to their work.

More information and submission link here. 

Note: Submitters MUST have a connection to the US military.

Call for Submissions from Midwest Writers: Of Rust and Glass

 

Submit to:

coordinator@ofrustandglass.com

Of Rust and Glass is open year round for general submission and specific blocks of time for the themed releases. We accept all sorts of creative material from folks with their roots in the Midwestern United States including but not limited to the following:

ORIGINAL FICTION/NONFICTION AND POETRY

We are looking for your best writing. Is there an assignment you are exceptionally proud of? A short musing you have not known what to do with until now but love? Send it our way. I bet we will love it, too.

ARTWORK/PHOTOGRAPHY

To supplement the zine’s written pieces, we accept original artwork to feature in each addition and to grace the cover of each issue. Art is subjective and we will never stifle an artist’s creativity, but please be aware all age groups are represented within our wonderful community.

MUSIC/FILM

While audio and video pieces are difficult to incorporate in e-zine and print formats, send us your inquiries about how we strive to support local and regional audio-visual artists.

2024 Themes and Submission Periods

Of Rust and Glass is running “life stages” themed quarterlies for 2024. Show us artwork, photography, poetry, fiction, and nonfiction that tells your story about what it’s like living in the Midwest as you change through time. As always, our single-worded themes are open for your artistic creativity, and we are looking forward to whatever concepts you send our way.

April 2024: Passages

Rites of passage are a long-standing theme in fiction. What did these look like for you, in the Midwest? What stands out as your passage into each new stage of life?

Submissions Close 3/15/2024 – Releases 4/30/20234

Additional Submission Opportunities

Speculative Fiction/Poetry – Dream of Rust and Glass, Volume II

We are accepting poetry, short fiction (up to 10,000 words), nonfiction, artwork, and photography. This is a royalty sharing project for anyone who wishes to delve into the (im)possible. Show us new words, wonderful technologies, new spins on old myths. If you put a Midwestern twist on it, all the better.

Submissions Re-Opened – Close 5/15/2024

Literary Fiction Anthology – Made of Rust and Glass, Volume IV

Same general guidelines as the Speculative Anthology, but this one is for the literary masterpieces. Tell us your Midwest experience, whether it is a real or imagined one. Add your unique voice to our ongoing love letter to the region’s thriving arts and literature scene.

Submissions Close 9/15/2024 – Release Date TBD 

Fiction/Nonfiction/Poetry

Email all work to:

Coordinator@OfRustandGlass.com

• Please include your full name, the name of the piece, and its genre (i.e. Amelia Carter - Of Rust and Glass - Nonfiction) as the subject of the email

• If the piece is for one of the quarterly themed editions, include the theme in the email's subject

• Attach finished, polished piece as a Microsoft Word document (or something similar). While we will work with you on editing a piece, NEVER send rough drafts. Editors will discard anything with too many grammar/spelling issues if it seems like the author did not even bother to proofread. Let us know if grammar/spelling, or English, is difficult for you. You have a community behind you, after all.

• Format the piece using one of the industry accepted formats (links in resources). While it should go without saying, publishers often overlook excellent writing because it is not formatted professionally. It is a vital skill to master for anyone looking to get published.

• In the text of the email, provide both a brief synopsis of the piece and a brief biography

• Submit 1 piece of fiction/nonfiction or up to 4 poems at a time

• And let us know how you heard about us!

Artwork/Photography/Other

Email all work to:

Coordinator@OfRustandGlass.com

• Please include your full name, the name of the piece, and its original medium (i.e. Amelia Carter - Of Rust and Glass - Oil on canvas) as the subject of the email

• If the piece is for one of the quarterly themed editions, include the theme in the email's subject

• Attach as a JPEG or similar file type.

• For audio/video pieces, please inquire first. If you have a link to a site such as SoundCloud or YouTube, you may provide it in the body of the email.

• In the text of the email, provide both a brief description of the piece and a brief biography

• And let us know how you heard about us!

Call for Submissions: Southword Literary Journal

Southword Literary Journal

Southword: New International Writing is a print literary journal published twice a year by the Munster Literature Centre. Southword has published the likes of Medbh McGuckian, Helen Ivory, Haruki Murakami, James Lasdun, Kim Addonizio, Tess Gallagher, Colm Tóibín and Vona Groarke. Our summer issue is composed of prizewinning and shortlisted entries from our Gregory O'Donoghue and Seán O'Faoláin competitions, as well as specially commissioned work. Unsolicited submissions of poetry and short fiction (for our autumn issue) are open as follows:

Unsolicited submissions of poetry and short fiction (for our winter 2024 issue) are open as follows:

POETRY: 1st January ‒ 29th February 2024

FICTION: 1st February ‒ 31st March 2024

Southword pays contributors €50 per poem and €300 per short story. We welcome submissions of up to four poems or one short story (of up to 5000 words) per submission period. If your work has been selected from an unsolicited submission and published in Southword before, we ask that you please don’t submit for one year before submitting again – for example, if you were accepted in the last open submission period (2023) it means you need to skip this one (2024) and wait for the next (2025).

Submit your work here.

Call for Submissions: Haven Speculative

Submission Windows

General submission window

February 01-28
April 01-30
June 01-30
August 01-31
October 01-31
December 01-31

Limited demographic window

January 01-31
March 01-31
May 01-31
July 01-31
September 01-30
November 01-30

It's our goal to publish diverse voices from around the world, and to do that, we are actively seeking stories, poems, and non-fiction pieces by authors from backgrounds that have been historically underrepresented in the science fiction and fantasy canon. Our submission cycle is therefore split into two categories, where every other month is explicitly reserved for submissions by authors of color, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and other underrepresented groups. The interposing six months remain open to everyone.

Guidelines for Fiction

We are seeking stories in the English language up to 6,000 words by writers from around the world. We favor submisions that have not been published before (including on your own website), though we have historically accepted a limited number of reprints not currently appearing anywhere online. For our two issues focused on the climate crisis, we're particularly interested in publishing stories from people displaced by or threatened by the climate emergency (see our themes below). For our other four issues, we're open to a wide variety of stories across the SFF and weird spectra.

We pay 8¢ per word for fiction, and we try to respond to all submissions within ten weeks. We have also accepted a limited number of previously published stories, so please indicate on the form if your submission is a reprint. All submissions must use the Shunn manuscript format (we prefer Courier New) and be either .rtf, .doc, or .docx.

We like stories that are subtle in their telling and stick with us long after we've finished. We're more likely to buy stories that balance a sense of wonder with a bold plot and emotional depth. Meditative stories that all take place in a single room, for example, are less likely to capture our imagination. Basically, we want it all: character, concept, dialogue, tone, plot, a strong opening and ending, and everything else!

Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please no multiple submissions. Also, please wait at least a week before you submit again after hearing from us about a story.

As writers ourselves, we do our best to handle each story with the care and attention it deserves. Every submission is an act of bravery, and we know that putting yourself out there as a writer can be tough. Just know that any story we receive, unless they contain something illegal, will be kept in confidence.

When in doubt, don't self reject! Submit submit submit!

Guidelines for Poetry

We are seeking poetry of any length, and we welcome submissions by poets writing in the English language from anywhere in the world. We favor submisions that have not been published before (including on your own website), though we do accept a limited number of reprints, and for our two issues focused on the climate crisis, we're particularly interested in publishing poems from people displaced by or threatened by the climate emergency (see our themes below). For our other four issues, we're open to a wide variety of poems across the SFF and weird spectra.

We pay $20 for poems, and we try to respond to all submissions within ten weeks. We have also accepted a limited number of previously published poems, so please indicate on the form if your submission is a reprint. All submissions must use the Shunn manuscript format (we prefer Courier New) and be either .rtf, .doc, or .docx.

We like poems that use complex fixed verse forms (think sestina, awdl gywydd, masnavi, etc), but we're not against blank or free verse. Most important to us is vivid imagery, clever lyricism, and a strong emotional core.

You may submit up to five poems at a time, but please separate them into individual submissions.

Guidelines for Non-Fiction

We like articles on politics and pop culture, articles steeped in science or otherwise verging on the academic, and pieces with funny or interesting takes we might not have expected. We pay 8¢ per word for non-fiction, but please nothing over 1,000 words.

Guidelines for Art

For each issue, we pay $125 for cover art. If you think your work would look great on the cover of a science fiction and fantasy magazine, send us your best work and be sure to include a link to your portfolio in the cover letter!

Themes

WET ISSUE

Each September, we publish our WET Issue! Here we focus on stories of water—monsoons and the rising tides, hurricanes and the disappearing coast—we'll center stories by authors directly affected by the climate crisis, though we'll consider anything that fits the theme, even vaguely!

To submit a story for the theme, make sure to mention in your cover letter how your submission relates to the theme and, if you'd like, how you've been personally affected by the crisis at hand. Submissions by climate refugees are very welcome.

 DRY ISSUE

Each March, we publish our DRY Issue! Here we're looking for content that focuses on the dry aspects of climate change—desertification and falling reservoirs, rising temperatures and endless droughts—we'll center stories by authors directly affected by the climate crisis, though we'll consider anything that fits the theme, even vaguely!

To submit a story for the theme, make sure to mention in your cover letter how your submission relates to the theme and, if you'd like, how you've been personally affected by the crisis at hand. Submissions by climate refugees are very welcome.

Submission link here.

Call for Submissions: BOOTH

Our current submission period runs from September 1, 2023 to November 30, 2023 and then again from January 1, 2024 to March 31, 2024.

General Submission FAQs

Q:What do you pay your writers?

A: We pay $50, regardless of length. This will be issued via Paypal after the online publication of your work.

Q: What kind of stuff can I send?
A: Poetry, fiction, nonfiction, comics, lists, and audio files. Especially the last four. We want more of those.

Q: Simultaneous submissions okay?
A: You bet. But you should know that if your work is accepted elsewhere and you don’t bother to withdraw it from our submission manager, your name goes on the Secret Blackball Wiki shared by every lit mag editor on the planet. If you’re submitting Poetry, please add a “note” to your submission with the title of the piece you’re pulling so that we can still consider your other two submissions.

Q: How about multiple submissions? I’ll send you my whole collection, and you guys can pick which villanelle you like.
A: With poems, send up to 3. With everything else, just send one thing at a time, please. If we kick it back, you can send us something else right away.

Q: If accepted, will my work go into the print issue?
Maybe. We publish around 48 pieces a year online. Twice a year we design and release print issues, which are curated from material that appeared on the web .

Q: Do you take submissions during the summer?
A: We are open to new submissions from September through March, with a December, coming-up-for-air break. We continue to read existing submissions from April to June. Once July hits, we put our brains in the chest freezer so we can pursue other interests.* Look for our contests, though! We don’t run them every summer, but we always post in advance of opening.

Q: What is your acceptance rate?
A: Our acceptance rate is typically around 1% or lower.

Q: How much can I submit?
A: Depends on the category.
--Poetry: up to 3 poems
--Fiction or Creative Nonfiction: up to 7,500 words
--Comics: up to 20 pages, JPEG, width: 850-900px, Landscape preferred

--Audio: up to eight minutes of content

Q: Is it cool if I just send you an email with my work, or mail you a hard copy?
A: Sorry, no. We have a workflow and reading teams and a process.

Q: How many submissions do you receive?
A: From September to March, we typically receive around 3,000 submissions, an average of around 15 per day.


*Wiffle ball, naps, reading comics books, and naps while reading comic books.

Submit your work here.

Call for Submissions: The Woodward Review

The Woodward Review accepts poetry, prose, hybrid and digital media from January 1 – March 1 and September 1 – November 1. If you’re able, please send work through Submittable at wlr.submittable.com/submit. Submissions of reviews & responses are welcome during the summer months, for readers and prior contributors to reflect upon anything highlighted by the Review; these may be written in any genre or medium. If Submittable presents an accessibility barrier, send your work to woodwardreview@wayne.edu, under the subject line [Category] Submission.

The Woodward Review is a paying market, commensurate with our funding for each submissions window; for volume 2 issue 2, we’re able to pay $50 per contributor. All submissions are free.

General

We’re looking for work from new and established writers and artists, but only if it’s previously unpublished. Simultaneous submissions are great, but please (please!) let us know if your submission gets accepted elsewhere (if it’s just one piece from a submission set, let us know that, too). Written submissions should be sent as a doc, docx, or pdf, while hybrid and digital submissions can be in any file type you think we can access without additional software.

Include a short cover letter & bio in the body of your email; we’d like to know who you are, not just who’s published you — if you’re in, from, or have roots in Detroit, let us know! While students, faculty, and staff, currently or formerly (within reason) affiliated with Wayne State University are ineligible for consideration or publication of original work, anyone is welcome to submit reviews & responses.

We’re committed to creating space for voices that are traditionally and systemically silenced, and The Woodward Review hopes to establish processes for affirmative editorial action. We acknowledge it’s impossible to escape aesthetic biases when deciding what makes good art, so we do not intend to try to find what is “good.” We welcome experiments and failures, but submissions or submitters that support racism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, classism, sexism, ableism need not apply.

We believe in the importance of compensating all workers for work, and we will always pay our contributors. For Volume 2 Issue #2, we're paying $50 per regular contributor. The Woodward Review purchases first North American print publication rights only; all other rights are retained by the author. We will also offer the option of publishing under a Creative Commons license.

Most submissions get a response in 1– 3 months, but if it seems like there’s gum in the works or you have any other problems or questions, send an email with the subject line Query. If you’re accepted for publication, we’ll request links to previous online publications you’re proud of, or any books or chaps you have in print, to provide a wider template for reviewers & responders to consider your work. 

More information here.

Writing Competitions: AWP Award Series

Eligibility Requirements

• Only book-length manuscripts are eligible. The AWP Award Series defines “book-length” as: Poetry: 48 pages minimum text;

• Short story collection or creative nonfiction: 150–300 manuscript pages; and

• Novel: at least 60,000 and no more than 110,000 words. 

Deadline: Feb. 28, 2024

Entry Fee(s): $20.00 for AWP members; $30.00 for nonmembers

Poems, stories, and essays previously published in periodicals are eligible for inclusion in submissions, but manuscripts previously published in their entirety, including self-published manuscripts, are not eligible. As the series is judged anonymously, no list of acknowledgments should accompany your manuscript.

The AWP Award Series is open to all authors writing original works primarily in English for adult readers. Mixed-genre manuscripts cannot be accepted. Criticism and scholarly monographs are not acceptable for creative nonfiction, which the AWP Award Series defines as factual and literary writing that has the narrative, dramatic, meditative, and lyrical elements of novels, plays, poetry, and memoir.

To avoid conflicts of interest, friends and former students of a judge (former students who studied with a judge in an academic degree-conferring program or its equivalent) are ineligible to enter the competition in the genre for which their former teacher is serving as judge.

Current staff of AWP and members of AWP’s Board of Directors may not enter the AWP Award Series, and previous staff and Board members may not enter for a minimum of three years after leaving AWP or rotating off the Board, respectively.

AWP makes every effort to vary the judges by region, aesthetic, and institution so that writers, if ineligible one year, will certainly be eligible other years. If contestants win in any genre, they may not enter the competition again in the same genre for the next five consecutive years.

AWP Award Series Prizes

• Sue William Silverman Prize for Creative Nonfiction: $2,500 and publication by the University of Georgia Press

• James Alan McPherson Prize for the Novel: $5,500 and publication by the University of Nebraska Press

• Donald Hall Prize for Poetry: $5,500 and publication by the University of Pittsburgh Press

• Grace Paley Prize for Short Fiction: $5,500 and publication by Mad Creek Books, an imprint of The Ohio State University Press

Submission link and more info here.

Writing Competition: The J. Michael Samuel Prize for LGBTQ Writers Over 50

The J. Michael Samuel Prize honors emerging LGBTQ writers over the age of 50. This award is made possible by writer and philanthropist Chuck Forester, who created it out of the firmly held belief that “Writers who start late are just as good as other writers, it just took the buggers more time.” The prize will go to an unpublished LGBTQ writer over 50 working in any genre.

The award includes a cash prize of $5,000. 

Deadline: Feb. 16, 2024

• Requires a 1-page personal statement (up to 500 words) and 10-page writing sample

• Applicants must be unpublished and have no works under contract or forthcoming from a publisher. (Up to 1 self-published book is acceptable). “Unpublished” here is in regard to books. Writers with bylines for short stories, poetry, and essays are still eligible.

• All materials must be received by the deadline and submitted through our Submittable portal. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Do not submit materials via email.

• If you have questions, email:

 awards@lambdaliterary.org

More information and submission link here.*

*Note: There are seven writing competitions listed at this link for LGBTQ writers and editors. If you are LGBTQ, check them out!