Call for Submissions: Twelve Winters Journal

Twelve Winters Journal publishes narratives, broadly defined, with no aesthetic biases. All voices are welcome. All styles are welcome. Pieces should run between “flash” up to 12,000 words. (If a measurement in “words” doesn’t really fit your piece, we’re already intrigued.) We publish on a rolling basis and are planning regular paperback anthologies of a year’s “best” pieces. See guidelines for further details.

Twelve Winters Journal Fee: usd $3.00

Open for Submissions

Twelve Winters Journal publishes narratives, broadly defined, with no aesthetic biases. All voices are welcome. All styles are welcome. Pieces should run between “flash” up to 12,000 words. (If a measurement in “words” doesn’t really fit your piece, we’re already intrigued.) We publish on a rolling basis and are planning regular paperback anthologies of a year’s “best” pieces.

As stated above, we are interested in narrative: Tell us a great story. It may be in the form of a short story (most likely) or novel excerpt, but it could be creative nonfiction (including memoir), a piece intended for performance, or a form/medium that is graphic-based as opposed to strictly word-based. Experimentation and risk-taking are welcome. Meanwhile, fine writing in a more traditional mode is equally welcome.

As stated above, all voices are welcome; all styles are welcome. We recognize that there is a certain aesthetic rooted in so-called Western culture. MFA programs tend to produce writers who are well-versed in this quite specific aesthetic when it comes to how a story should be told and how it should sound. However, writers from “non-Western” cultures may very well have their own aesthetic when it comes to structure, voice, and the other apparatuses of narrative. To say again: all voices are welcome; all styles are welcome.

We are an English-language journal, but we are interested in translations from other languages. It is the translator’s responsibility to obtain the necessary permissions from the original writer and/or publisher, etc., and to provide such documentation. The documentation doesn’t need to be included with the submission; instead, note in the cover letter that the necessary documentation is available should the piece be selected.

Twelve Winters Journal is a component of Twelve Winters, a literary project, but be aware that we interpret literary expansively. Yes, we are interested in “literary fiction” (whatever that phrase may mean), but we believe that well-crafted “genre” writing is also worthy of the literary label. Moreover, work that crosses these blurry lines is of interest.

Please submit your work following these (common) guidelines:

Make sure your piece is easy to read, using a font like Times New Roman, 12 point, double spaced. (Of course, disregard if your piece is deliberately making use of nonstandard typographical features, etc.)

Include your name, contact information, and word count on the first page. We’re interested in pieces ranging from “flash” up to 12,000 words. If your piece is not word-based, strictly speaking, we are happy to assess it on its own terms.

Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please inform us as soon as possible if your piece is taken elsewhere. Email: 

xii.winters@gmail.com

Please send us only one piece at a time (that is, no multiple submissions), unless they are very short and are somehow linked (other than by authorship). Still, send as a single document/unit/file.

We acquire First Rights for publication with the rights reverting to the author for future reprints. We request acknowledgement of Twelve Winters Journal as the original publisher of the piece.

We require a $3 reading fee. It is a difficult time to be a publisher of quality writing, just as it is a difficult time to be a writer of quality. We believe the world needs great writing; and great writers need outlets for their work. That’s where Twelve Winters, a literary project, comes in.

In addition to online publication, we are planning a yearly paperback “best of” anthology. Unfortunately, we are not able to pay writers for their work (which includes, unfortunately, contributors’ copies). Sharing writers’ work with the world and promoting them vigorously are the best payments we can manage.

Submit via Duosuma.

Writers and Artists Residency: 2025 Centrum Residencies

Welcome to Centrum's Application for 2025 Residencies

We’ve updated our application process and will be accepting applications for three of our residency programs (Emerging Artist, In the Making, and Self-Directed Residencies) via the same application portal between April 15-June 30, 2024. In your application, simply select the residencies you’d like to be considered for.

Our residency program is aimed at providing artists, writers, and creatives in all disciplines permission to relax, to focus, and/or re-invent their practice as needed. We believe that residencies are a central part of any artistic practice and that magic happens when you take time to reflect and focus on what matters most. We also believe that community matters, and that being in residence alongside others expands networks, fosters collectivity and friendship, and helps our arts ecosystem thrive. We encourage all applicants to read all about what Centrum Residencies offer here.

In this application stage, we will ask for: 

• Work samples, along with a link directly to an existing online portfolio if you have one, so that our panel can understand your practice. Our panels look to curate a diversity of practices, work that is relevant to contemporary issues and work that expands thinking in its field. Residencies are open to practices that include but not limited to: visual arts, writing, curatorial, performance, dance, music, and social practices.

• Demographics to ensure that we are selecting from a diverse pool of applicants.

• The type of workspace/accommodations needed for your work

• One short paragraph about what a residency would mean to you.

• Indicate which residency programs you want to be considered for.

Submit by June 30th to be considered for the 2025 Emerging Artist Residency, In the Making Residencies, or Self-Directed Residencies.

Please note: Due to staff capacity, we absolutely cannot accept any applications past June 30, 2024 and thus we highly encourage you to complete and submit your application prior to the last minute should you encounter any issues with uploading your files, etc. Submittable does get crowded on the last day of applications; every year applicants submitting on the last day report problems uploading materials! Please submit early.

Our Review Process

Applicants will be reviewed and selected by a panel of reviewers representing our alumni and a diversity of backgrounds and modalities. Our jurors are established, emergent, and mid-career artists. Due to the high volume of applications, and in consideration of the workload of our jurors, we are unable to offer feedback on applications.

In the interest of transparency and integrity, here are the estimated numbers for our 2025 residency season: 7 spots for Emerging Artists Residency, 3 spots for In The Making, and 60 spots for Self-Directed Residencies. We will have approximately 10 scholarships available, with hopes of raising funds for more.

Submit your application here.

Writing Competition: Ninth Letter's Regeneration Literary Contest

Presented in partnership with I-Regen and the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Our lives and communities revolve around food: hungering for it, buying it, preparing it, and eating it, but also growing it, moving it from field to shelf, and disposing of its waste. Just as healthy food promotes human health, healthy food systems promote healthy communities—places and people oriented toward restoration, regeneration, and even rebirth. What would it look like to live in a world where our food systems regenerated not only us, but the planet? What if how we grew and ate our food could sequester carbon, replenish the soil, restore ecosystem biodiversity, and help battle disease?

I-Regen is working toward such a vision and is partnering with Ninth Letter to help us all imagine it. We invite poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction responding to or exploring the subject of “regeneration,” specifically as it relates to food and food systems. What does regeneration in our lives and communities look like, sound like, feel like, taste like? How does its absence harm us? Feel free to think as narrowly or as broadly as you like about the theme—surprises are always delightful and welcome.

2024 Guest Judge

Stephanie Anderson holds an MFA from Florida Atlantic University, where for six years she taught literature, creative writing, and composition. Her work has appeared in The Rumpus, TriQuarterly, Flyway, Hotel Amerika, Terrain.org, The Chronicle Review, Sweet and others. Her second book on regenerative agriculture, From the Ground Up: The Women Revolutionizing Regenerative Agriculture, is forthcoming with The New Press in 2024. Stephanie is the 2020 winner of the Margolis Award for social justice journalism, and she serves as a series editor for University of Nebraska Press’ forthcoming Our Regenerative Future book series. Her debut nonfiction book, One Size Fits None: A Farm Girl’s Search for the Promise of Regenerative Agriculture, won a 2020 Nautilus Award and 2019 Midwest Book Award.

Stephanie Anderson won the inaugural grand prize for the Regeneration Literary Contest for her essay “Disturbance,” which you can read alongside other contest winners and honorable mentions on our Contest Winners page.

Contest Details

Submissions will be accepted from May 1, 2024-June 30, 2024. Winner and finalists will be announced in the fall. Prize: $1,000 and publication in the Fall/Winter 2023-24 print edition of Ninth Letter (with the opportunity to also publish excerpts or full work on ninthletter.com) and two contributors copies. You can read previous Regeneration contest winners for free here. 

Submission Fee: $7 submission fee. Contest entrants will have the option to purchase a copy of the Fall/Winter 2024 issue at a discounted price at the time of submission.

General Guidelines: Submissions are read anonymously, so neither the author’s name nor any identifying information should appear on the manuscript itself. If the author’s name appears in the poem, story, or essay, please replace with [Author’s Name] to maintain anonymity. Acceptable file formats are .pdf, .doc, .docx. If you have questions or need clarification, please email ninthletter9@gmail.com.

Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but please withdraw your submission immediately upon acceptance elsewhere. For flash and poetry, please send a message via Submittable if withdrawing select pieces but not the entire manuscript. Due to logistical and labor considerations, neither refunds nor replacement submissions will be offered for withdrawn manuscripts. You will still receive the complimentary one-year subscription even if you have to withdraw your submission.

Prose (fiction, creative nonfiction): Please submit one piece of no more than 8,000 words. You may also submit up to three pieces of flash-fiction or flash-nonfiction as long as the total word count of the submission is no more than 8,000 words.

Poetry: Please submit up to 5 poems in a single file of no more than 8 pages.

Theme Explanation: We invite poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction responding to or exploring the subject of regeneration, specifically as it relates to food and food systems. What does regeneration in our lives and communities look like, sound like, feel like, taste like? How does its absence harm us? Feel free to think as narrowly or as broadly as you like about the theme—surprises are always delightful and welcome. Please include a brief note that explains your work’s connection to the theme of “regeneration.”

Eligibility: Writers affiliated with Ninth Letter or the UIUC Creative Writing Department within the last 4 years are not eligible to submit. Any writers with a close, personal connection with the judge that could signify a conflict of interest are not eligible to submit. Regeneration Contest winners within the last 4 years are not eligible to submit.

Submit your entry here.

Call for Submissions: Barrelhouse

 

WE’RE CURRENTLY OPEN FOR:

Print magazine: We are open for submissions of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction for issue 25 of our print magazine. We pay $50 per contributor. Simultaneous submissions are welcome. No submission fees. Full guidelines are over at Submittable.

Fiction: submissions capped at 500. If we hit this number before 5/31/24, the submission window will close.

Nonfiction: submissions capped at 500.

Poetry: submissions capped at 800.

Book reviews (open, ongoing): Barrelhouse loves to celebrate books just like you do, so let's do that thing together! We're interested in running reviews of books that fit Our Whole Thing. You read Barrelhouse, so you know what we're about. Let that be your guide. Full submission guidelines are here. 

GENERAL GUIDELINES:

Please read these instructions before you submit. We know we aren’t reinventing the wheel here, but it will make it easier on all of us if you have a general sense for what we’re looking for and how we’d like to get it.

We accept submissions through the Submittable online submissions manager. That’s the only way we accept submissions.

No previously published work.

There is no maximum length, although we tend to publish stuff shorter than 8,000 words

Please submit only one piece at a time. Except for poetry. You can submit up to five poems. Everybody else — just one!

Online issues have their own guidelines, so be sure to read them.

We pay $50 to each contributor to our print and online issues, as well as two contributor copies.

We accept simultaneous submissions — you would have to be insane to be sending your stuff out to one place at a time, right? Seriously. We hope you’ll tell us as soon as possible if you place the work elsewhere, though.

It will probably take us ~six months to get back to you. We try to do that faster, but there are few of us and many of you.

About electronic files: Please only send us word or rich-text (.rtf) files. Seriously. If you send something in a file format that we can’t read, it greatly reduces your chances of publication. For poetry, please submit your poems as a single document.

Stay up to date on current calls for submission by signing up for our newsletter.

Call for Submissions: Cosmorama

At Cosmorama, we run every submission through ‘The Hell Yeah Test’

‘The Hell Yeah Test’ is the following: Does this make us stop and say “oh, HELL yeah” ? If it does, we wanna do it!

We’re accepting:

Flash fiction (1k words or under, for which we pay $10 for publication on our site)

Short fiction (over 1k words, for which we pay $30 for publication on our site)

Visual….stuff (art, visual stories, whatever you think we’d dig, really)

Novellas/novels (feel free to send us the overview of what you have cookin’)

Comics/cartoons (so, like, comic books and/or cartoon strips)

Games (especially with emphasis on story, aesthetic, or a sweet combo of both)

Albums (music rocks)

Anything you think fits between those categories, send it along! We love it all. If we vibe with it, we’ll figure it out from there together.

Feel free to send stuff to:

cosmoramasubmissions@gmail.com 

(and pretty please add some context, like who you are, preferred pronouns, and info about what you’re sending!) Go nuts!

The Payboard

Updated as of 05/24/2024

The following rates apply for Works published on the Cosmorama website. Any subsequent publication of a Work in digital and/or physical Cosmorama collections will not occur unless Creator is contacted and gives their express written consent.

FICTION AND NON-FICTION
Flash (under 1k words) - $10
Short (between 1k words and 16,999 words) - $30
Novella (17,000 words to 50,000) - let’s chat!
Novel (50,000 and above) - let’s chat!

POETRY
Poem - $10

ART
Piece - $10

COMIC/CARTOON
Let’s chat!

GAME
Let’s chat!

SHORT FILM
Let’s chat!

MISCELLANEOUS
Have something you feel like is sorta in-between forms? Guess what…….Let’s chat!

Call for Submissions: The Dawn Review

Submissions to The Dawn Review open 4/5/24. 

Deadline: 7/5/24

We accept all written work, so long as it is literary in nature! We also publish visual work. There are no restrictions on who can submit, and our issues are not themed. We want you to send us something new– a new form, a new combination of words, a new perspective. We love work that is striking and honest– that creates the truth by refracting it. Send us your best!

We welcome pieces that deal with difficult subjects, but please make sure that your message is not hurtful.

Please submit up to 10 pages of written work and/or up to 10 pieces of visual work per reading period. We have no spacing or formatting requirements.

To submit, please fill out the form on our website. Please submit written and visual work separately. As long as you've submitted the form, your submission will go through– we don't send confirmation emails. If you are unable to link your pieces using the form below, you may attach them in an email to:

thedawnreviewsubmissions@gmail.com 

along with any feedback requests and a short third-person biography.

If you have previously been published in the Dawn Review, we ask that you wait for two full reading periods before sending us your work again.

 

We will provide free feedback (~300 words) to the first 150 submissions upon request.

 

We accept simultaneous submissions, but we would prefer if your pieces have not been previously published. Please let us know if your piece is accepted elsewhere before we have a chance to get back to you.

 

The Dawn Review receives first electronic serial rights to your piece upon publication. After publication, all rights revert back to the author. If your work appears elsewhere later, please acknowledge The Dawn Review as the first place of publication. We nominate published pieces for The Pushcart Prizes and Best of the Net.

Call for Submissions: The Maine Review

The Maine Review seeks outstanding contemporary fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, including works in translation and hybrid forms. We are pleased to publish new, emerging, and established writers, and are committed to supporting representation, innovation, and literary artistry.

We encourage submitters to read what we’ve published, and whatever you send our way, please carefully read our guidelines. Submissions that do not adhere to them may be unread.

We will not publish work that normalizes hatred of any marginalized group or individual, though submitted work may thoughtfully consider subjects of discrimination.

We do not publish academic papers or news writing.

General Guidelines:

• We accept submissions only through Submittable. Submissions must be previously unpublished in print and online.

• We encourage simultaneous submissions, but please withdraw your submission immediately if it is accepted elsewhere. If only part of a submission must be withdrawn, please notify us using Submittable's "message" function.

• We encourage submissions from writers of all backgrounds, including but not limited to LGBTQIA+ writers, BIPOC writers, female-identifying writers, unpublished writers, writers with disabilities, and economically marginalized writers.

• Please address cover letters to the appropriate genre editor. In prose submissions, please include your word count in your cover letter.

• We ask that contributors whose work we've published wait at least one year before submitting again.

• Please send only one submission at a time. We do not accept and cannot refund multiple submissions.

• Please allow us six months before querying.

Fiction and Nonfiction Formatting:

• 12-point Times New Roman font

• Double-spaced

• 1” margins

• Pages numbered

• Please include the word count in your cover letter

• One piece of 3,000 words or fewer (though we will consider longer works of exceptional merit) or three flash pieces no more than 1,000 words each

Poetry Formatting:

• 12-point Times New Roman font

• Single-spaced (or as you would like the poem to appear online)

• Pages numbered

• Maximum three poems, no more than five pages total

Submission Schedule:
We are open for nonfiction, fiction, and poetry submissions from January 1–March 31, May 1–June 30, and September 1–November 30. We frequently open week-long free submission periods, during which general submission periods are paused.

We publish issues biannually in the spring and fall, and nominate for Best American Short Stories, the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and other awards.
Submission Fees:

We are a nonprofit organization and ask writers to pay a $3 fee per submission, of which we receive $1.86. This fee directly supports our authors, editors, and programs, and helps cover Submittable costs. If this submission fee is a barrier, please email info@mainereview.com for a link to a fee-waived submission. No explanation is needed. *Please do not email us your submission.*

All donations are tax-deductible and direct donations of any amount are also welcome at mainereview.com/donate. No matter what you give, we are grateful for your contribution and support of our publication!

Writer Payment:

Fiction and Nonfiction writers receive a $25 honorarium per published flash (1,000 words or fewer) and a $50 honorarium for work 1,001 words or more.

Poets receive a $25 honorarium per published poem.

Submit your work here.

Call for Submissions: A Thin Slice of Anxiety

Submission Guidelines: A Thin Slice of Anxiety is always interested in reading submissions from both seasoned and emerging writers.

We are especially interested in the following genres:

Poetry.
Fiction.
Flash Fiction.
Creative Non-Fiction.
Responses to current events in politics and culture.
Philosophical essays and social commentary.
Art and literary criticism.
Book reviews.
Interviews with writers, artists, scholars, activists, and community leaders.

Please follow the guidelines listed below. Submissions that do not follow these guidelines will not be considered for publication.

For all submissions, please email:

athinsliceofanxietysubmissions@gmail.com

and include the following in the email body:
- Name (as you would like printed)
- Email address
- Title(s) (brief descriptions welcome)
- 3rd person bio (please limit to 100 words)
- Author website (as applicable)
- Author Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram links (as applicable)

Content should be emailed as an attachment (.doc, .docx, .txt, pdf, .rtf, or pasted in the body of your email, 12 point Times New Roman preferred, double spaced preferred. For photography/art we prefer high-resolution JPEG or PNG files). All personal information as requested above should be in the email body or as a separate attachment.

Please indicate the type of submission and author first and last name in the email title (i.e. Fiction – John Doe)

We also accept simultaneous submissions, but we ask that you please let us know immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere. We prefer previously unpublished material, but may accept previously published material as long as the author owns the copyright and provides appropriate attribution.

Please allow up to 90 days for a response. If you do not hear back from us after this time, please feel free to place your work elsewhere. We will try our best to respond to all submissions.

At this time we are unable to provide monetary compensation for accepted submissions. (We hope to change this in the future). All funds currently go towards the administrative costs of running the site. We will, however, actively promote you on social media.

Thank you for your interest in A Thin Slice of Anxiety

Call for Submissions on Theme of "Limbo": Punk Noir

Limbo…

Make of that word whatever you will.

200 word count MAX

All genres welcomed

Subs open –

June 1st — until I’ve gotten 50 of the best LIMBO stories. I’m going to be accepting/rejecting stories as I receive them.

One attempt. One chance. No multiple submissions, please.

(subs received before June 1st will be DELETED)

Reprints allowed if the publication is at least 5 years old.

(All pieces MUST be in a Word Doc with a 3rd person BIO. Please include a link to your social media if you like.)

Submit here:

punknoirmag@yahoo.com

Visit the website for more information.

Call for Submissions on Theme of "Play": carte blanche

Call for Submissions: Issue 49 “Play”

It has been a dark and challenging few years for many of us. Hustle culture is celebrated and plowing through our work days can leave us exhausted. Sometimes we need to take a break from the seriousness of day-to-day life and binge-watch a favourite Marvel Universe show or indulge in some variation of Cards Against Humanity with our family and friends.

The theme for our upcoming issue 49 is ”Play.” We are interested in your narrative and poetic experiments, odd stories, humorous pieces, weird fiction, and the quirky. We ultimately leave “Play” up for your interpretation. Have fun!

We invite creators to submit previously unpublished pieces in the following genres: fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, translations (French to English), photography, and comics for carte blanche issue 49, “Play.”

Submissions open on March 15, 2024, and close on June 15, 2024.

carte blanche acknowledges the intersectionality of individuals’ lived experiences and aims to provide a welcoming and safe space for racialized and marginalized voices. We encourage and welcome submissions by individuals who identify as LGBTQ2S+, BIPOC, disabled, and those who live with mental health challenges or neurodivergence.

Please note that while Canadian and international creators are welcome to submit their work to us for consideration, as a result of our affiliation with the Quebec Writers’ Federation and Canada Council grant requirements, we may emphasize a focus on Quebec-based creators in a given issue.

Submit your work here.

Call for Submissions on Theme of "Cornwall": Inkfish Magazine

Cornwall Edition (UK)

Deadline: Midnight (BST) June 17th

If you or your creative work has a connection to Cornwall, then this is for you. We’re celebrating all that the Southwest has to offer and are looking for writers and artists to feature and promote. In order to be considered, you’ll just need to briefly describe your connection (or your work’s connection) to Cornwall when you submit.

Guidelines

Prose
We publish short fiction, flash, and non-fiction. We are especially keen on reading flash (200 to 1000 words) and prose poetry pieces. Please send unpublished work no longer than 6,000 words in a double spaced 12-point font. All works should be attached in a single .DOC/.DOCX file

Poetry
We publish poetry of all types, but we especially love to see poetry that takes risks, including prose, erasure, vispo, concrete poetry, experimental and hybrid work. Please send 5 maximum unpublished poems in a single .DOC/.DOCX file with one poem per page (five pages max).

Cover Art
Some issues of Inkfish are accompanied by cover artwork and illustrations, as well as animated gifs. To get a sense of of general aesthetic and preferred colour scheme, have a look at the artwork already visible on the site. To submit, please send 1-3 high resolution jpegs of your work.

Simultaneous Submissions
Simultaneous submissions are encouraged. If your work is accepted elsewhere, we just ask that you let us know immediately through email.

Rights
We require First UK Serial Rights. Following publication, all rights revert to the author, but we ask that Inkfish is credited in subsequent reprints. In addition, we reserve the right to edit submissions in accordance with the rules of our style guide.

Payment
Whilst we would love to be able to pay our writers and artists, as an indie mag volunteering our time, we are not currently in position to do so, though we hope to be able to in the near future!

Submit your work here.

Writing Competitions: Solstice Literary Magazine Contests

Solstice Literary Magazine Contests

$1,000 Fiction Prize, judge: Marjan Kamali
$500 Michael Steinberg Nonfiction Prize, judge: Rajiv Mohabir
$500 Graphic Lit Prize, judge: Leela Corman
$500 Stephen Dunn Poetry Prize, judge: Andrea Cohen 

Contest Dates: April 1 - June 1, 2024 

Winners, finalists, and Editors' Choice in each genre will be published in our Summer Awards Issue due out in August. All winners, finalists, and editors' choice will be cited in future advertisements and announcements.

FEE: $18.00/entry 

GUIDELINES

1. Cover sheet required with name, address, telephone number and email. Email and/or phone MUST be included to be considered. Please include cover sheet in the same file as the actual submission. Do not put your name on the manuscript itself. Final judges will be choosing on the basis of the quality of your work. Please indicate the genre of your piece next to the title.
2. 12-point font, double-spaced, .DOC or .DOCX attachment. We accept online submissions only through Submittable. No emails please.
3. Each entry: Fiction or Nonfiction: 25-page maximum, double-spaced; free-standing excerpts from books also accepted. Poetry: 3-poem maximum. Graphic Lit: Original artwork, multiple panels (no single image pieces), 1-6 pages preferred, maximum 8-10 pages, in JPG/PDF format.
4. You may submit more than once but must pay a separate fee for each entry.
5. You may submit simultaneously elsewhere, but please email us immediately if accepted at another journal.
6. We will not accept previously published work. Solstice has first publication rights, but copyright reverts to you upon publication. We will publish the piece after the Summer Awards Issue in our Archives.
7. If you won last year’s contest, you must skip a year before resubmitting to the contest, but we encourage you to submit work to Solstice for general publication.
8. We will announce the winners, finalists, and editors' choice approximately 6-8 weeks after the contest deadline.
9. After announcing the winners, finalists, and editors' choice, all contest submissions will be automatically considered for standard publication unless you indicate otherwise.
10. The $18.00 entry fee must be paid online at the time of entry.

Submit your entry here.

Writing Competition: The Tusculum Review Nonfiction Chapbook Prize

A prize of $1,000, publication of the essay in The Tusculum Review’s 20th Anniversary Issue (2024), and creation of a limited edition stand-alone chapbook with original art is awarded.

The deadline is June 15, 2024 on Submittable.com

Each manuscript should consist of a single essay in a standard 12-point font. Format of entries is open and may be short form, long-form, or experimental. Essays may be between 1,500 words (5 manuscript pages) and 17,000 words (55 pages: novelette-length).

Essays may not have been previously published nor be forthcoming, though small portions (less than 20% of the essay) may have been printed elsewhere (provided rights have reverted to the author). Simultaneous submissions are accepted: please alert us if your essay is going to be published elsewhere.

The entry fee is $20 per manuscript. Entry fees include a one-year subscription to The Tusculum Review (an annual publication) and consideration for publication. We encourage international submissions but must charge an additional $15 fee to mail the journal to locations outside the U.S.

Please do NOT include your name or any other identifying information on any page of the essay manuscript.

Editors of The Tusculum Review and contest judge Mary Cappello will determine the winner of the 2024 prize. Family, friends, and previous students of the contest judge as well as The Tusculum Review editors are disqualified from the contest, as are those with reciprocal professional relationships.

Names and identifying information will not be visible to the judges. The Tusculum Review reserves the right to extend the call for manuscripts or cancel the award. We have only canceled one of the 20+ contests we’ve hosted, due to single-digit entries. We look forward to reading your work.

Call for Submissions: Antiphony: a journal and press

submission guidelines

We are an all-inclusive journal welcoming a diversity of voices. We strive to publish emerging as well as more established writers

open year-round

We never charge submission or reading fees and have a "no-contest" model of publishing.

We ask that you wait a minimum of three months between submissions. Simultaneous submissions are welcome. If you haven’t heard from us after one month, please query.

A.t this time we are not a paying market. Please send one to five previously unpublished poems as an email attachment in .doc or .docx format, no pdf’s. Include a cover letter with bio (90 word max) sent as an attachment.

​chapbook submissions

• ​five page excerpt along with cover letter & bio
• submissions close nov. 1, 2024 
• books will be sold on our website, at awp 2025 & distributed nationally
• $500 honorarium & ten free copies
  

prose submissions

• reviews, interviews
• short & long-form critical essays
• literary criticism, close reads & comparative essays
• 300 word max pitch along with bio & cover letter
  

If your work is accepted by αntiphony, you grant us first north american serial rights all archival rights, plus the rights to reprint in any future anthologies. Upon publication all rights revert back to the writer. You agree that should your poem(s) subsequently appear in another print or online publication you will give due credit to αntiphony

send all submissions to:

submissions@antiphonypress.com

Call for Submissions: Grist

Grist: A Journal of the Literary Arts, seeks high quality submissions from both emerging and established writers. We publish craft essays and interviews as well as fiction, nonfiction, and poetry—and we want to see your best work, regardless of form, style, or subject matter.

Past issues have included such writers as Dan Albergotti, Dorothy Allison, Ellen Bass, Richard Bausch, Katherine Boo, Maud Casey, May-lee Chai, Peter Ho Davies, Timothy Donnelly, Denise Duhamel, Tom Franklin, Elizabeth Gilbert, Joy Harjo, Lyn Hejinian, Bob Hicok, T.R. Hummer, Adam Johnson, Fady Joudah, Dorianne Laux, Dorothea Lasky, Dana Levin, Julia B. Levine, Lisa Lewis, Thomas Lynch, Khaled Mattawa, Joseph Millar, Ander Monson, Danielle Pafunda, Ron Rash, Hilda Raz, Maggie Smith, Maura Stanton, Michael Steinberg, Virgil Suárez, Julie Marie Wade, William Wenthe, and many others.

We read between May 15th and August 15th. Please note that we do not accept snail mail submissions. Please do not mix genres in the same submission. For each genre, please wait until we have responded to your current submission before submitting another. We do not consider previously published work. We discourage the submission of multiple drafts of the same work during a submission period unless a revision was requested by an editor. We do not consider work from those currently or recently affiliated with the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.

Simultaneous submissions are acceptable as long as we are immediately notified if the piece has been accepted elsewhere. While we can’t always personally respond to each withdrawal or partial withdrawal notice, rest assured that the information has been entered into the system. We’re sorry, but Grist does not accept authors in back-to-back issues.

Grist is committed to diversity, inclusivity, cultural interchange, and respect for all individuals. In the case of all submitted and/or accepted work, if an author behaves or speaks publicly—or is revealed or accused to have behaved or spoken, even in private—in ways that contradict these expressed values of the journal, then we reserve the right to disqualify an author’s submission, release the author from any contract, and/or remove their work from our archives.

Our submission fee (waived for subscribers) is $4 for three to five poems, for one work of fiction up to 7,000 words, or for one work of non-fiction up to 7,000 words (in all of our prose categories, we are also open to considering flash pieces as long as they are submitted in one document and do not total over 7000 words). The bulk of our reading fee goes to paying our writers; the rest covers our Submittable fees and a portion of our publishing costs, which helps us to make a high-quality home for a wide variety of the best national and international creative and literary work available to us. We hope that you will regard this fee as an investment in you, the writers who keep us going, while also serving as a sign of your support for the literary art we all value so much.

Average response time is 2-4 months. If you have not received a response after four months, send a query email to your genre’s editor.

Submissions will be considered for publication in either the print issue or here online. Payment is $10 per poem or 1 cent per word for prose (up to $50), as well as a contributor copy. Additional copies are also available at a reduced price for contributors.

More information and submission link here.

Call for Submissions on Theme of "Revenants": Conjunctions

 

Our submission window for our fall 2024 print issue, Conjunctions:83, Revenants, The Ghost Issue (coedited by Joyce Carol Oates and Bradford Morrow) will be open from May 13 – June 1, 2024.

We accept submissions by postal mail year-round. Please visit our submissions page for our editorial address and further instructions.

SUBMISSION CALL

Ghosts, wraiths, specters. Poltergeists, phantoms, shades. They manifest in many shapes and dispositions in our lives and the literatures of all cultures. From the Egyptian to the Tibetan Book of the Dead, from the Homeric epics to Shakespeare’s King Hamlet, from the Victorian ghosts of Sheridan Le Fanu, Violet Hunt, and M. R. James to Amos Tutuola’s My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, from the ethereal creatures of Poe to the startlingly “realistic” ghosts of Henry James and Edith Wharton, phantasmagoric beings mingle with the living. Nature itself may be “haunted”—an unknowable presence hostile to human intrusion, as in Algernon Blackwood’s classic “The Willows.” Sometimes a ghostly haunting is metaphoric; often it is literal. The Japanese jorōgumo ghost appears as a beautiful maiden but is a lethal spider monster. Buddhism’s hungry ghosts have enormous stomachs and tiny mouths that represent how worldly desires blocked their path to nirvana.

Being a ghost is being stuck in a limbo between vitality and finality. Ghosts are the unliving-living, the not-quite-dead deceased. Stubborn survivors, they are sometimes caught by surprise, traumatized by violence in the midstream of their lives with much left undone, unsaid, or vengeance to wreak upon the living. Other times they cling to their lives with such intensity that their spirits don’t believe they’ve been torn from a familiar earthly place: a childhood house, a forest glade, a hospital. But however the living are unable to “rest in peace,” revenants are left to wander in search of what was lost when they passed away—usually their very selves.

In Revenants, Joyce Carol Oates and Bradford Morrow will bring together a wide array of writers to explore this venerable theme, including Margaret Atwood, Isabel Allende, Carmen Maria Machado, Paul Tremblay, Brandon Hobson, Stephen Graham Jones, and the editors themselves.

What We Publish

• Conjunctions publishes short- and long-form fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and hybrid texts. We do not publish academic essays or book reviews.

• All submissions must be in English and previously unpublished. We will consider works in translation for which the translator has secured the rights.

• Although we have no official restrictions regarding word count, most of the manuscripts we select for publication are under 8,000 words long. For poetry submissions, we suggest sending half a dozen poems, depending on length.

Submission Guidelines

• Along with your manuscript, please include a brief cover letter. Be sure to list your name, the title of your submission, and your email address.

• Former contributor to Conjunctions, in print or online? Please note this in your cover letter.

• All submissions are also considered for publication in the weekly online magazine, which is not subject to thematic restrictions.

• We cannot accept revisions after a manuscript has been submitted. If a manuscript is accepted, there will be an opportunity to make edits then.

• While we strongly prefer to receive exclusive submissions, simultaneous submissions are permitted. If a simultaneous submission is accepted elsewhere, please withdraw it from Submittable.

• Our small editorial staff reads every manuscript carefully; we do our best to respond to your submissions in a timely manner.

• If a manuscript is accepted for publication online or in print, our editors will contact the author via email and Submittable.

• Writers published in print issues of Conjunctions receive a small honorarium from our publisher, Bard College.

Call for Submissions: Two Hawks Quarterly

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!

Submit your work here.

Call for Submissions about the Writing Process: The Headlight Review

The Headlight Review, the online literary journal at Kennesaw State University, seeks multimedia pieces that reimagine the writing process. Tell us about how you do it, the messes you make, your favorite tools, or the role of collaboration or technology in your work. How do your process and today’s tools shape literary art?

Essays may include hand-scrawled notebook pages, relevant photos, or be in video or audio format. All writers, ascending to established, are eligible.

Length requirements: 1500 words (plus images); up to 15 minutes of video/audio.

Submissions are open until May 31 with priority given to early submissions. Payment of $100 upon publication. 

Submit your work here.

Call for Blurred Genre Submissions: Redivider

Redivider’s Blurred Genre summer special edition explores the fluid boundaries between genres. We welcome all hybrid, genre-blurring and experimental work. Submit your flash nonfiction, visual sci-fi poetry, memoir comics, mixed-media fiction collage with a dash of cultural critique, digital or drawn media—all fall in the broad spectrum of possibilities!

Please send us one piece per submission of 3,000 words or less (ten pages or less of graphic media). All submissions must be the author’s original, unpublished work.

In your cover letter, please specify in a sentence how your submitted piece blurs the line between textual genre.

Submissions will be open from May 1 to June 1. The issue will be released in late summer.

More information and submission portal here.

Call for Poetry Submissions: Pedestal Magazine

As editors of Pedestal Magazine, we intend to support both established and burgeoning writers. We are committed to promoting artistic diversity and celebrating the voice of the individual.

 

Pedestal Magazine does not accept previously published work, unless specifically requested; however, we will accept simultaneous submissions, if so noted. Please inform us immediately if your submission is accepted elsewhere. We do not accept submissions by regular mail. Neither do we accept email submissions. We now accept all work through Submittable.com. Please do not submit more than once per reading cycle.

 

Current and Upcoming Guidelines:

 

For Pedestal 94 (posting in June 2024), editors will be accepting submissions of poetry. No restrictions on theme, style, length, or genre. Please submit up to 5 poems and include all work in a single file.

 

Open for submissions: May 6 – June 2
Payment: $50 per accepted poem.

 

Pedestal Magazine publishes reviews of full-length poetry collections (we are no longer able to review chapbooks). Most of our reviews are selected and handled in-house by staff reviewers; however, if you are interested in submitting a title for possible review, or would like to review a specific title, please query at:

 

pedmagazine@carolina.rr.com 

 

How to Submit Your Writing:

As mentioned above, Pedestal Magazine does not accept previously published material, unless specifically requested. The editors ask for first rights to any piece selected. At the time of publication, all rights revert back to the author/artist; however, Pedestal Magazine retains the right to publish the piece(s) in any subsequent issue or anthology, whether in print or online, without additional payment. Should you decide to republish the piece elsewhere, we ask that you cite Pedestal Magazine as a place of previous publication and provide Pedestal Magazine’s web address.

We do our best to respond to submissions in 4-6 weeks. Please do not query regarding status of a submission until at least 8 weeks have passed. All questions pertaining to submissions should be addressed to the editor at:

 

pedmagazine@carolina.rr.com

Thank you for your interest in Pedestal Magazine.

To submit, please click here.

Call for Submissions on Theme of "Create Dangerously": MQR Mixtape

Edited by Kabelo Sandile Motsoeneng

In “Create Dangerously: The Immigrant Artist at Work” Edwidge Danticat writes, “to create dangerously” means “to create fearlessly, boldly embracing the public and private terrors that would silence us, then bravely moving forward even when it feels as though we are chasing or being chased by ghosts.” To contend with the danger of the everyday demands courage and boldness, the doubt notwithstanding. For this issue, MQR Mixtape seeks original, brave, and inventive work that bears witness to and reckons with human peril. We are particularly interested in work that troubles its genre, language, and the very idea of “danger” or speaking. For this issue, we seek honest work that contends with what impels them to stay silent but demands an unsilencing through art. What is the place of humor in works about imperiled lives.

What does a dangerous story look like? What does a dangerous essay look like? What is the literary possibility of danger?

We want to know, so please submit:

Fiction: up to 5,000 words

Nonfiction: up to 4,500 words

Poetry: 1–4 poems, up to 6 pages total

Hybrid work, visual art and/or audiovisual: 250-word abstract and sample

Only previously unpublished work will be considered. Simultaneous submissions are permitted, but please notify us immediately if your work is accepted by another publication. Please send only one submission per window; subsequent submissions will be rejected automatically.

The deadline for submissions is May 31, 2024.

MQR is a paying market.

Submit your work here.

Call for Submissions from Baby Boomers: BoomSpeak

BoomSpeak offers original content that is FOR baby boomers and BY baby boomers. It’s a website that appeals to the interests and changing priorities of baby boomers, including travel, culture, fiction and personal essays. All the content embraces our motto: “Your whole life’s in front of you.” BoomSpeak is about possibilities, and the vital and energizing things you can do with the rest of your life.

We welcome your input and suggestions.

Want to contribute to BoomSpeak?

We are looking for 400 word essays, fiction, art and travel pieces that would be of interest to baby boomers. BoomSpeak is FOR baby boomers and BY baby boomers, so no writers under 50 years of age, please.

Send all submissions in the body of your message using the form below. We cannot accept attachments. Be sure to give us a byline for your contribution, including an optional affiliation link (e.g. to your own website or to a site where your work is published). Sorry, but we can include only one link.

We will try to read or review every contribution, but that does not always mean you will receive a reply. Please don’t be offended.

We ask for the following rights:

• First electronic rights, including HTML, PDF, and plain text.

• Distribution will be through this Web site.

• After publication, your story will remain in our searchable archives unless you ask us to remove it.

Submit your work here.

Call for Submissions from LGBTQ+ Writers on Theme of "Dream": Rough Cut Press

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: May 27, 2024

 

Submit your work here.

Call for Submissions from Black Writers: Lucky Jefferson Awake Issue

Writing allows us to imagine a world where oppression and trauma don’t exist. And there is a reality where we are not defined by our trauma(s), but through our power—And you’re invited to be a part of that.

Awake is a digital zine and collection of work by Black authors that explores the power we each hold. For a second time, Awake, [Issue 6], will be in print!

Use the prompt below to complete your submission:

What survival skills are necessary to exist?

Submit poetry, essays, creative nonfiction, and more, about your experiences outdoors and how Black people survive, thrive, navigate oppression and privilege in nature.

*All poetic expressions are welcome (haikus, creative non-fiction, art, poetry, etc.)*

Examples of what we're looking for: The Bison Run with Chango by Frank X Walker / First Fire by Camille T. Dungy

PAYMENT (UPON ACCEPTANCE):

$15 — Haiku, Short Poems (<14 lines), Micro Fiction (under 100-300 words)

SUBMIT UP TO 3 PIECES PER UPLOAD

$25 — Prose, Short Story, Flash fiction, Creative-Nonfiction (under 1000 words)

SUBMIT NO MORE THAN 1 PIECE PER UPLOAD

$50 — Hybrid, Experimental, Essays, Long-form pieces. (under 2000 words)

SUBMIT NO MORE THAN 1 PIECE PER UPLOAD

$50 — All Artwork (includes comics, paintings, etc.)

SUBMIT UP TO 3 PIECES PER UPLOAD

Upon acceptance, submissions will be included on our website, in print, and will be eligible to be publicized on social media.

Accepted authors will receive a payout of $15, $25, or $50, each accepted submission

We do not accept translations or work that has been previously published in print or online.

Deadline: May 31, 2024

Submit your work here.

Writing Competition: Narrative Sixteenth Annual Poetry Prize

Sixteenth Annual Poetry Contest

Narrative’s Sixteenth Annual Poetry Contest runs from May 8 until July 18. In a continuing effort to encourage and support talented poets, we’re offering prizes and widespread publicity to all winners and finalists. Narrative is always looking for new voices, so all entries will be considered for publication in the magazine.

The contest is open to all poets. Entries must be unpublished and must not have been previously chosen as winners, finalists, or honorable mentions in other contests. Each entry may contain up to five poems. The poems should all be contained in a single file. You may enter as many times as you wish, but we encourage you to be selective and to send your best work.

Narrative winners and finalists have gone on to win Whiting Awards, the Pulitzer Prize, the Pushcart Prize, and the Atlantic prize, and have appeared in collections such as Best American Poetry, Best New Poets, and many others. View the recent awards won by Narrative authors.

Notes on the contest: A few years ago, an NEA study found that, after two decades in decline, poetry reading in the United States is on the rise. While the study didn’t say definitively what’s behind this reversal, Narrative and other great venues that have continued to publish and support poetry and poets have doubtlessly contributed to the heightened interest in the art.

Still, just over one in ten adults in the United States reads poetry, and the economics of poetry are such that poetry is for the most part a subsidized, rather than a profitable, enterprise. Poets and poetry publishers are still engaged in labors of love, aided by patrons who believe in the importance of poetry.

Narrative is a nonprofit organization, and its poetry program, like its other programs, depends largely on the support of many dedicated individuals who contribute resources and time to make the magazine possible. We are committed to paying our authors as well as possible and to creating as much attention as possible for their work. The overall cost of publishing poetry (payments to authors, production costs, awards and prizes, promotion) is far more than what comes in from poetry-related reading and entry fees—the income is nowhere close to the expense. Our reasons for publishing poetry are not about submission fees but about wanting poetry to be an important part of what we do and wanting to give back as much as we can, because literature contributes so much to life.

Narrative has 325,000 readers, and our audience is steadily growing. With a sizable and engaged readership, Narrative places poets and poetry in front of many more readers than most venues can. We’re working hard to get the magazine, and all our authors and artists, into the world via digital and other means—for free—to as many people as possible.

Participating in Narrative, whether by simply reading, by becoming a donor, or by introducing a friend to the magazine, is a vote to encourage and sustain literary work at a vital time.

If you have any questions regarding the contest, please contact us.

We look forward to reading your poems and to the new pleasures and insights we may discover there.

Click here to submit your work. 

Awards: First Prize is $1,500, Second Prize is $750, Third Prize is $300, and up to ten finalists will receive $75 each. All entries will be considered for publication.

Submission Fee: There is a $26 fee for each entry. With your entry, you’ll receive three months of complimentary access to Narrative Backstage.

 All contest entries are eligible for the $5,000 Narrative Prize and for acceptance as a Poem of the Week.

Timing: The contest entry deadline is July 18, 2024, at midnight, Pacific Daylight Time.

Judging: The contest will be judged by the editors of the magazine. Winners and finalists will be announced to the public by September 30, 2024. All writers who enter will be notified by email of the judges’ decisions. The judges reserve the option to declare ties and to designate and award only as many winners and/or finalists as are appropriate to the quality of contest entries and of work represented in the magazine.

Submission Guidelines: Submissions may contain up to five poems. Your submission should give a strong sense of your style and range. We accept submissions of all poetic forms and genres but do not accept translations. Please read our Submission Guidelines for manuscript formatting and other information.

Writer-in-Residence for Writers of Young Adult or Children's Books: Boston Public Library Writer-in-Residence

Program Guidelines

Deadline: May 17, 2024

Residency Benefits

• A total stipend of $23,000, paid in monthly installments over one year.

• The opportunity to request up to $2,000 to be paid to an expert of your choice for coaching, editorial assistance, or a critical reading of your manuscript.

• Use of a private office. Office space usage is contingent on the Library being open to the public and it being safe to work onsite.

• Access to and use of the Boston Public Library’s Special Collections.

• A forum for the presentation/promotion of your finished literary work.

• Opportunities to establish connections with writers, publishers, artists, and the community-at-large through participation in/attendance at Library readings, lectures, and other events.

• At the end of the residency, your completed manuscript will be added to the BPL’s archives. (However, you retain all rights to your completed work.)

Eligibility

• The proposed literary project should be intended for children or young adult readers. All genres are welcome, including fiction, non-fiction, scripts, graphic novels, or poetry. (The majority of our submissions are generally young adult novels.)

• The applicant should demonstrate active engagement as a writer, whether full or part-time, as an avocation or profession.

• Since this program is intended for emerging authors, the applicant should not have any prior professional book publications. (Self-published books, textbooks, works for hire, articles, and short stories published in an anthology do not count against this eligibility criteria.)

• Only one proposal may be submitted per person.

• Joint applications or proposed collaborations by more than one author are not permitted.

• Works that are already under contract with a publisher are not eligible for submission.

• There is NO residency restriction to apply, but you must be able to spend at least nineteen (19) hours per week at the Boston Public Library’s Central Library in Copley Square.

• Must be legally eligible to work in the US, as a U.S. citizen or green card holder. English fluency required.

• There are NO age, gender, race, or educational requirements.

Terms of Residency 

• You will work a minimum of nineteen (19) hours per week from October 1, 2024 through September 30, 2025.

• You will participate in a public reception at the BPL on October 1, 2024 to mark the beginning of your residency.

• You will complete a submission-ready manuscript by the end of residency, which you will present at a second public reception, on a mutually agreed upon date.

• You will include an acknowledgment of the Associates of the Boston Public Library in all work created during the residency, and during any media opportunities stemming from the program, using mutually agreed upon language.

• Optionally, you may participate in or create a program for Boston Public Library patrons such as a teen writing workshop or a presentation to Boston-area students, as mutually agreed upon with BPL Youth Services staff. (Participation would be only a small portion of your time and is not required.)

More information and application portal here.

Writing Grants: The Granum Foundation Prize and the Granum Foundation Translation Prize

We are excited to announce that applications for the Granum Foundation Prize and the Granum Foundation Translation Prize will open on May 1.

The Granum Foundation Prize will be awarded annually to help U.S.-based writers complete substantive literary works—such as poetry books, essay or short story collections, novels, and memoirs—or to help launch these works.

Additionally, the Granum Foundation Translation Prize will be awarded to support the completion of a work translated into English by a U.S.-based writer.

Funding from both prizes can be used to provide a writer with the tools, time, and freedom to help ensure their success. For example, resources may be used to cover basic needs, equipment purchases, mentorship, or editing services.

Competitive applicants will be able to present a compelling project with a reasonable timeline for completion. They also should be able to demonstrate a record of commitment to the literary arts.

The Granum Foundation is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds.

Granum Foundation Prize

Prize: One winner will be awarded $5,000. Up to three finalists will be awarded $500 or more.

Granum Foundation Translation Prize

Prize: One winner will receive $1,500 or more.

Deadline: August 1, 2024

Visit our website for more information.

Read about the 2023 Granum Foundation Prize winners and finalists.

Call for Submissions on Theme of "The Future": Whistling Shade

 

Whistling Shade is now open for submissions. Our theme for 2024 is “The Future”. We are particularly interested in the far future. What will life be like in 100 years? In 1000? Will people live forever? Will we colonize other worlds? Will machines take over? Will there even be humans at all? Send us your poetry, stories and essays by June 1. Non-theme works will also be considered for the issue.

What We Are Looking For

We publish poetry, fiction, memoirs, essays, reviews and cartoons. Our emphasis is primarily mainstream and literary, but we have a broad readership and do not espouse any given school of writing.

Poetry can be of any form, including lyric verse that employs rhyme and meter, and there is no word limit. Short stories can be anywhere from very short to 10,000 words. Essays should surround writers or literary works. Profiles of contemporary writers are very much welcome!

We also do a few book reviews with each issue (we prefer poetry and fiction, but occasionally we review non-fiction as well). Most of the books we choose to review are by past contributors to Whistling Shade. If you are a publisher or author and would like us to review your work, please query us at our admin at whistlingshade.com address.

Whistling Shade abides by a a code of literary ethics, as described below.

See our Pitfalls page for common mistakes we see in submissions.

When to Submit

Whistling Shade currently publishes only one issue per year. Our reading period is January 1 - June 1.

What to Submit

• All submissions should be by e-mail and should contain: A name and mailing address. The address is important because if we accept your work we will mail your copies to this address. E-mail submissions without a mailing address may be sent back.

• A cover letter or brief bio about you. Where have you been published before? (This will only minimally influence our decision, but we do like to know.) A mention of where you heard of Whistling Shade would also be appreciated as it lets us know how writers are getting the good word on us. What cafe did you pick us up in? What web site did you surf to get here?

• A rational subject line. We recommend including "submission" in the subject. If you just use "Re:" or the title of your work, our spam filter might be fooled and the submission will cruelly be dumped into the doomed sea of cyber flotsam.

• The work, obviously. A word count is helpful, if it isn't too much trouble. So is page numbering. We do not have ridiculously strict format guidelines that require certain fonts, margins etc. We live in the 21st century.

• No reprints please.

• Simultaneous submissions are okay, just let us know when they are accepted elsewhere by emailing the poetry, fiction, or editor address (the same address you used to submit the original piece). It is very important that you inform us if submitted work has been accepted by another journal. Not only does it save our editors time in reviewing a work already taken, there is sometimes not enough time to redo our layout or plans for a theme issue. So if we inform you that your piece has been accepted, and you tell us that sorry, it was already accepted elsewhere and you were just too lazy or disorganized to inform us, we may go ahead and publish it anyway. And that can wind up being rather ... er, awkward, for you.

• Also, please take it easy on our submissions staff and don't submit more than 5 poems or 1 story at a time (up to 3 stories for flash fiction under 1000 words). Please do not submit again until you hear back from us.
  

How to Submit Fiction submissions should be e-mailed to:

fiction at whistlingshade.com (substitute the "@" symbol for "at")

Poetry submissions should be e-mailed to poetry at whistlingshade.com

Essay and all other submissions should be e-mailed to editor at whistlingshade.com

We can handle most formats (PDF, RTF, HTML, even FrameMaker), or you could just paste the submission in the body of the e-mail. Note that we don't have access to a Mac, so if it is in a Mac format please use one of the above.

No mailed submissions, please.

Response

We try to respond to submissions within 3 months. It takes this long because we have more than one editor and we have to meet and chat about these things, and getting a bunch of editors in one place at one time can be tricky. Feel free to query us if we have not responded within 3 months and we will give you a status update.

When we do respond it will often be a "sorry, we didn't select your work" sort of response. Don't feel bad though, because statistically we only accept about 1 in 20 pieces submitted. We may or may not comment on your work. If we do take it in good faith that the feedback is meant to help you gain some perspective on the work. Because we have many submissions and lack time for carefully thought out responses, ours might be rather brief and cryptic ... if you would like more detailed feedback say so in your cover letter and we'll see what we can do.

If we do accept your work, we will inform you and give you the details of publication. The copyright will stay with you. For a story, we might ask you for an illustration ... if you don't have anything in mind we will have a member of the staff or an artist create something. We'll also try to e-mail you a PDF galley of your work prior to publication so that you can look it over. Then when the issue is ready we will mail you copies, or (if you are local to Mpls/St. Paul) invite you to the issue release.

What Do You Get Out of It?

Payment is in the form of 2 contributor's copies. At this time cash payment is not in our budget. However, if you are a starving artist, please mention that once the work has been accepted and we will send you a small check.

Other than that, you get the glory of appearing in Whistling Shade, being read by a couple thousand readers (more readers than many books) and furthering your book sales or literary career. And heck, there's just the sheer pleasure of appearing in print.

Call for Submissions on Theme of "Dusk": abraxas review

submissions are open

have a story you’ve been chewing on? a poem you’ve been mulling? a draft hanging out in the basement, ready to be set free into the world? photography and art that’s ready for a grand entrance? send it to us! abraxas review invites submissions between april 1 - july 1. we love reading work that strikes an intentional, but subtle message—work that haunts us, that keeps us thinking about it after we’ve read it. we seek poetry and prose with arresting emotional impact that’s achieved not by contrived figurative language, but language that surprises while serving a larger purpose. send us your work that is authentic without being performative, that’s experimental without being pretentious, and speaks to the humanity in all of us. challenging genres and pushing boundaries is great fun, but we look for writing that’s inviting and accessible for an everyday reader rather than requiring lengthy explication in order to be understood. get fancy, get weird, have fun—but do it with purpose!

​abraxas review publishes once per year in september. we accept submissions for poetry, narrative nonfiction, short fiction, photography, and art.

submission deadline: july 1, 2024
call for submissions for issue 2

theme: dusk

Dusk is the dimming of light, with surroundings still visible but becoming less distinct, as the earth rests into evening. Colors change, the sky burns fiery red, and some creatures bed down as others emerge and begin to croak and sing. There’s a serenity to dusk, an anticipation of the change it brings. Even as it grows darker, dusk brings the hope of morning.

Issue 2 will include works inspired by dusk—whether in poems, essays, stories, and art that take place during literal dusk or that deal with the liminal, the emerging, the afterglow, or themes of uncertainty.

We accept submissions via email only. We currently accept submissions here:

abraxaslit@gmail.com

Subject line: In the subject line, please include AUTHOR'S LAST NAME: GENRE (Example - Smith: Poetry).

Body of email: Please include a short bio (100 words or so) in the body of your email written in the third person.

Please include a word count for all prose submissions.

Please do not paste any prose submissions into the body of your email.

All submissions should be attached as .doc or .docx only please. PDFs and Google docs will not be read.

Call for Submissions: The Orange & Bee

Open Submission Windows for 2024

Submissions are currently OPEN for Issue #2. This window will close at midnight AEST (Australian Eastern Standard Time) on 31 May 2024.

Upcoming submission windows

Submission window for Issue #3: 1 to 14 August (closes midnight AEST on 14 August) 

Submission window for Issue #4: 1 to 14 November (closes midnight AEST on 14 November) 

What we are looking for

We are especially interested in work from or about diverse perspectives and traditionally under-represented groups, settings, and cultures, written from a non-exoticising and well-researched position.

Please read the FULL guidelines below for the type of submission you are sending us, and our preferences in terms of format and cover letters. Currently, we only accept original, unpublished work.

We have a swift turnaround time on submissions (about two weeks), and so ask that you do not submit your work to other markets while it is under consideration for The Orange & Bee.

AI Policy

We do not accept or publish work that has written with, or with the assistance of, writing software such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, etc. Please include in your cover letter a statement indicating that you have not used AI to create your work—this will set our minds at ease.

Please note that our contract for publication requires you to legally affirm that you (and not a robot/AI) wrote your work.

If we discover that you have submitted work to us that breaches our AI guidelines, we will block your email address, and will not accept future submissions from you.

Fiction & Flash Fiction

The Orange and Bee celebrates all styles and genres when it comes to fairy tales. We are seeking stories that stretch between the shadows, and we are as likely to accept a reimagining of a familiar fairy tale as a unique creation waiting to be added to the rich tradition of the continually evolving literary canon.

The Orange and Bee accepts short stories up to 4,000 words, and flash fiction up to 1,000 words. These are hard limits. No multiple submissions or simultaneous submissions. The Orange and Bee pays $0.08 per word for original short stories and a flat rate of $80 for original flash fiction.

Poetry

The Orange and Bee welcomes all styles of poetry including form, free verse, and experimental. There are no limits on length or presentation (barring our technical skills/the formatting capacity of Substack!), however, our sweet spot is 50 lines or fewer. Please only submit one poem per submission window. Payment for original poetry is a flat rate of $50. 

Other

We’re excited about the possibility of experimentation, and so also invite submissions of hybrid or experimental works, including but certainly not limited to works that combine life writing and fiction or poetry. Payment will usually be at the same rate as for fiction ($0.08 per word). 

What we aren’t looking for

There are a few things we’re definitely not going to publish. Here’s a quick summary!

• Works written by, or with, AI

• Stories written for very young readers (children!)

• Stories that include gratuitous (and it’s nearly always gratuitous!) non-consensual sexual activity

• Anything that’s racist, sexist, queerphobic, ageist, etc etc. (This doesn’t mean we aren’t interested in works that thoughtfully engage with these issues. What we don’t want is work that participates in unhelpful and outdated stereotypes)

Formatting and cover letter guidelines

All submissions should follow Proper Manuscript Format (Shunn’s). To submit, send your story via email to:

theorangeandbee@gmail.com

Please attach all submissions in .doc or .docx—we will not accept submissions embedded in the body of your email. If your work requires another file format (for example, if you are working with visual poetry/experimental visual form) please query prior to submitting.

Payment: We typically pay via PayPal, but we will do our best to accommodate your preferred payment method. Please note, however, that we cannot pay by cheque.

Response time: We will send an autoresponder message in response to every submission we receive. If you haven’t received an automatic response within 24 hours after submitting, please query immediately using QUERY in the subject line. We aim to make final decisions within three weeks of receiving your submission.

Your next submission: Please wait at least 30 calendar days after rejection before resubmitting, and 60 days after a previous publication.

More information here.

Call for Submissions from Writers Aged 16-21: Hakkyu

GENERAL SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

We currently offer a flat $15 payment for accepted works. For multiple submissions, we pay $15 dollars for the entirety/part of your portfolio. Our current response time is around 2 weeks.

Writers: Aged 16-21

SUBMISSIONS ARE READ BLIND. Please remove any indication of name/contact info on submission.

Multiple submissions: Allowed, but please wait to hear back before submitting other works.

Simultaneous: Of course, however please let us know if your work is accepted elsewhere.

Times New Roman and Serif Fonts.

Double Spaced for prose, no specific spacing guidelines for poetry.

12 point font size for prose, no specific font size guidelines for poetry.

Single PDF or Word Document.

Work that the Hakkyu editors deem to be racist, misogynistic, spreading hate or alike will not be published.

FIRST SERIAL RIGHTS:We have right to be the first publisher of your work. After the work is published once anywhere, all rights revert back to you!

(We do not disqualify works that are incorrectly formatted or ignore guidelines for creative means. However, please try to follow the above as best as possible. HOWEVER WORKS THAT HAVE PERSONAL INDICATORS AND/OR ARE DEEMED TO BE RACIST, MISOGYNISTIC, SPREADING HATE, OR ALIKE WILL BE THROWN OUT.)

Visit their website and submission link here.

Call for Submissions: The Skull and Laurel

The Skull and Laurel is a quarterly magazine of New Weird short fiction. A more detailed explanation of the type of stories we publish at Tenebrous Press can be found here, but essentially we are looking for speculative fiction that is genre-fluid and modern in its themes, subtext, characters, techniques, or form. Horror, fantasy, and science fiction stories are welcome so long as they are dark and Weird with a capital W. If your story is speculative and either blends genres or refuses to fit neatly within their confines, we want to read it. Our goal is to publish strange and brave new stories told by people you may have never otherwise met.

Submission Guidelines for Skull and Laurel

This round open until: May 31st 2024

Genres and forms: Weird Horror, Dark Fantasy, Dark Science Fiction. Short Fiction, Narrative Poetry. We also encourage trying us with things like comic strips, mixed media, found footage, puzzles, games, experiments, and other weird forms, as long as they tell a story.

Word count: 100 to 7499 words

Payment: 3c/word (USD) originals; $25 (USD) reprints

Reprints: Yes

Simultaneous Submissions: Yes

Multiple submissions: Please submit no more than one original story and one reprint at a time (one of each is fine).

Translations: Translations are welcome as long as the story has not yet been published in English.

Target Age Group: Mature audiences

AI Disclaimer: Machine/AI-generated content is explicitly forbidden. Authors and artists should anticipate contracts declaring that no part of their submission was machine/AI-generated. Those who submit machine/AI-generated content will be permanently blacklisted.

Rights: World English first rights in print, electronic, and ebook, including a six-month exclusivity period. For reprints, World English reprint in print, electronic, and ebook, no exclusivity. All copyright belongs to the author.

Estimated response time: 1-3 months. All submissions will be responded to.

Diversity: Marginalized and first-time authors and artists are emphatically welcomed. Disclosure is not mandatory for anyone, but we do enjoy knowing if you’ve never been published before, use English as a second language, or have any personal relationship with your work.

Special Goal: For the first issue of the magazine, we will be looking to accept ONE wolf-themed story written by a European ESL writer.

For the second issue of the magazine, we will be looking to accept ONE Minotaur-themed story written by a Greek writer.

The theme connections can be vague, but the author does need to disclose that they fit the demographic for this.

If you submit a SPECIAL GOAL STORY that will not count against your ‘one of each’ rule, so you can still submit an original and a reprint.

You can submit these at any time during the open period.

Cover Letter: All we need is a short bio, 100 words or less; your pronouns; and any warnings or other info you need us to know.

Format: Any standard manuscript text format will suffice so long as your submission is readable. No preferences on things like font etc.

For weird formatting or submissions that contain images such as comics or mixed media, please create a shareable PDF in a medium-to-low quality.

Home address and legal name are not necessary and we’d prefer not to receive them.

Submit your work here.

Call for Submissions: The Cincinnati Review

Deadline: May 31, 2024 or when they reach their submissions cap.

When: We accept submissions for the print journal generally during three time periods: September, December, and May. Those reading periods will open on the first day of the month and close once we hit the submissions cap for that period. It’s possible that we might have additional short reading periods if needed, which would open on the first of the month as well. Visit this site and our social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram) to stay informed.

miCRo submissions are open nearly year-round, except while we’re accepting entries for the Robert and Adele Schiff Awards during the early summer, or if we experience a backlog in that category.

Where: Our online submission manager. (Those who have disabilities or are incarcerated can submit through the postal service; see our contact page for the address.)

Who: The Cincinnati Review welcomes submissions from writers at any point in their careers. Current and former students, faculty, and staff of the University of Cincinnati or their families are ineligible to submit unless they are more than two years removed from their affiliation with the university. We also ask contributors to wait a year after their appearance in any particular medium (print magazine or miCRo series) before submitting again.

What: We cannot consider previously published works, including those posted online, but we do accept simultaneous submissions (please contact us if individual poems are accepted elsewhere; please withdraw any prose pieces taken by another journal).

Our typical response time is six months, though we may take longer on occasion. Please don’t query until after a year: our submission manager system keeps the process reliable, so if your piece is listed as “received,” it’s still under consideration.

Please note: If we accept a piece, we prefer to work with the essay, poem, or story as submitted to us, not with later revisions, though we may suggest changes during the copyediting process.

We recommend that you read our mission statement and either work from the online series or copies of the print magazine before submitting your work. We also have some statements from our genre editors about the kinds of work they’re looking for available for your review.

How: The Cincinnati Review acquires first North American serial rights, including electronic rights; all rights revert to author upon publication. We pay $25/page for prose and $30/page for poetry in the print journal and $25 for miCRo posts or special features.

More information and submissions link here.

Call for Submissions: Chicken Soup for the Soul

Request for stories for our grandmothers topic

The deadline for story submissions is JUNE 30, 2024. We view this book as a wonderful gift for grandmothers of all ages at any time of year, but it will be published in March 2025, in time for the Mother's Day selling season. That is the reason for the short deadline. We may extend the deadline but please do not count on that. Please get your submissions in early so we can get started reading and choosing right away!

What makes this topic so much fun? Well, the moment a grandchild is born, a grandmother is born too. And what an amazing experience it is. Everyone has a great story about the unconditional love between grandmothers and their grandchildren. We are looking for heartwarming, insightful, and humorous stories celebrating grandmothers.

Stories can be written by:

• grandmothers about being a grandmother

• grandchildren about their grandmothers

• adult children about their mothers or stepmothers or mothers-in-law as grandmothers

All of the above equally applies to stepmothers as grandmothers — we are not differentiating.

Poems are only considered if they are "prose poems" that tell a story. Please, no poems that obsessively rhyme and seem like a greeting card. Also, please, no eulogies.

Here are some suggested topics, but we know you can think of many more: • My baby is having a baby!
• The joys of becoming a grandmother
• Getting your grandmother name
• Love across the generations
• Continuing family legacies and traditions
• Spoiling my grandchildren
• The wisdom of grandmothers
• What I learned from my grandmother
• What I learned from my grandchildren
• What I learned from my grown child when he/she became a parent
• The rewards of being a grandmother
• The challenges of being a grandmother
• Fun times
• Funny stories
• Babysitting
• Using technology for being part of grandchildren's/grandmothers' lives such as FaceTime and Zoom, social media, texting
• Keeping up with the grandchildren: adventures, sore muscles, exhaustion…
• Co-grandparenting with the in-laws, with your husband
• Disagreements with the parents over rules, nutrition, religion, etc. — including unwanted advice!
• Traveling with grandmothers/grandchildren
• Grandmothers as role models
• Raising your grandchildren when the parents are unable to
• Differences between grandsons and granddaughters
• Creating new traditions with the grandchildren/grandmothers

A few guidelines for you and some general information:

All submissions need to be true — we do not publish fiction. Stories should be no longer than 1,200 words. Please write in the first person about something that happened to you or someone close to you. Every part of your story must be true. No "composite characters." But yes, you can use a pen name, if necessary, to protect yourself or someone else.

If your story has been published in a past Chicken Soup for the Soul book, please do not submit it. We will not republish it. If you submitted a story to a previous Chicken Soup for the Soul book and we did not publish it, please submit it to us again if you think it will fit in this topic.

Please remember, we no longer publish "as told to" stories. Write your story in the first person. Do not ghostwrite a story for someone else unless you list that person as the author in which case, they will be required to fill out our permission form if the story is selected.

If a story was previously published, we will probably not use it unless it ran in a small circulation venue. Let us know where the story was previously published and the approximate exposure it received in the "Comments" section of the submission form.

We include stories in our books from as diverse a group of writers as possible, including the LGBTQ community and people of all ethnicities, nationalities, and religions.

If your story is chosen, you will be a published author and your bio will be printed in the book if you so choose. You will also receive a check for $250 and 10 free copies of your book, worth more than $160. You will retain the copyright for your story and you will retain the right to resell it or self-publish it.

SUBMISSIONS GO TO OUR WEBSITE. The deadline for submissions is JUNE 30 2024. This book is slated for MARCH 2025.

* * * *

Request for stories — change your habits & attitudes / change your life

Habits. Attitudes. Breaking bad habits and replacing them with good habits play an important role in self-care. Change your attitude and you can change your life. And self-care — including mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual wellbeing — is vital to ensuring that your needs are met. It's probably what we neglect the most.

We are looking for true stories about how you realized a certain habit or attitude was detrimental to you, what you did to change that, and the difference it made in your life.

Here are some ideas that might prompt you to recall a story you'd like to share:

• Your strategy for making new habits that are better for you
• Your strategy for breaking bad habits
• How you made a conscious decision to change
• How changing your habits and attitudes reduced your stress and improved your fitness, health, relationships, work, fun…
• How proper self-care improved your life
• What changes did you make to put yourself first on your "To-Do" list?
• Did you eliminate people from your life, or at least reduce your exposure to them, as part of your plan? And if you couldn't, did you at least change how you reacted to them?
• Did you take back control of your life? Take back the power?
• Did stepping outside your comfort zone help you create new, better habits?
• How deviating from your routine helped you break a habit
• Did keeping a journal help?
• How you made a new, good habit and conquered an old, bad one
• Breaking familiar patterns and how that helped
• Baby steps to change — step by step
• Learning to say "no" — setting boundaries
• Learning to ask for help
• Did you work with someone to make the changes? An accountability partner? A family member or friend?
• Did you teach someone else how to break bad habits, make new ones, change their attitude, reclaim their power?
• Have you become more assertive or outspoken? Changed how someone treated you?

You have time! If this story callout has prompted you to make a positive change in your life — that one you've been thinking about — then go for it. Make the change and then write about it in a few months.

A few guidelines for you and some general information:

All submissions need to be true — we do not publish fiction. Stories should be no longer than 1,200 words. Please write in the first person about something that happened to you or someone close to you. Every part of your story must be true. No "composite characters." But yes, you can use a pen name, if necessary, to protect yourself or someone else.

If your story has been published in a past Chicken Soup for the Soul book, please do not submit it. We will not republish it. If you submitted a story to a previous Chicken Soup for the Soul book and we did not publish it, please submit it to us again if you think it will fit in this edition.

Please remember, we no longer publish "as told to" stores. Write your story in the first person. Do not ghostwrite a story for someone else unless you list that person as the author in which case, they will be required to fill out our permission form if the story is selected.

If a story was previously published, we will probably not use it unless it ran in a small circulation venue. Let us know where the story was previously published and the approximate exposure it received in the "Comments" section of the submission form.

We include stories in our books from as diverse a group of writers as possible, including the LGBTQ community and people of all ethnicities, nationalities, and religions.

If your story is chosen, you will be a published author and your bio will be printed in the book if you so choose. You will also receive a check for $250 and 10 free copies of your book, worth more than $160. You will retain the copyright for your story and you will retain the right to resell it or self-publish it.

SUBMISSIONS GO TO OUR WEBSITE.

The deadline for submissions is AUGUST 31, 2024. This book is slated for Summer or Fall 2025.