Call for Submissions on the Theme of "Leaving": Gulf Stream Magazine

 

Gulf Stream Magazine

What we publish

We publish fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, hybrid works, translations, book reviews & visual art. We are a biannual online publication. We love a wide range of genres and styles, especially writing that is innovative in form and progressive in content.

Read more about our theme here.

More important than any theme, we welcome all submissions as long as they’re honest and authentic – what we want most of all is your best work. Work must be original, created without the use of AI, and previously unpublished (with the exception of translations – see genre guidelines). Not sure if your work is suited to our magazine? Find out what we like by reading our current issue.

We acknowledge that literary spaces traditionally have centered the white, heterosexual, cisgender male experience at the expense of other voices. We want to break from that tradition and are therefore especially interested in reading work from those who are often marginalized in literary spaces, including Black, Brown, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC); all women, including but not limited to, trans and cis women; LGBTQIA+ people; agender, gender non-conforming, and nonbinary people; people with disabilities; and people who live at the intersections of identities.

Limits (General Submissions)

Fiction: 5,000 words (or 3 pieces of up to 1,000 words)

Creative Nonfiction: 5,000 words

Poetry: 3 poems per submission

Hybrid: 5,000 words (may include up to 5 images, B&W only)

Translations: 3 poems or 5,000 words of prose (must include original piece)

Book Reviews: 500-750 words (books must have been published within the past year)

Visual Art: up to 5 pieces

How to submit

Please submit your work through submittable.

No submissions through email or mail unless you have an invite to do so from the editors. (For example, incarcerated writers may request to do this.)

Include a bio of up to fifty words along with your cover letter.

We do our very best to respond within 6 months, but due to the volume of submissions, it can sometimes take longer.

Guidelines

-Reading fee of $3. (For a fee waiver, reach out to the editors).

-International submissions are welcomed, but English only for our main genres and Spanish for our new Spanish section only.

-Multiple submissions are welcome at $3 per submission, but please, no more than one submission per genre at a time.

Simultaneous submissions are fine as long as you notify us if it’s accepted elsewhere.

-No submissions from current FIU students.

–If we have published your work, please wait one year after your publication to submit again. For example, if you were published in Issue 37, please do not submit for Issue 38, but feel free to submit for Issue 39 (visual art and contest submissions are exempt and can submit for every issue).

-Submissions accepted from FIU alums two or more years after graduation.

Copyright Info

We hold first serial rights for the material we publish, with the copyright reverting back to the author upon publication.

Reviews & interviews

No unsolicited submissions or requests, please.

Contact

gulfstreamlitmag@gmail.com

Call for Submissions from Undergraduate Students: The Kudzu Review

 

The Kudzu Review 

Deadline: October 25, 2026

• We ONLY accept submissions from current undergraduate students.

• Remove all identifiers from your piece (name, email) so assistants can review your work anonymously

• Undergraduates who graduated one semester prior to the current submission period may also submit. (I.e., if you graduated in spring, you may submit the following fall, or vice versa.)

• We are an international magazine, so no matter what university you attend in the world, we want to read your work!

• If submitting multiple pieces, please do so individually. Do NOT submit multiple pieces in one file.

• We recommend you make the file name the same as the piece’s title.

• Do not include any identifying information within the document itself.

• It is free to submit, but we are a non-paying market.

• We do accept simultaneous submissions, but please notify us immediately if your piece has been accepted for publication elsewhere.

• Our editors may suggest a round of edits.

• Publication is not contingent upon acceptance of these editorial suggestions.

Submit your work here. 

Call for Submissions: Mascara Literary Review

 

Co-founded in 2007, Mascara is a journal which focuses on the work of First Nations, CaLD, disabled and neurodivergent writers, as well as human rights and experimentation. We specialise in publishing platforms for minorities, focusing on cultural cohesion and participation. We foster a space for critical research to bridge the gaps left by institutions; a space for writers, readers and researchers that is progressive and vibrant. We are interested in shaping the way that discourse structures social realities and positions individuals hierarchically. The word ‘mascara’ entered the English language in 1890. But it derives from Spanish, Arabic and French origins, its meaning evolving from the word ‘mask’, ‘masquerade’, to darken, to blacken. The Arabic word ‘maskhara’ means buffoon, suggesting violence and play in the correspondences between life and art.

Submissions will open from 7 September 2026 to 2 October 2026 in all categories.

 Submission Guidelines

We only consider previously unpublished work, ie first serial rights, electronic and print. Simultaneous submissions are acceptable as long as we are notified immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere.

Nonfiction: One piece of up to 3000 words.
Reviews: Word length is approx. 1200-1500 words. Please use endnotes, not footnotes for citation.
Poetry: 3 poems max., all in one file
Fiction: One short story up to 3000 words, or for flash fiction send no more than 1000 words.

Formatting & Process: We accept only Microsoft Word doc files (.doc and .docx)
Format your document in 12 point, Times New Roman, 1.5 spaced
Name your file by surname and genre (e.g. yoursurname_poetry)
In the subject line of your email, write your surname and genre of submission (i.e. non-fiction, review or poetry)
In the body of the email, include a short bio and attach your submission file

Email your submission to:

submissions@mascarareview.com

***Note: Please only submit once until you have heard back from us. (See response times below.)

Response Times

We are a very small team whose editors work on a voluntary basis. Our response time is 3-6 months. Please do not query the status of your submission before 3 months. We thank you for your patience and understanding.

Payment

Poems $100
Fiction and essays $200
Reviews $200
First Nations & CaLD critics $500
Tasmanian critics $400

Please note: We are not currently funded to pay international contributors.

Call for Submissions on Themes of "Branches" or "Dirt": 3 Sisters Literary

 

Issue 2 Theme: Branches

“the poems are branches worked through the mouth & hands.

a nest, a nest! a limbwork i can lie down in,

get up from”

– “ars poetica,” by Jasmine Reid

For our second issue, 3 Sisters invites work in conversation with the ideas of branches, branching, and brachial systems. This includes but is not limited to work involving: trees, olive branches (reconciliations, peace offerings), fruit (pawpaw and others), roots, ramus, trunks, leaves, alternate timelines, futures, choice, bifurcation, trifurcation, tributaries, distributaries, contingencies, permutations, confluence, estuary, forking paths, sistering (a process in architecture, of adding additional beams to strengthen an existing structure), scaffolding, limbs/appendages, innervation, veins, bodily systems, plexus, breath, fractures, fractals, nudibranchs, seeds, germination, propagation, mutation, symbiosis, proliferation, decussation, divergence, inheritance, descendants, antecedents, and genealogy.

“O how can it be that the ground itself does not sicken?

How can you be alive you growths of spring?”

–“This Compost” by Walt Whitman

Special Folio: Dirt

Additionally, we’re interested in decomposition, the breaking down of materials to make way for the possibility of something new. Dirt as a fertile ground for creation and as a resting place of that which has expired. Not just a site of transformation, but the process itself is of interest: to linger in that in-between state: filth, dejection, scum.

The work we hope to be represented in this special folio on dirt is work that is evolving/devolving, adaptive, languid, centered on the grime that comes with growth and decay.

We encourage innovation, playfulness, entendre, and deviation from the literal.

“Again with the digging, again with the digging up.

Once more with the shovels.

Once more, the shovels full of dirt.

The vault lid. The prying. The damp boards.”

– “Ballad” by Diane Seuss
General Submission Guidelines

We accept work from all genres, including but not limited to fiction, non-fiction, poetry, art, mixed media, essay, video pieces, computational work, audio offerings, objects, and more. We are especially interested in hybrid works, work that falls in between genres, and pieces that are not easily categorized. We delight in art that is structurally unconventional, fragmentary, elliptical, or otherwise weird and surprising. As an online publication we are excited to showcase works that utilize the digital format in unique ways.

Our Open Submission Period is currently open September 1, 2026 – October 15, 2026. Click here to submit via our free, old school Submission Manager. 

Simultaneous submissions are expected; please do alert us immediately when your work is accepted elsewhere by withdrawing it manually in our submissions manager.

We do not consider previously published work.

All rights revert to the authors/artists after publication, and the works can then be reprinted (though we ask that we get an acknowledgment as its place of initial publication).

3 Sisters is currently able to offer a modest honorarium for accepted work. The amount per contributor or piece is dependent on our overall number of contributors for a given issue, and the budget allocated to us by the University of Pittsburgh. These numbers are subject to change per issue.

At this time, we are unable to offer any feedback on individual submissions.

Call for Submissions: The Freshwater Literary Journal

The Freshwater Literary Journal is a professional literary journal coordinated by students at Asnuntuck since 2000. We seek submissions from the public and publish a wide variety of literary work from students and professional writers worldwide. We consider poetry, short stories, personal essays, and creative nonfiction.

Dates and Deadlines

Submission Period: August 15, 2026, to February 15, 2027. Acceptances and rejections will be sent on a rolling basis, no later than the end of March 2027. The new edition will be published in May 2027.

Submission Guidelines

Freshwater accepts poetry, short stories, personal essays and creative nonfiction submissions. We seek to publish a wide variety of literary works from people of all backgrounds. We look for new experimental takes on old mediums as well as more traditional approaches.

Poetry

Three poems maximum, up to 40 lines each.

Prose

Fiction or nonfiction
One or multiple pieces up to 1,500 words total.

Submissions should be sent to:

 as_freshwater@ctstate.edu (No snail-mail submissions, please.)

To submit, email your entire submission as one attachment, including your name.

No cover letter needed, but send a third-person bio (100 words maximum) with mailing address in the body of the e-mail.

No previously published material. Simultaneous submissions permissible if you notify us immediately of acceptance elsewhere. Payment is one contributor copy. Absolutely no AI-generated material. 

Contact John Sheirer for details:

John.sheirer@ctstate.edu

Call for Submissions: Orion's Belt

Orion's Belt 

Each writer may submit in only ONE of the following genres:

MICRO FICTION

FLASH FICTION

POETRY

We also accept REVIEWS, TRANSLATIONS, and ART submissions.

We are accepting free submissions via DUOSUMA, our submission manager. (Duosuma is free to use, you do not need to purchase an account.) Only art submissions must be sent via email. Please see the guidelines below for each genre.

You may submit in only one genre: Flash, Micro, or Poetry. However, you may submit Reviews and Translations in addition.

Only multiple submissions across Fiction (flash and micro) and Poetry will not be read, and all stories over 1000 words will be rejected automatically.

If Orion’s Belt rejects a story, please do not resubmit it, even if you revise it. Simultaneous submissions are welcome, but please withdraw your work via our submission manager if it is accepted elsewhere.

All prose stories must contain significant speculative elements. This does not mean all sci-fi stories must have lasers and rockets. It just means a non-speculative story doesn’t become speculative if you include a single line clarifying the story takes place on Mars.

All forms and styles of poetry are welcome. We encourage boundary-pushing, experimental poetry. What we care about is subject matter. Speculative elements must be significant. What “literary” means in the context of poetry is more difficult to define than in prose, but the focus of submissions should be on emotion and experience, not explaining scientific formulas or displaying complex worldbuilding.

When to Submit

Autumn

1 September – 31 October

(Publishing in December)

 

Fiction Pay Rate: 8 US cents per word.

Poetry Pay Rate: US$40 flat per poem.

 

Translation Pay Rates: 8 US Cents per word for prose and US$40 flat per poem, paid to both author and translator.

 

FOR REPRINTS of translated stories and poems, we pay a flat US$40 for stories and a flat US$20 for poems, paid to both author and translator.

Reviews Pay Rate: $45 flat per review.

We pay a flat rate of US $100 for selected artwork.

More information and submission portal here.

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Call for Submissions: The Iowa Review

As submissions are read anonymously, please do not include your name on the submission document itself. Your name, email, address, and bio can be included in the cover letter.

During the open submission reading period, we accept online submissions via Submittable and paper submissions at the following address:

Paper Submissions

[Fiction, Poetry, or Nonfiction] Editor

The Iowa Review

308 EPB
University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA 52242

There is a $4 fee to submit online.* We do not consider e-mail submissions.

Paper submissions without a self-addressed, stamped envelope will not be considered.

Work must be previously unpublished in print or online, and, if accepted, must not be published anywhere else before it is published in The Iowa Review (the lead time between acceptance and publication is about a year). Simultaneous submissions are accepted, provided you contact us immediately to withdraw your work if it is accepted for publication elsewhere. We typically respond in one to six months.

The page limit for prose is 25 pages and for poetry is 8 pages (query by e-mail if you have a longer poem). Prose submissions should be double-spaced.

We recommend reading an issue of The Iowa Review before submitting. Ask for us at your local bookstore or library, or purchase a copy here.

Current University of Iowa students are ineligible to submit. 

We pay $1.50 per line for poetry ($100 minimum) and $0.08 per word for prose ($100 minimum).

Translations should be submitted according to the guidelines of the original work’s genre and addressed to that genre’s editor. Translators should have permission from the copyright holder and should include a copy of the original work with their submission.

*Subscribers can now submit online for free! Please use the “for subscribers only” category on Submittable. We check these submitters’ names against our subscription list, so please use this category only if you’re a current subscriber.

ADDRESS QUESTIONS TO: 

iowa-review@uiowa.edu

Call for Submissions: Gordon Square Review

SUBMITTING YOUR WORK

Gordon Square Review, a publication of Literary Cleveland, holds two open reading periods each year:February 1 to March 31. Publication drops May 15. August 1 to October 1. Publication drops November 15.​

Writers accepted for publication receive a $25 honorarium. 

GENERAL SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Gordon Square Review welcomes works of translation, simultaneous submissions, and previously published work no longer available in print or online.

POETRY SUBMISSIONS
Only include one poem in your submission. ​

FICTION/PROSE SUBMISSIONS
Only include one story in your submission. The word limit is 5,000 words. ​

BRIEF NONFICTION SUBMISSIONS
Only include one essay in your submission. The word limit is 1,000 words (if fewer than 1,000 words, that is okay).

AI POLICY
Gordon Square Review does not consider manuscripts that have touched Artificial Intelligence in any part of the writing process. Upon submission, authors will be asked to attest that AI was not used in the creation or writing of that work. The editorial team values original, authentic, weird, unique, uncanny voices; it values human voices.

Every piece published in GSR is reviewed by human editors, and we remain committed to authors who are likewise in the business of the human condition in ways that robots simply cannot.

​GSR reserves the right to rescind an offer of publication based on use of AI.

Submit your work here. 

Call for Submissions: phoebe: a journal of literature and art

 

The editors of phoebe are pleased to announce that for Issue 56.1, phoebe will be a paying market! See our guidelines below for pay rates and more details on how to send us your work!

phoebe is a journal of literature and art which publishes twice each year: one print issue each winter, and a contest issue each spring, made up of the winners, runners up, and honorable mentions from submissions to our annual contests in poetry, fiction and nonfiction.

Winter Print Issue:

Open for submissions from August 15th to October 15th.

Submission Guidelines

• We only accept submissions via our online submission portal, Submittable.

• We do not consider previously published work.

• We welcome multiple submissions, but each should follow the guidelines below:We do not have a strict word limit for prose; however, work over 4,000 words will need to be extraordinary.

• Regarding flash prose, we are happy to accept up to three pieces of less than 1,000 words each. Please paste these together in a single document and submit them via the standard fiction or nonfiction portal.

• Poetry submissions should contain 3-5 poems, totaling no more than ten pages. Please include all poems in one document.

• Writers, we prefer that you submit your work as a Word Document. Visual Artists may use PDFs to submit multiple works of art, but should be prepared with a high-resolution version of their files upon their work’s acceptance to the journal.

• We allow and encourage simultaneous submissions. If your submission is no longer available for publication, please use our online submission portal to withdraw it as soon as possible. If you need to withdraw a single poem or piece of flash prose, please add a note to your submission and email us at:

 phoebeliterature@gmail.com

We strive to respond to submissions 30 days after the submissions period closes. If you have not heard from us 60 days after the submissions period closes, feel free to inquire about the status of your submission.

If you’ve submitted to phoebe in the past, or if you’ve been published in our journal before, you are welcome to submit your work again.

phoebe does not accept submissions from current or former students of George Mason University’s creative writing program or any other affiliates of George Mason University. If you have a question regarding your eligibility, please send us an email at:

phoebeliterature@gmail.com

Payment

phoebe is overjoyed to be able to pay its writers and artists $30 per accepted poem, essay, story or piece of visual art. All contributors to the print issue also receive one copy of the journal upon publication.

The payment of monetary prizes and contributor honorariums are subject to U.S. laws and regulations, including those that prohibit payments to persons from or who reside in countries subject to U.S. sanctions. Questions about these regulations and payment methods can be directed to:

phoebeliterature@gmail.com  

Publication Rights

phoebe retains First North American serial rights for all work that we publish. All other rights are the authors, and they revert immediately upon the work’s publication. The work may be republished along with an acknowledgement of its original publication in phoebe.

Due to the risk of copyright infringement (and a plethora of other ethical reasons) phoebe does not accept AI-generated writing or visual art at this time. Digital manipulations and digital art are welcome.

Upon publication of your work in phoebe, we ask for the following:

1) First American rights for print publication of the Work in a future issue of Phoebe.

2) Indefinite non-exclusive rights for electronic publication of the Work at www.phoebejournal.com, as well as through Phoebe’s social media websites and newsletters.

3) Possible inclusion of the Work in a future anthology published by Phoebe Press.

All other rights remain the author’s

Submit your work here.

Call for Submissions: Rind & Root

 

General Information

• Submissions are free

• There is no payment for contributors

• We accept simultaneous submissions, but please notify us if your piece is accepted elsewhere

• Previously published work is accepted

• Response time within 10 days

• Absolutely no AI

Deadlines
Our general submissions are always open, the only thing changing is the issue number you're submitting to!

We Publish

Poetry

Free verse, prose poems, erasure, blackout poetry. Any experimental genres that can be expressed on paper.

Prose

Shortform non-fiction, creative or otherwise. Opinion pieces, interviews, personal essays, anecdotes. Explorations of writing, literature, and poetry.

Visual Work

Collage, photography, art. Please consider that most visual work displayed in our journal is chosen to complement literary pieces.

We Do Not Publish

Poetry

Formal verse, rhyme schemes, nature lyric (unless nature is doing metaphorical work), love poems, epic poetry, ballads, and sonnets.

Prose

Long form pieces (above 500 words), fiction, plays, screenplays.

Visual Work

Art, photography, or collages featuring nature.

Themes

We are interested in cross-cultural, identity-transforming, direct, experimental works with risk to them. We do not shy away from politics and stand for what we believe in.

What to Submit

Please submit only once per issue unless instructed otherwise.Poems — up to 5 poems, up to 8 pages.
Creative non-fiction, personal anecdotes — 300–500 words (slightly less or more is acceptable).
Art, collages, photography — up to 5 pieces.Submit your work here.

Call for Submissions and Pitches: GraveSite

GraveSite is preparing for launch and is looking for journalism, personal essays, cultural criticism, commentary, and other nonfiction writing exploring death and its many intersections with life.

The publication primarily focuses on the United States, but it is open to stories from elsewhere when they have relevance for an American audience. Writers can pitch from anywhere in the world, provided they can accept payment through BILL.com or ACH.

GraveSite is particularly interested in stories that are surprising and specific, ambitious but approachable, and useful without becoming didactic. The editorial team values vulnerable writing when appropriate, humor where possible, and prose that is beautiful or spare without becoming overly precious.

 

What GraveSite Is Looking For

 

Life

GraveSite wants service-focused reporting about planning for death, dying, grief, death logistics, supporting grieving people, and related health and wellness subjects.

Personal narratives are also welcome, particularly stories from deathcare workers and everyday people. The publication describes the desired approach as similar to the personal storytelling of The New York Times‘ “Modern Love,” but centered on death.

 

Power

The publication is interested in deeply reported, investigative, and data-driven journalism examining the politics and policies surrounding death.

Potential subjects include bereavement leave, medical assistance in dying, movements and justice work, corporate greed, and corporate overreach in deathcare and adjacent industries.

 

Futures

 

GraveSite is seeking news, explainers, analysis, deep dives, and investigative pieces about research and emerging developments related to death and grief.

Ideas could explore death technology, longevity research, changing attitudes toward death, evolving practices, or the changing roles of people and institutions involved in deathcare.

 

Belief

Writers can explore religious and spiritual beliefs, philosophies, traditions, and practices surrounding death and grief.

GraveSite is interested in intellectually ambitious perspectives and features that examine how people understand mortality, similar in spirit to the expansive philosophical explorations found in publications such as Aeon and Psyche.

 

Culture

The publication also wants perspectives, criticism, analysis, reviews, and commentary about death’s relationship with popular culture.

Potential subjects include film, television, music, sports, gaming, fashion, celebrity culture, the internet, and other aspects of contemporary culture.\

 

How Much Does GraveSite Pay?

GraveSite offers different rates depending on the type and depth of contribution.

Journalism: Professional journalists can earn $400 USD for quicker-turn news and trend pieces under 800 words, provided the article includes at least one original source.

More deeply reported features of approximately 900–1,300 words, with three or more sources, pay $1,000 USD.

The publication is also interested in ambitious, reporting-intensive investigations and narrative features, which will be compensated accordingly.

For journalism pitches, do not submit a completed draft. GraveSite wants to work with writers to shape the story before reporting and writing are finalized.

Personal essays, cultural criticism and opinions:

 

GraveSite pays a $200 USD honorarium for personal essays, criticism and analysis, commentary, and related opinion writing under 1,000 words.

Interviews are not required for these pieces, although they are welcomed. The publication accepts contributions from emerging and established writers, as well as non-writers, death scholars, researchers, clinicians, policymakers, lawyers, and other professionals.

For this category, GraveSite accepts both pitches and complete, previously unpublished drafts, with a slight preference for finished drafts.

 

Art and Other Creative Work

GraveSite occasionally commissions illustrations, graphics, photography, video, data visualizations, and other artwork to accompany its reporting.

Artists and designers interested in collaborating should use the GraveSite submission form to provide their information and portfolio.

The publication is also interested in original games, including crosswords and other word-focused projects, interactive experiences, co-publications, reprints, guest editorships, partnerships, and other collaborations.

For miscellaneous ideas and collaborations, writers and creators can contact GraveSite by email.
What to Include in Your Pitch

GraveSite asks writers to submit pitches through its dedicated submission form. Email story pitches will be deleted.

Your pitch should include:

• A clear, compelling headline and optional dek.

• One or two concise paragraphs explaining the story angle rather than simply identifying the topic.

• An explanation of how the idea fits into or expands GraveSite’s five core coverage areas.

• Relevant news pegs, data, credentials, or other information demonstrating why the story matters.

• An explanation of why you are the right person to tell the story.

• A reason the story needs to be told now, or why an evergreen idea will remain relevant.

• Any specific or unexpected audiences who could be interested in the story.

• Your reporting plan, including the proposed format, sources or types of sources, and original reporting you expect to conduct.

The strongest pitches should demonstrate both a compelling idea and a clear understanding of how the proposed story would work editorially.

Instead of pitching a broad topic such as “the future of death technology,” identify the specific question, development, person, conflict, trend, or phenomenon your story will investigate.
Submission Rules

GraveSite primarily covers the United States, although international stories and locally or regionally grounded stories are welcome when they are relevant to an American audience.

You can write for GraveSite from anywhere in the world as long as you can receive payment through BILL.com or ACH.

Most importantly, use the dedicated submission form. GraveSite specifically asks writers not to email story pitches because email pitches will be deleted.

Deadline: Rolling submissions

Submit Via: Dedicated GraveSite submission form

Call for Submissions: iExile Literary & Art Platform

Poetry·Fiction·Essays·Creative Nonfiction·Plays·Screenplays·Satire·Fragments·Hybrid/Other·Translations

One piece per submission. PDF preferred; DOCX accepted.Max 20 pages or up to 6 poems.Response within 30 days.

Translations require a signed approval from the original author or rights holder. Include a third-person bio of around 50 words for both author and translator.

Previously published work is fine — just let us know where and when.

Simultaneous submissions are fine — tell us if it gets accepted elsewhere.

Painting·Drawing·Printmaking·Illustration·Photography·Sculpture·Mixed Media·Collage·Digital art·Video·Comics / graphic narrative·Book art / zine·Installation·Other

Up to 5 images — PNG, JPG or SVG, 25 MB each.For video or mixed media, add up to 5 public links (Vimeo, YouTube, Drive, Dropbox).We respond within 30 days.

Previously exhibited work is fine — just let us know where and when.

Simultaneous submissions are fine — tell us if it gets accepted elsewhere.

Rights: you must own or hold rights to publish every image or video you submit.

Submit your work here.

Call for Nonfiction: Off Assignment

Off Assignment is a non-profit literary magazine with a penchant for journeys and a fascination with strangers. We’re looking for writers who travel, poets who wander, essayists with a sense of place, reporters with swollen notebooks, and gourmands with street cart taste. We’re not here to guide vacations. We don’t cover spas or centennials. We have a taste for offbeat places. We care about voice and story. We want the writer on the page—sweating, tripping, and telling a tale.

We accept simultaneous submissions, as long as you immediately notify us that your piece has been accepted elsewhere. We are interested only in original essays; your work must not have been published elsewhere prior to submitting.

Please note that we will not accept any essays written or generated in part by AI.

SUBMISSION CATEGORIES

"Letter to a Stranger"

Who haunts you?

We all harbor thoughts about the strangers at the edges of our lives. Write a letter to an unshakeable stranger you’ve met along the way, whether traveling across the world, the country, or down the street.

A great “Letter to a Stranger” has some magic to it, and often speaks to more than just what it's directly about. It's never colonialist or judgmental. It is a highly personal narrative that stirs up universal themes.

Include a title in the “To___” format (for example, “To the Lady at the Subway Turnstile”).

Word count: 800–2000.

 "No Equivalent"

Teju Cole writes: “The English word translation...descends from the Latin translatus: trans, across or over, and latus, which is the past participle of ferre, to carry, related to the English word ‘ferry.’ The translator, then, is the ferry operator, carrying meaning from words on that shore to words on this shore.”

What is one word you have come across that resists being ferried over in translation? Write about one of these untranslatable words, and the role it has played in your personal geography or voyages.

Word count: 800–2000.

"Under the Influence"

The art we surround ourselves with affects our reality. What happens when we use authors or artists as guides to our travels, near and far? Which artist’s presence accompanies you down a street or rests with you on a park bench? Tell us about the interplay between art and reality, and how the lens of each showed you something interesting about the other. Title your submission along the lines of “Reading [author] in [place]”/ “Listening to [artist] in [place],” etc.

Word Count: 800–2000.

"What I Didn’t Say"

Any writer knows that, often, the most interesting part of the assignment doesn’t make it into the story. Revisit the experiences that have stuck with you, the happenings that didn’t bend into the margins of the assignment, but that persist in your memory. This isn’t a behind-the-scenes travel diary—this is the story behind the story.

Word Count: 1500–3000.

"Goodbye to That Place”

For this column expanding from Didion’s canonical “Goodbye to All That,” we invite you to pen a narrative farewell to a place that has held significance in your life. It could be a breakup letter to your apartment (like Nancy Franklin's "How Did I Get Here?"), a revisit of a bygone version of your hometown (think “The Hard Crowd” by Rachel Kushner), an au revoir to that layover city you saw too briefly and left too fast, but where your life might have taken a different turn. We ask only that the essay be about your personal relationship to a place no longer yours.

Word count: 1000-2500.

"Witching Hour"

In this new series, we want to feature lyrical portraits of places at a distinct time of day or night. In contrast to the whirlwind nature of 36-hour travel, we want to indulge in a scene locked in the grasp of one specific time and place. Jean Valentine writes about 3 am in New York and Georges Perec writes about 10:30 in Paris. What’s the portrait of a time and place that bewitches you? To get started, use this sentence construction: “X a.m./p.m. in Y place is ____,” and write from there.

Word count: 300–800.

Payment

We consider full drafts only, and pay $500 per essay ($100 for “Witching Hour”).

More information and submission links here. 

Call for Submissions: INDIGO

OPEN CALL: We are accepting work for our inaugural issue from July 1st to September 30th. Send us your work!

INDIGO is a newly established, independent literary journal. We are looking for non-fiction, fiction, poetry, and other text-focused experiences. Experimental, hybrid, cross-genre and medium-bending submissions are greatly encouraged.

We're looking for projects that occupy in-between spaces, hovering in the moments 'before.' Show us the jagged pink edge of twilight just before moon rise, when the sky goes from blue to indigo-black. Take us off the beaten trail. We want to see things through new eyes, hear things through new ears. Make us think. Make us feel. Now is your moment; show us a new world.

Some Suggestions

We encourage the submitter to review these guidelines. We also encourage you to ignore them, if you feel your work is good enough to get away with it.There’s no word limit for fiction or creative non-fiction, but generally we find pieces below 3k land well with readers.

• Anchor your cnf essays in your own experiences. We want personal narratives with a fierce, tangible relationship to their subjects.

• Fiction submissions should lean into the surreal, the uncanny, the absurd, and the deeply introspective. Pieces with a strong sense of place have the best chance of selection.

• Submit up to 3 poems. We love stark imagery and tactile, emotional experiences on the edge of the unsaid.

• Color outside the lines. If your work fits a quiet, twilight environment, we want to see it, no matter how weird it gets.

How to Submit

We do not charge for submissions.

Simultaneous submissions are encouraged. Please notify us as soon as possible if your work has been accepted elsewhere. We do not accept previously published material for consideration.

Submitting your work denotes your understanding that, upon acceptance, INDIGO acquires First North American Serial Rights and non-exclusive electronic archival rights to host your piece on our site. All rights immediately revert back to the author upon publication.

Submit your work here. 

Writing Competition: The Willie Morris Awards for Southern Writing

The Willie Morris Awards for Southern Writing celebrate works in three genres—fiction, nonfiction and poetry. A national panel of judges reviews hundreds of nominated books and poems looking for works that ask readers to engage with the complexities of the U.S. South.

Submissions will be accepted July 1, 2026 - September 30, 2026.

Fiction and nonfiction winners receive a cash prize of $12,000. The winner of the poetry category receives $3,000.

Winners also receive an expenses-paid trip to Oxford, Miss., where we celebrate the winning writers as part of the Oxford Conference for the Book (March 31, 2027 - April 2, 2027). During their trip, winners have the chance to read from their work during the conference and meet and learn from other writers. They also enjoy an intimate celebration dinner with judges and other special guests at one of the town’s famed restaurants or a memorable location like Faulkner’s Rowan Oak, the University of Mississippi Museum or the Lyceum.

Eligibility

Books must be published during the submission year (2026) and cannot be self-published. Advanced reader copies or proofs for books that will be published in October, November or December of 2026 are eligible.

You can get a sense of the quality and content of winning books by reading the previous winners listed on our website.

Please note that current University of Mississippi students and employees are not eligible for any of the Willie Morris Awards for Southern Writing.

More information and submission portals here. 

Fellowship: Cave Canem Fellowship

About the Cave Canem Fellowship

Deadline: Oct. 6, 2026  

Cave Canem supports the work of Black poets through a suite of core programs, namely an annual retreat consisting of intensive poetry workshops and readings, hosted at the University of Pittsburgh-Greensburg.

The retreat offers an unparalleled opportunity for Cave Canem Fellows to study with esteemed faculty and to join an expansive community of peers. Fellows write from a range of poetic traditions: blues; confessional; experimental; dramatic; lyric; narrative; performance; political; etc.

Due to our generous community of institutional funders and individual donors, there is no submission fee for the Fellowship application, and the retreat is free to all Fellows.

Application Guidelines

Applicants must submit a Cover Letter and a writing sample via Submittable. Attachments that do not follow these guidelines will be disqualified: 

• A PDF of six (6) pages of poems, written in English

• The poet's name should not be included on any page of the poetry attachment.

• Page breaks should be used to separate poems. Each poem should start on a new page and its title formatted in bold.

• The document should be paginated. Place page numbers in the footers of each page (Example: Page 2 of 6)

• Legible, 12-point font, serif should be used.

• One application per candidate.

For any questions on formatting or other queries, please reach out to our Programs team at:

programs@ccpoets.org

Considerations & Exclusions

Applicants must confirm that they will be 21 years or older at the time of the 2027 Cave Canem Retreat, which will take place June 6-13, 2027.

The Cave Canem Fellowship includes:

• Invitation to the Annual Retreat

• Access to Fellows & Faculty Fund

• Access to exclusive scholarships for select writing residences

• Archival training

• Inclusion in public programming (readings, panels, multi-genre collaborations, etc.)

• Subscription to a bimonthly Cave Canem resource containing community news and exclusive offers

Submit your application here. 

Call for Submissions: Shadow Falls Review

We are open for submissions August 20-January 20. Multiple submissions are acceptable, but please only submit once per genre per submission period (except for visual art).

• We do not accept previously published work. Simultaneous submissions are acceptable so long as you notify us and withdraw your piece if it is accepted elsewhere.

• Submissions are accepted only through Subfolio. Submissions sent via mail or email will be discarded. 

• Please include your name, email address, and a word count at the top of the first page. Please use page numbers, and include a short cover letter with a third-person bio (no more than 150 words).

• All writing submission files should be either DOCX or PDF.

  Shadow Falls Review is committed to uplifting the work of underrepresented voices: writers of color, Indigenous writers, LGBTQ+ writers, and writers with disabilities are all encouraged to submit.

  Your submissions will be reviewed with sensitivity and care by graduate students in the Creative Writing and Publishing program at the University of St. Thomas. We're looking for work that demonstrates intentionality, revision, and voice. We are accepting pieces which invoke emotions within the reader, leaving them with a lasting impression even after their eyes leave the page. 

  Shadow Falls Review does not accept any piece in which LLMs, image generation, or any other form of generative AI were used at any point in the creative process.

  Contributors are given two copies of the issue in which their work appears. SFR will also promote and market their work as much as possible.

  Shadow Falls Review acquires First North American Serial Rights. Rights revert to the author upon publication in our printed journal, but we ask that we are acknowledged should the piece be published elsewhere. 

  Submissions from current St. Thomas students or from alumni of the last five years are ineligible. We ask all contributors to wait at least two years before submitting again. 

  Response times vary, but if you have not heard from us by April 1 feel free to reach out at:

  editors@shadowfallsreview.com

  Submit your work here.

Call for Submissions on Theme of "After": Liminal Lit

 

Liminal Lit: for voices that exist between cultures, languages, and belonging. 

Theme: After

After explores what remains, what changes, and what begins following moments that shape us. We invite poetry, short fiction, and creative nonfiction that interprets this theme in original and compelling ways.

We encourage broad interpretation, whether your work reflects on memory, transformation, grief, joy, migration, family, identity, love, language, resilience, or entirely unexpected places the theme may lead.

Contributor Payment
Every published contributor receives a $100 honorarium.

Poetry | Short Fiction | Creative Nonfiction

Deadline: September 15th, 2026

Submit to Issue II

Submissions are free. If you encounter any issues with the submission form, please email:

liminallit@gmail.com

Call for Submissions from Asian American Teen Writers: Temple Literary Magazine

 

Temple Lit Mag values the voices of every Asian American writer who has a story to tell. Submission is free; however, we are unable to pay our writers at this time.

Temple Lit Mag accepts submissions on a rolling basis. Issues are published four times a year, once per season.

Temple Lit Mag accepts works that tells a story about emotionally resonating Asian American experiences. All new submissions will be considered for Issue #04.

You must be Asian American and aged 13 to 19 years old to submit. Temple Literary Magazine is a magazine for Asian American youth writers only. If you have Asian heritage and raised in Asia and moved to the United States, or you were raised in the United States and moved to Asia, you are also eligible to submit. If you are mixed heritage with two or more races including Asian, (e.g., Black and Asian, White and Asian, Latino/Latina and Asian, etc.) you are also eligible to submit.

Simultaneous submissions are allowed and encouraged. You can submit any work to other literary magazines; however, unpublished work is preferred. If your work has been published anywhere else, please indicate so in the submission form. You may also enter submissions to multiple categories.
Use of generative AI is prohibited. We do not tolerate any hate speech, discrimination, racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and other forms of bigotry. Submissions promoting hate speech will be rejected and writers will be blacklisted from future submissions.

We will not be accepting submissions with explicit sexual content or graphic, excessive violence. This is a literary magazine targeted towards youth, and we hope to create a safe and inclusive space for all writers and readers.

Text in foreign language is allowed and encouraged, but please put English translations of them in the footnotes.

Response time is an average of 2-3 weeks, but can be upwards of 3-4 weeks. If you would like to receive feedback from our staff, please indicate so on the Google Form submission.

Submissions must be sent in a pdf, docx or Word file.

All rights remain with the author upon publication. Click here to view our publishing contract.

More information and submission form here. 

Call for Submissions: Ginosko

 

Accepting short fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, social justice, literary insights.

Length flexible, accept excerpts.

Publishing as semiannual litzine. Check downloadable issues on website for tone & style, http://GinoskoLiteraryJournal.com/

Submit by Submittable: http://ginosko.submittable.com/submit/ 

Ginosko

A Greek word meaning to perceive, understand, realize, come to know; knowledge that has an inception, a progress, an attainment. The recognition of truth from experience. 

Payment: $40-70.

Open year round.

Publishing as a semiannual litzine. Check downloadable issues on website for tone & style.