Writing Competition: Willow Springs Press Spokane Prize in Short Fiction

 

 Entry Fee: $20.00**

**Discounted submission fee ($10 off) through May 15th, 2026.

Deadline: Nov. 2, 2026 

The Spokane Prize for Short Fiction is accepting submissions of short-story collections of at least three (3) pieces and a minimum of 100 pages. Collections may include no more than one novella when included with at least three short-story length pieces.

All authors, regardless of publication history, are eligible.

Current Eastern Washington University Creative Writing MFA students and alumni who have graduated within the past five years from Eastern Washington University's Creative Writing MFA are not allowed to submit.

The prize for the winning manuscript is $1,500 and publication by Willow Springs Books. The press will retain reprint, film, electronic, anthology, translation, foreign publication, and sight and sound rights.

Guidelines:

• Submissions must be original, book-length fiction manuscripts written in English. There is no maximum page count. Translations are not accepted.

• One manuscript per submission.

• Submissions will only be accepted electronically, via Submittable.

• Simultaneous submissions are allowed. If you have submitted your manuscript elsewhere, we request that you notify us immediately if you have an offer for publication.

• Manuscripts MUST CONTAIN page numbers and a table of contents.

• Please format your manuscript in 1.5 or double-spaced line spacing. Any standard font (Arial, Times New Roman, etc.) is acceptable. Please keep the font size between 12 and 14.

• Individual stories may have been previously published in journals, chapbooks, anthologies, or limited-edition volumes, but please note which pieces and where they have been published on an acknowledgments page. The collection as a whole must be previously unpublished.

• Authors do not need to be Spokane residents to submit. :)

Note: While we're open to submissions across many genres, the manuscripts that stand out to us are polished and exhibit the author's literary skill. We like stories with exciting and thought-provoking ideas, characters that feel real, and a confident authorial voice. We don't shy away from pieces that break boundaries, and we encourage authors to submit even if their work defies traditional literary conventions.

Submit here. 

Willow Springs Books reserves the right to reject any manuscript.

Call for Submissions: The Opiate

 

Founded in 2015, The Opiate is a quarterly literary magazine dedicated to publishing envelope-pushing work. We accept both print and online submissions. Flash fiction is preferred for online. Often, for poetry, we choose one piece for print and one for online. We accept criticism/essays for publication as well. There is no specific theme or criteria required in terms of the nature of the content, so long as it “moves” us, if you will. 

*For those submitting fiction, it is strongly recommended that you read our stance on “said” here.

The Opiate is seeking submissions for its Summer, Vol. 46 issue. Fiction, poetry, excerpts of novels/plays, criticism, non-fiction and creative non-fiction accepted. Please limit fiction/prose submissions to under 15,000 words (and ABOVE 1,500 words) and, if inclined, provide a brief summary of the content.

Categories: 

• Fiction/Nonfiction/Poetry

• Translations: Permitted.

• File types: .doc, .docx, .pages

• Number of Pieces: Up to 5 pieces per submission.

• Separate Files: Each piece must be submitted in a separate file.

• Anonymous submissions are not required.

• Simultaneous submissions are allowed.

• Reprints are allowed. (Please ask that the new publisher makes mention the piece was originally published in The Opiate)

• Multiple entries are not allowed.

• AI-assisted works are not allowed.

Submit your work here. 

Call for Submissions: foofaraw

 

General Guidelines

• Word Limit: Main Digital Zine 250-7500

• The Anthology 500-5000

• Novelette Guidelines 7500-15000

• Op-eds 750-1250

Pay Rate:

Fiction: $0.02 per word; up to $50
Poetry: $1 per line; up to $25
Op-ed/Satire/Cartoon: $15.00 

Language: English

Rights:

We request first serial rights and non-exclusive, indefinite archival rights. Any rights not used by the publisher within twelve months will return to the author.

Authors always own their writing and can take it and do whatever they'd like with it. We just get to publish it and share it with the world.

Requirements:

• We do not accept multiple submissions from a single person at a time (within a single submission type)

• We do not accept work created or assisted by AI.

What are we looking for

Fiction
Comics
Humor/Satire
Poetry
Op-eds
and anything else that fits the vibe

Fiction

The general areas/genres of interest for fiction in foofaraw are:

• Magical Realism

• Speculative Fiction

• Sci-Fi

• Fantasy

• Literary

• LGBTQIA+

• Horror

• Mystery

• Noir

• Odd / Surreal / Absurdist / Experimental

Mainstream authors we enjoy include: Robin Sloan, Cory Doctorow, Haruki Murakami, Kurt Vonnegut, Tamsyn Muir, Ray Nayler, Martha Wells, Corey J. White, and fiction from McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, Uncanny Magazine, The New Yorker, Flash Fiction Online, GigaNotoSaurus, Zoetrope: All-Story, Clarkesworld, Lightspeed, and The Paris Review.

Serialized works are welcome.

Magazine inspirations include Believer, The New Yorker, NY and London Review of Books, Real Review, Delayed Gratification, Cereal, New York, Monocle, The Modernist, and The Economist.

Recurring column ideas are welcome.

More information and submission portal here. 

Call for Submissions to Anthology: The Truth We Carry: An Anthology of Survivor Voices

The Truth We Carry: An Anthology of Survivor Voices is published once a year, with its debut issue forthcoming in March 2027. The anthology is focused on publishing creative work from survivors of domestic abuse and sex trafficking. While survivorship and/or lived experience with abuse or exploitation is a prerequisite to being published with The Truth We Carry, and we do expect submissions to deal with some aspect of being a survivor, your submission does not have to be autobiographical, and it can be fiction. The consistent element we look for an “aha!” moment about the survivor experience.

Philosophy:

The Truth We Carry, and the larger Survivor Storytellers Project at Safe Voices, are inspired by the belief that stories can change (and save) lives and the desire to create safe, nonjudgmental, and non-coercive opportunities for survivors to engage in storytelling.

Open Submission Period:

Submissions are accepted from late April through June 30 or until a cap of 300 submissions is reached, whichever comes first.

The basic guidelines for submissions are:

• The Truth We Carry publishes works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Works of flash and micro lengths are welcome.

• We prefer work that is under 3,000 words in length.

• We will consider previously published work as long as 12 months or more has passed since publication.

• Simultaneous submissions are welcome. Please withdraw your submission if it’s published elsewhere.

• Please only submit one piece for consideration at a time.

• Do not send us anything that was created with AI. We reserve the right to rescind acceptances from any work found to be AI-generated.

• Please wait six weeks after submissions close before you inquire about your piece.

• Formatting requirements: Please submit .doc or .pdf files in 12-point easy-to-read (Times New Roman, Helvetica, or similar) font, double spaced.

• Safe Voices staff and volunteers who are working on the current issue of The Truth We Carry are ineligible to submit work. Those not involved with the current issue are welcome to submit work!

• There is no submission/reading fee to submit work.

• Please note: We aim for ~75% of published work to be from Maine survivors.

Payment:

Authors selected for publication will receive payment of $100 and a copy of the anthology.

Rights:

The Truth We Carry purchases First Serial Rights for submissions, while copyright remains with the author. Upon publication, rights revert to the author, though the journal retains the non-exclusive right to reprint the work online or in print with the author’s consent. Authors may reprint work elsewhere afterward, provided they credit The Truth We Carry with first publication.

Submit your work here.

Call for Submissions on Theme of "Starving the Beast: Avoid Evil/Stay Online": Moocat

25th Anniversary Issue: Starving the Beast

On August 30, 2026, moocat.net will relaunch to mark 25 years of independent digital publishing. Submissions are now open for the inaugural issue centered on the theme: Starving the Beast: Avoid Evil/Stay Online.

Essays and narratives exploring the tension between the need to remain connected to the world online and the desire to stop “feeding the beast” of extractive social media and tech giants.

Datum Description
Deadline: June 30, 2026
Payment: $10 per piece + tip jar divvy
Tip Jar Divvy: 70% of what’s left after recoup of author payouts is split among contributors, up to $100 per author!

Inquiries: For anything other than submissions

Travel, Arts, and Letters

Continuing a 25-year tradition of “gentle moos,” I am looking for:

Essays: Personal essays that take the reader on a gentle little mind-ride

Travelogs: Dispatches from writers who travel and travellers who write 

Poetry: Original poetry 

Art: Visual art, including video 

Comedy: Satiric prose, humorous video, comic art, and, especially, Radio Comedy!

More information and submission links here. 

Call for Submissions: Salt Bloom Literary Journal

Salt Bloom Literary Journal invites submissions of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for our annual print journal. We seek the work of both established and emerging writers.  

Our submission period is open from March 1 until May 30 and we accept work via Duotrope. We welcome (and appreciate) your best work and look forward to reading it!

Thank you for considering Salt Bloom! Below are the submissions guidelines:

• All submissions must include a brief cover letter that does not identify the writer by name. Format submissions as Either .doc or .docx, Use Times New Roman 12-point font, One-inch margins, Double-spaced (single-space is fine for poetry), and Include page numbers.

• Prose submissions, please submit no more than 3500 words. Prose includes flash, hybrid works, micro fiction and memoir, short plays, and play excerpts

• Poetry submissions, please submit up to 3 poems, up to 5 pages total, in one document, each poem to begin on a new page.

• You may submit in more than one genre, but only one submission per genre.

• Simultaneous submissions are permitted, but please notify us immediately if your work is accepted for publication elsewhere, and withdraw your submission.

• We will notify you of your submission status. Response time is anywhere from 3 to 5 months.

• If published, the writer will receive one complimentary issue of Salt Bloom.

Submit your work here.

Call for Submissions: Roxnane Gay's The Audacity

THE AUDACITY, my newsletter, features an emerging writer twice a month. I define emerging writer as someone with fewer than three article/essay/short story publications and no published books or book contracts.

Please submit your best nonfiction and nonfiction only. I am interested in literary essays and memoir. Please submit only one essay at a time. Essays should be between 1500 and 4000 words. We may take up to eight weeks to respond but we will respond to all submissions.

All essays are paid a flat fee of $1000.

Submissions will only be accepted at https://gay.submittable.com/

I am interested in thoughtful essays, beautiful, intelligent writing, deep explorations, timelessness, and challenging conventional thinking without being cheap and lazy. I am interested in provocative work but we are not interested in senseless provocation. You don't have to cannibalize yourself to tell a compelling story. The essays in Unruly Bodies or that I have preciously published in The Audacity might give you a sense of what I like but I am always open to being surprised. I am not looking to publish anew what I've already published.

Again, I am only interested in nonfiction, which is to say no poetry, fiction, or anything else that is not nonfiction. I cannot stress this enough. I am only interested in nonfiction for the Emerging Writer Series.