Call for Submissions: Northwest Review

Thank you for your interest in the Northwest Review. We look forward to reading your work.

Founded at the University of Oregon in 1957, the Northwest Review publishes fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, flash fiction/nonfiction, translations, and art. Located in Eugene, Oregon, the journal will always welcome work related to the Pacific Northwest, but we are a national magazine, open to writers beyond borders and limits. We love innovation in form and style, but prize literary quality above all. Surprise us, transport us, immerse us, entertain us, move us—give us your best.

We are open to both new and established writers. We have published Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winners, but we also love nothing more than discovering new voices, particularly those from marginalized backgrounds.

Authors receive $25 per poem and up to $75 per short story/essay. Please allow six months before querying. Due to the volume of submissions, we may not be able to respond to individual queries.

For poetry, please send one to four poems at a time (and no more than 10 pages). Short fiction and creative nonfiction should range between 1,000 and 9,000 words. We also accept flash fiction and flash nonfiction of up to 1,000 words (please submit no more than three per submission).

We accept simultaneous submissions but please let us know ASAP if your work is accepted elsewhere. We only accept writing that has not been previously published. Do not resubmit work even if it’s been revised, unless a revision is requested by the editors. We do not publish current University of Oregon students.

Please submit your work via Submittable. The small submission fee we charge helps keep the lights on and ensures we can publish writers at all stages of their careers.

Our professional genre editors select all NWR content but work in close collaboration with both undergraduate and graduate student editors to produce each issue. NWR provides UO students with opportunities to gain valuable experience in literary editing and production. We also employ a team of volunteer editors, who help us find the best work possible. Most of the work we publish is found through the slush pile. Although we are a digital publication, we hope to eventually expand to publishing print anthologies and books of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction.

We believe that literary magazines build community. If you want to help us build our community, become a supporter here. 

Deadline: Feb. 16, 2026

Submit your work here. 

Call for Submissions on Theme of "Moral Injury": Unbroken Journal

We seek prose poems. We do not publish lined poetry. Our strong preference is for a single block of text (one paragraph/stanza), maybe two, per piece. More than that, we start arguing about whether it’s a prose poem! Don’t make us argue. Some of our editors are already dangerous.

Both traditional and innovative works are welcome. We want dark and disquieting, we want fanciful and funny, we want surreal and surprising. We want stunning and unusual imagery and language that compels.

To get some idea of the kind of content we like, check out current and past issues.

The editors of Unbroken seek prose poems that transcend the boundaries of conventional storytelling. Of course, we believe that submissions should be coherent and intelligible, but also that coherence can be achieved through style, tone, imagery, and even transgressive methods. Linear narratives with predictable situations and language will be discounted. We want prose that smolders in the ditch. We want it to cry. Maybe laugh at inappropriate times. We want it to knock on our doors in the middle of the night and demand to be let in, fed, given black coffee, and assured that life isn’t completely insane. We want prose poems that have been fired from multiple jobs and have gaps in their resumes that cause them to perspire in interviews. Poems that listened to “Venus in Furs” daily for the entire year of 1993. We want poems that are the perfect carrot cake at your aunt’s house. We want poems that need extensive dental work because of unfortunate incidents outside bars in Phoenix or Indianapolis or Mobile. Finally, we want submission guidelines that don’t read like Dale Wisely got his hands on them.

We publish quarterly online. We have a reading period of six weeks for each issue.

Feb 1-Mar 15 for our April issue 

Submit your work here. 

Call for Submissions on Theme of "Surprise": South 85 Journal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

South 85 Journal will be open to general submissions January 24 ~ March 13 for its Spring/Summer issue through Submittable: South 85 Submissions Page. Additional reading periods will be announced for 2026.

ISSUE: SURPRISE US | UNTHEMED 

• Surprise: an unexpected or astonishing event, fact, or thing

• Surprise: the feeling caused by something unexpected or unusual

• What you hope will happen, what you dread will happen, what happened

• A surprise return, surprise departure, surprise attack; you were caught by surprise; it came as no surprise; that element of surprise

• Or truly surprise us: your piece has nothing at all to do with surprise! (We mean it…that’s legit.)

• Surprise us with your wit, your wisdom, your wild, your restraint; surprise us with form, image, metaphor; your character said/did/thought what?!; show us anew that thing we’ve seen 1000 times, or show us that thing we never knew we’d want to see.

• The possibilities are endless, and we want this theme that’s unthemed to feel open to countless interpretation, introspection, and examination. As always, we’re eager to read what you come up with.

Submission fee = $3

• We will publish novel excerpts, provided they can stand on their own. We do not publish genre fiction or children’s stories. We encourage you to read archives of South 85 Journal and acquaint yourself with the material we publish before submitting your work. We encourage the use of a content warning if necessary, in consideration of our manuscript readers.

• Type should be no smaller than 12-pt. font. Please use a standard font such as Times New Roman or Arial, and refrain from script or “flowery” lettering.

• All work will be considered for our Editor’s Choice Award of $100, which be given to ONE piece in the issue.

• Submissions should be saved in Word or Rich Text format.

• Number pages consecutively, double space, and use margins of at least one inch.

• Place your name, email address, and word count in an upper corner of the first page.

• We do not solicit work; each published piece comes to us through Submittable. 

More information here. 

Call for Submissions on Theme of "Spring": Altar Literary Magazine

We’re not a typical literary magazine, we’re your guide for the season. Yes you’ll find poems and beautiful stories but there’s also reviews, recipes, and rituals. We want to provide a space for creatives and help you navigate the energy of the season whether it’s through prose or some kitchen magic, we’re here.
What We Are Looking For

We want your offerings. A flower, a candle, a memory. Altar is a space for your mythic and elemental stories. We want poetry that isn’t afraid of the darkness and revels in the light. That understands tension and feels like an ancient whisper from the forest floor. Stories and essays that transport us to other realms. Art that could live in a grimoire. Reviews that introduce us to new perspectives. Recipes and spells that nourish and conjure.

All things spiritual, nature-based, and visceral can find a home at our altar.
Issue One: Spirals and Stars

Submissions Open: January 23rd

Submissions Close: March 1st

Publication: April 2026

Our inaugural issue explores Spring and all that comes with it. Buds breaking through willow trees. Fresh blooms scenting the air. The return of the songbirds and rabbits. Ferns unraveling on the forest floor. Fertility magic, fae, gardens. New beginnings.

While the season is filled with new life and bright energy, there’s also abandoned nests, a struggle to break free from the cold, the chance of getting whisked away by the fae and never being seen again.

Give us your spring offerings.

Free! No charge for submissions. You may either submit via Duosuma (pending launch) or email us directly! All those selected for publication will receive a $5 payment, we hope to increase this in the future but for now we are just happy we are able to acknowledge your work through some form of payment.

Submit your work here. 

Call for Submission to Anthology on "Vampires": Flame Tree Publishing

 

Flame Tree Publishing 

Vampires

A New Collection of Spine-tingling Short Stories of Vampirism in All Its Forms

 

Vampire-like creatures appear in almost every culture in some form: from ancient civilisations such as the Romans, Greeks, Hebrew and Mesopotamia, to the walking, blood-drinking corpses of mediaeval Europe and the Transylvanian tale of Vlad the Impaler, which of course gave rise to Bram Stoker’s Dracula. This anthology will include tales that reflect both these older legends and also the current view of modern-day vampires – as evoked in films such as Sinners and 30 Days of Night, as well as in literature such as Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot, the American Vampire comic series, George R.R. Martin’s Fevre Dream and Anne Rice’s Interview With a Vampire just to name a few. A gripping new anthology from the superlative purveyors of short stories, Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane. This is your chance to be one of the few selected from open submissions to join the selection commissioned and curated by Marie and Paul.

 

Submit to:

 

anthologies@flametreepublishing.com

• Terms: Multiple submissions are fine but must be in separate emails.

• Simultaneous submissions are fine but you must have the right to license your story in an anthology.

• Stories using AI-generated text will not be accepted.

• Please only submit unpublished/original/new stories for consideration. Reprints will not be accepted for consideration.

• For accepted stories we pay Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) rates of 8 cents/6 pence per word.

• We will aim to read each story and confirm its status within 4 months of the submission deadline.

• Payment for the chosen stories will be made within 30 days of the final advertised publication date (see our website flametreepublishing.com for details), although some may be paid earlier than that.

• Submission does not imply the right to publication. Each story will be read and assessed by the selection panel.

Important Notice about Submissions and Guidelines

We're always looking for better ways of working so we've tweaked our submission process to allow us to read more stories, and spend more time assessing the balance of our books.

• Submissions must use the dedicated email address.

• The subject line of the email must be the story title.

• The body of the email should state which anthology your story is being submitted to.

• The file with the story must be attached to the email (.docx, .doc or .rtf format).

• The name of the file must match the name in the subject line.

• If submitting more than one story, please submit one story per email.

Other useful tips for a more successful submission:

• The file name of the submission must be the story name only.

• Please just use spaces between words in the title (not _ or - ).

• If the story name starts with A or The, please use it at the beginning of the file name.

• Story length is most likely to be successful at 2000–4000 words, but we will still read stories slightly outside this range.

• If submitting a story that has recently been submitted to us for consideration to another anthology, please state this in the submission email.

Deadline for submissions is 15th February 2026

Call for Submissions on Theme of "Awakening": Prairie Schooner

The Spring 2027 issue will mark the 100th anniversary of the first issue of Prairie Schooner, so we are seeking poems, short stories, and essays on the theme of Awakening. Awakening, awareness, revival, rebirth. Our centenary coincides with overwhelming challenges to our freedoms, our cultures, our progress, our expression, and the next 100 years will be informed by the wisdom and invention of writers and thinkers, by strong voices, creative vision. We seek inspiring work that will carry us forward or reflect on the past, work that will pose questions or suggest answers. We want work that will invigorate with new understanding or break our hearts with it—all with insight and perspective, whether lyric or bold, quiet or insistent.

Submission window: February 1 – February 15 (or until submission caps are reached)

No submission fee. Please limit to one submission per genre. If the category is no longer available after February 1, we have met our submission cap and are closed to that genre. (Submit early!)

Submissions will be accepted via Submittable starting February 1; more guidelines can be found there and on our website.

Artists' Residency on Themes of "Climate Change, Climate Justice, and Environment": Foundation House Artist Residency

Foundation House Artist Residency Program Application

Please note that, due to the limited time period between the close of applications and the start of the residency session, we are no longer able to accept applicants from countries that would require obtaining a visa for travel.

Application is now open for our Spring 2026 Climate-Themed session!

Spring Session Dates: April 17th - April 26th, 2026

Foundation House, located in backcountry Greenwich, CT, will open its doors for 10 days to six residents, allowing residents the time and space for concentrated creation in beautiful and inspiring surroundings. Foundation House’s mission as a nonprofit center for learning is to focus on mental health, environmental, and social justice issues. To that end, we host residencies, workshops, lectures, and other meaningful gatherings on these topics.

At Foundation House, we believe that conversations about these critical topics are not complete without the input of creatives, and it is our privilege to be able to offer space for artists of all disciplines to work and therefore be a part of those conversations.

Please note: No applicants focusing on any area other than relating to climate, climate justice and environmental issues will be considered for this residency.

Each resident will be given a stipend, a private bedroom, and private or semi-private bathroom, all meals plus full kitchen access, and access to a studio space, a wide variety of common areas, and 75 acres of land to explore and enjoy. Residents will eat dinner together every evening to ensure that they are building relationships and familiarizing themselves with each other's work, facilitating feedback and collaboration. Our residency is a working residency. Accepted residents are expected to carry through with their proposed projects and create work that is aligned with Foundation House's mission and the themes of the session.

Foundation House is committed to diversity and inclusion, and we prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind.​​

The Spring 2026 application will close on March 9th, 2026, at 11:59 PM EST. 

Accepted applicants will hear back from us in around two to three weeks. Applicants will hear back from us either way, so if you have not heard from us yet it only means we have not finished reviewing.

***We highly recommend writing your application in a separate document and pasting your answers into the form so as not to lose any work should there be any application issues.
Once you submit, please check your spam folder for the email confirmation before submitting a duplicate application.***

Thank you for your interest in Foundation House, and we look forward to reviewing your application!

Submit your application here. 

Writing Residency: Rabbit Island Residency

The Rabbit Island Residency provides financial support, time, and pristine natural spaces to challenge creative practices in a wilderness environment. Artists live and work on the island for 2-4 weeks, engaging directly with the landscape, responding to notions of conservation, ecology, and sustainability via their research and cultural works. The residency reflects on the American continent’s four hundred year history of settlement and division of land and stems from the idea that in a developed society intelligent organization of wild spaces is one of the most civilized things we can pursue.

The island itself, an unsettled and undivided space, enables artists to present commentary on these ideas, creating interpretations and solutions to issues of global importance–climate change, loss of natural habitat, the value of pristine watersheds, the environmental implications of entrepreneurship, and so forth. Modern understanding of our natural reality, as well as our cause-and-effect relationship to it, dictates a need for principles worthy of our time. If artists do not create the work that defines this new space, who will? Art is perhaps the purest form of creation and serves fittingly as a symbol for all human constructions.

To receive information about future opportunities and awards please follow us on social media (Instagram, Facebook) or subscribe to the mailing list.

The deadline for applications is February 22, 2026, 11:59 PM EST. 

2-4 weeks plus $4000 stipend

• Download and review the Residency Application Guide.

• Review the Frequently Asked Questions. Please prepare the following application documents: Artist Statement (1,200 character limit)

• Provide a brief artist statement describing your practice. For group proposals, provide a collective artist statement describing your collaborative practice.

• Proposal (2,000 character limit)

• Provide a proposal or outline of the work that you would like to pursue on Rabbit Island. This section should be used to demonstrate the applicant's understanding of the context-specific nature of the Rabbit Island Residency Program. More information describing this can be reviewed in our Residency Application Guide. Our residency exists to engender creativity in the context of contemporary environmental issues. PLEASE NOTE: Historically we have received many applications that could be referred to as "Time and Space Applications". In these, artists propose working on ideas unrelated to contemporary environmental thought and simply seek time and space in the island wilderness to complete work. These type of applications are unlikely to be awarded residencies. For further guidance we recommend careful review of our Residency Application Guide and Frequently Asked Questions.

Work Samples
Submit up to 5 work samples. The individual filesize limit is 8 MB. Please follow a file naming format that includes work sample number, name(s), title (optional) and date (optional), in that order. Not following the below file naming format may result in your work samples not being seen.

NAME YOUR FILES— 01-Firstname-Lastname-Artwork-Title-Year.jpg
02-Firstname-Lastname-Artwork-Title-Year.jpg
03-Firstname-Lastname-Artwork-Title-Year.jpg
04-Firstname-Lastname-Artwork-Title-Year.jpg
05-Firstname-Lastname-Artwork-Title-Year.jpg

REQUIREMENTS— 

• Visual (still image): JPG format preferred, please limit to 5 MB or smaller in file size.

• Writing: PDF format. Limit the TOTAL number of submitted pages to 5 (i.e. 1 page per work sample).

• Audio: MP3 file, up to 3 minutes in length per work sample.

• Film, moving image, performance: PDF format containing URL to clip/excerpt 3 minutes in length or shorter per work sample. Vimeo, YouTube, or similar platforms work the best. Make sure to include password information if the link is password protected.

PLEASE NOTE: With visual submissions, optional additional context (materials, exhibition, etc.) can be included in the image file, or by creating a one-page PDF containing the image and brief text. Do not submit multi-page PDFs for visual submissions. If required by the Selection Committee during the review process, applicants may be contacted to provide additional context about their work samples. 

More information and application portal here.

Call for Submissions to Anthology: We Hold These Truths to Be Self-Evident

We Hold These Truths to Be Self-Evident Anthology

In times of uncertainty, what truths do you hold closely?

Women Writing for (a) Change is calling for submissions for our 2026 community anthology: We Hold These Truths to Be Self-Evident, a collection of pieces from diverse writers and poets speaking to their truths in the stark light of the modern world.

We're looking for material that reaches deep, challenges, and bleeds. What truth hurts you before it heals? What truth raises up not just your voice, but the voices of others? What truth do you have now that you wish you had before? What truth sets you free?

Who can Submit:

We invite submissions from all communities and genders to engage with our theme. We especially encourage writers from historically marginalized communities and among underrepresented voices, such as Appalachian, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, elders, and people living with disability, to submit their work.

What to Submit:

We are seeking submissions of poetry, short fiction, creative non-fiction, or personal essays relating to the title theme of the anthology. We do not accept previously published submissions. Fiction, creative non-fiction, and essays should be between 500-1,250 words. Poetry should not exceed three double-spaced pages.

A writer may submit only once, but may include multiple pieces in their submission. Writers can submit pieces in multiple genres.

When to Submit:

We will accept submissions between December 13th, 2025 – February 16th, 2026. After our jury of readers makes our selections, writers will be informed of their acceptance into the anthology by April 15th, 2026.

How to Submit:
A single document containing your submissions must be submitted in .doc, .docx, .rtf, or .pdf format.

Every submission may include brief biographical information about the writer, to be included at the conclusion of their piece.

Submit Your Writing Here! 

Writing and Artist's Residency: The Edwin Way Teale Artists in Residence Program

2026 Trail Wood Artist-In-Residence Program

Applications accepted until March 1, 2026

The Edwin Way Teale Artists in Residence Program was started at Trail Wood in 2012. The Connecticut Audubon Society invites writers and visual artists to spend a week of creative solitude in residence in the historic home of Pulitzer-prize-winning naturalist writer and photographer Edwin Way Teale and his wife and collaborator Nellie Donovan Teale.

While in residence, artists are encouraged to practice their craft in a way that is inspired both by the site’s natural beauty and its important role in American natural history writing. Enhancing the experience, visiting artists are provided with access to Edwin’s writing study in the main house which is preserved as it was at the time of his death in 1980 and to his rustic writing cabin.

What kind of creativity does Trail Wood inspire? Check out the work in Trail Wood Reflections, a commemorative publication available in pdf and in paperback at the Center at Pomfret.

Residencies are offered for six weeks in July and August to three writers and three visual artists. Applications are accepted from early January until March 1 for the upcoming summer’s residencies. Finalists are chosen through a juried process. All applicants are notified by the mid-April.

There is a $25.00 application fee. If chosen, accepted applicants are asked to pay a $100.00 donation to defray costs of running the property, the Teale’s historic 1806 farmhouse.

Application form and more information here. 

Call for Submissions on Theme of "A Wish": The Shallot

We are currently open for submissions from January 19-March 2 2025.

WINTER/SPRING 2025

Theme: A Wish

2026. Can you believe it? A quarter of the way into the 21st century and it is going a bit differently than we pictured. We'd like to see a world at peace, working together within our counties, states, provinces, countries towards a future where both we and the planet can thrive together.

Let's make a wish together using art. What would you wish for? Through art perhaps we can manifest it - or move closer in the direction to it. So much intention goes into creative practice.

In visual art - line after line of painstaking brushstrokes, putting our desires into our paintings which each motion, each thought. Feeling with the piece what feels right and bringing it to life.

In culinary art - the thought behind which ingredients to use and how they will complement each other in the overall flavor of the dish; the practice of
perfecting a recipe until it is just right.

Intentionality behind every action, with an unspoken wish to create a dish that
makes those who eat it pause and savor it. That's magic being born.

In writing - words flow forth, sometimes in organized sentences, sometimes in
staccato phrases or unexpected flow. Each word means something to the sentence, to the whole, to the reader, to the world. Intention behind everything. Words leap off the page with the life of their own.

For this edition, make a wish with us! Imagine the power that a wish can have
combined with the practice and dedication of you the artist. Put that energy and desire into your piece and let's see if we can manifest good in the world. Share your wish through writing, visual art, or creative recipes. You may submit 2 recipes or poems or visual art pieces or short stories in each
category.

How

On our submission page via Duosuma: here. It will open for submissions on the date listed above (as open calls go live).
The Shallot is open to artists with lived mental and emotional health experiences. Artists in all locations/countries are invited to apply.

What we publish

Submit a piece of work inspired by or related to this edition’s prompt. 

Types of Submissions

• Nonfiction

• Poetry

• Drama

• Experimental

• Creative Recipes

• Visual Art

Other Information/Rights
Writers and artists retain copyright, but The Layered Onion requests that you ask us before republishing your content. If it is republished, please ensure the second publication provides credit and links back to The Layered Onion, indicating that TLO was the first to publish.

Payment

Accepted artists will choose between an honorarium (currently $15) or an artist’s copy of the journal.

Sharing Your Work in The Shallot

Your work may be included in promotional material on TLO social media, always giving you credit. The Layered Onion collection may be sold in the TLO shop. 

More information here. 

Call for Submissions on Theme of "Reverse Evaluation": MIDLVLMAG

 

Each issue of MIDLVLMAG is thematic. Your work should be inspired by that theme, but does not have to follow it precisely. Upcoming themes will be announced first on our social media sites and then here on the website. If you’re unsure of the tone of MIDLVLMAG and whether or not your work will fit in with what we publish, read our issues and follow us online. We publish issues twice a year, with potential for other features and articles on an ongoing basis.

Submission Windows

Follow us on Social Media for the fastest updates on when we open up for submissions. Upon announcement of submissions being open, the period for acceptance is typically two months (8 weeks) in length. This is subject to change as needed.

Current Theme: Reverse Evaluation

Reverse Evaluation is, on its most basic level, when employees have the opportunity to review the performance of their supervisors, managers etc. That only begins to scratch the surface…

Reverse Evaluation is the tide turning, the game played fairly, and lost dignity regained. It is when we take back what is ours, show mercy we were never given, build the vision of ourselves we know to be true.

Reverse Evaluation is justice, equity, in the now and the future. It is vengeance, revenge, the long built hurts washed away. It is the shovel, the spade, burying burdens, and unearthing lost treasures.

Reverse Evaluation is freedom from the cruelty of history, institution, and tradition.

Let them know what’s on your mind.
Submissions are currently OPEN
Submissions open: January 4th, 2026
Submissions close: March 7th, 2026
Reading / Acceptance period: January 5th, 2026 – April 30th 2026

Suggested Word Counts:

Poetry: Up to three poems
No word count limit
Short Fiction: 1500 – 4500 words
CNF: 1500 – 4500 words

Response Time

Times vary, but typically we do our best to respond within 30 days of the date of submission. If you haven’t heard from us within that timeframe, please write to us in a reply email from your original submission.

Simultaneous submissions

Yes! Just let us know if you’ve got your work out to other publications so we don’t step on any toes in the process.

Payments

Beginning in 2026, MIDLVLMAG will pay $25 USD per accepted piece, published in our twice yearly issues.

Rights

If accepted for publication, you grant us first electronic rights and non-exclusive archival rights. All submissions remain the intellectual property of the author. Rights revert back to the author upon publication.

MIDLVLMAG would love a shoutout if your work is republished in the future. If your work is rejected, we ask that you wait until the next open submission period before sending us something new.

Submission Criteria

MIDLVLMAG publishes Short Fiction, Poetry, and CNF (Creative Non-Fiction).

Your submission email subject line must include the following:

MIDLVLMAG + CURRENT SUBMISSION THEME + STYLE OF WRITING + LAST NAME, FIRST NAME
e.g. “MIDLVLMAG – Snacks – Flash Fiction – Carver, Raymond”

If you’re submitting multiple styles of writing, each submission must be sent in separate emails.

Your submission(s) must be included as an attachment (.DOC .DOCX file types).

Your submission(s) must include a header with the following information: Last name, first name – title of piece – MIDLVLMAG – submission theme – form of writing
e.g. Krinkle, Henry – hot dogs: a discourse – MIDLVLMAG – Snacks – CNF)

Please include an author bio with your submission email. We’d love to know about your managerial experience, your time in the trenches of the stock room, the unspoken dignity in slinging fast food to make ends meet. In your bio, please also include any previous publications, forthcoming work and any of your social media accounts or websites you feel comfortable sharing with our readers.

Send your submissions to:

info@midlvlmag.com

Call for Submissions: The Good Life Review

 

Work must be original and previously uncurated. We gladly accept pieces that have previously only appeared on personal blogs and/or social media. Please reference this thoughtful article by Tim Green on the term curation.

We pay $60 per piece for writing published in seasonal issues and $25 for pieces appearing in our “Micro Monday” segment. We also pay $25 for artwork that is used on the cover of a seasonal issue. For international submissions, we are only able to send money via PayPal.

There is a $4 fee for submissions for our short prose and $2.50 for flash prose. The fee for our annual HoneyBee Poetry Prize is $18, which is used to support payment to contributors. Details about the contest can be found here. Info and results from the latest contest are here.

There is currently no fee for submitting artwork.

We will respond to all submitted work. It may take from one to three months, depending on when in the reading period the work is submitted. Artwork may remain open for the duration of a calendar year. Thank you in advance for your patience.

We accept submissions via Submittable. Any received via email or post will not make it into the queue of our editorial teams.

If you have an issue with the fee because of financial hardship or difficulties with the submission platform, please send a message to:

editors@thegoodlifereview.com

Note: Current UNO MFA students and recent (within the last 3 years) UNO MFA graduates/affiliates are not eligible.

General Guidelines:

Simultaneous submissions are cool, cool. If accepted elsewhere, please withdraw in Submittable.

The Good Life Review acquires First North American Serial Rights and the right to maintain an archive copy of the work online. All other rights revert to the author upon publication, with a request that if the work is reprinted, appropriate acknowledgment to The Good Life Review is made.

We do not publish offensive work or pieces that exhibit hatred directed toward a particular gender, race, ethnicity, ability, sexual identity, socioeconomic class, or disability. In other words, if you are an asshole, we don’t want your writing or your money.

If there are content warnings, please include those in the submitted document(s) preceding the piece(s).

We prefer to read blind, so please remove your name from the submitted document.

Your submission will not be disqualified if it was submitted incorrectly. If we have a question or concern about your submission, we will contact you. Please know that we are on your side. Thank you for trusting us with your work.

Again, work must be original and absolutely fabulous! We want your very best!!

Genre-specific goodies are below.

Poetry

We are interested in work that pushes boundaries, both in content and form. Poems should emanate from textured, evocative images, use language with an awareness of how words sound and mean, and have a definite sense of voice. Each line should help carry the poem from the first line to the last. We are open to experimentation, traditional form, and free verse. 

• Whatever shape it takes, we want exciting work that thinks through or challenges poetic traditions. There is no length limit on individual poems, but please send no more than 5 poems per submission and no more than 10 pages in total in a single text file.

• Poems should be typed with at least one-inch margins and a 12-point serif font, preferably Times New Roman.

• Longer lines and unique formatting are fine; the presentation of these may be altered as text could wrap to a newline based on the display media/window size being used. We do our best to maintain the poet’s vision.

• Begin each new poem on a new page.

• Please remove your name from the submitted document.

Flash and Micro

• Flash should yield quick transformations and revelations, have compelling characters, and a narrative that provokes thought in a voice that urges us forward and carries us past the last line. Flash is 500 to 1,000 words. Micro is max 500 words. For pieces over 1,000 words, we encourage you to submit via our fiction or creative nonfiction categories.

• Pieces should be typed, double-spaced, and paginated with one-inch margins and a 12-point serif font, preferably Times New Roman.

• Include no more than 3 pieces in a single text file.

• Please remove your name from the submitted document.

Nonfiction

• We want essays that get our minds working and hearts thumping and prose that is artful with voices that are clear and cadent. Whether traditional or experimental, structure and form should enhance the content of a story that is both universal and painfully specific. Essays should not exceed 5,000 words. Include word count at the top of the first page. For pieces under 1,000 words, we encourage you to submit via our flash cnf category.

• Essays should be typed, double-spaced, and paginated with one-inch margins and a 12-point serif font, preferably Times New Roman.

• Please remove your name from the submitted document.

Fiction

• We want polished, confident, well-developed stories that are engaging from the first word to the last. Experimental fiction is welcome. We consider original, previously unpublished stories up to 5,000 words. Include word count at the top of the first page. For pieces under 1,000 words, we encourage you to submit via our flash category.

• Stories should be typed, double-spaced, and paginated with one-inch margins and a 12-point serif font, preferably Times New Roman.

• Please remove your name from the submitted document.

Spoken Word

• We are seeking poems, brief prose pieces, and mini monologues rendered with passion and flair. We consider original, previously uncurated audio and video files. Live performances and audio/video shared on social media platforms are welcome.

• Send up to 3 pieces, max of 3 minutes each. Either all in the same audio or video file or three separate files. If selected, our AV Editor will work with you to produce files suitable for presentation on the website.

• Please also include a text document with the pieces typed.

• Please remove your name from the submitted document(s).

Art

• Does your original photography or artwork tell a story? We are currently looking for vibrant pieces to feature in our next issue. There are no specific guidelines, and the only requirement is that the artwork must be original. We would encourage you to check out our archive of issues here to see if we would be a good home for your work.

• At this time, we are paying an honorarium of $25 for artwork used on the cover of our seasonal issues. We appreciate the love that goes into every piece and hope that we can pay all artists for their efforts in the future.

* Also of note * We currently don’t require first rights or formal contracts for images and therefore, by submitting, you acknowledge and authorize publication if accepted. The only exception to this is if you explicitly withdraw the entire submission or send a note/email letting us know the piece or pieces that are no longer available.

We will respond to all submitted artwork; however, pieces we have a particular interest in may remain “in process” for the duration of a calendar year. Our aim is to select pieces that visually complement the writing accepted for our seasonal issues, and therefore, we don’t know what might make a good match until the writing is selected. Thank you in advance for your patience.

Translation/Comics/Graphic Narrative/Collaborations/Hybrid/Experimental

Here at The Good Life Review, we recognize that life is complicated, and part of the joy of being an artist is the freedom to explore outside the lines. If you have writing that doesn’t fit neatly into a single genre category, or was written by more than one person, you might find a good home for your work with us! We also support Spanish translations.

Call for Submissions: bioStories

 

bioStories welcomes creativity and originality in your approach to your subject and maintains no conscious editorial biases. We do, however, encourage you to consider that by the inherent nature of written expression, we find that a well-wrought passage that narrates a specific story or a finite moment within a life is far more effective at presenting something essential about that life than volumes of generalizations or summary. Similarly, we encourage you consider the frequent value found in getting out of the way of your subjects and allowing them to speak for themselves. But of course we value your voice and ask that submitting writers honor the uniqueness and innovation of their original, natural narrative voices every bit as much as they strive to present their subjects with honesty and candor. The smell of dishonest representation always penetrates. We react to such smell with the same reprehension as we do to work that appears focused on accomplishing an agenda. Present yourself and your subject as they are, part of the diverse, complex, and unruly citizenry of the universe, complete with warts and moles, hangovers and hangnails. Real life is messy, filled with broken plumbing and coagulating bacon grease, unmade beds and imperfect comebacks. Real biography recalls that sometimes you have to change the dressings on healing wounds and sometimes you have to add a little starch as you iron the shirt. Human nature is idiosyncratic and frequently contradictory, and, quite often, when you look close enough, it is downright graceful.

We welcome your submissions of original work. Please read some of the work we have published to gain a view of our editorial sensibilities. We offer no restrictions on approach to material or format, but we do require that you kindly adhere to the following guidelines:

• nonfiction prose submissions only
• 500 – 7500 words; our typical piece runs an average of 2500 words (please contact the editor in advance should you have material that exceeds our length restriction and exceptions may be made)
• submit by email to editor.biostories@gmail.com and paste your submission within the body of the email. Please make certain the words “biostories submission” and your last name appear in the subject line; we do not open attachments
• we accept submissions year-round
• simultaneous submissions are welcome, but please notify us immediately if your piece is accepted elsewhere
• work submitted must be previously unpublished (in print and online)
• submissions that fail to follow these guidelines will be not be read.

A.I. Policy: please note that bioStories is not open to works that include AI processes of any sort, including the generation of prompts, titles, names, outlines, dialogue, descriptive passages, etc. By submitting to bioStories you indicate acceptance of this policy.

Editorial Suggestions, Processes, and Policies:

While we frequently publish writers with previous credits, we are equally interested in less experienced or unpublished writers with exceptional promise. All accepted pieces are subject to editing and galleys will be shared with authors for approval prior to publication. Essays first appear on our “featured essay” page. After about a week, the essay will be moved among other featured content where it will remain prominently accessible for a month. All published pieces are archived and linked on our contributors/archives page for a period of four years. We acquire first rights for published material; copyright then reverts to the author. In the future, we may contact you requesting permission to include the material in a print anthology.

We strive to make timely editorial decisions, typically within six to eight weeks. Because bioStories is produced largely as a labor of love by a limited staff, please do not contact us to inquire about the status of a submission until eight weeks have passed.

Art Submissions: We are always on the look-out for art that is representative of our mission and that fits well with essays we feature. We also seek out cover art for digital issues and digital/print anthologies. Please contact us by email with some sample images if you think you have work that might be a fit.

Payment: At present, we are unable to pay authors for their material, however, when funding allows, we are committed to compensating writers.

Call for Submissions: Bicoastal Review

Bicoastal Review is a journal of poetry, nonfiction, photography, and art. We aim to foster cross-genre conversations between readers and contributors, often on (but not limited to) topics related to the East Coast and West Coast. We publish writing that offers a lens into varied schools of thought and showcases epiphany and mastery of language. Our collective of voices circumscribes a study of American writing, highlighting the movements, ruptures, and allegiances happening simultaneously on opposite ends of the nation. Writers and artists from anywhere in the world are welcome to submit, though we prefer the American English spelling of words. If there is a fee posted that presents an economic burden to you, email your submission to us at:

theeditors@bicoastalreview.com.

We offer a Fast Response option if you would like to hear back from us as quickly as 2 to 14 days. There is also an option to receive in-depth edits, feedback, and suggestions on your submission from our readers and editor-in-chief.

Thank you for your support!

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

POETRY

5 poems max, in .Doc or .Docx -- no PDFs. Please separate poems by page. Titles are preferred. No need to put your contact info in the document. If your poems are haikus or otherwise very short, feel free to submit more than 5.

Please read our past issues (free online) to get a sense of our vibe. We particularly appreciate political poetry, ecopoetry and nature poems, love poems, poems about the body, feminist poetry, queer poetry, and poems that engage with history, literature, art, and/or modern culture. Hybrid, experimental, and cross-genre work is welcome. No covid/quarantine poems, please. We are wary of alternating rhyme schemes. We also don't usually accept light verse.

We accept translations into English with the permission of both author and translator.

NONFICTION

We accept creative nonfiction, critical essays, reviews, interviews, think pieces, and similar works.

1,000-3,000 words preferred, though this is not a hard rule.

FICTION

Occasional short fiction (or hybrid works) may be considered if you think it matches the tone and themes of our journal.

PHOTOGRAPHY & ART

Submit up to 10 photos or works of art using the highest image quality possible. Include a "museum label" style paragraph explaining materials, process, theory, and/or anything else you would like to share about the art. Please don't select Fast Response if you're submitting photography or art.

*** We do not accept anything created with AI tools, prompts, or edits. We do not accept writing that espouses bigotry, hate speech, discrimination, or harmful stereotypes targeting any group or individual based on their race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, etc. We value accessibility and social progress, and seek to represent a diversity of voices across the American literary landscape.

​Bios should be 100 words or less, formatted as: "Firstname Lastname is...."

Simultaneous submissions are fine. Please notify us and/or withdraw your submission if your work is accepted elsewhere. We generally do not publish reprints, but we may consider doing so with permission from the prior publication. Upon acceptance with us, kindly withdraw your work from consideration elsewhere.

Submit your work here.

Writing Competition: Reginald Gibbons Editor's Prize for Short Fiction: TriQuarterly

Submit one single short story for consideration, up to but not exceeding 5,000 words, alongside a $12 entry fee. Juan Martinez will judge. 

Winner will receive an honorarium of $1000 and publication in TriQuarterly.

Simultaneous submissions are welcome, however writers will need to withdraw their work immediately if accepted elsewhere. All entries will be considered for regular publication. This is a general short fiction contest, so all genres and forms of short fiction are welcome, including excerpts of larger works. Work must be original and unpublished.

We will only accept submissions online via Submittable. We will not consider submissions over email or snail mail.

Submit your entry here. 

Call for Submissions: Dodo Eraser

The inimitable Dodo Eraser seeks your poetry, fiction, and CNF in order to ensure its survival. You may feed the dodo your literature by emailing:

dodoerasermag@gmail.com 

Poetry:

Please send 1-5 unpublished poems in an attached Word doc. Title your poems clearly. Otherwise, the dodo does not care about fonts or spacing or whatnot. You do not need to write a cover letter for the dodo, but you can. Free country. No line limits. You must simply move the dodo. If the dodo is moved, the dodo will give you a dodo. It will look like this:



The dodo may also say nice things about your poems, and the dodo will give you $5 for every poem it likes enough to publish. The dodo will request a bio and First North American Serial Rights upon acceptance. If the dodo does not accept any of your poems, please wait one (1) month before feeding the dodo again. If it does, please wait six (6) months. The dodo will reveal its intentions within one (1) month, usually sooner. Simultaneous submissions are fine, just let the dodo know if something is picked up elsewhere.

Fiction/CNF:

Most of the above also applies for fiction and CNF. HOWEVER: DO NOT SEND THE DODO 5 FICTIONS OR CNFS! THAT’S TOO MUCH!

Please send 1 fiction or CNF piece. Please keep your piece under 10,000 words. All other poetry guidelines apply. If all prose pieces are under 400 words, you may submit up to 3, rather than just 1.

Essays/Criticism/Features:

While not the dodo’s primary focus, the dodo is open-minded. Essays, criticism, and features relating to the arts (particularly books, film, music, and video games) are of interest. Essays should be submitted complete for consideration, while reviews and features should instead include a brief 3-4 sentence pitch, after which you will be given a deadline to complete your work if accepted. Include links to past work if you have any. If you don’t have any, this is okay. If the pitch is especially good, the dodo will work with you.

Does Dodo Eraser nominate for awards?

Yes. Dodo Eraser plans to nominate for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, Best Small Fictions, and Best Microfictions.

Call for Submissions: Fieldnotes

 

FIELDNOTES is inviting submissions for its eighth issue!

DEADLINE: 9 March 2026

We are searching for fresh departures. We are seeking submissions of text and visual material across all forms, including but not limited to: fiction, non-fiction, poetry, essays, interview pitches, conversations, collaborations, work-in-translation, photography, drawing and collage. We welcome non-conforming submissions, works between text and image, experimental forms and poetic innovations. Writers and artists anywhere in the world are encouraged to submit.

APPLICATION GUIDELINES AND MATERIALS:

FN008 OPEN CALL GUIDELINES (PDF)
FN008 OPEN CALL FAQs (PDF)
EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES FORM (LINK)

Contributors selected from the Open Call will be paid a fee (between £150-£250) for original content not published elsewhere. We will work collaboratively with contributors to develop and edit all works before publication.

The best way to get a sense of the kind of work we publish is to buy a previous issue! Copies and concessions are available in our online shop.

SUBMISSION FEE:

£4 / FREE for those on low incomes or unwaged / FREE for subscribers
You can claim the cost of submission as a discount against any purchase from our online shop using the discount code FN008SD at checkout.

SUBMISSION FORMATS: 

Text submissions: maximum 6000 words or 15 pages in total, in Word or PDF format.
Image submissions: maximum 15 images in total, maximum size 2 MB, images can be sent in JPEG or PDF format.
Mixed submissions of text and image are welcome.

APPLICATION GUIDELINES AND MATERIALS:

FN008 OPEN CALL GUIDELINES (PDF)
FN008 OPEN CALL FAQs (PDF)
EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES FORM (LINK)

Contributors selected from the Open Call will be paid a fee (between £150-£250) for original content not published elsewhere. We will work collaboratively with contributors to develop and edit all works before publication.

The best way to get a sense of the kind of work we publish is to buy a previous issue! Copies and concessions are available in our online shop.

HOW TO SUBMIT:

Please pay the submission fee here or request a concessionary code by emailing

info@fieldnotes.site

• Include the completed order number in the subject line of your submission email.

• Title each submission file with your name and a file number (example: Jane_Smith1.jpeg). This is important! Otherwise we can’t track your submission once it enters our database.

• Send your submission via email as attachments to:

submissions@fieldnotes.site

• Please send submissions as attachments not as images embedded in the body of the email or as links for Wetransfer, Google Drive or similar.

Complete and submit an Equal Opportunities Form online.

Call for Submissions to Anthology on Theme of "Wonder and Whimsy": Wandering Words Media

Wandering Words 

Deadline: May 30, 2026 

What to Submit

We are currently accepting short stories, poetry, visual art, and creative nonfiction. Creative nonfiction includes genres like memoir and creative essay. Very Short Prose: Writers can submit up to three pieces of fiction or creative nonfiction of 500 words or less.

Short Prose: Writers can submit one short story or short piece of creative nonfiction of between 500 and 5000 words.

Poetry: Poets can submit up to five poems, all in the same document. Each poem should be no longer than two pages.

Visual Art: Artists can submit up to five pieces. Photography, painting, drawing, digital art, collage, photos of sculpture, fiber art, and all other kinds of visual art are welcome, as long as they can be presented in an image. Note that, except for art chosen for the cover, all art will be printed in black and white in the print copies of the anthology. JPEG or PDF format preferred.

How to Submit

• Work should be double spaced and in Times New Roman, 12 point font. Work should be submitted as a PDF or Word document. We are unable to accept submissions in any other form (Pages file, Scrivener file, etc.).
• We accept submissions via our Google form. Not following our submission guidelines may lead to automatic rejection.
• There is no fee to submit to this anthology.
• You may only submit once per submission period.

 Other Details

• Writing must be fully original and your own work.
• We are unfortunately unable to publish all submissions. If you are not accepted for publication in this anthology, do not take it as a personal rejection of your writing skill—it is likely your piece simply did not fit in this issue for one reason or another. We encourage everyone to try again with our next submission opportunity.
• We only publish work that has been unpublished elsewhere. This includes publication on your personal website or social media, or self-publication.
• We strive to get back to all submitters within 6 to 8 weeks, but we sometimes will take longer. We will reply to every submission.
• Payment: we are unable to pay for work accepted to this anthology, though we hope to pay authors and poets in the future. We will send every author a digital copy of the complete anthology.
• Publication: the Wonder and Whimsy anthology will be published digitally and as a physical book and will be available on Amazon. We aim to publish this anthology in autumn, 2026, and will keep all authors of accepted pieces updated on that process.
• We accept simultaneous submissions, but if your piece is accepted elsewhere, email us ASAP to withdraw that piece from your submission.
• We cannot accept any work that includes copyrighted song lyrics or uncited quotes.
• We do not accept work that has been AI-generated. The use of programs like Grammarly are okay to check spelling and grammar, but all work should be original and written by the author, not by a program. If we suspect a piece has been written in part or in full by ChatGPT or another similar program, it will not be chosen for publication.
• We will consider work that is violent, sexual, or political—however, we will not publish work that is discriminatory or pornographic in nature.
• We accept work internationally, but we can only accept work that has been written primarily in English.
  
  Journey’s End Publishing and Wandering Words Media requires non-exclusive first publication rights and incidental promotional rights. We retain the unrestricted right to publish selected stories in its anthologies, in print and online, and in any relevant promotional material, and will retain copyright and economic rights for the anthology as a whole. All rights for individual stories, poems, and art revert back to their respective author/creator upon publication. The author/creator is free to republish their work, either in part, as a whole, or in an altered form, wherever they like after we have published the anthology, but we ask that you list “Journey’s End Publishing with Wandering Words Media” as the first publisher if you do so.
  
  Please note that submission of work by an author to this anthology shall be considered acceptance of the full guidelines above.
  
  If you have any questions or need further clarification, please feel free to contact us at:

 christina@wanderingwordsmedia.com.

Call for Submissions from Queer Writers: ALOCASIA

ALOCASIA accepts creative writing of all genres from queer writers on a rolling basis with no reading fee. Please send no more than 6 pieces to:

ALOCASIAmagazine@gmail.com

Simultaneous submissions are encouraged, and we DO accept previously-published work. Please send writing in either .docx or .pdf format. Max word count for prose is 3500 words.

Please include a brief bio, and inform us where your piece was previously-published, if applicable.

We appreciate both traditional work, as well as the weird, erotic, explicit, anti-colonial, and whatever you can come up with.

This is a journal about plants, gardens, gardening, parks, and indoor horticulture. Please don’t send us work that isn’t about plants.

We do not accept AI-generated or AI-assisted writing or art.

ALOCASIA requests First North American Serial Rights from previously unpublished work. We request Reprint Rights, Electronic Archival Rights, and Anthology Rights from all work you agree to publish with us. We pay $50 per contributor.

Call for Submissions: The Sunlight Press

 

If you’re interested in submitting work to The Sunlight Press, send a completed piece to:

thesunlightpress@gmail.com

Find our submission guidelines below. Please always check the website before submitting work to confirm we are open to a particular genre. Thank you.

We are now open to all submissions as of Monday, Jan. 5. Please note: If you submitted while we were closed for the holidays, you will need to resubmit your work now. Thank you.

***

What work do we consider at our journal?

The Sunlight Press considers submissions within the following categories (please note work count guidelines):

• Personal Essays (Nonfiction): 750-1,000 words.

• Fiction: Includes microfiction (under 400 words); flash fiction (under 1,000 words); and short stories (under 2,000 words).

• Poetry: Up to three poems in one submission (all in one attached document, please). Note: Unusual formatting in poetry often cannot be replicated on our site.

• Reviews: Review of books (fiction & nonfiction), short story collections, and essay collections (750-1,000 words); preference for newly published books. Reviews of current films (750-1,000 words).

• Artists on Craft Series: Interviews/Reflections by artists on their process of the art of choice (accompanying photos welcome); 1,000 words and under.

• Photography: Up to three photographs in one submission (Please note: submit only unfiltered, non-AI generated images attached in jpeg format).

How do you submit work?

Email submissions to:

thesunlightpress@gmail.com 

with the subject line clearly indicating the genre — fiction, nonfiction, poetry, review, artist on craft, or photography. Submissions should be attached in a Word document (docx., doc.), without names and contact info on the document.

Please submit only one written piece at a time (in other words, do not submit written work in multiple categories at the same time). The only exception: You may submit a written piece and photography simultaneously. In written pieces, please use only one space after periods.

Do not send new work for consideration until hearing back from us on the status of a current submission. Also if a piece is not accepted, please wait three to six months after hearing from us before submitting new work. Writers whose work has been accepted, please wait three months after its publication to submit new work. Thank you.

We typically do not consider pieces beyond the word lengths above. We also do not publish how-to articles, or work that is religious or political in nature, nor about current social issues. (For poets submitting work, our poetry editor Clive Collins recommends the book, Singing School by Robert Pinsky, about the craft of writing and reading poetry.)

Final note: We will not acknowledge or review work that does not follow the guidelines above. Thanks for your understanding.

***

What should accompany your submission?

Please include a 3-4 sentence, third person bio (no more than 150 words) and any social media handles (Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, X/Twitter, etc.), as well as a current email address and contact information. We review simultaneous submissions; please inform us of this status upon submission.

Does The Sunlight Press pay writers upon publication?

Yes, The Sunlight Press pays for original, unpublished work only, via PayPal. We occasionally accept previously published work (in print, on a personal blog, or another digital publication) but offer no payment.

Our payment rates (as of June 2024) are:

$50 for essays (including book reviews and Artists on Craft pieces)
$50 for fiction (short stories and flash fiction)
$35 for the first poem accepted, and $10 for each additional accepted in the same submission.
$20 for each photo accepted

When will you hear from us?

Every submission will receive an email acknowledging receipt of the submission from the editors. Writers will be informed of the status of their submission within three to four months of submission. Please query after that time period if you have received no update.

The content of The Sunlight Press is exclusively online. The Sunlight Press claims first publishing rights, which revert to the author upon publication; however, please acknowledge The Sunlight Press if your work appears later online or in print. Many thanks.

Final word: We strive to publish pieces within six months of acceptance and welcome your query if that time period has passed.

Many thanks for considering us for your work.

Writing Competition: The Iowa Review Awards

 

The Iowa Review Awards

About the Contest

Each January since 2003, The Iowa Review has invited submissions to The Iowa Review Awards, a writing contest in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. 

 

Winners receive $1,500; first runners-up receive $750. Winners and runners-up are published in each December issue. 

 

The judges for 2026 are Julian Talamantez Brolaski (poetry), Tom Lin (fiction), and Tisa Bryant (nonfiction).

 

Contest Rules 

• Submit up to 25 pages of prose (double-spaced) or 10 pages of poetry (one poem or several, but no more than one poem per page).

• Work must be previously unpublished.

• Simultaneous submissions are fine assuming you inform us of acceptance elsewhere.

• To submit, visit iowareview.submittable.com during the month of January and follow these instructions: Select the appropriate genre category. If you’d like to purchase a discounted yearlong subscription to The Iowa Review for $12, please choose a genre marked “(subscription).” Otherwise, choose “(no subscription).”

• A cover letter may be pasted into the appropriate field in Submittable.

• Do not include your name in the uploaded manuscript itself or in its filename.

• Multiple poems or prose pieces can comprise a single entry if the total number of pages does not exceed 25 for prose or 10 for poetry. For instance, you may submit two short stories of ten pages each as a single entry; the stories will be read and judged separately. But please do not mix genres: a ten-page story and a two-page poem constitute separate entries.

• Pay the $20 entry fee using Paypal, Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover.

• If you submit more than one entry, even within the same genre, you must submit the $20 entry fee with each entry.

• Submit between January 1 and January 31.

Judges will select winners from a group of finalists chosen by Iowa Review editors. All manuscripts, whether selected as finalists or not, are considered for publication.

 

Notice: We no longer accept paper contest submissions. If you need help with our online submission system, cannot access it, or would like to request a fee waiver due to financial need, please email:

 

iowa-review@uiowa.edu 

 

Eligibility and Conflicts of Interest

• Previous Iowa Review Awards winners and runners-up are not eligible to enter the contest.

• Current students, faculty, and staff of the University of Iowa are not eligible to enter the contest. University of Iowa students must wait three years after graduation to submit to the Iowa Review Awards.

• Work is ineligible to win our contest if it is slated for publication before December 2026, whether in another magazine or as part of a book. Please withdraw work from our contest immediately if these conditions apply.

• Judges are instructed not to award the prize to entrants with whom they have had a personal or professional relationship. Despite reading the entries with author names removed, judges may sometimes be able to guess the identity of the entrant. Even if they can’t tell during the judging process, they have the right to change their decision if it turns out that the entrant is someone with whom there is any appearance of conflict of interest. Therefore, we advise entrants not to enter the contest if the judge is someone they know personally or have worked with professionally.

Writing Competition on the Theme of "Joy": The Alpine Fellowship Poetry Prize 2026

The Alpine Fellowship Poetry Prize 2026 

Awarded for the best poetic response on the theme of JOY.

The winner and runners-up will receive financial support in the following amounts:

Prizes

First place: £3,000

Second place: £1,000

Third place: £1,000

Rules

There is a fee of £10 per entry.

Deadline: May 1, 2026 

You may submit only ONE poem per entry. If you wish to submit more than one poem, then you should complete multiple entries. Any entry with more than one poem attached will risk disqualification.

Open to all nationalities. 

Applicants must be aged 18 or above at the time of entry.

All entries must be written in English.

You can enter multiple prizes.

There is a maximum of 500 words per entry.

There is no minimum required word count.

The use of generative writing programmes or artificial intelligence (for example, ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude) is strictly prohibited.

Please note: we reserve the right to change any aspect of our prizes at any point during the submission or judging process, or to not award a prize if we wish.

Submit your entry here.

Call for Submissions: WAXEN

 

Accepting submissions year-round.

WAXEN is a quarterly, cooperative effort. All contributors are fairly compensated and retain the rights to their work.

We are looking for short fiction, poetry, and illustrations.

We are interested in the weird, the occult, the surreal, and the horrific.

We love experimentation.

Please ensure:

Fiction submissions do not exceed 5000 words.

Illustrations are optimized for black and white printing.

Please avoid:

Graphic sexual violence.

Graphic violence against children.

AI-generated content.

Seasonal submission deadlines:

FALL…9/15

WINTER…12/15

SPRING…3/15

SUMMER…6/15

We are interested in work that is dark, heady, and strange. We appreciate unique voices and perspectives. We enjoy works that others might deride as too weird, self-indulgent, or experimental.

If you’ve submitted a piece, and we haven’t gotten back, why not try sending something stranger?

Payment: $50.00 plus one free copy 

Send your work to:

beverlybwix@gmail.com

Call for Submissions: Paranoid Tree Press

 

Paranoid Tree Press 

THE BASICS

PAYMENT: $50 per piece, plus 5 copies of the final printed zine

We are always open for submissions.

WORD LIMIT: ~400 words

GENRE: Fiction, creative nonfiction, prose poetry
(please do not send verse/lineated poetry, due to space constraints in print)

GUIDELINES: Up to 5 pieces per entry. Please consolidate your submissions into one file. Simultaneous submissions are allowed and encouraged.

NOTE: We collect submissions via Google Forms because it is free to use, which allows us to allocate all our income to paying our contributors and covering our operating fees. We know it’s less user-friendly than other submission managers, so thanks for bearing with us.

More information and submission portal here. 

Call for Submissions: Vast Chasm Magazine

Vast Chasm Magazine publishes bold work that explores the expansive human experience, including flash and short fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and other nonconforming work.

• We read year-round, on a rolling basis, for our quarterly online issues.
• Submissions are reviewed only through Submittable, where specific guidelines for each genre are provided.
• Submit only one piece at a time, regardless of category. Please wait to hear back before trying us again.
• We do not charge a submission fee.
• We happily consider simultaneous submissions. Life is short. Just let us know if your work is accepted elsewhere, so we can update our queue and celebrate your success.
• Send us your previously unpublished work as a .doc, .docx or .rtf in an easily readable format. For a nontraditional piece, you may opt to submit a .pdf.
• Please include a 3rd-person bio of no more than 100 words.
• We will thoughtfully consider your work and typically respond within 3 months.
• If we’ve already read and declined a piece, please do not submit revisions unless specifically requested.
• Vast Chasm is a paying market. Currently, we are able to offer $50 per published piece, payable via Paypal or Venmo. 

Genre-specific submission guidelines are as follows:

• Flash Fiction: one piece, up to 1,200 words
• Fiction: one piece, up to 5,000 words
• Flash Creative Nonfiction: one piece, up to 1,200 words
• Creative Nonfiction: one piece, up to 5,000 words
• Poetry: one poem
• Other Nonconforming Work: one piece, mindful of the limits detailed above; use this submission category if you feel your work does not conform to the other genres listed. For example, you might submit a hybrid piece, a hermit crab essay, or anything we haven’t seen before.

Call for Submissions: A Short Story Long

Short stories, 2k-8k words long (with the 3,000-5,500 range being our real sweet spot). What are we looking for? Honestly, best indicator is to read a story or two we've already published.

https://ashortstorylong.substack.com/

Second best indicator is to generally be familiar with Aaron's taste and what he's published on HAD, and Hobart before that.

Every published story will be paired with original art, and both writer and artist are paid $150. (Becoming a paid subscriber helps pay contributors!) Submissions will be open until the end of January. Please only submit once per submission period. Thanks! —Aaron Burch

Deadline: Jan. 31, 2026 

Submit your work here. 

Call for Submissions from Australian Writers: Slush

Slush seeks previously unpublished (including Substack, Instagram etc.) short fiction of up to 5000 words in length. This includes micro and flash fiction as well as comics, prose poetry and other forms.

Basically, if your piece is fiction ~ a short story ~ Slush would like to read it.

• Submissions are open to writers currently living in Australia, or Australians living overseas.
• You may submit up to three stories for consideration.
• Simultaneous submissions are allowed, but please withdraw your work if it is accepted elsewhere.

Slush does not accept work written by generative AI, in whole or in part.

Deadline: Sunday 1 February 2026, 11:59PM AEDT

Payment: Selected authors will be paid $100 AUD for their work.

Submit: Send your stories via the Wufoo form here.

Call for Submissions: Palooka Press

 

Interests:

We're open to all voices, forms, and styles. Please send your best unpublished chapbooks, fiction, poetry, nonfiction, artwork, photography, graphic narratives, and comic strips.

Simultaneous:

We encourage simultaneous submissions. Please withdraw your piece if accepted elsewhere.

Multiple:

No problem. Send all you like.

Misc:

Contributors receive a free copy and unlimited discounted copies of their issue, a bio and photo in the magazine, and the support of a caring and hardworking editor!

Response:

A week or so.

Submit your work here. 

Call for Submissions: Chestnut Review

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reading Periods:

Jan 1-March 31: reading for Summer Issue (July 15th release) 

April 1-June 30: reading for Autumn Issue (October 15th release)

July 1-Sept 30: reading for Winter Issue (January 15th release) 

Oct 1-Dec 31: reading for Spring Issue (April 15th release)

General Information

• Unpublished work only. We only accept unpublished work that has not appeared in any publicly-accessible form previously, including online. NOTE: art and photography submissions may have previously been presented online, but are eligible for publication if they have not been featured in another magazine, website, or venue besides an artist's portfolio or webpage. Work that is contracted to be published is considered published. Do not submit work from a volume that has been contracted with a publisher.

• We do not accept submissions of AI-generated work. If a submission is sent to us claiming to be author work but then discovered or identified as AI-generated, it will be rejected and the author no longer welcome to submit in the future. We reserve the right to withdraw acceptances from any work found to be AI-generated, even if after publication. Such work will be removed from our online platform and all print editions. 

• We do not use AI to evaluate your work. Just as we do not accept AI-generated work for publication, we do not allow our staff to use AI tools to evaluate pieces, write paid feedback, or complete any other tasks which they are assigned at Chestnut. We stand by our promise that all feedback an author pays for will always be human-written. We consider this to be a serious ethical issue and any staff member found to be using AI to do their CR work will be dismissed. 

• We are an international group of editors, readers, and writers, and wish to emphasize that the language and diction used by the individual(s) who write feedback on your work may not conform to your own dialect. We embrace a world of Englishes with their unique and valuable idiosyncrasies. Our editors will do their best to ensure all feedback is clear and does not depend on an idiomatic usage that might be misunderstood, but we ask our artists to bear in mind these nuances. Artists are always welcome to seek clarification if feedback is unclear or confusing. 

• Language: English. We welcome written works that engage culture through languages other than English if the majority of the piece is in English. We do not publish translations in any form. Epigraphs in other languages are fine as long as the piece provides a translation or sufficient context to appreciate the text. 

• Countries of origin. Any artist from anywhere in the world may submit. 

• Simultaneous submissions are encouraged provided you message us on Submittable if you need to withdraw a piece. 

• One active submission per category at a time. We’re excited to read your work, but please let us consider each piece in turn. As long as you have received a reply to your previous submission, you may submit again as often as you wish. 

• No re-submissions. Writing is a process, but if we’ve already read and declined a piece as a regular submission (magazine or chapbook), please don’t send us revisions for reconsideration or resubmit unless directly requested. 

• Submitting after publication. We ask that artists wait two years from their appearance in the magazine to submit again. This only applies to the magazine; published artists may submit manuscripts for chapbook consideration at any time the reading periods are open. 

• Genre. If you have work that doesn’t fit neatly into the categories, that doesn’t mean we won’t want to see it. Choose the most appropriate and include a note—we’ll figure it out.

• Titles. Please note that we do not have a title field for submissions and the system will auto-number your submission. This is no cause for concern.

Our Process 

• 30-day turn-around. We notify all artists of their status within 30 days for magazine submissions. If it takes longer, we will refund your submission fee (but still consider your work). Feedback fees are not eligible for refund. We may very well get back to you *very* quickly, and we consider that a sign of respect for your time. Every submission is given a complete read by multiple individuals before we decide. Note that chapbooks have their own schedule which does not adhere to the 30-day policy.

• Shortlisting: we occasionally shortlist pieces while we make final decisions on an issue's composition. The following policies apply: We will respond with a shortlist request within 30 days.

• If the writer paid a submission fee and is shortlisted, we will refund the submission fee.
  If the writer paid for feedback, we will deliver that feedback within 30 days, regardless of shortlist status.

 Legal Stuff 

• Minimum Age. All those who submit work must be at least 18 years of age.

• Rights and Payment. We purchase First North American Serial, First Anthology rights (for the annual print anthology), and Audio rights (for non-art pieces). Payment is US $120 per piece, delivered on publication. We only issue payments via Paypal. 

• We will not publish work that seems to us offensive or which exhibits hatred directed towards a particular gender, race, ethnicity, ability, sexual identity, socioeconomic class, or other status, regardless of whether it is protected by law. If we decline to consider a piece, we will refund in full any submission or feedback fees paid. 

• We never solicit written submissions—all come through Submittable. Please do not email us submissions; they will go unread. We do occasionally solicit art submissions, primarily from DeviantArt. 

• No staff submissions. No past or present staff member of CHESTNUT REVIEW may have their work appear in the magazine. Published artists may join our staff after their work is published (and many have!), which is why some of our staff may have CR publication credits.

Submit your work here.