Writing Competition: The Masters Review Novel Excerpt Contest

 

The Novel Excerpt Contest quickly became one of our favorite contests, so of course it’s returning for the sixth consecutive year. Writing a novel is tough work, and we want to encourage everyone who’s undertaking this arduous journey to share their most exciting excerpts. We’re looking for resonant narratives, memorable characters, a voice that’s uniquely yours. We’re looking for excerpts that stand alone, that do not require a synopsis for understanding. Most importantly, we’re looking for excerpts that grab us from the get-go and refuse to let go. As always, we have no limitations on genre, though we are primarily interested in literary fiction. 

Submissions for the Novel Excerpt Contest will open on September 1 and close on November 8, 2026.

This year’s guest judge: Chinelo Okparanta, author of Under the Udala Tree, the forthcoming This Impossible Life, and more! Okparanta will select three finalists from a shortlist provided by The Masters Review’s editorial staff. 

The winning excerpt will be awarded $3,000; online publication; and an hour-long consultation with Marin Takikawa, a literary agent with The Friedrich Agency. Second- and third-place excerpts will be awarded online publication and $300 and $200 respectively, in addition to written feedback from Takikawa.

Submission Guidelines

• The winner receives $3,000; online publication; and a consultation with Marin Takikawa, a literary agent with The Friedrich Agency.

• The second- and third-place finalists receive cash prizes ($300/$200), online publication, and agent feedback.

• Submitted excerpts must be under 6,000 words.

• Submitted work must be previously unpublished. This includes personal blogs, social media accounts, and other websites. Previously published excerpts will be automatically disqualified.

• Simultaneous and multiple submissions are allowed, though each submission requires a $20 entry fee.

• Writers from historically marginalized or underrepresented groups are invited to submit for free until we reach fifty submissions in this category. NOTE: Submission cap has been met.

• If your excerpt is accepted or contracted elsewhere, please withdraw your submission on Submittable, or contact us otherwise to let us know the piece is no longer available.

• We do not require anonymous submissions for this contest, but the judge will review the shortlist anonymously.

• This contest is for emerging writers only. Writers with single-author book-length work published or under contract with a major press are ineligible. We are interested in providing a platform to new writers; authors with books published by indie presses are welcome to submit unpublished work, as are self-published authors.

• International submissions are allowed, provided the work is written primarily in English.

• No translations, please.

• All submissions must be double-spaced with one-inch page margins and use 12pt Times New Roman or Garamond font.

• Excerpts from novels under contract for 2026 or 2027 are ineligible, but novels under contract from 2028 and beyond are eligible.

• The contest’s deadline is 11:59pm PST on Sunday, November 8, 2026.

• All entries are also considered for publication in New Voices.

• Every submission will receive a response by the end of March 2027. The winners will be announced in May 2027.

• AI-generated or -assisted submissions will be automatically disqualified.

• Friends, family, and associates of the guest judge are not eligible for this award, nor are past winners of the Novel Excerpt Contest.

Submit your entry here. 

Call for Submissions: The Dodge

Submission Guidelines

The Dodge seeks fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, visual art, and translation focused on place and environment. We’re excited by a wide range of forms and approaches, including hybrid and experimental work. We especially seek creative works that imagine a just future for the planet, and among other things, we’re interested in broadening the scope of stories, poems, and essays about nature, animals, and nonhuman life; we hope to see translations across borders, time, and space.

Given our focus on environmental justice, we’re eager to champion emerging and marginalized voices underrepresented in magazine publishing and eco-writing, including writers and artists who are Black, Indigenous, people of color, people who are trans, gender-nonconforming, and LGBTQIA+, people with disabilities, women, and others.

A note on writing about animals: We receive a lot of work focused on dogs, cats, and charismatic megafauna. Obviously, these nonhuman animals are important in our human lives, and people write great things about them, many of which we’ve published. But we’re really excited to read about other less explicable creatures as well. Eco-writing as we see it can include minerals, fungi, forests, insects, fire, etc.

Cover Letters

We encourage you to include a short cover letter with your submission with a brief biographical statement (50-200 words). If your submission is selected for publication, your bio will appear beneath your piece on our website. In your cover letter, please also let us know if you have an association with one of our editors, have corresponded with us, or have been previously published in The Dodge. Cover letters are optional for all genres except translation and visual art.

Manuscript Guidelines & Formatting

• Up to 7000 words prose, typed, double-spaced. For fiction and nonfiction, please send a single longer piece or no more than three flash pieces (under 1000 words each) at a time.

• Poetry: Up to five poems in one document. Single-space poetry is fine.

• Translations: up 7000 words prose, typed, double-spaced, or up to eight poems in one document. (Poems can be single-spaced.)

• Visual Art: Submit up to five pieces of visual art.

Please include content notes for any material in your submission for which you think readers may appreciate advance notice. Examples include: violence, sexual assault, racism, suicide, self-harm.

Mail Submissions. We take submissions online through our Submittable.

We only accept hard copy submissions from incarcerated writers and those with accessibility needs:

The Dodge, Dept. of English

The College of Wooster

1189 Beall Ave

Wooster, OH 44691  

Simultaneous Submissions. We accept simultaneous submissions, but please withdraw your piece on Submittable promptly if it is accepted elsewhere. (Exceptions may apply to visual art submissions; please contact us at:

editors@thedodgemag.com 

with your questions.) If you have submitted multiple works, send a Submittable message to tell us which works you must withdraw. We do not publish previously published work at this time.

Response Times. We aim to respond within six months. If you have not heard from us after six months, feel free to reach out. Once you have submitted work, please wait to receive a response from our editors on that submission before submitting again. Please limit your submissions to once or twice a year. If your work has been published in The Dodge, we ask that you wait twelve months from your date of publication to submit again.

Restrictions. Submissions that do not relate to the magazine’s eco themes will be declined. Readers and editors of the magazine may not submit work, and we do not consider work from the College of Wooster faculty and staff.

We do not consider submissions created with the assistance of generative AI. In our Submittable portal, submitters will be prompted to affirm that no generative AI tools were used in the creation of their work.

Deadline: Dec. 1, 2026

Call for Submissions: Whisk(e)y Tit Journal

Whisk(e)y Tit Journal

We like: Weird, devious, melancholy, smart, experimental, and playful. We aim: To publish diverse voices. To publish work that responds to the mad world around us. To publish work that’s literary, but not your usual literary fare, including SF, Horror and intelligent fantasy for adults. We dislike: Bigotry, monotony, and people who don’t read the submission guidelines. Failure to follow the guidelines is instant rejection.

We accept submissions through: Submittable. Simultaneous submissions are fine. Please let us know if work is accepted elsewhere. We retain: First North American Serial Rights. You can read more about what that means here. Only submit once per cycle. If accepted, wait one year to submit again. Please include a short bio of less than 100 words.

Manuscript: all submissions in 12pt Times New Roman, title and author’s name on every page; paginated; no space between paragraphs; standard margins; name, contact info and title on first page. Please proofread your work carefully.

Send us:

• Fiction (any genre, including literary, up to 5,000 words)
• Flash fiction (up to 600 words each—up to four flash pieces in a single submission)
• Non-fiction/memoir up to 5,000 words (travel, serious non-fiction especially; no political screeds or moronic manifestos)
• We accept one book review or author review per issue, especially about an author you love. No academic analyses. Book reviews should be under 2,000 words; author reviews up to 5,000
• Poetry: any kind at all (up to four poems)
• Hybrid genre pieces are welcome

We’ll respond within two months. If you haven’t heard from us after that time, please query.

Deadline: Nov. 1, 2026 

Submit your work here. 

Call for Submissions on Theme of "Love": Neon & Smoke

 

Annual Love Issue

Opens soon

Oct 1 – Oct 30, 2026

This call is for all our hopeless romantics. The ones who believe love can arrive in a moment and, quite frankly, those who say fuck love.
We call those folks hopelessly unromantic.
You're invited too.

We want the bliss and the heartache.
We want the erotic and the intellectual.
We want the love that saves us and the love we probably should have left alone.

We don't want black-and-white love. We want love that sits in gray. We want messy, complicated shades, and absolutely Black love.

Tell us about when the gay became straight and the straight became gay. Tell us about the ten men who boarded a rocket ship only to discover there are no women on Venus.

Give us strange love.
Give us bad luck.
Give us love that makes us cry.
Just give us love—however you understand it.

PS. We interpret love broadly. Romantic, platonic, familial, sexual, obsessive, lost, found, regretted, imagined... we could go on.

Genres

Fiction & Poetry

Publication: February 2027

What We’re Looking For

Neon & Smoke is a home for bold fiction. We’re especially drawn to: Stories that move. Not just emotionally, but narratively. Give us stakes. Give us story.

Stories that mean. The kind where a sentence lands and you need to sit with it for a second.

Stories that sound. Bold voices. Quiet voices with teeth. Characters who command attention.

Stories that blend. They might wear the clothes of genre—revenge, horror, speculative—but underneath, they’re about something deeper: grief, identity, morality, transformation.

Fresh perspectives. We elevate marginalized voices, including BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and incarcerated writers—but we welcome all voices.

Unforgettable characters. Give us flawed humans (or monsters) navigating strange, beautiful, or broken worlds.

Emotional resonance. We love stories that linger—whether from laughter, heartbreak, terror, or awe.

Emotional range. Give us sorrow and joy. Stillness and chaos. Anger, love, weirdness, release. We want fiction that reflects the full spectrum of being alive.

Clarity with depth. We value accessibility. You don’t need to write for a panel of editors. Write for the reader who feels it in their chest. 

What We’re Not Looking For

Fiction that relies on harmful stereotypes or gratuitous violence without narrative or emotional purpose

Work so abstract or insular that it leaves readers adrift—if the meaning is buried under a dozen metaphors and only visible to the writer or a lit journal editor, it’s probably not for us.

Stories that dwell in a single emotional register without transformation. We've read enough grief without movement, rage without reflection, or sorrow without spark.

Rights

For accepted work, we request First North American Serial Rights
First Online Rights

All rights revert to the author or artist upon publication. We ask for credit as the original publisher if the work appears elsewhere in the future.

We pay a flat rate for accepted fiction; poetry is unpaid.

How to Submit

• Submit your work through our online portal: Duotrope.

• Include a brief cover letter (no bio required unless you'd like to include one).

• Expect a response in 6–8 weeks, unless you’ve selected expedited review.

• We evaluate submissions holistically based on character depth, plot, pacing, genre fusion, voice, and impact.

• We can’t wait to read what you’ve been working on.

• Check out our stories to see what we like, and then bring us your best misfits.

• Because we are Neon & Smoke, half-genre/always lit.

Expect a response in 6–8 weeks, unless you’ve selected expedited review. Submissions go through our Duotrope listing.

Call for Submissions: The Offing Magazine

 

The Offing Magazine

Thanks so much for your interest, and we look forward to reading your work. Please be familiar with the magazine and our mission before you submit.

For 2026, there will be no submission fees thanks to our generous donors.

In your cover letter, we encourage you to include information that you would like us to know, such as whether, if we choose to publish it, this submission will be your first publication.

***If a department is not listed below, that means it is not currently accepting submissions.***

Please DO NOT email any submissions. We will not accept any submissions via email, only those sent through this portal.

Just a few additional things:

Upon publication, contributors will be paid a $25–$100 fee, depending on department and number/length of works published. 

All pieces should be original, and previously unpublished in any format in English.

We acquire first serial rights worldwide in English and non-exclusive anthology rights.

Simultaneous submissions are accepted; please be sure to withdraw your piece promptly if it’s accepted elsewhere.

Please don't send more than one submission per department; wait until your work is accepted or declined before submitting again.

We'll do our utmost to respond within six months, but due to the volume of submissions we receive, and the careful & collaborative nature of our review process, that may not always be possible. Thank you for your patience.

If you have any questions regarding your submission or our submissions process, please contact us at:

info@theoffingmag.com

However, please do NOT email any submissions, as they will not be considered via email, only through our submission links.

As a journal that publishes literature and art, we want to allow writers and artists to explore and critique AI explicitly. Therefore, any submitted piece created using AI must do so as part of an intentional engagement with or critique of AI and must be accompanied by or marked with explicit denotation of where and how AI was used in the piece. Otherwise, we will not generally accept AI-assisted work (including assistance for editing or “reader feedback”), unless the assistance is used due to a disability. If you submit work using this assistance, please state so explicitly in your cover letter. Any piece found to otherwise use AI without our knowledge is subject to automatic rejection or removal from The Offing.

We would like to be up front about a contributor's rights in the event that they are published at The Offing. Here is the relevant portion of the contract:

"In consideration of the above-described Work, the Contributor identified above grants to The Offing (“Publisher”) the following rights to the Work: (a) for the website, theoffingmag.com, and as a part of the archives of The Offing and (b) the non-exclusive right for use and re-use of the Contributor’s name, image, and biographical data in advertising and promotion of all Publisher’s publications in all media. Except as above, Contributor retains all other rights.

Contributor represents and warrants that (a) the Work is the Author’s original work; (b) the Work is accurate and factually correct, (c) he/she has full power to make this grant of rights, (d) that the Work contains no matter which infringes copyright, trademark or other rights, is defamatory or otherwise unlawful, invades the right of privacy or publicity, or which infringes any other proprietary right of any third parties; (e) the Work has not been previously published in English by Contributor or any third parties, except in such cases as are previously agreed to in writing by Publisher and Contributor; and (f) if the consent and permission of any third parties are required for the use of the Work described above, including persons depicted in the Work, Contributor has obtained such consent and permission in writing and will submit copies to Publisher on delivery of the Work. Contributor agrees to cite The Offing as the source of original publication if Contributor licenses the use of the Work to other publishers or publications in any media."

Submit your work here. 

Call for Submissions on Theme of "People, Places, Things!": Catalogue Zine Magazine

Catalogue Zine Environmental Magazine

People, Places, Things! is a study into the nouns and identities that are defining modern sustainability and social justice.

We want to see works on the people that have changed life as we know it, the people driving the world forward, the places that hold a special place in the public conscious or how different places and systems are more or less conducive to sustainability. We want to hear about the things in life that bring you joy, and the things that we need to do away with.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR SUBMISSION

We accept any submission type in any format. This includes, but is not limited to:

Nonfiction Fiction Audio Memoir Criticism Drama Photography Essays Graphic Novels Humor Interviews Reviews Visual Art Graphic Design Poetry Translation Research Fashion Food

in Print, Digital, Audio, Video, File, etc.

No more than 5 pages in total, and please no more than 3 works.

Please provide an email for which you will be easily contactable at.

Accepted contributors will have their work published in the upcoming issue and can also have their work featured on this website for one week. They will also receive an online or print copy of the issue they were accepted for.

YOU MUST HAVE YOUR NAME ON YOUR SUBMISSION!

We do not accept AI Generated work.

It is your responsibility to ensure your submission does not infringe any other magazine or publication's submission/publication rules.

Submissions are accepted until EOD November 30.

YOU MUST INCLUDE A COVER LETTER WITH YOUR NAME, THE TITLE OF YOUR WORK, AND YOUR EMAIL.

Please ensure your submission relates to the overall concepts of our zine (climate advocacy) and the current issue theme (currently "Lifestyle").

Simultaneous and pre-published works are accepted for all submission types.

Submit your work here. 

Call for Submissions: Common House Magazine

Submissions to our fall issue are now OPEN until November 30.

Common House accepts rolling submissions for its Fall and Winter issues:

FALL SUBMISSIONS PERIOD: August 24 to November 30

WINTER SUBMISSIONS PERIOD: December 1 to March 31

SUMMER PERIOD (Spotlight and Contest): [subscribe to our mailing list for updates]

Please ensure you review our submission guidelines before submitting. Note that submissions that do not comply with our guidelines will not be read.

I. Who can submit

We accept works from anyone, anywhere in the world. We reserve up to a quarter of each issue for uOttawa students exclusively.

We will not consider works from those who have been published within that same year. For example, those published in Fall 2024 will not be considered until Fall 2025. Summer Spotlight remains open to all uOttawa students and the summer contests open to anyone.

II. What to submit

Please submit:

1 work of prose up to 3000 words or 2–3 flash pieces up to 1000 words each

OR up to 5 poems

OR up to 5 works of art or photographs

OR audio and video submissions of up to 3 minutes

Pieces must be original and unpublished. Published pieces include those posted on personal blogs or social media. If visual art pieces have appeared publicly in galleries or personal portfolios, please indicate so in the submissions form.

We will consider excerpts from longer work, but we are unlikely to accept an excerpt that doesn’t work well on its own.

We accept simultaneous submissions, but please notify us by email:

 commonhousemag@gmail.com 

if your work has been accepted elsewhere.

We do publish genre fiction (e.g. fantasy, mystery, etc.) but generally lean towards literary fiction. We recommend scrolling through a few of our previous issues before submitting to know whether we're a good fit for your piece.

III. How to submit

Please only submit through our Google Forms. Submissions sent via email will not be considered. If there is something wrong with the link, please contact us, and we will get it up and running as soon as possible.

Please submit your piece(s) as a:​

Word document (.doc or .docx) or PDF (.pdf) for written work

PNG file for art and photography

MP3 file for audio

MP4 file for video​

Name your document: LastName_Title and include all pieces in a single document. The inclusion of additional information such as full name, bio, address, or artist's statement violates this guideline.

Use 1.5 spaced, 12-pt plain text font such as Times New Roman unless font is used as a creative visual element in the piece.

​If your work does not fit into one of our five main genres—poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, visual art, or multimedia work—simply choose the genre you feel fits best.

IV. After submitting

Our response time is 1–4 months. Feel free to inquire by email about the status of your submission after 4 months have passed.

Monetary compensation has been offered in the past for our summer contest winners due to successful fundraising during the academic year. Compensation is currently unavailable for contributors to our seasonal issues. Common House is an entirely volunteer-run operation; as we continue to grow, we hope to be able to compensate contributors in the future.

Submit your work here. 

Statement about the use of AI:

We at Common House celebrate the originality of human thought and creativity. We support authors, poets, and works that make readers feel connected to a broader humanity. The use of AI betrays these values and contributes to dangerous developments against ingenuity, critical thought, and the natural world. We prohibit submissions that have been written with the use of AI tools, and have updated our contractual materials to reflect this policy.

Statement about diversity in our publication:

Common House is committed to representing a wide range of voices reflecting the diversity of human experience and artistic expression. While our evaluations begin anonymously, we recognize the existence of systemic and institutional barriers actively restricting underrepresented artists. Thus, at the highest stage of our vetting process, we do take personal bios into account. We strive to compile issues that remain inclusive and we hold ourselves responsible for showcasing varied perspectives representative of the vibrancy of our world.

We particularly welcome submissions from marginalized and underrepresented artists, including Black artists, Indigenous artists, artists who are people of colour, 2SLGBTQIA+ artists, artists with disabilities, as well as artists who are unpublished and/or emerging. If you are comfortable identifying yourself as one or more of the above, please indicate so on the submissions form or in your personal bio.

Writing Competition: The Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence

About the award

The Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence honors Louisiana’s revered storyteller, Ernest J. Gaines, and serves to inspire and recognize rising African-American fiction writers of excellence at a national level. The book award, initiated by donors of the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, is now in its 18th year and has become nationally recognized in its role of enhancing visibility of emerging African-American fiction writers while also expanding the audience for this literature. The annual award of a $15,000 cash prize is to support and enable the writer to focus on writing.

The Baton Rouge Area Foundation sponsors the winner’s travel to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to receive the prize at a ceremony, where the author reads an excerpt from the selected work of fiction. A reception follows. The evening is free, open to the public and attracts a diverse audience.

The literary award winner also participates in educational activities at selected area schools and after-school programs in keeping with the Gaines Award's interest in emphasizing the role of literature and arts in education. Through small creative writing workshops with the winning author, students are encouraged to pursue reading, delve into their own creativity, and to consider becoming an author.

Criteria and Submission:

To enter a published book or galley for review, send the completed REGISTRATION FORM and EIGHT (8) copies to:

Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence
c/o Baton Rouge Area Foundation
451 North St., Suite LL 100
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70801

Non-winning entries will be donated to an area nonprofit. Ineligible entries will not be returned.

The Literary Award, initiated by donors of the Baton Rouge Area Foundation to honor Mr. Gaines, is designed to inspire and recognize rising African-American writers of excellence as they work to achieve the literary heights for which Ernest J. Gaines is known.

Entries will be accepted through October 31, 2026.

 

Criteria for the 19th Annual Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence:

A work of fiction (novel or collection of short stories) that is published between January 1, 2026 and December 31, 2026. Galleys for a 2026 publication are also accepted.

 

The nominee must be a rising author, not yet widely recognized for their work. 

 

Author must be an African-American U.S. citizen.

 

Self-published books will not be accepted. Self-published defined as publishing one's work independently and at one's own expense.

 

Emailed entries will not be accepted.

 

The winning author must be willing to attend the award ceremony in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 2027 and participate in media and educational outreach activities during that week.
TIMELINE:

 

April 1, 2026 – October 31, 2025 Eligible entries for the 19th Annual Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence will be accepted. See eligibility criteria and submission instructions above. All entries for the book award will receive written notification of receipt.

Spring 2027 – The winner will be selected by a national panel of judges. The judges reserve the right not to issue the award if they feel the selection pool lacks an acceptable candidate. Once the winner is selected, written notification will be sent to all eligible entries.

2027 – The 19th Annual Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence Ceremony will take place in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

 

For additional information, please email:

 

gainesaward@braf.org

Webinar: Five Elements of Plot

 Please join me this Thursday for my webinar on the Five Elements of Plot (1:30 p.m. EDT) You can sign up here:

Do you know what an inciting incident is or how to raise the stakes for your characters? On Thursday, Jeanne Lyet Gassman Author will reveal the elements of plot that will make your story engaging for readers.

https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/webinars/c/e/2366...

 

Call for Submissions: REVOLUTE

 

We accept submissions from September 15 to November 15th.

REVOLUTE is a literary magazine of the Randolph College MFA. Submissions are accepted each year from September 15th through November 15th.

If "no open calls for submissions" appears during our submissions period, this means we have capped submissions. Check back, as we may reopen...

General Guidelines

Revolute reads poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and microreview submissions during one submission period each fall. We encourage submissions from marginalized voices. We do not tolerate that promotes racism, bigotry, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, or harmful stereotypes and viewpoints.

For prose, send 1 story (or flash fiction) or 1 essay per submission, up to 6,000 words. For poetry, send up to 3 poems. We also welcome poetry comics, photo poems, video poems, erasures, etc. For micro book reviews, please send 1 review of 300 words or less. We welcome reviews of new and underappreciated work.

Revolute pays $50 per accepted work of fiction, nonfiction, micro book review and per acceptance of up to three poems.

Simultaneous submissions are welcome. Please notify on Submittable immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere.

Graduates of Randolph MFA may submit five years after graduating from the program. For Microreviews, there is no wait period.

Previously published work will not be considered. Contributors retain all rights but are asked to acknowledge Revolute as first publisher if the work appears in books, anthologies, or elsewhere. Please submit once per reading period. Response times will vary between 1-3 months.

Feel free to email:

revolute (at) randolphcollege (dot) edu (Change (at) to @ and (dot) to . )

with any questions. We are a seasonal MFA publication, so response times vary, especially over the summer.

Thank you for sharing your work with us!

- The Revolute Team

Submit your work here. 

Call for Submissions: Peatsmoke Journal

 

Peatsmoke Journal 

We’re open for submission in all genres until September 30th. We’re so excited to kick off the fall with your words and artwork.

We accept previously unpublished poetry, fiction, flash, and nonfiction. Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please let us know right away if your work is accepted elsewhere. You can include a cover letter full of amusing tidbits about you or of fascinating trivia you learned from a podcast recently, but we are not interested in reading a list of the journals your work has appeared in. What is important to us is that you are sending us writing that feels urgent and necessary, work that is ready to go out for a stroll in the world. As a journal, we are committed to publishing diverse voices of all kinds.

We know how nerve-wracking it can be to check your inbox every morning, hoping to hear back from a journal, so we do our best to make our turnaround time as quick as possible. We will try to respond to every submission within two months, if not sooner. Please do not send more than one submission in any genre until you have heard back from us.

Unfortunately, we will sometimes need to charge for submissions. We are a small volunteer staff with a limited budget, and this charge will cover only our costs for running Submittable. However, we want to ensure that submitting to Peatsmoke remains accessible to all. We will provide as many free submission periods as we can throughout the year. If you are submitting during a paid submission period and are unable to pay the $3 submission fee, please send us an email at:

editors@peatsmokejournal.com 

letting us know, and we will waive your submission fee. Also, we offer free submissions for marginalized writers, as it is so important to us to support the words of those who have been traditionally underrepresented in the writing community.

Big News: We are now paying contributors!

We pay $10/per piece. We wish it were more, and hopefully it will be in the future. We would love to pay a million dollars/piece, since that is how much we feel you’re worth. We will also give your work a forever home on our website, sing your praises, and always love you! We nominate for prizes and anthologies, including Pushcart, Best of the Net, and Best Small Fictions. If published with us, we ask that you give Peatsmoke First North American Serial Rights and electronic media rights to your work. The copyright reverts back to the author upon publication, but we ask that Peatsmoke be acknowledged if the work is subsequently published in book form or reprinted in another venue.

We aren't looking for particular styles or types of writing, but here are some things we consider when reading:

Fiction

We’re into fiction that explores the human condition with empathy and curiosity. We love reading fully realized characters who are pushed and challenged, and clear, carefully-crafted sentences that bring them to life. Speculative and experimental work is absolutely welcome here.

Important: One story per submission between 1,001-7,000 words.

Flash

We love flash with strong sentence-level writing and compelling images that hold a moment and explode it, taking us to unexpected depths in a small space. We're excited to receive both flash fiction and flash CNF. If it's important to you that we know the genre you're submitting, please drop us a note in your cover letter to tell us. Realism, speculative, and experimental work, or a mix of all of these, is very welcome. Feel free to get weird — we’re here for it.

Important: An individual flash should be no longer than 1000 words. You may include up to 3 pieces in your submission.

Poetry

Nothing excites us more than a stellar combination of image and sound. We’re interested in how the two collide and inform each other and the work they’re doing. Images that have energy are the best images. Sounds and forms that follow content are the best sounds and forms. We want to be able to understand what’s going on in your poem by the weight and lilt of it in our mouths. We read everything aloud. We pay attention to line breaks. If we’ve seen it before, we don’t want to publish it. Please send up to three poems of any length.

Nonfiction

We aren't looking for particular styles or types of writing, but here are some things we consider when reading: We love nonfiction pieces we can’t classify. We most admire essays that (like poetry) emphasize image, that show the process of discovery. Please send only one piece at a time between 1,500-7,000 words. If you have flash CNF, please submit it in our Flash category.

Artwork

Peatsmoke features artists in each issue, with art paired with each story and poem and displayed prominently on our main page. We are into any kind of 2-D art that appears well on a website, with the exception of comics. Send us your collage, your photography, your paintings, your drawings, your woodcuts, your etchings, your linotypes, your sand art — whatever it is, we'd love to check it out. For our consideration, please give us a submission of 5-10 images. Please send only one submission at a time, and wait until you have received a response before submitting again.

Sometimes it can take months, even up to a year, before we accept or decline, a submission, especially if we like your work. We pair art and writing, so finding a match can take time, but we realize the long wait can be frustrating. If you want an update, feel free to send our art editor, Shagufta, a message after it has been three months since you submitted. If you would like to have your submission opened for editing to replace art that was accepted elsewhere, let us know at any time.

Submit your work here. 

Writing Competition: Big Sky, Small Prose Flash Contest: Cutbank

 

Submissions Open: September 15 - October 15

Award: $500 first place prize and publication in CutBank 106. Two runners-up will be awarded $50 and publication in CutBank 106. All other submissions will be considered with submissions for the print edition of CutBank.

Guest Judge: Sherrie Flick will judge the 2026 contest. Sherrie is the author of six books, including the short story collection I Have Not Considered Consequences (Autumn House Press, 2025). She is co-editor for the Norton anthology Flash Fiction America and Senior Editor at SmokeLong Quarterly. Her work has been performed at Symphony Space for NPR’s Selected Shorts and has appeared in many journals and anthologies, including Ploughshares, New England Review, Prairie Schooner, and Flash Fiction Forward. An essay from her debut essay collection Homing: Instincts of a Rustbelt Feminist (University of Nebraska Press) was listed as notable in The Best American Essays 2023. Her most recent awards include a Creative Development Grant from The Heinz Endowments and a Writing Pittsburgh fellowship from the Creative Nonfiction Foundation.

What We're Looking For: Interesting, compelling fiction and nonfiction prose in 750 words or fewer. Lyric essays, prose poems, short essays, vignettes, hybrid work — send us your best, most dazzling short form prose.

Submission Guidelines:

Submissions will be accepted through the Submittable submission manager. Print or email submissions will not be considered. Please include a brief cover letter, biography and contact information in the form provided. Please do not include identifying information in the body of your submission.

Submissions must be previously unpublished.

Simultaneous submissions are certainly welcome, provided that you withdraw your CutBank submission immediately via Submittable if it is accepted elsewhere.

Submissions should be double spaced, no more than 750 words.

Multiple submissions are allowed with separate entry fees. Please include only one 750-word piece or multiple micro pieces totaling no more than 750 words per submission.

Submission fee of $7 includes consideration for CutBank's $500 flash prose prize and publication in the annual winter/spring issue of CutBank. Two runners-up will be awarded $50 and publication in the winter/spring issue of CutBank. All other submissions will be considered with submissions for the print edition of CutBank literary magazine.

Call for Submissions: East Jasmine Review

Mission Statement: Established in 2013, We are primarily looking for unpublished works, though we may consider previously published works (please have the rights to re-publish this, if you are not sure, contact the publisher). By submitting, you agree to give us the First Electronic Rights to print this as an online serial magazine. All rights revert to the author upon publication.

As a contributor to the East Jasmine Review, you will be given the electronic publication in .epub, .mobi, and .pdf to view your work. We ask that you refrain from distributing your work to others.

Find us on twitter

Submit online here: eastjasminereview.submittable.com/submit

 Fiction

• We do not accept multiple submissions in fiction.

• We are looking for original, unpublished fiction. Any genre is acceptable. We are looking for flash fiction and longer works of fiction. Work should be under 5000 words. We tend to like work that is a little shorter—the longer it is, the better it should be!

• We love the feeling, the “sigh,” after we read a great story that lingers for a moment to several hours.

Poetry

• Submit 1-5 poems in a single document. We do not accept multiple submissions in poetry (only one document with 1-5 poems).

• We are looking for fresh poetry of any type. We have no set aesthetic. Poetry should be previously unpublished elsewhere.

Creative Nonfiction

• Please upload only one creative nonfiction story of less than 5000 words at a time. We do not accept multiple submissions for creative nonfiction.

• We are looking for fresh, insightful creative nonfiction that tells a story—whether it is your story or a story you know well. We are also looking for beautifully told stories or events of everyday life.

Articles

• Articles should be under 4000 words. We do not accept multiple submissions for articles.

• We primarily looking for articles on the craft and art of writing in any of the three major genres. Articles can cover any sort of topic as long as it pertains to writing or the writing lifestyle. If you have a topic in mind that doesn’t fit these guidelines please query us at:

 editor@eastjasminereview.com with “Article Query” as the subject.

Reviews

• Please upload a review of no more than 1200 words.

• We are looking for insightful reviews of creative works that give us the heart of piece. Please keep your reviews professional.

Call for Flash Fiction Submissions on "Environmental Justice": Reckoning

For Reckoning’s next special issue, we are asking for environmental justice flash fiction of 1000 words or less. While we’ll take 1-1200 words, we strongly prefer things in the 500-1000 range. Outside of flash, what we specifically want are weird stories, dark stories, horror stories . . . and yet stories with some bit of hope to them, even if that hope is simply, We will persist, we will exist, we will endure. You can’t make the world a better place, after all, if you aren’t there to do the work.

We want you to take big swings. We want you to push boundaries of expectations and language. Okay, let me be real: I’m the editor, one Andrew Kozma. I like weird. I like dark. I like things I don’t know I like until I like them. Go back and read my story for Reckoning 3. Is that hopeful? I don’t know. I know it’s a blood sacrifice. What I’m saying is that I want your dirty, I want your rough, I want your jagged. I want your environmental justice in a box just waiting to be read to know if it’s alive or dead.

Payment: .15/word (US)

No reprints for this issue, please. Previously unpublished work only. Anything submitted to the special issue will also be considered for our regular issue, so please don’t resubmit. And we’re still accepting only one piece at a time per author. Once you’ve heard back, feel free to submit again!

Reading List for Inspiration:

You might start with the flash fiction that we’ve already published.

“Plastic-eating fungus caused doomsday[2][3]” by Emma Burnett in manywor(l)ds, which plays with form in an interesting way.

“I’M NOT TRYING TO SELL YOU ANYTHING AND I’M NOT TRYING TO SCAM YOU” by Jack Klausner in ergot. which isn’t really ecological, but the momentum and the dread and the weirdness of the situation are what I want.

Submissions for our flash fiction issue open now and will remain open until October 31, 2026.

Please review all our usual submission guidelines, then submit your work via our Moksha portal!

Call for Submissions: Shadow Falls Review

Shadow Falls Review is run by creative writing graduate students at the University of St. Thomas. We seek innovative poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and visual art from August 20-January 20.

General Guidelines

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. If an individual piece in your submission must be withdrawn, please email us.

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

Submission portal and specific genre guidelines here. 

Call for Submissions: Hippocampus Magazine

What do we publish in our CNF magazine?

During our regular creative nonfiction submissions periods we accept previously unpublished work in the following categories: Personal Essays, max 4,000 words. Submit here.

Flash Creative Nonfiction, max 800 words. Submit here.

Reviews, interviews, craft articles, and writing life articles by invitation/pitch to section editors; use the email address:

articles@hippocampusmagazine.com

and we will get your note to the right person.

Submission Period for Fall: Sep 1-Oct 31, 2026 

What we publish elsewhere:

Memoirs, Essay Collections, Craft Books: View our Books by Hippocampus manuscript submission guidelines.

Anthologies: Open anthology calls are also listed at our Books by Hippocampus submissions page.

What do we need from you?

Formatting Requirements: Your submission should be double-spaced and in a 12-point standard font (ex: Times/Arial/Calibri, Georgia)

Please do not include identifying information in your submitted document (the manuscript) or within the filename unless it is critical to the story; your name and contact information is automatically included with your submission so, again, you do not need it in the submitted manuscript. Why this matters: We have a concealed reading process, which means your work is judged on the work itself. Our reading panel members do not see your name, cover letter, or any other submission details: they only see the manuscript.

Other Information & Requests: Regular submissions come with a $3 submission fee. However, for those unable to cover the fee, we maintain a Submission Fund. To access the fund, contact us here.
Please only send us one piece for submission per category at a time; this means you may have a flash piece and essay for consideration at the same time. If you want to send us something else, wait until you hear from us about the first piece you sent.

Turnaround time: Please be patient. We review pieces as we receive them, and we’re all volunteers. Our typical turnaround time is 4 months for flash and up to six months for essays.

You can submit an excerpt, essay, or flash piece if you have an outstanding query with Books by Hippocampus.

We’re happy to accept simultaneous submissions, but if your piece gets accepted by someone else, please withdraw it through Submittable as soon as possible!

Take your time. We generally only publish each author once a year. We want to give everyone a chance to be heard.

Want to get in touch about an existing submission? It’s best to send an email to:

 submissions@hippocampusmagazine.com

You may also use this contact form. We can’t guarantee that if you DM us on Twitter or send a Facebook message that we’ll see it and respond.

Publishing Info & Editorial Calendar We publish 6 regular issues per year: January/February, March/April, May/June, July/August, September/October, and November/December.

New issues typically go live the Monday of first full week of the month.

Reviews, interviews, and articles typically come out the first week of each month.

What are we looking for in creative nonfiction submissions?

True tales from your life. Honesty that possesses both the situation AND the story. Intensely personal experiences that reflect universal truths about what it means to be human. Firsthand accounts from the FULL spectrum of humanity – folx from the LGBTQIA+ community, Black writers, Indigenous writers, and writers of Color, disabled writers, writers of all ages, genders, backgrounds, experiences, lifestyles, and identities.

About our reading process: we generally read submissions in the order received and we use a concealed reading process; this means that our reading panel does not see a name or cover letter. The work is read and considered independent of identifying information and author bio.

What isn’t right for us?

Story pitches. Fiction, poetry, academic works, editorials, social/political commentary, satire, criticism. Timely pieces responding to a current event. Pieces that require special formatting/coding, including pieces that use footnotes/subscript. Pieces that are prescriptive or come with a lesson. Pieces that undermine, judge, marginalize, or “other” the voices and experiences of different individuals or communities.

Hippocampus Magazine is rooted in human truth and authenticity; we do not publish creative work that has used generative AI. We want work written by YOU.

Please note that we also do not solicit essays, and we do not accept essay placements from PR agencies. Everything we do comes through our standard queue, and all submissions are treated equally.

What will you get out of publishing with us?

Hippocampus runs on volunteer energy, submission fees, and generous support from our Friends. We also believe that writing should be valued, and the labor of writers should be compensated.

We offer a $40 honorarium to authors who publish memoir/personal essays and flash nonfiction with us. Honoraria are paid via PayPal or Venmo within about 90 days of publication.

Writers who contribute to our book reviews, interviews, and craft & writing life columns are considered volunteer contributors and are not compensated.

All pieces are shared via our social channels (Facebook, Threads, Instagram, X/Twitter, BlueSky, etc.) after publication.

Call for Submissions on Theme of "Migrations": Bellevue Literary Review

Bellevue Literary Review seeks high-caliber, unpublished work, broadly and creatively related to our themes of health, healing, illness, the mind, and the body. We encourage you to read BLR before you submit.

BLR submissions are open from September 1 through December 31, 2026, for a special theme issue, as well as for our general themes of health, illness, and healing. We can’t wait to read your work!
Learn more about the upcoming theme issue on Migrations. 

Fiction and Nonfiction:
Word max is 5,000 words (though most of our published prose is in the range of 2,000-4,000 words)

Fiction: We seek character-driven fiction with original voices and strong settings. We do not publish genre fiction (romance, sci-fi, horror). We have only occasionally published flash fiction. While we are always interested in creative explorations in style, we do lean toward classic short stories.

Nonfiction: We are looking for essays that reach beyond the standard ‘illness narrative’ to develop a topic in an engaging and original manner. (Please, no academic discourses or works with footnotes.)

Poetry:
You may submit up to three poems as one submission. Each poem should be on a separate page within a single document. Poems can be of any length, though shorter poems allow us to include more poets in our pages.

We encourage poems that are accessible to a wide audience. Characteristics we look for are vivid writing, compelling voice, and rendering the familiar new.

All submissions must be previously unpublished. For BLR, “published work” means published in print in North America, or published on the Internet in electronic journals, e-zines, academic websites, and other “public” or “official” websites. Works posted on personal blogs or websites will be considered on a case-by-case basis. We ask that authors be honest about web postings. If a work is discovered to have been posted or published elsewhere—and not openly acknowledged by the author in advance—we will remove it from consideration.

We happily consider simultaneous submissions, but please inform us immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere.

We strive to evaluate each submission on its own terms; kindly omit identifying information on your manuscript.

By submitting, authors affirm that the work submitted is their own original writing, has not been previously published, and was not created or materially shaped by generative artificial intelligence tools,(i.e., using AI tools to draft, generate, or revise the work).

BLR acquires First North American rights, and the right to reprint in anthologies and online. After publication, all other rights revert to the author and the work may be reprinted as long as appropriate acknowledgement to BLR is made.

BLR has two reading periods: Spring (March 1 to July 1) and Fall (September 1 to December 31). During both periods, we accept general submissions.

The annual BLR Prizes are open during the Spring reading period (please click here for more info on the prizes).

During the Fall reading period, we often have a call for submissions on a specific theme, while continuing to accept submissions for our general themes of health, illness, and healing.

We strive to provide several reviewers for each manuscript and kindly ask your patience in this necessarily slow process. But if you have not heard from us within five months, feel free to inquire about your manuscript by emailing:

info@BLReview.org 

There is a $5 fee per general submission, which is waived for current subscribers. If you are not a current subscriber, you can subscribe when you submit your work and take advantage of free submission.

These fees help BLR fund publication and programming, including our commitment to paying contributors and providing a wide range of free events. If the submission fee is a hardship for you, please contact us to inquire about a fee waiver for general submissions.

BLR pays our published authors $75 for poetry and $150 for prose. Authors will receive two of the issue in which their work appears, plus an additional 1-year subscription to BLR. There is an author discount for purchasing extra copies.

Submit your work here.

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.

---

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.