Call for Submissions on Theme of "Arts & Crafts": Last Stanza Poetry Journal

 
The theme for Last Stanza Poetry Journal, Issue #22, is Arts & Crafts. The cover is a portrait of Gertrude Jekyll, the most influential Arts & Crafts garden designer of the early 20th century. Let her inspire you to write of gardens, design, or any arts or crafts.

The deadline for submissions is September 30th, 2025.

A single $100 award will be given for an outstanding poem.

There is never a reading fee. An interview with the Editor’s Choice Award winner will be published in the same issue (optional).

Poems may be any style, but preferably non-rhyming. Submit up to three poems, each no longer than 64 lines, to:

laststanza@outlook.com

as a single Word document or within the body of an email. There is no budget for author copies, as proceeds are used to purchase copies for libraries. Published poems will be considered for a Pushcart Prize nomination. Authors retain all rights to their poems. Reprints are no longer accepted.

Last Stanza Poetry Journal is published worldwide in ebook, softcover, and color-illustrated hardcover editions. It is available primarily from Amazon, but some issues are also available via these and other sites: Barnes & Noble, Walmart, Book Depository, Blackwell, and Powell’s.

Call for Submissions: Booth

 

We are currently open to new submissions until midnight on November 30, 2025.

Our next submission period runs from January 1, 2026 until midnight, April 15, 2026.

See below for more information and happy writing!

General Submission FAQs

Q:What do you pay your writers?

A: We pay $50, regardless of length. This will be issued via Paypal after the online publication of your work.

Q: What kind of stuff can I send?
A: Poetry, fiction, nonfiction, comics, lists, and audio files. Especially the last four. We want more of those.

Q: Simultaneous submissions okay?
A: You bet. But you should know that if your work is accepted elsewhere and you don’t bother to withdraw it from our submission manager, your name goes on the Secret Blackball Wiki shared by every lit mag editor on the planet. If you’re submitting Poetry, please add a “note” to your submission with the title of the piece you’re pulling so that we can still consider your other two submissions.

Q: How about multiple submissions? I’ll send you my whole collection, and you guys can pick which villanelle you like.
A: With poems, send up to 3 and with flash, send up to 2 of 500 words or less. With everything else, just send one thing at a time, please. If we kick it back, you can send us something else right away.

Q: If accepted, will my work go into the print issue?
Maybe. We publish around 48 pieces a year online. Twice a year we design and release print issues, which are curated from material that appeared on the web .

Q: Do you take submissions during the summer?
A: We are open to new submissions from September through half of April, with a December, coming-up-for-air break. We continue to read existing submissions from April to June. Once July hits, we put our brains in the chest freezer so we can pursue other interests.* Look for our contests, though! We don’t run them every summer, but we always post in advance of opening.

Q: What is your acceptance rate?
A: Our acceptance rate is typically around 1% or lower.

Q: How much can I submit?
A: Depends on the category:Poetry: up to 3 poems
Fiction or Creative Nonfiction: up to 7,500 words
Flash: up to 2 flash pieces of 500 words or less
Comics: up to 20 pages, JPEG, width: 850-900px, Landscape preferred
Audio: up to eight minutes of content

Q: Is it cool if I just send you an email with my work, or mail you a hard copy?
A: Sorry, no. We have a workflow and reading teams and a process.

Q: How many submissions do you receive?
A: Through our reading period, we typically receive around 3,000 submissions, an average of around 15 per day.

*Wiffle ball, naps, reading comics books, and naps while reading comic books.

Submission Fee: $3.00 

Submit your work here.

Call for Submissions: A Short Story, Long

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. 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 I am paying both writer and artist $100. (Becoming a paid subscriber helps pay contributors!) 

Deadline: Oct. 1, 2025

Submit your work here. 

Call for Submissions and Writing Competitions: Tampa Review

 

Tampa Review is the faculty-edited literary journal of The University of Tampa. We publish two print issues a year and also publish complementary work on our blog. Our editorial staff considers submissions between September 1 and December 31 each year for publication in print or online during the following year.

Please read our publication ethics statement before submitting and note that we follow COPE Guidelines on AI usage: “Authors who use AI tools in the writing of a manuscript, production of images or graphical elements of the paper, or in the collection and analysis of data, must be transparent in disclosing in the Materials and Methods (or similar section) of the paper how the AI tool was used and which tool was used. Authors are fully responsible for the content of their manuscript, even those parts produced by an AI tool, and are thus liable for any breach of publication ethics.”

We consider submissions made online through Submittable only. There is a small processing fee ($3 for poetry; $4 for prose) for online submissions.

Tampa Review is open for submissions September 1 – December 31, including for the Danahy Fiction Prize and Richard Mathews Poetry Prize.

Our payment for work accepted for the print edition of the journal is ten dollars per published page for both prose and poetry (payable upon publication), together with one free copy of the issue in which the work(s) appears, and a 40% discount on any additional copies you may wish to purchase. International authors will receive a digital issue.

Please note that prize entries appear as categories distinct from general poetry or fiction.

Call for Submissions: Indiana Review

 

Indiana Review accepts general submissions of unpublished fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from February 1–March 31 and from September 1–October 31. Send us your best "carefully strange" work!

Please view our full guidelines and submit on Submittable.

We do not accept unsolicited email submissions. We do not accept submissions of artwork nor book reviews.

We strongly encourage you to submit through Submittable. If you are unable to do so, you may mail your manuscript to our office at:

Indiana Review 

1020 E. Kirkwood Ave.

Bloomington, IN 47405

All mailed submissions should include a self-addressed, stamped envelope and a check with the $3 submission fee made out to Indiana University. We welcome no-fee submissions from incarcerated writers.

We cannot consider work from anyone currently or recently affiliated with Indiana University, which includes those who have studied at or worked for IU in the past 4 years.

If our submission fee presents a hardship to you for any reason, please email us at:

inreview@iu.edu

to request a fee waiver.

Publishing Details

Indiana Review is published biannually, usually in May and December. We publish about 6–8 stories, 40–60 pages of poetry, and 4–6 nonfiction pieces per issue, as well as occasional art inserts and special folios. We are able to accept less than half of 1% of work submitted. Payment for publication is $5.00 per page ($25.00 minimum) and two contributor copies of the issue in which the work appears. Rights revert to author upon publication, but we ask that Indiana Review be credited if the work is republished elsewhere.

Withdrawing a Submission

If you have submitted a simultaneous submission that is accepted elsewhere or have another reason to withdraw your submission, please withdraw through Submittable. If you need to withdraw a single work from a submission containing multiple pieces, please use Submittable's "Message" feature to send us a message detailing which piece(s) should be withdrawn. We are unable to refund submission fees in the event of a withdrawal.

Call for Submissions: Four Way Review

 

Four Way Review accepts poetry and fiction from both established and emerging authors. We look for work that demonstrates fine attention to craft while retaining a powerful and compelling voice. We want writing that showcases the imagination's unique ability to refine the raw materials of human experience.

We encourage submissions from diverse voices.

Unsolicited submissions are considered year-round. Before submitting, please see our latest issue and ensure your work is a good fit. Please wait to hear back from us before submitting again.

We accept .pdf (preferred), .doc, and .docx. You may also include a cover letter with your contact information and a brief bio in the "comments" box. Simultaneous submissions are welcome, but please note this in your cover letter and let us know immediately if a piece is accepted somewhere else. Due to a high volume of submissions, we cannot respond individually to withdrawal requests.

In order to offer our writers a small honorarium, we now charge a small submission fee of $3 for part of the year. In January, April, August and November, all submissions are fee-free. During these months, we might close submissions for one or more genres, should the submission maximum be reached. This is done to ensure that our readers are able to read and respond to each submission in a timely manner.

Poetry

— We are interested in all styles and forms of poetry.

— We ask that writers submit poetry no more than three times per year, with three to five poems in a single submission.

— Please email us to withdraw individual poems.

Fiction

— We're looking for finished stories that are both whole and surprising.

— Keep longer submissions below 6,000 words. Submit only one piece at a time and no more than three pieces a year.

— Short shorts should be under 1,000 words. You may submit up to three flash pieces in one submission.

Translation

— We are interested in all styles and forms of writing in translation.

— We ask that writers submit work no more than three times a year, adhering to our guidelines for poetry, fiction and nonfiction (i.e., no more than three to five poems in a single submission and keeping prose below 6,000 words).
— If possible, please include the original piece with your translated submission.

— Please confirm that you have obtained permission, either from author or rights holder, to publish the translation.

Creative Nonfiction

— We're looking for pieces that surprise us, pieces that push at the corners of the form.

— Keep longer submissions below 6,000 words. Submit only one piece at a time and no more than three pieces a year.

— We do accept flash nonfiction. These should be under 1,000 words. You may submit up to three flash pieces in one submission.

All submissions must be previously unpublished. We request first North America serial rights for any work that we accept. All rights revert to the author upon publication, though we ask that you acknowledge Four Way Review if the work is published elsewhere.

You can withdraw your work using our submissions manager. To withdraw part of a submission, email us at:

fourwayreview (at) gmail [dot] com (Change (at) to @ and [dot] to . )

We try to respond within 90 days. Please note that our submissions manager is separate from the manager for Four Way Books. We will not respond to manuscript submissions.

We accept submissions through our online submissions manager. Unsolicited email submissions will be discarded unread.

THE BASICS

Submit through our Submissions Manager

Up to 5 poems or 6,000 words

We'll respond within 90 days

Call for Submissions: 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 general submissions are OPEN through December 31.

Fiction/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. Incorporate engaging and creative analysis that allows anecdotes to serve a larger purpose. (Please, no academic discourses or works with footnotes. )

• Poetry: We encourage poems that are accessible to a wide audience. Characteristics we look for are vivid writing, strong narrative, and rendering the familiar new. We encourage you to peruse back issues in our archive to get a sense of our ethos. Please submit no more than three poems. Each poem should be on a separate page within a single document.

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

Manuscripts can only be accepted electronically via Submittable.

Fiction and nonfiction should not exceed 5,000 words (double-spaced, please). Most of our published prose is in the range of 2,500-4,000 words, which allows us to publish more authors.

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.

There is a $5 fee per general submission but it’s 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 of the journal, but if it’s a hardship for you, please contact us.

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.

BLR pays $75 for poetry and $150 for prose. Published authors will receive two copies 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.

All submissions must be of previously unpublished 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.

(*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.) 

More information and submission links here.