It's Looking Like a Lit Wave
NewPages Newsletter #186: Beat the Heat with Books, Mags & Writing Prompts
It’s a sweltering Monday across much of the U.S.—perfect weather to stay cool indoors with some literary inspiration. If you missed it, our June eLitPak is now available with submission opportunities, new releases, and upcoming events from The Main Street Rag, Taos Writers Conference, Consequence, #Ranger Press, HEART, About Place Journal, Birds & Muses, and New American Press.
Correction: In our last eLitPak, we mistakenly listed the New American Poetry Prize deadline extension. It’s actually the Fiction Prize that’s been extended to July 15.
Don’t forget that this is the last full week of June! Swing by our Guide to Writing Contests so you don’t miss any end-of-month deadlines and plan your submission calendar for July and beyond. Plus, don’t forget to view active Calls for Submissions so you don’t miss out on any potential publishing opportunity.
📩 If this email gets cut off, click ‘View Entire Message’ at the bottom or head to Substack to read the full newsletter!
🏬 Bookstore Updates
A great refuge in the heat of the summer, don’t forget to head to your local bookstores to cool down (maybe your local store also has a coffee shop or cafe!) and find your next great read. Not sure if there is an indie store near you? Don’t forget to check out our Guide to Indie Bookstores.
We recently added Stop & Read Books in Marfa, Texas which just opened a second location in Austin this year.
📚 In Magazine News
NewPages regularly updates our Guide to Literary Magazines, a vetted list of recommended publications, with new additions and discoveries.
Recently added this month:
Ark Review
An online literary journal focused on ecological justice, publishing fiction, poetry, and art that explore humanity’s relationship with the environment.
Dracula Beyond Stoker Magazine
A genre fiction magazine dedicated to expanding the world of Bram Stoker’s Dracula through themed issues featuring original stories inspired by its characters and lore.
Kaleidotrope
A speculative fiction magazine that blends science fiction, fantasy, horror, and the surreal, alongside poetry and artwork with a genre-bending edge.
New Flash Fiction Review
An online publication devoted to flash fiction and flash creative nonfiction, showcasing powerful storytelling in under 1,000 words.
The Pasticheur
A multimedia literary magazine that embraces pastiche, featuring a mix of poetry, prose, photography, visual art, and short film.
Temple in a City
An online literary journal for seekers and creatives, offering a reflective space for writing and art that explores what it means to be alive with care, curiosity, and renewal.
Need more issues of great literary magazines to quench your thirst? Slide into the Magazine Stand.
Posit Issue 39
In Issue 39, Posit offers a timely artistic refuge amid global unrest. Featuring evocative poetry, prose, visual art, and hybrid works, this issue invites readers to reflect, feel deeply, and imagine new paths forward. A powerful reminder of the resilience and creativity that define our shared humanity.
Consequence Volume 17.1
In Volume 17.1, Consequence explores how meaningful change often begins locally. From a doctor’s journey through Kosovo’s broken systems to acts of quiet compassion, this issue highlights the power of small kindnesses in a fractured world.
About Place Journal May 2025
The May 2025 issue of About Place Journal, “Careful/Care-full Collaboration,” explores co-creative practices rooted in care, reciprocity, and resistance to individualism. Published by the Black Earth Institute, this open-access issue invites readers to reflect on collaboration as a sacred, transformative act.
Come back to the Magazine Stand later this week to discover Hiram Poetry Review’s Spring 2025 issue.
Spotlight on Apotheca Journal: A Platform for Young Voices
In a recent interview, Apotheca Journal founder Ann Sproul shares the inspiration behind her youth-led literary magazine, which features poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and art by contributors aged 14–22. Motivated by her own early publishing experience, Sproul created Apotheca to empower young creatives and keep literature accessible. With monthly themed issues, a global contributor base, and a mission to nurture thoughtful expression, the journal is a vibrant space for the next generation of writers and artists.
📰 Read the full interview here.
📖 Program Spotlight: University of New Hampshire MFA in Writing
The University of New Hampshire’s MFA in Writing Program offers a supportive, rigorous environment for writers of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. With award-winning faculty, small class sizes, and strong mentorship, students benefit from personalized guidance and professional development. The program features assistantships, scholarships, a vibrant Writers Series, and editorial opportunities with Barnstorm. Located near the coast and cultural hubs like Portsmouth and Boston, UNH provides both creative inspiration and career preparation.
Learn more about the program here.
🔍 In Review
Nothing like getting lost in a good book to help beat the heat, right? Our reviewers are here to help you with new recommendations to build out your summer reading lists. Perhaps go check them out at your local bookstore or library to keep cool during this heatwave?
The Persians by Sanam Mahloudji
Kevin Brown reviews Sanam Mahloudji’s debut novel, a multigenerational story of Iranian women navigating identity, displacement, and family myths. As past narratives unravel, the characters confront personal truths and strained relationships. A legal case brings them together, sparking revelations in this powerful exploration of legacy, womanhood, and cultural transformation.
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn: The Rebel Girl, Democracy, and Revolution by Mary Anne Trasciatti
Eleanor J. Bader reviews Mary Anne Trasciatti’s compelling biography of Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, a fearless labor and civil liberties activist. Chronicling Flynn’s decades of organizing, resistance, and resilience, the book captures both her political legacy and personal struggles, offering a vivid portrait of a bold woman who defied repression.
In other book news, stop by the Book Stand to learn more about Arcana: The Lost Heirs and The Cobbler’s Crusaders.
✍️Inspiration Prompt: Still Astray
In the thick of summer’s heatwave, it’s easy to feel a little lost—creatively, emotionally, even existentially. There is something inhibiting and repressive about heat, isn’t there? This week, we’re leaning into that feeling with inspiration from Stray Kids’ song “Lonely St.” and its haunting refrain: “Still astray.”
To be “still astray” is to keep moving even when the path isn’t clear. It’s about wandering with purpose—or without it. It’s about being in-between: between projects, between identities, between who you were and who you’re becoming.
Prompt:
Write from the perspective of being “still astray.”
What does it mean to be lost in a world that demands direction?
Is being astray a failure—or a kind of freedom?
What do we discover when we stop trying to arrive?
Whether you’re writing poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction, let this be your invitation to explore the beauty and tension of the in-between.
🎧 Bonus inspiration: Watch the “Lonely St.” music video by Stray Kids — a visual and lyrical journey through solitude, resilience, and self-direction. And if you cannot find inspiration from the topic alone, perhaps just writing about what the music video made you feel or creating your own story based on the video.
Calls, Contests, & More
Below is a small preview of this week’s 54 writing contests, calls for submissions, and literary and writing events.
Barrow Street Poetry Prize
Deadline: June 30, 2025
The 2025 Barrow Street Poetry Contest is now open for submissions, and we are absolutely thrilled to share that this year’s judge is John Murillo. Our winner will receive $1500 and publication with Barrow Street Press. An additional manuscript will also be chosen for publication as the winner of our Editors' Prize. All entries are considered for publication. Deadline is June 30, 2025. Learn more here.
HEART Poetry Award $500.00 - Deadline June 30
Deadline: June 30, 2025
Going strong since 1986! The HEART Poetry Award is open to entries of unpublished reflective modern prose poems through June 30! $10 fee to enter up to 3 poems. Winner will be awarded $500 and publication in HEART 20 (Fall/Winter 2025). This year’s judge is Grey Held. Visit Nostalgia Press to view the judge’s bio and submit.
Sky Island Journal: Issue 32 Call for Submissions
Deadline: June 30, 2025
Sky Island Journal is an independent, international, free-access literary journal publishing the finest poetry, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction. Accomplished, well-established authors appear side-by-side with fresh, emerging voices. We provide over 150,000 readers in 154 countries with a powerful, focused, advertising-free literary experience that transports them: one that challenges them intellectually and moves them emotionally. Our average response time is 9 days, and every submission receives a respectful response detailing what we appreciated. We have a family of over 1,000 contributors, and writing we published won the Pushcart Prize and BOTN last year. Enjoy our previous issues for free at our website, and submit to Issue 32 before June 30th.
Slate Roof Press 2025 Elyse Wolf Prize $500
Deadline: June 30, 2025
Member-run Slate Roof Press, now in our 21st year, is pleased to announce the 2025 Elyse Wolf Prize for our annual poetry chapbook contest. The winner receives $500, becomes an active member of the press, and will have their chapbook published by Slate Roof. The runner up receives $100. We publish limited edition, art-quality chapbooks with letterpress covers. Winners make a 3-year commitment to Slate Roof, including monthly meetings, and share work responsibilities for many aspects of publishing. Submit no more than 28 pages of poetry. $10 reading fee; sliding scale available. Deadline June 30. Full guidelines at our website.
2026 Embracing Our Differences Exhibition Featuring
Deadline: July 1, 2025
Embracing Our Differences is seeking submissions for an outdoor exhibition featuring 50 billboard size images and original quotations created by local, national and international artists and writers reflecting the theme "embracing our differences." The exhibition will be on display mid-January through mid-April 2026 in two outdoor parks in Sarasota and Pinellas counties in Florida. Cash prizes totaling $10,000 will be awarded. Call is open to artists and writers of all ages. Quotation submissions must be 20 words or less. Learn more here.
International Voices in Creative Nonfiction Competition! Prize: $1000 and publication
Deadline: July 1, 2025 (11:59 PM EEST)
Small presses have potential for significant impact, and at Vine Leaves Press, we take this responsibility quite seriously. It is our responsibility to give marginalized groups the opportunity to establish literary legacies that feel rich and vast. Why? To sustain hope for the world to become a more loving, tolerable, and open space. It always begins with art. That is why we would love for you to enter your manuscript into the 2026 International Voices in Creative Nonfiction Competition! Prize: $1000 and publication in 2027. Learn more here.
North Street Book Prize
Deadline: July 1, 2025
11th year sponsored by Winning Writers. Submit self-published or hybrid-published books to win $10,000. Additional benefits for entrants and winners from our co-sponsors. $22,000 in total cash prizes. Eight categories. Any year of publication eligible. Entry fee: $85. Everyone who submits online can receive feedback from a judge at no extra charge. Deadline: July 1. Learn more at our website.
EXTENDED DEADLINE JULY 15: New American Fiction Prize
Extended Deadline: July 15, 2025
2025 New American Fiction Prize Extended Deadline: July 15, 2025. Winner receives $1500, publication, 25 copies, and promotional support. Send full-length fiction manuscripts of 100+ pages in any form—novels, novellas, story collections, flash fiction, and hybrids. Submit via our online submission manager. Omit identifying details from the manuscript file; editors read blind. Entry fee: $25. Simultaneous submissions encouraged—please notify us if accepted elsewhere. Final judge: Clancy Martin, author of How Not to Kill Yourself: A Portrait of the Suicidal Mind. More at our website.
Gutsy Great Novelist Page One Prize
Deadline: July 16, 2025 5PM ET
The Gutsy Great Novelist Page One Prize is awarded for an outstanding opening page of an unpublished novel. First prize is $1,000; 2nd is $500; and 3rd is $250. The prize is open internationally to anyone over 18 writing a novel in English in any genre for adult or YA readers (fiction only). Winners will be announced August 22, 2025. Learn more here.
Submissions Open for Housatonic Book Awards
Deadline: July 18, 2025
The Housatonic Book Awards are now accepting submissions of all books published in 2024. Authors or agents are welcome to submit poetry, fiction, and nonfiction manuscripts for consideration in the HBAs. All manuscripts will be reviewed by a committee and the winners will be notified in October 2025. Each award carries a $1,000 honorarium and $500 travel stipend in exchange for the author appearing at either WCSU's fall or summer writing residency. Entering a title implies the author’s willingness to attend the WCSU MFA residency to host a 2-hour workshop. We look forward to considering your work! Learn more here.
2026 Press 53 Award for Poetry
Deadline: July 31, 2025
Publication, $1,000 advance, and 53 copies will be awarded to an outstanding, unpublished poetry manuscript. If Runner-Up is also selected, publication, $500 advance, and 25 copies. Press 53 Poetry Series Editor Tom Lombardo is the only reader and judge. Prizes awarded upon publication. Deadline July 31. Winner and finalists announced by November 1. Reading fee $30. Complete information at our website.
RED WHEELBARROW POETRY PRIZE 2025: $1,000 and letterpress broadside
Deadline: July 31, 2025
RED WHEELBARROW POETRY PRIZE 2025: $1,000 for first place and a letterpress broadside, $500 for second, $250 for third. Top five published in Red Wheelbarrow Literary Magazine. Final judge is Stephen Kuusisto. Submit up to 3 original unpublished poems. $15 entry fee. Deadline: July 31. For complete guidelines, see our submissisons manager.
The Coniston Prize
Deadline: August 1, 2025
Radar Poetry is now open to submissions for the 12th annual Coniston Prize, judged by Diane Seuss! The Coniston Prize recognizes an exceptional group of poems by a woman writing in English. Any poet who identifies as a woman is eligible. The winner will receive $1,000, and up to 10 finalists will be awarded $175. The winner and finalists’ poems will also be published in the prize issue. Submit 3-5 poems via Submittable with no identifying information. Entry fee $20. Deadline: August 1. Submit now.
NOMAD Review Seeks Your Work on the Theme of "Fragility"
Deadline: August 1, 2025
The NOMAD Review (formerly NOMADartx Review) curates fresh voices in creative arts and literatures. We especially love to support emerging/underrepresented creators, and to see how different forms of creation intersect in potentially unexpected ways. June 1-August 1 of 2025, we will read submissions on any theme, but our current contest seeks submissions on the theme of "fragility." One winner in each of these six categories will be selected for a $75 prize: poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, visual arts, industry specials, and criticism/reviews/interviews. Please see our website for more detail about these categories and how to submit.
The Branches Fall 2025 Call for Submissions - VOICE
Deadline: September 13, 2025
The Branches is seeking submissions of previously unpublished written and visual work for our fall 2025 theme VOICE. We are especially interested in cultural criticism, personal essays, and book/movie discussions and also publish poetry, short fiction, art, and photography on the theme of VOICE. We recommend reading some of our previous issues (click issues on our website) to get a feel for what we publish. Give us your big ideas and small thoughts, the ways you’re interacting with and understanding the world. We love Joan Didion, C. S. Lewis, Ada Limón, Susan Sontag, Flannery O’Connor, Patti Smith, and (hopefully) you! Off-theme submissions welcome. Visit website.
Plant-Human Quarterly Seeks Poems and Essays for Upcoming Issues
Deadline: Year-round
Plant-Human Quarterly reads year-round. We seek unpublished or published poetry and essays that explore the myriad ways writers manifest their relationship to the botanical world—whether through heavily researched pieces, keen observation, or more intuitive ways of knowing—that attempt to communicate across boundaries and approach a plant’s-eye-view of the world. Send no more than 5 poems or an essay of no more than 1500 words (flash essay or essay excerpt) in a single word document. Past contributors include Ellen Bass, Forrest Gander, Kimiko Hahn, Brenda Hillman, Jane Hirshfield, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Pattiann Rogers, Scott Russell Sanders, Arthur Sze. View submission guidelines at our website.
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🌊 Until Next Time…
Thanks for riding the lit wave with us this week! Stay cool, stay curious, and keep creating. We’ll be back soon with more opportunities, inspiration, and literary discoveries.
—The NewPages Team
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