News from NewPages
The older we get the faster time seems to run. How has the new year just started, and January be half over with already? Speaking of time, Driftwood Press has announced an extension to their In-House contests so you now have until January 31 to enter. Good news if you let the January 15 deadline pass you by. Don’t forget to check out new and updated submissions opportunities below!
Remember paid subscribers get early access to these opportunities, many before they go live on our site, so consider upgrading your subscription if you haven’t done so already so you don’t miss out on upcoming deadlines.
SOLRAD has become the latest journal to be featured in our New Lit on the Block series. SOLRAD: The Online Literary Magazine for Comics is a new nonprofit online literary journal dedicated to the comic arts ranging from comics criticism, original comics, essays, interviews, and promotion of small-press events and releases. Learn more here.
Speaking of literary magazines, don’t forget to stop by the Magazine Stand throughout the week to learn which journals have released a new issue or content! The Winter 2023 issue of Superpresent is available and is on the theme of “hunger.” Contributors explore food, drink, feeding, hunger, appetite, and many related peripheral matters. Stop by The Society of Classical Poets Journal website to read fresh work on an ongoing basis. Recent works include “Calendar Poems,” an essay by Margaret Coats, two different views on New Year’s Resolutions in poems by David Whippman and Evan Mantyk, two New Year’s Eve poems by Susan Jarvis Bryant, poems against birth control by Joshua C. Frank, and so much more.
The Winter 2022/23 issue of The Writing Disorder is now online and features work by Vicki Addesso, Don Donato, Jenny Falloon, Lyle Hopwood, Doug Jacquier, Ellie May Mandell, Ed Peaco, Andrew Plattner, Judy Stanigar, Phoebe Cragon, Richard Dinges, Jr., Kristen Hoggatt-Abader, Arezou Mokhtarian, Jim Murdoch, Christina E. Petrides, Brent Short, Margaret King, Yolanda Wysocki, and art by Natalie Shou. Issue 22 of Minerva Rising is a celebration of all writers they have published over the past ten years. This issue showcases writers wrestling with what it means to be women in the world with all the complexity of life.
Issue 14 of online poetry journal Under a Warm Green Linden is focused on Indigenous Ecopoetry and is guest-edited by Beatrice Szymkowiak. Explore and enjoy thirty-eight poets whose new work expands the possibilities of ecopoetics. Celebrate 10 years with Cleaver Issue 40. Besides celebrating this milestone in publication, the issue also features selections from their first ever Flash Competition judged by Meg Pokrass.
Comeback throughout the week to discover more new issues from Quartet, The Lake, Consequence, Boulevard, and Able Muse.
Looking for your next read? Dive into recent and forthcoming titles on the NewPages Book Stand. You can get your hands on these great titles that were published in the last half of 2022: Smoke & Mirrors by Donna Dallas spills torment, agony, small miracles, and a blind lust for life no matter what the cost; Herman Melville’s pioneering work of ecofiction, The Encantadas, is available with a brand-new introduction by Elizabeth Hennessy from Wild Lot Press; Buffy Aakaash’s Untangling the Knots features poetry that is like a meditation on simple tasks we all experience.
Coming soon! You can anticipate the release of Richard LeBlond’s Homesick for Nowhere. This is LeBlond’s first collection of essays and the winner of the 2022 EastOver Prize for Nonfiction. Kate Kort’s sequel to Glass, Tempered, is due out in May 2023 and explores the deadly pull of anger and how we are shaped by—and shape—the ones we love. Dennis Hinrichsen’s tenth full-length collection of poetry, Flesh-plastique, explores an array of debris fields and is due out from Green Linden Press in March 2023.
Come back during the week to find new titles by William Baer, Jean D’Amérique, Ryan Quinn Flanagan, Max Garland, and an anthology edited by Dora Malech and Laura T. Smith.
NewPages Blog
Stay caught up at our blog. There you can take in short reviews, contest & book award winners, book & literary magazine news, new issues of literary magazines, new and forthcoming titles, and cultural & political news.
Get even more reading recommendations from our reviewers. Denise Hill reviews Karen McPherson’s “To the Quick” (Southern Humanities Review v. 55 nos. 3&4) which “delivers readers as promised, to that pit inside that yearns for understanding and connection while at the same time being fully grounded in the concrete non-attachment to time.” Jennifer Martelli tackles Suzanne Frischkorn’s poetry collection Fixed Star which “braids loss and language” together.
If you’re interested in seeing your own review displayed on our blog, please check out our revised guidelines and consider submitting to NewPages today. It’s free.
Below are this week’s writing contests, calls for submissions, and literary and writing events. Enjoy 25 opportunities to get your work published or to enhance your writing craft. Paid subscribers get first and early access to these opportunities every Monday afternoon. Free subscribers receive access to these opportunities the following Monday afternoon.
Calls, Contests, & More
Here are the latest and featured calls for submissions and writing and book contests. Please note the ads featured here are paid listings. Subscribers with paid subscriptions receive early access to ads before they are posted to our site.
Calls for Submissions
Applause International Undergraduate Literary Journal Open For Submissions—Paying Venue
Deadline: February 14, 2023
Applause Issue 33: The (In)Evitable Ending. Evitable; adj. That admits of being avoided; avoidable. Applause is looking for the most interesting angles we can find as your work approaches its “evitable ending.” We begin knowing there’s an end, but the ending doesn’t have to be inevitable to satisfy the reader. Sometimes the end of “what actually happened” is really the poem, story, or essay’s beginning. Sometimes the piece decides the end. We’re looking for original poems, stories, essays, and visual art that showcases what happens when we avoid the avoidable. Imagine the ending. Avoid it. Send it to us.
Third Street Review
Deadline: Rolling
Third Street Review is a new online literary journal for flash fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, art, and photography. We are a paying market and welcome work from writers and artists from all cultural backgrounds and experience levels. For complete submission guidelines, please visit our website.
Dark Onus Press seeks Unsolicited, Micro-sized Manuscripts
Dark Onus Press is an experimental, independent publishing house which produces short volumes of poetry, short stories, flash fiction, and artwork. We are open year-round, read blindly, do not charge reading fees and do not charge you for your first batch of books if you publish with us. We are a micro-publisher of experimental work, publishing print books and ebooks. Our response time is two months. It is our mission to stay small and stay afloat for many years to come. We are self-funded and independent, intending to publish new and established authors and artists. Submissions now open. View submission guidelines.
Dark Onus Lit is seeking Submissions for Inaugural Issue
Dark Onus Lit is an experimental literary magazine which puts out micro-issues of poetry, short stories, flash fiction, audio and artwork. We are open year-round, read blindly, and do not charge reading fees. We appreciate dark-themed work. Our response time is 3 weeks. Please review our Masthead and Submission Guidelines pages for our leanings. We are looking for experimental, challenging work for our inaugural issue.
Driftwood Press — Fiction & Poetry Contests Deadlines This Month
Driftwood Press is happy to share a plethora of submission opportunities for writers and artists! Our In-House Fiction & Poetry Contests, in which every work submitted is considered for publication as winner or runner-up, is ending soon! For our yearly print anthology, we are looking for poems, short stories, comics, and visual art that will wow our readers, accepted as both contest and normal submissions. We are a paying market, and our published writers also get to take part in bespoke interviews about their work! Driftwood is also on the hunt for amazing book-length titles to grow our catalogue, so if you have a novella, poetry collection, comic collection, or graphic novel manuscript, we would love to read it! Visit us here for our Submittable page, and we encourage you to follow us on social media (@driftwoodpress) to learn about even more submission opportunities!
Heron Tree: Call for Found Poetry Submissions
Extended Deadline: February 15, 2023
Deadline extended to 15 February 2023! We are accepting found poems composed from sources published in or before 1927. We are interested in any and all approaches to found poetry construction and erased or remixed texts. Accepted poems will be published weekly on the Heron Tree website starting in February 2023 and will be included in a free, downloadable PDF volume available later in 2023. No fee. For detailed submission guidelines, visit us at our website.
Seeking Positive Stories of Sexual Intimacy after Abuse
Extended Deadline: February 28, 2023
Submit to submissions@celebrationsofhealing.com by February 28, 2023. Are you a writer and survivor of sexual abuse? Since you began your recovery, have you begun to experience moments of meaningful, joyful, sexual or sensual intimacy and exploration? Celebrations of Healing would love to hear your stories of sexual awakening and/or reawakening. We want to publish them to inspire other survivors and give hope to those who are just beginning their recovery journeys. All sexualities and genders are encouraged to submit. Stories can be published under pseudonyms to protect privacy. Deadline extended to February 28, 2023. For more information, see the Celebrations of Healing 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. Submission guidelines at our website.
Consequence Reading Period Now Open
Deadline: April 15, 2023
The reading period for Consequence Volume 15.2 is now open. As always, we are after any and all literary work or visual art that deals with the human consequences and realities of war or geopolitical violence. We are especially interested in works of translation and fiction this time around. We also strongly encourage BIPOC and people from other under-represented communities to submit. Thank you. View submission guidelines.
The New Verse News Seeks Current Events Poetry
Deadline: Year-round
Since 2005, The New Verse News has covered the news of the day with poems on issues, large and small, international and local. It relies on the submission of poems (especially those of a politically progressive bent) by writers from all over the world. The editors update the website every day with a poetic take on a current and specific headline. See the website for guidelines and examples. Then paste your non-simultaneous submission and a brief bio in the text of an email (no attachments, please) to nvneditor(at)gmail.com. Write "Verse News Submission" in the subject line of your email.
Submit to the Santa Clara Review
Deadline: February 26 at 11:59pm
The Santa Clara Review publishes a wide variety of work from all over the world. Our magazine is open to all and is especially interested in writing and art from Black writers, Indigenous writers, LGBT+ writers, and writers of color. Writers–send us your best poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction, including flash pieces, humor, satire, short screenplays and plays, and hybrid works. Visual artists–send us art to fill the 12 pages of full-color art and photography we publish each issue. For further submission guidelines and details, please visit our website.
Superpresent is Seeking Submissions on the Theme Speculation and Spectacle
Deadline: March 1, 2023
Superpresent is an art and literary magazine that is entering its third year of publication. We publish poetry, short stories, flash fiction, essays, and all forms of visual art including film and video. We are seeking compelling original work on the theme Speculation and Spectacle for our Spring 2023 issue. Please visit our website and look under Open Call for details.
Club Plum Seeks Works for April 2023 Issue
Deadline: March 31, 2023
Club Plum publishes works from award-winning writers and artists from around the world as well as works from never-before published creators. We look for beautiful and surprising writing, strange writing from small, tortured spaces, and writing that bridges the personal and political. Send us your prose poems, your flash fiction, your flash nonfiction, your lyric essays, and your dreamy art. See our guidelines at our website.
Atmosphere Press Reading Book Manuscripts in All Genres
Deadline: Rolling
Atmosphere Press currently seeks book manuscripts from diverse voices. There's no submission fee, and if your manuscript is selected, we’ll be the publisher you’ve always wanted: attentive, organized, on schedule, and professional. We use a model in which the author funds the publication of the book, but retains 100% rights, royalties, and artistic autonomy. This year Atmosphere authors have received featured reviews with Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, and Booklist, and have even appeared on a giant billboard in Times Square. Submit your book manuscript at our website.
Literary Events
Scotland Writing Immersion in Edinburgh
Deadline: March 15, 2023
Event Dates: May 21-25, 2023. A generative and adventurous writing retreat on the Royal Mile Facilitated by memoirist-novelist Carolyn Dawn Flynn and poet-writer Jona Kottler. Let a city that loves writers embrace you as you immerse yourself in Edinburgh, Scotland, for five days and four nights of inspiring craft talks, mentored support, and a vibrant writer community. For writers of fiction, creative nonfiction, screenplays, and poetry, featuring mentored craft support and vision-making as well as Muse-dates all through the writing landscape of Edinburgh. Visit our website for more info.
Story Catalyst Writing Craft Classes
Deadline: Rolling
Our writing classes are cataclysmic! We deliver classes live, virtual, and on demand, and we wrap the classes in a dynamic writer community that is intellectually rigorous, vision-powered, and emotionally supportive. All classes include a free membership in the Story Catalyst community on Mighty Networks. Access by the class or sign up for all classes in the Story Catalyst track. Membership in the Story Catalyst track includes: 10 monthly classes and First-pass access to premium classes. We don’t believe in writer’s block. We believe skills + vision = happy writers. Join our warm and welcoming community. Visit website for more info.
Writing & Book Contests
2023 Colorado Prize for Poetry
Deadline: January 19, 2023 (end of grade period)
$2,500 honorarium and book publication: Submit book-length collection of poems to the Colorado Prize for Poetry by January 14, 2023 (we will observe a 5-day grace period). $25 reading fee (add $3 to submit online) includes subscription to Colorado Review. Final judge is Felicia Zamora; friends and students (current or former) of the judge are not eligible to compete, nor are Colorado State University employees, students, or alumni. Complete guidelines at our website or Colorado Prize for Poetry, Center for Literary Publishing, 9105 Campus Delivery, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-9105.
Essay Collection Contest, judged by Maggie Nelson
Deadline: January 31, 2023
The 2022-2023 Fonograf Editions Essay Collection contest is for an author’s first or second essay collection. (If you have published more than one essay collection you are ineligible for this contest.) We are looking for innovative work that interrogates what an essay is or can be circa the 21st century. We like to be surprised. We like to be pleasantly stymied. We like directness and indirectness and everything in between. Maggie Nelson will be the final judge for the 2022-2023 Fonograf Editions Essay Collection contest. The winner will receive publication with Fonograf Editions, an honorarium of $1250, a standard royalty contract, and 20 author copies. We will announce our decision in mid- 2023. The winning book will be published in 2024. Visit website.
First Pages Prize Opens March 1st!
Deadline: April 10th (24th Extended)
First Pages Prize invites you to enter your first 5 pages of a longer work of fiction or creative nonfiction. Prizes in both fiction & creative nonfiction. Open to un-agented writers worldwide, the prize supports emerging writers with cash awards, developmental mentoring, & an agent consultation. Visit website.
Prime Number Magazine Awards for Poetry and Short Fiction
Deadline: March 31, 2023
$1,000 first prize in each category plus publication in Prime Number Magazine. Two Runners-up in each category also published in Prime Number Magazine. Reading fee $15. Poetry judged by Felicia Mitchell, author of Waltzing with Horses. Short Fiction judged by Dennis McFadden, author of Jimtown Road: A Novel in Stories, winner of the 2016 Press 53 Award for Short Fiction. Open January 1 to March 31. Submit online through Submittable. Details at the Press 53 website.
Etchings Press Contests for Novella, Prose Chapbook, and Poetry Chapbook
Deadline: January 31, 2023
Etchings Press, a student-run publisher at University of Indianapolis, welcomes submissions for its annual contests for chapbooks in poetry and in prose and a novella. Students are interested in editing and publishing authors in our region within 370 miles of campus. Mixed genre and multiple author manuscripts are welcome. UIndy students will serve as judges and choose the winners in each category. They will then edit, design, publish, and promote the two chapbooks and the novella by May, 2023. Check eligibility and read contest guidelines on our website. Deadline is Jan. 31, 2023.
Cleaver's Form & Form-Breaking Poetry Contest
Deadline: March 31, 2023
Judge: Diane Seuss. $500 First Prize; $250 Second Prize; $100 Third Prize. Deadline: March 31. Show us your poems that hold up the perfect iambic pentameter of a Shakespearean sonnet or crash it on the rocks of free verse. Show us a villanelle with textbook patterning or show us the villanelle who just crashed her car. The one requirement is that your work engages with a form of poetry; whether it gets married to that form or breaks up at the last couplet is up to you. Prizewinners will be published in Cleaver's Fall Issue, September 2023. Finalists may also be offered publication. Visit website for more information.
2023 New American Poetry Prize
Extended Deadline: February 15, 2023
2023 NEW AMERICAN POETRY PRIZE. $1,500 and book publication. Final judge: Jamaica Baldwin, author of Bone Language (forthcoming 2023). Extended deadline: February 15, 2023. Minimum length: 48 pages (no maximum). Reading fee: $25. Online submissions only, please. Complete guidelines at the New American Press website.
$1,000 Gemini Magazine Short Story Prize
Deadline: March 31, 2023
Gemini Magazine 14th Annual Short Story Contest. Winner receives $1,000 and publication for a story of any length, subject or writing style. Traditional or experimental. Second prize: $100. Three honorable mentions: $25 each. Entry fee: $8. All five winners will be published online in our June/July 2023 issue. Read previous winners and enter at the Gemini Magazine website.
Georgia Author of the Year Awards
Deadline: March 15, 2023
The Georgia Author of the Year Awards (GAYA) celebrates the best literature by Georgia writers. Published authors from or currently residing in Georgia are eligible for nomination. Awards in a variety of categories are announced and presented in June at the GAYA ceremony. We are interested in the following categories: Biography, Children's Book, Cookbook, Detective/Mystery, Essay, First Novel, LGBTQIA+, Graphic Novel, History, Inspirational, Literary Fiction, Memoir, Poetry Chapbook, Poetry Full-Length Collection, Romance, Science Fiction, Short Story Collection, Specialty Book, and Young Adult. Visit website for more info.
I-70 Review Announces the Bill Hickok Humor Award for Poetry 2023
Deadline: February 28, 2023
I-70 Review announces the Bill Hickok Humor Award for poetry. The winner receives $1,000, and the poem will appear in I-70 Review 2023. Submit one to three poems with a $15 entry fee to i70review@gmail.com. Reading period: January 1 to February 28. No submissions before January 1. Submissions will be eligible for publication in I-70 Review. The judge reader is Christopher Buckley. For more info email us at the above-stated email address. Visit website for more info.
Find more great calls, events, and contests on our website.
The NewPages Classified section is updated throughout the week giving you news and info on the latest contest and calls.