News from NewPages
Last week NewPages released our first eLitPak newsletter of the year. The January 2023 eLitPak featured flyers from Kaleidoscope, Map Your Book from Start to Finish, John Sibley Williams, Caesura Poetry Workshop, Nova Scotia Writers Retreat, Your Personal Odyssey Writing Workshop, the National Indie Excellence Awards, Permafrost, and Our Lady of the Lake’s Online MFA & MA programs. If you missed out, you can access it online here.
It’s the last full week of January. That means next week February officially kicks off. Don’t forget to check out the NewPages Big List of Writing Contests which features vetted contests arranged by their deadlines. Start planning ahead and don’t miss out.
We have also been updating our Big List of Literary Magazines so you can find another journal to fall in love with. To help out, you can find expanded listings of some of these journals in our Guide to Literary Magazines. Plus, you can always depend on NewPages to find which journals have new issues available.
Recently featured in the NewPages Magazine Stand, find Driftwood Press’ 2023 Anthology which will officially release on March 7. This is the first release in their new annual format and brings readers double the goodness of fiction, poetry, and comics. You’ll also find dozens of thoughtful interviews. Issue 4.1 of online literary journal Club Plum features an array of characters and narrators trying to find their way in rooms and spaces. Enjoy poetry, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction from contributors around the globe in Sky Island Journal’s Winter 2023 issue.
The Winter 2022/2023 issue of Able Muse features the winners and finalists from the 2022 Able Muse Write Prize along with masterfully crafted poetry, fiction, essays, art, photography, and book reviews by Mary Jo Salter, R. S. Powers, Amy Glynn, and many more. The Summer 2022 issue of Boulevard includes the winning poems from their 2021 Poetry Contest as well as a craft interview with Joyce Carol Oates.
The Fall 2022 issue of Consequence, a journal devoted to addressing the human consequences and realities of war and geopolitical violence, features work by Tara Ballard, Ukata Edwardson, Matt Burgess, Gillon Crichton, Bashir Sakhawarz, and D.C. Lambert to just name a few contributors. Meanwhile the January 2023 issue of online journal The Lake features works by Zoe Burkett, Cara Losier Chanoine, Julian Dobson, George Franklin, D. R. James, Maren O. Mitchell, Ronald Moran, Toti O’Brien, Jennie E. Owen, and Marjory Woodfield. Last, but definitely not least, we have Quartet’s Winter 2023 issue. This journal is dedicated to featuring work by women fifty and over and will now be moving to triannual publication.
Don’t forget to stop by our Magazine Stand throughout the week to find our round-up of all journals with new issues for the month of January as well as Palooka’s latest issue and our latest New Lit on the Block feature for New Note Poetry.
Keep building up your 2023 reading lists with help from our Book Stand which features new and forthcoming titles from indie and university presses.
Released in January 2022, enjoy Minotaur Snow by Ryan Quinn Flanagan which is an “urban menagerie of very human poems.” Conor Bracken translates Jean D’Amérique’s book-length poem No Way in the Skin Without This Bloody Embrace into English. This is D’Amérique’s first book to appear in English.
Discover Max Garland’s poetry collection Into the World Again, due out in March from Holy Cow! Press, which features poems of “remembering, not only the anguish and isolation of the global pandemic. . . but also remembering as a creative or restorative force.” William Baer’s novel Advocatus Diaboli: A Novel will be released in June 2023 from Many Words Press, an imprint of Able Muse Press. This book features a murder mystery caught up in a canonization cause.
Stay tuned this week to discover even more new titles from Rooja Mohassessy, Michael Butterworth, George Choundas, Linda Lerner, plus an anthology edited by Cornelia F. Mutel and another anthology edited by Cladia Tate.
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. Mark Matorell gives his thoughts on Leon Fink’s Undoing the Liberal World Order: Progressive Ideals and Political Realities Since World War II which features examples “largely in line with the book’s thesis, but readers may legitimately ask themselves whether these cases are representative of a significant trend or the result of very specific conjectures.”
Meanwhile regular reviewer Kevin Brown sees in Alison Mariella Désir’s Running While Black: Finding Freedom in a Sport That Wasn’t Built for Us “so many other aspects of twenty-first-century life and racism in new ways.”
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 20+ 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.
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.
Third Street Review Open for Submissions
Deadline: March 24, 2023
The Third Street Review, a new quarterly literary journal, is open for submissions until March 24, 2023. We are looking for fiction, nonfiction, and creative nonfiction of under 1000 words, as well as poetry, art, and photography. We are a paying market looking for under-represented and new creators. Send us your wild, weird, uncanny and unclassifiable, or more traditional work. Situated in Laguna Beach, CA, we are literally on the edge. View website for more info.
Qua Magazine Seeks Submissions for Winter 2023 Issue
Deadline: March 5, 2023
Qua Literary and Fine Arts Magazine is a student-run publication of the University of Michigan-Flint. Founded over 50 years ago, we invite submissions of Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Poetry, Visual Arts, Photography, etc. from anyone living in the state of Michigan. No submission fees. For the Winter 2023 issue, all submissions must be made by March 5th, 2023 here. (Art by Ra-Londa Southwell, published in the Qua Winter 2022 issue)
Submit Now to Able Muse (Poetry, Fiction, Essays & More)
Deadline: July 15, 2023
Able Muse is now accepting submissions for our forthcoming issue, Winter 2023/2024. Submit poetry, fiction, essays, book reviews, art, and photography. Submission opens yearly January 1 and closes July 15. Read our guidelines and submit at our website.
About Place Journal Call for Submissions: On Rivers
Deadline: April 15, 2023
Each issue of About Place Journal, the arts publication of the Black Earth Institute, focuses on a specific theme. From February 1st to April 15th we'll be accepting submissions for our Spring 2023 issue On Rivers. Our mission: to have art address the causes of spirit, earth, and society; to protect the earth; and to build a more just and interconnected world. We publish prose, poetry, visual art, photography, video, and music which fit the current theme. More about this issue's theme and our submission guidelines at our website.
Call for Long COVID Anthology Submissions!
Deadline: March 31, 2023
Currently seeking submissions from American long-haulers who would like to contribute short stories, commentary, letters, essays or poetry. This opportunity is NOT restricted to professional or published writers! The anthology is by and for long-haulers and will serve as a historical document. We welcome marginalized and underrepresented voices. The editing team is especially interested in the following themes: Daily Reality, Community & Family, Employment/Unemployment, Support, Emotions, Isolation, Routine, Symptoms, and Mental Health. Submission Guidelines: Short stories, commentary, letters, and essays should and be 800–1500 words and poems up to two pages. One submission per person. Contributors must be 18 years of age or older and reside in the United States. More info here.
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
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.
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.
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.