News from NewPages
Like to keep up-to-date on the latest contest winner announcements? Don’t forget to swing by the blog to learn who won Cleaver’s 2022 Flash Contest. Speaking of contests and submission opportunities, don’t forget that if you upgrade from a free to paid newsletter subscription, you can get early access to calls and contests before they go live on our site! Free subscribers will get full access to the latest calls and contests on the following Monday.
We sincerely thank everyone who has shown support to NewPages with a paid subscription.
Last week NewPages sent out our October eLitPak Newsletter. If you missed out on that getting delivered to your inbox, you can find it online here.
Looking for your next read? Get the latest issue updates at the NewPages Magazine Stand. Recently featured is Blue Collar Review Summer 2022 where “The contributors in this summer issue understand the growing threat of competitive corporate dominance, of fascism and war, especially in this time of climate emergency.” Enjoy an enthusiastic Editor’s Introduction of Poetry’s October 2022 issue from newly established editor Adrian Matejka along with poetry from Matejka, Alex Dimitrov, Dāshaun Washington, Martín Espada, Ruth Ellen Kocher, Yusef Komunyakaa, and many more.
If you enjoy themed publications, you’ll want to grab the Autumn 2022 issue of THEMA which features works in response to the premise “Get it over with!” Meanwhile, the New England Review Issue 43.3 has their contributors exploring the mystery of fever and illness, violence in a synagogue, or a father or mother moving into the past tense. This issue is also dedicated to the memory of Marcia Parlow Pomerance who served as their beloved managing editor from 2013 to 2021.
2023 is creeping closer and these forthcoming titles are one reason to get excited for the new year. Don’t forget you can always stop by the NewPages Book Stand during the week to find new and forthcoming titles from independent and university presses!
Coming in January 2023 is How to Maintain Eye Contact by Robert Wood Lynn. This book was the 2020 Button Poetry Chapbook Contest runner-up and is set in three sections that explore interior uncertainty, interpersonal uncertainty, and uncertainty at a larger scale. Due out in April 2023 is Robert Schechter’s The Red Ear Blows Its Nose: Poems for Children and Others. The book features illustrations by S. Frederico and dishes out hilarity, wit, wordplay, and wisdom.
Forget the six-word memoir, how about the The Six-Minute Memoir? Mary Helen Stefaniak’s collection of fifty-five short essays on life is culled from two decades’ worth of her “Alive and Well” column in the Iowa Source. Next month you can enjoy Douglas Bauer’s The Beckoning World which is set in the first quarter of the twentieth century. The book follows Earl Dunham whose weeks are comprised of six days of mining coal followed by Sundays playing baseball.
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.
In reviews, Jami Macarty covers two different titles. First off is The Fastening by Julie Doxsee who “makes a poetry of unburdening ‘that feeling / she always felt’: imperiled.” Next Macarty covers Interior Femme by Stephanie Berger which was the winner of the 2020 Betsy Joiner Flanagan Poetry Prize from Interim and published by the University of Nevada Press.
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. Over 20 opportunities available to get your work published or to enhance your craft.
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. As a NewPages subscriber you receive early access to ads before they are posted to our site.
CHESTNUT REVIEW Invites Submissions Year Round
Chestnut Review (“for stubborn artists”) invites submissions year-round of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, art, and photography. We offer free submissions for poetry (3 poems), flash fiction (<1000 words), and art/photography (20 images); $5 submissions for fiction/nonfiction (<5k words), or 4-6 poems. Published artists receive $120. Notification in <30 days or submission fee refunded. We appreciate stories in every genre we publish. All issues free online which illustrates what we have liked, but we are always ready to be surprised by the new!
LIGHT Seeks Creative Submissions: Win Prize & Publication
Deadline: November 1, 2022 by 11:59PM CST
LIGHT is calling for submissions for the second issue of the LIGHT Journal, a biannual literary journal in public health that connects, creates, and curates content for the public by the public. We are interested in learning how everyone views healing in mental health through art, letters, stories, and poetry following the pandemic and invite everyone to share their lived experiences of healing and health. There is no entry fee! Prize money (1st: $500, 2nd: $375, 3rd: $125) will be given to the top three contestants of each category. Visit our website to learn more and to submit via Submittable.
Actual Left Seeks Fiction, Nonfiction Focusing on Social Justice
Deadline: Year-round
Actual Left Publications seeks novels, novellas, memoirs, and biographies focused on social justice issues. Head to our website for submission guidelines.
Call for Submissions - great weather for MEDIA
Deadline: January 15, 2023
great weather for MEDIA seeks poetry, flash fiction, short stories, dramatic monologues, creative nonfiction, and cross-genre for our annual print anthology. Our focus is on the unpredictable and experimental. Please visit our website for guidelines. We look forward to reading your work. Visit site for full submission guidelines.
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.
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
Affordable Poetry, Publishing, & Critique Workshops
Deadline: Year-round
Caesura Poetry Workshop aims to support, inspire, educate, and energize poets of all backgrounds through affordable monthly Zoom workshops hosted by award-winning poet, editor, and writing coach John Sibley Williams. Workshops include poem analysis, active group discussion, writing prompts, and plenty of writing time. Upcoming classes include: Burning Down the Old Year: Writing Poems about the New Year (December 10, 11AM-1PM PT), two group critique classes (Fridays in January and Sundays in February), and others. Manuscript critiques and regular coaching to keep you writing and inspired also available. More information can be found here.
The Forge Writing Program: 10 Months to Writing Mastery
Deadline: December 31, 2022
Event Dates: January thru October 2023; Event Location: Virtual. At The Forge, we’ll give you the creative writing tools & training to light a fire under your writing, at a much lower cost than a traditional MFA program. You bring the fire—your love of creative writing—and we’ll help shape you into the writer you want to be: confident, keen, and committed to a writing community. In biweekly meetings and through individual mentorships, we’ll stock you with craft know-how, revision skills, and writerly habits so you can forge your literary dream. We got our MFAs so you don’t have to. Learn more at our website. Get in touch.
Apply Now for the Looking Glass Rock Writers' Conference
Deadline: December 15, 2022 Event Dates: May 18-21, 2023 Event Location: Brevard, North Carolina. Located in the mountains of western North Carolina, the May 18-21, 2023 Looking Glass Rock Writers’ Conference will explore the theme “A Sense of Place” with faculty Camille Dungy, Jamie Ford, and Margaret Renkl leading workshops on poetry, fiction, and nonfiction writing. A partnership between the Transylvania County Library and Brevard College, the annual conference consists of writing workshops for select participants and community readings by the workshop leaders. Workshops are limited to 12 participants and scholarships are available. Acceptance is competitive and based on manuscript evaluation. There is no charge to apply. For more information visit our website.
Writing & Book Contests
$1,000 + Publication: New Letters Editor's Choice Award
Deadline: October 17, 2022
The New Letters’ Editor’s Choice Award is now accepting entries for experimental work that crosses the traditional boundaries of genre and form. Enter your hybrid work—your lyric essays, prose poems, short-shorts, collages, micro-memoirs. . . whatever you’re doing that’s experimental, that defies easy categorization. The maximum word count is 8,000 and entries must be previously unpublished. The winner will receive $1,000 plus publication in New Letters. Visit the New Letters website for guidelines and to enter online via Submittable.
MAYDAY Creative Nonfiction Prize
Deadline: November 1, 2022
$1,000 award and publication. Extended Deadline: November 1, 2022. To submit, send an essay (2,000–7,500 words) exploring the theme of “Disappearance” (of people, places, things, etc.). Final judge: Darin Strauss, bestselling author of several books, including the National Book Critics Circle Award-winning memoir Half a Life and most recently the acclaimed novel The Queen of Tuesday: A Lucille Ball Story. Reading fee: $20. Online submissions only, please. Complete guidelines at the MAYDAY website
2023 Press 53 Award for Short Fiction
Deadline: December 31, 2022
2023 Press 53 Award for Short Fiction is awarded to an outstanding, unpublished collection of short stories. Reading Fee: $30. Award: $1,000 cash advance, publication, and fifty copies (35 softcover/15 hardcover). Enter: Submit online with Submittable or by mail from September 1–December 31, 2022. Press 53 short fiction editor in chief Claire V. Foxx will serve as the only judge. Winner and finalists announced by May 1, 2023; advance review copies sent to major reviewers and outlets; publication in May 2024. Complete details at Press 53's website.
Fifth Annual Open Book Prize—$1,500 and Publication
Deadline: November 1, 2022
Our fifth annual open book prize is accepting manuscripts. If you have a manuscript or know someone who does, please give us a shot. Open to any poet writing in English regardless of previous publication record, the prize seeks to represent the best contemporary writing in high-quality editions of enduring value. Prospective entrants are encouraged to familiarize themselves with Conduit, which champions originality, intelligence, irreverence, and humanity. Previously unpublished manuscripts of 48-90 pages should be submitted through our Submittable page or via the USPS. Please visit our website for details.
2023 New American Poetry Prize
Deadline: January 15, 2023
2023 NEW AMERICAN POETRY PRIZE. $1,500 and book publication. Final judge: Jamaica Baldwin, author of Bone Language (forthcoming 2023). Deadline: January 15, 2023. Minimum length: 48 pages (no maximum). Reading fee: $25. Online submissions only, please. Complete guidelines at the New American Press website.
Interim Poetics: The Test Site Poetry Prize
Deadline: December 15, 2022
Interim will choose two winning books for the series—one title publicized as the winner of The Test Site Poetry Series and the other as the Betsy Joiner Flanagan Award in Poetry. Both winners will receive $1,000 and their books will be published by the University of Nevada Press. Submit by: December 15. Visit Interim Poetics website.
A High School for Creative Writers: Win a Scholarship
Deadline: Sunday, November 6, 2022
Join a high school that values the arts and nurtures your creative writing talent. Enter the Virginia B. Ball Creative Writing Competition for the possibility of a full-tuition scholarship to attend Interlochen Arts Academy’s creative writing program. The contest is open to all students in grades 8-11 during the 2022-23 school year. Students must submit writing samples in two of the following genres: Fiction, Poetry, Spoken Word, Personal Essay/Memoir, Screenwriting, Playwriting, Comics, and Experimental/Unclassified Writing. Visit our website for more information.
Cutthroat, a Journal of the Arts 2022 Literary Contests
Deadline: November 1, 2022
August 31-November 1, 2022 Reading/Submission Period; 2022 Joy Harjo Poetry Prize, Barry Lopez Nonfiction Prize, Rick DeMarinis Short Story Prize $1300 First Prize, $300 Second Prize, Honorable Mention. Judges: Jacqueline Johnson, Poetry; Laura Pritchett, Short Story; Deborah Miranda, Nonfiction. Go to our website and submit poems and stories through our online submission manage on Contests Page. Submit up to 3 poems (100 line limit/one poem per page) or one short story or one creative nonfiction piece (5000 word limit/double spaced) in 12 point font. NO AUTHOR NAME ALLOWED ON ANY MS. $25 nonrefundable entry fee per submission. Reading Period: August 31, 2022- November 1, 2022. UNPUBLISHED WORK ONLY!
Up to $1000 for Fiction or Nonfiction Story
Deadline: November 15, 2022
Megacity Review (MCR) is currently holding its inaugural writing contest in both fiction and nonfiction. Underrepresented voices, new and existing authors, as well as people of color and their allies are encouraged to apply. MCR is a non-profit literary arts journal with a focus on the impact and influence of major cities on culture and community. The journal is distributed online and through NFT beginning in January 2023. Please visit our website for details.
Green Linden Press' Wishing Jewel Prize
Deadline: November 30, 2022
The Wishing Jewel Prize honors an innovative manuscript that challenges expectations of what a book of poems can be. Named for an essay in Anne Carson's innovative Plainwater, we seek work that questions the boundaries of genre, form, or mode while engaging the rich possibilities of lyrical expression. Winner receives $1000 and publication by Green Linden Press. All finalists are considered for publication. Deadline: November 30. $25 fee (discounts available). Visit our submissions guidelines.
Carve Magazine 2022 Prose & Poetry Contest
Deadline: November 15, 2022
Carve Magazine's Prose & Poetry Contest is open October 1 - November 15. Accepting submissions from all over the world, but work must be in English. Max 10,000 words for fiction and nonfiction; 2,000 words for poetry. Prizes: $1,000 each for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. All 3 winners published online in Spring 2023. Entry fee $17 online only. Guest judges are Maurice Ruffin for fiction; Thirii My Kyaw Myint for nonfiction; and David J. Daniels for poetry. See our site for more information.
4th Annual Short Short Story Contest to Support Literacy
Deadline: January 15, 2023
Flash Fiction Contest. Write a story using 100 words on one of four topics: dogs, ocean, umbrellas, or winter. Grand prize: $200. 6 Other Prizes: $100 including a Youth Prize for writers 14 years and younger. Publication in an e-magazine. No geographical restrictions but story must be written in English. The Contest supports Ethos Literacy, a nonprofit providing free reading, writing and ESL tutoring to adults. Fee: $12. See the ETHOS Literacy website for more info.
Find more great calls, events, and contests on our website:
Barzakh Open for Poetry, Prose, and Visual Art Submissions
Book of Matches Seeks Submissions
Textual-Sexual-Spiritual: Art and Ritual as Queer Becoming :: Rejoinder
I-70 Review Announces the Bill Hickok Humor Award for Poetry 2023
The NewPages Classified section is updated throughout the week giving you news and info on the latest contest and calls.