Spring, or Lit Interrupted
NewPages Newsletter #226: Fresh reading, fast‑approaching deadlines, and reasons to send the work anyway
Happy Monday!
And happy what already feels like summer. We seem to have skipped right over spring weather and landed straight in unseasonable warmth—complete with thunderstorms and the return of those truly evil creatures: ticks and mosquitoes. I hope you’re staying safe out there and, if nothing else, finding a way to enjoy the sudden shift into warmer days.
With April already halfway over, you still have our special eLitPak newsletter to look forward to—but that also means there are plenty of mid‑month submission deadlines you won’t want to miss.
Now let’s jump in with some great lit and great submission opportunities.
📩 If this email gets cut off, click ‘View Entire Message’ at the bottom or head to Substack to read the full newsletter!
📰 Recommended Reading
“The Path of Needles” by Emma Bolden
The inaugural issue of Nerve to Write features three strong poems by Emma Bolden, but “The Path of Needles” lingered with me the longest. Drawing on fairy‑tale logic without softening its teeth, the poem traces a body moving from youth to grandmotherhood with a clarity that feels both strange and earned. The speaker likens the body to a stone fruit sucked clean—yet what might sound like loss becomes knowledge instead. The pit isn’t emptiness; it’s a seed.
Rather than mourning youth, the poem embraces appetite, transformation, and survival. Hunger is acknowledged without shame. Age becomes an ending the speaker is allowed to keep, not a punishment or diminishment. Bolden’s poem manages something rare: it’s whimsical without being precious, mythic without being distant, and deeply embodied all the way through.
If you’re drawn to work that reclaims inheritance, desire, and the complicated wisdom of becoming, this poem is well worth following down the path.
“How to Make Your Own Luck (Field Guide for the Fae-Adjacent)” by Isabella Nesheiwat
What if luck—good or bad—isn’t something that happens to you, but something shaped by attention and belief? Isabella Nesheiwat’s poem approaches luck less as chance and more as practice, gently setting aside faith in coin tosses and inherited superstitions in favor of intentional noticing: four‑leaf clovers, green things, the small acts of choosing what to gather and keep.
The poem offers a way to transform what looks like misfortune into something else entirely—something livable, even beautiful. It reads like a quiet instruction manual for reframing the world, especially when you’re feeling off‑balance or unlucky. A lovely piece to return to when you need a breath of optimism, like fresh air slipping in through an open window on an early spring morning.
Read the poem on The Writing Fae website.
📚 Magazine News
Even if the weather insists its already summer, new literary issues continue to bloom. Like spring growth pushing through warm soil, these magazines are fresh, vibrant, and worth lingering over. Visit the Magazine Stand to see what’s arrived.
The Lake – April 2026
This issue brings together new poetry from an international lineup of writers alongside thoughtful reviews of recent poetry collections. The issue also features One Poem Reviews, highlighting individual poems from newly published books, offering readers a broad, critically engaged snapshot of contemporary poetry.
The MacGuffin – November 2025 (Vol. 41, No. 1)
Launching its forty‑first volume, The MacGuffin blends momentum and variety, from Gregory Stump’s asemic cover art to poems by Liz Marlow, Andrew Collard, and Dixie Partridge. This issue’s prose mixes voices and forms into a richly textured, satisfying literary spread.
The Shore – Issue 29
This issue bursts into spring with poems that navigate life’s tangles while uncovering beauty in unexpected places. Featuring an expansive roster of accomplished and emerging poets alongside vibrant artwork by Adam Benedict, the issue offers lush language, emotional range, and a sense of renewal rooted in close attention.
Introducing Brown Hound Press
Brown Hound Press is a new literary magazine built on a refreshing premise: treat writers with respect, pay them well, and publish work that’s genuinely fun to read. Founded by novelist Josh Boldt, the press specializes in offbeat mystery, dark humor, southern gothic, and literary fiction, releasing one open‑access story every Thursday.
Though still young, Brown Hound Press already reaches thousands of readers and maintains a fast, transparent submission process, responding to every writer within two weeks. With weekly story deliveries, curated music pairings, and ambitious plans for print anthologies and major awards, it’s a promising new home for adventurous short fiction.
🏬 2026 National Indie Bookstore Day
🗓️ Two weeks until Indie Bookstore Day (April 25).
Independent bookstores are more than places to buy books—they’re community hubs, author launching pads, and literary lifelines. The NewPages Bookstore Guide makes it easy to find one wherever you are. Now’s a great time to check it out and start planning your bookstore day crawl.
👉 newpages.com/independent-bookstores
🖋️ Inspiration Prompt: Don’t Speak Ill of the Dead
There’s a particular kind of silence we keep around the dead. While someone is living—present, capable of being hurt, capable of responding—we hold things back. We soften. We choose our words. We decide that some truths aren’t worth the cost of saying them aloud.
And then they’re gone.
Sometimes what follows is a flood: stories that were never told, grievances carried quietly for years, a full picture of someone that only becomes visible once the person at the center of it can no longer complicate it. Suddenly others are speaking freely. Suddenly you learn things. Or maybe you’re the one finally saying them.
“The dead can’t contradict us. That’s both the freedom and the problem.”
But there’s another version too—the one where the person who died was difficult, or harmful, or simply not who they needed to be. Where grief and relief arrive together, uncomfortably. Where you don’t want to write a bitter diatribe, but you also can’t write something false. Where the honest thing isn’t cruel and isn’t kind—it’s just complicated.
What do you do with a person whose full story can never be known? What do you say when speaking ill would be true, but staying silent would be a lie?
Write, draw, collage, or create around the complexity of a life that’s beyond reach now—and what that changes about what we’re allowed to say, feel, or know.
You might choose one of these ways in:
Some directions
A character finally learns the truth about someone after they’re gone and has to decide what to do with it, alone.
A eulogy that is painfully, carefully honest. Not unkind. Just true.
A piece from the perspective of the person being talked about—the version of events only they knew.
A letter never sent, now never sendable. What does it say?
A portrait of grief and relief arriving together—not dramatic, just quiet and real.
A family where different people are telling different versions of the same person’s life. Who decides which one gets kept?
A visual piece—collage, photograph, illustration—that holds both tenderness and truth about someone without choosing between them.
Looking for more inspiration? Stop by our Weekly Roundup of Submission Opportunities for more prompts.
🌟New Books Spotlight
Alteration by Claire Ibarra follows an acclaimed fashion designer who makes the radical decision to stay in bed. What begins as rest becomes reckoning, as visitors and memories surface long‑buried truths. Witty, tender, and quietly subversive, the novel explores stillness as transformation rather than escape.
This Ground Beneath Our Feet by Emily Bright gathers two decades of poetry rooted in place, memory, and human connection. Moving from ancestral crossings to backyard gardens, these poems honor daily rituals, historical reckonings, and resilience. Bright’s work blends lyrical precision with grounded compassion across four thoughtfully structured sections.
Romances Without Words / In Solitary presents definitive new translations of Paul Verlaine’s poetry, spanning love, exile, and imprisonment. Larry Beckett restores the lyric intensity of Verlaine’s work, including the first complete English translation of the prison poems. A vital volume capturing music, longing, and rupture.
Calls, Contests, & More
Ready to submit your work or attend a literary event? We’ve got 162 opportunities waiting for you this week! With April just around the corner, there is several opportunities added to the full (paywalled) list—don’t miss out.
Below is a sampling of what you’ll find inside.
⏳Agha Shahid Ali Prize in Poetry
Deadline: April 15, 2026
Submit your poetry manuscript for a chance to win $1,000, publication with the University of Utah Press, and a public reading sponsored by the University of Utah English Department. Publication for the finalist may also be considered. The contest closes April 15, 2026. Last year’s winner was Caleb Nolen for Afterlight. This year’s judge is Abigail Chabitnoy. Enter via Submittable. Entry fee is $25. Learn more here.
Jerboa Lit 250: Mini Writing Challenge
Deadline: April 24, 2026
On April 24, 2026, at 10 pm Central, our Video Hat surfaces once more: we will draw a prompt (genre and character), and then writers will have ~48-ish hours to write us 250 words of masterful flash fiction. The Jerboa Lit Mini (registration fee of $15) offers $1,000 in prizes, with $500 going to first place, $300 to second place, and $200 to third place. Register and find more info at our website.
Tom Howard/John H. Reid Fiction & Essay Contest
Deadline: May 1, 2026
34th year, sponsored by Winning Writers, co-sponsored by Duotrope, and recommended by Reedsy. Submit published or unpublished work online to win $3,500 for the best story and $3,500 for the best essay. Ten Honorable Mentions will receive $500 each. Length limit: 6,000 words. Entry fee: $25. Top 12 entries published online. Final judge: Tamra Badgett. Deadline: May 1. Learn more here.
Cow Creek Poetry Chapbook Prize
Deadline: May 15, 2026
Submissions are now open for the 2026 Cow Creek Chapbook Prize, a national poetry chapbook contest hosted by Pittsburg State University. We welcome poetry in all styles and on all subjects. If your poems challenge and capture the imagination, we want to read them. The winning poet receives a $1,000 prize and 25 author copies of their published chapbook. Submit 15-30 pages of poetry with a $15 entry fee. Simultaneous and multiple submissions are welcome (each manuscript must be submitted separately). Individual poems may have been previously published, but the chapbook must be an original manuscript. Deadline: May 15. For full guidelines and to submit, visit our website.
Lost Kite Editions Chapbook Prize
Deadline: May 15, 2026
The Lost Kite Editions Chapbook Prize is awarded annually to a chapbook of any genre (fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, etc.). Collaborative, hybrid, and multi-genre submissions are also welcome. The winning author will receive a $1,500 award and 20 contributor copies. The winning chapbook will be published in spring, 2027. The contest will be open from April 1st to May 15th, 2026. The winning manuscript will be selected by Hanif Abdurraqib. For full guidelines and to submit, please visit the Lost Kite Editions website.
$2,000 Prize + Publication
Deadline: May 18, 2026
New Letters invites you to submit a short story, essay, or poems to the New Letters Literary Awards. Winners in each genre receive $2,000 and publication in New Letters. All entries are considered for publication and must be unpublished. Winners will be announced mid-September 2026. Essay and fiction entries may not exceed 8,000 words; poetry entries may contain one to six poems. Multiple entries are welcome. For complete guidelines, visit our website.
2026 Housatonic Book Awards
Deadline: June 15, 2026
The MFA in Creative and Professional Writing at Western Connecticut State University is currently accepting submissions for their 2026 Housatonic Book Awards. The award will be given to book-length works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry published in 2025. The award carries a $1,000 honorarium in exchange for appearing at the winter or summer residency to give a public reading and a master class with MFA students. The award also includes a $500 travel stipend and hotel stay during the residency. For more information on submission guidelines and past winners, visit: Housatonic Book Awards website.
International Voices in Creative Nonfiction Competition. Prize: $1000 and publication.
Deadline: July 1, 2026 (11:59 PM EEST)
Not all true stories get told. Yours should. Small presses have the power to make a real impact, and at Vine Leaves Press, we take that responsibility seriously. We are committed to giving underrepresented voices the opportunity to build rich, lasting literary legacies. Why? To sustain hope for a more loving, tolerant, and open world. It begins with art. That’s why we invite you to submit your manuscript to the 2027 International Voices in Creative Nonfiction Competition. Prize: $1000 and publication in 2028. Learn more here.
2027 Press 53 Award for Poetry
Deadline: July 31, 2026
First Prize $1,000, publication, and 53 copies will be awarded to an outstanding, unpublished poetry manuscript. 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 the Press 53 website.
Read ALOCASIA: A Journal of Queer Planty Writing!
Deadline: Rolling
ALOCASIA is an online literary journal of queer creative writing about plants, nature, and horticulture. Based in the United States, we publish writing from both established and emerging writers around the world in all genres. We publish traditional work, as well as the weird, erotic, explicit, and anti-colonial. Our writers are celebratory, fierce, wounded, loving, and rebellious. Come visit our garden on the web. Also, we would love to read your work, click here for submission information.
Palooka Seeks Chapbooks, Prose, Poetry, Artwork, Photography
Deadline: Year-round
Palooka is a global literary magazine of daring prose, art, photography, comics, and chapbooks drawn exclusively from unsolicited submissions. We champion underdog voices, read anonymously, and only publish what we love. Bold voices. Brave stories. Learn more.
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❧ Give Yourself Permission
To step back and let the storms arrive. To trust that lightning can spark renewal and thunder can break what’s grown stagnant through winter.
As always, keep writing words that matter.
— The NewPages Crew
