After taking September off, I’m finally back with a quick list of a dozen opportunities for writers. But really, this short list is the tip of the iceberg considering how many excellent journals have opened their reading periods this fall. Good luck sending your work out.
Subtropics
Subtropics seeks fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from established and emerging authors. We ask that you submit only one story, essay, or group of poems (please send no more than four poems in any one batch) at a time, and wait until you have heard from us before sending another.
http://subtropics.english.ufl.edu/index.php/submissions/
The Rappahannock Review
The Rappahannock Review, an online literary journal published through the University of Mary Washington, is currently accepting submissions in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction from established and emerging writers. We’re currently reading for our Fall 2019 Issue 7.1, which will be published in December, and we’d love to consider your work. For poetry, submit up to five poems. For fiction and nonfiction, submit one longer piece or up to three flash pieces. Submissions will remain open until October 20, 2019.
https://rappahannockreview.submittable.com/submit/
Galileo Press
Galileo Press is having a 3-week open reading splash to add to its 2020-21 catalogue. Submit a full-length collection of poems, essays, stories, novella, novel, or hybrid (with exception to 4-colour art / text hybrids). There is also a separate chapbook call. Unlike our late Spring reading period, manuscripts should be buttoned up and ready to sail. We are seeking: vivid imagery and the balance of abstract to concrete imagery, the capacity to surprise, an elastic syntax, pace, and music, thematic cohesiveness and the emotional range and maturity, deft handling of highly charged emotion, use of wit, humor, and self-implication, choice and use of extended metaphor, skillfully juxtaposing the micro and the macro, and more. Please include a brief artist statement (pull back the curtain with one or two tugs). $500 upon signed contract. Standard royalties. Submit between October 3 and October 24, 2019. Please note an important change to our guidelines: an “appealing, confident voice” is no longer needed.
https://freegalileo.com/submissions/
Anti-Heroin Chic
Anti-Heroin Chic will publish a special winter issue about Loss and Grief, edited by Erica Anderson-Senter. Please send 3 to 5 poems or up to two pieces of CNF (preferably no more than 20 pages) to Erica at antiheroinchicpoetry (at) gmail (dot) com. Poems can be pasted into the body of the email or sent attached in a word document. Send up to two pieces (preferably no more than 20 pages) of micro or long form fiction to James Diaz at jamesjdiaz68 (at) gmail (dot) com. Simultaneous submissions are okay. Reprints are also okay. Submissions close on October 30, 2019.
http://heroinchic.weebly.com/blog/special-winter-issue-on-loss-grief-editorial-guidelines
Inscape
Inscape, Washburn University’s literary magazine in its 48th year of publication, seeks high-quality creative nonfiction, visual art, poetry, and fiction for its 2020 issue. Submissions of creative nonfiction and visual art are especially encouraged. The best submissions in each genre will receive a $100 Editors’ Choice Award and be nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Submission deadline: October 31, 2019.
https://washburn.edu/inscape/submit.html
Sunken Garden Poetry Prize
The Sunken Garden Poetry Prize is a prestigious national poetry prize for adult writers. The Sunken Garden Chapbook Poetry Prize includes a cash award of $1,000 in addition to publication by Tupelo Press, 25 copies of the winning title, a book launch, and national distribution with energetic publicity and promotion. This year’s final judge is Cornelius Easy. Submission deadline: October 31, 2019.
https://www.tupelopress.org/sunken-garden-poetry-prize/
The Larry Brown Short Story Award
Submissions are now open for the fourth annual Larry Brown Short Story Award. The winners will receive the following prizes: 1st prize $400, 2nd prize $50, and 3rd prize $50. Each prize winner will be published in the January 2020 issue of Pithead Chapel. The 2019 guest judge is Leesa Cross-Smith. The submitted story must be less than 4,000 words. There is a $10 entry fee per story. Submit by October 31, 2019.
https://pitheadchapel.com/the-larry-brown-short-story-award/
Southern Humanities Review
Southern Humanities Review is currently open for submissions of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, online fiction features, and book review pitches. SHR seeks submissions from writers in all stages of their careers, especially work from historically underrepresented voices. Fiction and nonfiction manuscripts should be no longer than 8,000 words, double-spaced. Only one piece should be submitted by the same author in a given submission period. Online fiction feature submissions should be no longer than 4,000 words. Book Review pitches should be no more than 300 words. Poets may send up to three poems per submission. Book Review pitch submissions and online fiction feature submissions are free. Submissions for all genres will be open until November 1, 2019.
http://www.southernhumanitiesreview.com/submit.html
Bateau Press Boom Poetry Chapbook Contest
Bateau Press is accepting manuscripts for the annual Boom Poetry Chapbook Contest. Winning chapbook is a handmade, hand-sewn, letter pressed work of art. Winner gets $250 plus 25 copies. Print run of 400 chaps. $14 entry fee includes a copy of the winning chapbook (or any chap in our catalogue) sent to you via USPS. Submission deadline is November 1, 2019.
https://bateaupress.org/index.php/submission-guidelines/bateau-chapbook-contests/
Unearthed
Submissions for the Fall 2019 issue of Unearthed, the literary magazine at the State University of New York’s College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF), are open until November 1, 2019. Unearthed publishes work that responds to immediacy and place, and that occupies the changes inherent in speaking to, with, and for the environment. Submissions to Unearthed are free.
https://unearthedesf.com/submissions/
San Miguel Writer’s Conference Writing Contests
The 2020 San Miguel Writer’s Conference Writing Contest is open for submissions. Submit your poetry, creative nonfiction, fiction, and Spanish short story for a chance to attend the 15th annual San Miguel Writers’ Conference free in San Miguelde Allende, Mexico, free of charge. Four writers will be awarded the entire five day “Full Conference Package” (Feb 12-16th 2020) as well as have their housing provided during the conference, and a chance to pitch to a literary agent. Submission Deadline: November 4, 2019 (Midnight CDT).
https://sanmiguelwritersconference.submittable.com/submit
Michigan Quarterly Review Special Issue on Water
This forthcoming special issue of the Michigan Quarterly Review will explore urgent, complex, and revelatory writing on water from around the world. “Not One Without: A Special Issue on Water” will explore the paradoxes of water, how at once it gives life and takes it; how it divides us along cruel lines of inequality even as it binds us. Water connects us, and our planet, to our origins and to an indivisible fate. We are seeking work that addresses any aspect of water: from the contested oil pipeline beneath the Straits of Mackinac to water shut-offs in Cape Town; from flooding in the Midwest to water scarcity in India and the Sahel; from the role of water in regional and global conflict and migration to the way that storm surges and shifting coastlines are forcing us to rethink the shapes of urban centers. We are looking for pieces that consider water through the lens of history and of contemporary geopolitics, and are excited to receive submissions that consider water through mythology, religion, and art history. We welcome a range of genres, including nonfiction, fiction, poetry, drama, translations, and pieces that don’t fit into a neat category. MQR is also open for general submissions in poetry, essay, fiction, translations, reviews, and interviews until December 15, 2019.
Denton Loving 