Happy New Year. It seems as though we have a ways to go before we escape the shadow of 2020. But the new year is really here, and I want to embrace that certain feeling of optimism that comes from the change of calendars. In that spirit, I offer you 12 submission opportunities for this month.
Last month, Bill Griffin contacted me to share his unique and super thorough submission calendar. If you struggle to keep track of so many different journals and when they do and don’t accept submissions, you’ll want to check out the pdf document on Bill’s page, here: https://griffinpoetry.com/2020/11/18/poetry-submissions-calendar/griffin-submissions-calendar-2020-11/?unapproved=59650&moderation-hash=e5c05a1237c73e68ffcfc085aef83a9b#comment-59650 (Thank you, Bill!)
StorySouth
StorySouth accepts unsolicited submissions of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction through January 15, 2021. Authors should limit submissions to 3-5 poems, one story, or one essay. There are no word limits on submissions. Long pieces are encouraged. Please make only one submission in a single genre per reading period. Response time is approximately 2-6 months.
http://storysouth.com/submissions/
Gigantic Sequins
Gigantic Sequins is a print literary arts journal whose issues come out twice a year. Twice a year, we read submissions for these issues. When our current issue debuts, we select a few pieces from the most recent past issue to publish online. Submit 3-5 previously unpublished poems, or either one long (up to 3500 words) short story/novel excerpt or up to 3 short (1000 words each) pieces of flash fiction/micro fiction. Essays may go as long as 4000 words. Deadline: January 16, 2021.
https://giganticsequins.submittable.com/submit
10th Annual Zocalo Public Square Poetry Prize
Zócalo is accepting submissions for the 10th annual Zócalo Public Square Poetry Prize, awarded to a U.S. poet whose poem best evokes a connection to place. “Place” may be interpreted in many ways, be it of historical, cultural, political, or personal importance; the landscape may also be literal, imaginary, or metaphorical. The deadline for entries will close on January 29, 2021. Send up to three poems to enter. There’s no submission/entry fee.
https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/2020/09/04/zocalo-public-square-is-accepting-entries-for-its-ninth-annual-poetry-prize-2/inquiries/prizes/
The Rumpus
We welcome essay submissions between 1500-4000 words in length. In addition to personal narrative-driven essays we are interested in non-traditional forms of nonfiction. Essays should explore issues and ideas with depth and breadth, illuminating a larger cultural context or human struggle. Regardless of topic, we are looking for well-crafted sentences, a clear voice, vivid scenes, dramatic arc, reflection, thematic build, and attention to the musicality of prose. Our Rumpus Original Poetry reading period is from January 15 through January 31, 2021.
https://therumpus.net/about-4/?mc_cid=0aaa00764e&mc_eid=508eb4b613#WritersGuidelines
Ecotone
Ecotone, the literary magazine dedicated to reimagining place, welcomes work from a wide range of voices. Our upcoming submissions windows will be open from January 26 to February 2, 2021. For Issue 30, we want to hear about gardens, be they literal or metaphorical. What do you tend? Where do you find green? We’re interested in permaculture and flower clocks, pollinators and pesticides, heirlooms and hybrids, plant poetics, the Old Farmer’s Almanac, flower reports, community gardens, food deserts, citizen science, ecological anthropology. And don’t forget seeds—seed saving, seed banks and libraries, seeds carried across seas in the lining of people’s clothing. We’d like to see more nonfiction that delves into ecology, botany, entomology; we want stories that show us the effort and reward of gardening; we do love a good flower poem, and a bee poem is not bad either. Send one prose piece of no more than 10,000 words (ca. thirty double-spaced pages). We are also interested in brief prose works (minimum 2,000 to ca. 3,000 words), one per submission. Send three to five poems at a time.
https://ecotonemagazine.org/submissions/upcoming-issues/
Good Hart Artist Residency
Located in Good Hart, Michigan. The call is now open for writers and composers/songwriters. Application deadline is February 17, 2021. We will limit the number of applications for the writer residencies to 40 applicants, so we may close the application deadline early. One- week, two-week, or three-week residencies are available depending on the program selected. Most residency time slots are two weeks long. Food is provided as well as a $500 stipend.
https://goodhartartistresidency.org/
The Puritan
Baffle us, tangle us up, or break our hearts. We’re looking for poems of any length (including sequences and long poems). Send up to four poems at a time. Feel encouraged to push boundaries with your fiction. We have diverse tastes; try us out. Length is up to you, but a story over 10,000 words will only be considered if it is of exceptional quality (and nothing over 12,000 words, please). Only send one story at a time, unless you are writing flash fiction (or stories under 500 words), in which case you can send up to three. We accept essays as pitches–no more than 250 words–or finished essays. Deadline: March 25, 2021.
http://puritan-magazine.com/submissions/
Black Moon Magazine
Black Moon is a brand-new literary magazine, and our first issue will be released in January 2021. We operate on a rolling submission basis and publish quarterly. Submissions received from January through March will be considered for our April issue. We will accept up to 3 short stories between 1,000 and 8,000 words. We will also accept up to 5 flash fiction pieces (1,000 words or less). We will accept up to 5 poems up to 5 pages each.
http://box5887.temp.domains/~blackmy8/sample-page/
Quarterly West Special Feature “100 Syllables”
Quarterly West invites submissions of pieces totaling 100 syllables or fewer (excluding the title). Whether poetry, prose, hybrid, or fragment, we’re interested in texts that offer–however fragmentary or disjointed their forms–wholenesses. Whole scenes, whole stories, whole emotions all contained within a small shell. The editors will select 21 pieces by 21 separate artists. Please send no more than five individual pieces per submission packet. Deadline April 16, 2021.
https://quarterlywest.submittable.com/submit
Puerto del Sol
Puerto del Sol accepts submissions year round but only reads from August to April. Poetry submissions are limited to five (5) poems. Prose submissions are limited to one (1) self-contained work (no excerpts), including flash prose.
https://www.puertodelsol.org/submit
South Florida Poetry Journal
We want poetry, flash fiction and essays that inspire, stimulates, evokes, emotes, shocks and surprises. We want to be transported by your words to wondrous and strange places, and familiar places that you have made new. We read year-round and publish quarterly. Send 3-5 unpublished pieces.
https://www.southfloridapoetryjournal.com/submission-guidelines.html
The London Magazine
We publish literary writing of the highest quality. We look for poetry and short fiction that startles and entertains us. Reviews, essays, memoir pieces and features should be erudite, lucid and incisive. We are obviously interested in writing that has a London focus, but not exclusively so, since London is a world city with international concerns. Non-Fiction pieces should be between 800 and 2,000 words. For Short Fiction, above all we look for elegance in style, structure and characterization. We are open to both experimental and traditional forms, although we do not normally publish genre fiction such as science fiction or fantasy writing, or erotica. Please make sure they are no more than 4,000 words in length. Poetry should display a commitment to the ultra-specificities of language, and show a refined sense of simile and metaphor. The structure should be tight and exact. Poems should be no longer than 40 lines.
https://www.thelondonmagazine.org/submission-guidelines/
Denton Loving 