Next week is the final week of July. Hard to believe, isn’t it? August will come and it’s back to school time whether you’re starting a graduate program or undergraduate one or have kids who are heading back. While preparing for the back-to-school chaos, don’t forget to find time and write and get your work ready to submit to these opportunities. Want to work on your craft? There’s a great retreat for fiction and nonfiction writers taking place this fall.
Call for Submissions Round-up
You can view all active calls for submissions by visiting our website. Plus, if you have a young writer in your house, don’t forget you can find publications for them to submit to in our Young Writers Guide.
Book of Matches. Poetry, fiction, nonfiction, translation. No fee. Deadline: August 10, 2021.
Interim’s Fourth All Women’s Print Anthology Open to Submissions
Deadline: September 1, 2021
Interim is looking for women’s writing that explores the meaning and ethics of place in the broadest sense of the word, writing that seeks location as dwelling and indwelling simultaneously so as better to know what it means to belong somewhere. Speaking of the house, in The Poetics of Space Bachelard claims “all really inhabited space bears the essence of the notion of home.” Send poems, essays, flash fiction, and/or hybrid forms that play with notions of place for our fourth all women’s print anthology, forthcoming in December, 2021. Because we believe the truth is experimental, we’ll especially appreciate work with innovative approaches.
Club Plum. October 2021 Issue: Literary Horror. Fiction, poetry, art, cross-genre. No fee. Deadline: September 30, 2021.
Open for Submissions: Woodcrest Magazine is Reading
Deadline: December 1, 2021
Woodcrest is pleased to announce an open submission period beginning July 2021. We welcome submissions from everyone. The literary journal of Cabrini University, Woodcrest aims to publish work that is surprising, challenging, and grounded in the human experience. We want to read your submissions of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, hybrid genres, and graphic arts. Please use our Submittable page for more information about submissions: woodcrestmagazine.submittable.com/submit.
CHESTNUT REVIEW (“for stubborn artists”) Invites Submissions Year Round
Submissions accepted 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! chestnutreview.com
Palooka. Chapbooks, prose, poetry, artwork, photograph. $3 fee (mag submissions); $8 fee (chapbook submissions). Deadline: Year-round.
The American Journal of Poetry. Volume XII. Poetry. $5 fee. Deadline: Rolling.
Literary Events & Writing Programs Round-up
Looking not just to submit your writing, but perfect it? Check out this great literary event.
Lost Sierras Writing Retreat – Oct. 13-17, 2021
Deadline: September 1, 2021
Event Dates: Oct. 13-17, 2021
Event Location: Lodge at Whitehawk Ranch in the Lost Sierras near Clio, California.
A generative and restorative writing retreat at the Lodge at Whitehawk Ranch in California facilitated by Carolyn Dawn Flynn, the Story Catalyst, acclaimed novelist, memoirist, and TEDx speaker; and poet, essayist, and novelist Jona Kottler. Let the pristine forest of California’s Lost Sierras be your inspiration for this generative and restorative retreat for writers of fiction and creative nonfiction. This retreat will help you deepen and refine your work. Participants receive an extensive editorial letter and individual consultations with a mentor. The cuisine and the landscape will be sumptuous, and there will be time to write! carolynflynn.com/sierra-writing-retreat-2021/
Writing Contests Round-up
Don’t forget to check out all active contests on our website! Like to plan your submissions calendar in advance? The Big List of Writing Contests lists a variety of book, magazine, and chapbook contests by their deadline date. Plus don’t forget to go through our contests for young writers. The majority of those contests are fee-free.
2021 Red Wheelbarrow Poetry Prize Now Open for Submissions
Deadline: July 31, 2021
RED WHEELBARROW POETRY PRIZE 2021: Judged by Mark Doty. $1,000 for first place and a letterpress broadside printed by Felicia Rice of Moving Parts Press, $500 for second, $250 for third. Top five published in Red Wheelbarrow Literary Magazine. Submit up to 3 original, unpublished poems. $15 entry fee. Deadline: July 31, 2021. For complete guidelines, see Submittable.
2022 Press 53 Award for Poetry
Deadline: July 31, 2021
$1,000 and 50 copies awarded to an outstanding, unpublished collection of poems of approximately 60 to 120 pages. Open to poets 18 years of age and older who live in the US or one of its territories. Tom Lombardo, Press 53 Poetry Series Editor, will serve as judge. Press 53 will publish the winning manuscript as a Tom Lombardo Poetry Selection; all prizes will be awarded upon publication. Deadline: Midnight Eastern, July 31, 2021. Winner and finalists announced on or before November 1. Reading fee: $30. Complete information at the Press 53 website.
$500 & Publication for Fiction and Poetry
Deadline: July 31, 2021
Enter your fiction or poetry manuscript for a chance to win $500 and publication by Winter Goose Publishing. Honorable mentions may also receive publication. Submissions are being accepted from 5/1 – 7/31. ENTER TODAY before time runs out!
Driftwood Press 2021 Adrift Contests
Extended Deadline: July 31, 2021
Xu Xi is this year’s Adrift Short Story Contest Guest Judge. The winning story receives $500, ten copies of the issue in which their story appears, and a featured interview. Runner-ups receive $200, five copies, and a featured interview. All stories read for the contest are considered for publication, which means your likelihood of publication and placing in the contest is much higher. For our 2019 contest, we selected three stories to publish. Traci Brimhall heads up the Adrift Chapbook Contest this year! This contest winner will be awarded $500, a royalties contract, twenty copies of their chapbook, and an interview to be published alongside their chapbook. www.driftwoodpress.net
$1,200 Prizes in Fiction & Poetry Deadline August 20
Deadline: August 20, 2021
Submissions OPEN at Kallisto Gaia Press! Julia Darling Poetry Prize pays $1,200 and publication in The Ocotillo Review. Submit 3 poems of up to 65 lines each. $20 to play. Edward Vidaurre judges. Revenue supports Breast cancer research through the MD Anderson Foundation. Chester B. Himes Fiction Prize pays $1,200 and publication in The Ocotillo Review. Submit one story up to 4200 words. $20 to play. May Cobb judges. Revenue supports Parkinson’s Disease research through the Michael J. Fox Foundation. Deadline August 20, 2021. More info here.
Fiction Southeast. 2021 Editor’s Prize. Fiction. $10 fee. Prize: $200 and publication. Deadline: August 31, 2021.
The Puerto del Sol 2021 Prose & Poetry Contest
Deadline: September 1, 2021
Puerto del Sol will be accepting entries to our annual contest in poetry and prose between May 1 and September 1. Judges are Eileen Pollack in prose and Todd Dillard in poetry. Winners receive $500 and publication. $9 entry fee includes one-year subscription. All manuscripts entered will be considered for publication. See website for complete guidelines.
Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest
Deadline: September 30, 2021
19th year, sponsored by Winning Writers. Win $3,000 for a poem in any style and $3,000 for a poem that rhymes or has a traditional style. Total prizes: $8,000. The top two winners will also receive two-year gift certificates from our co-sponsor, Duotrope (a $100 value). Both published and unpublished work accepted. Winning entries published online. Submit two poems for one $15 entry fee. Length limit: 250 lines per poem. Judged by S. Mei Sheng Frazier. This contest is recommended by Reedsy. See past winners, advice from the judge, and submit online at winningwriters.com/tompoetrynp21.
