Deadline: June 1, 2021
Salamander‘s 2021 Fiction Contest, judged by Yiyun Li, is open for submissions from May 1-June 1. First prize is $1000 and publication; second prize is $500 and publication; all manuscripts will be considered for publication. Entry fee is $15 and includes a one-year subscription. Guidelines can be found at salamandermag.org/contests.
Salamander #51, featuring: fiction by Jinwoo Chong, Gretchen Comba, Michael O’Brien, Carol Dines, and Kanza Javed; nonfiction by Darius Stewart; an art portfolio by Angela N. Weddle; reviews by Hope Wabuke, Marcela Sulak, and Jacquelyn Pope; and poetry by Michael Bazzett, Paula Abramo tr. by Dick Cluster, Suphil Lee Park, Jennifer Jean, and more. See an extended list of contributors at the Mag Stand.
Guest Post by Regina Shumway
Salamander is a literary magazine that contains many works of poetry, fiction, and essays from a diverse collection of writers of varying backgrounds and writing styles. Issue 41 of this magazine is particularly spectacular. With themes ranging from the wonder found in the familiar to the indignity of a corpse, the works found in this issue provoke intense consideration for many different subjects and arguments.
Any type of reader is guaranteed to find a wide collection of works they will enjoy and cherish in Issue 41. A great deal of this magazine’s appeal is how each and every work requires the reader to delve deeper, often rereading the same lines over and over again to gain new, more profound meanings with each read through. If you want to broaden your horizons in the writer’s world, Salamander is a magazine worthy of your time.
Reviewer bio: Regina Shumway is an eager writer, looking to improve her skills and experience. She is currently a student at Brigham Young University in Hawaii.
Magazine Review by Katy Haas
In the early days of lockdown, I had friends comment to me that they felt almost a sense of relief. Despite the tragedies reported in the news and the uncertainty of the new world we found ourselves in, they felt like they were able to breathe for the first time—to spend days resting or creating or getting personal work done or fully focusing on their families, none of which they were able to accomplish during the busyness of everyday life.
In the Spring/Summer 2020 issue of Salamander, Anne Kilfoyle’s story “Double-Yolked” reminded me of those conversations and feelings. As narrator Keera and her husband Jesse prepare for an emergency evacuation following an unnamed global threat, she reflects:
The last three days have been good days, some of the best. We have been holding our breath but also our problems got smaller. [ . . . ] Our biggest fear wasn’t mass annihilation, it was that we’d have to go back to how things were, back to our jobs and our lives [ . . . ].
Despite their lack of preparation, she feels okay with what’s coming to them, feels capable knowing they have each other, now somehow stronger together, as they move forward.
The short piece is relatable and timely: empty store shelves, last minute orders from Amazon in an attempt to ease the new worries, the uncertainty that surrounds them, and that strange relief of being released from normal life. It can be difficult to read disaster-themed writing while living through a similar situation, but Kilfoyle manages to cover the topic in a way that’s casual and comforting without adding to the current, similar stresses.
Find the Summer 2020 issue of Salamander at the NewPages Mag Stand. Featuring poetry by Rajiv Mohabir, Emily O’Neill, Rose McLarney, Sebastián Hasani Páramo, and many more; translations by Martha Collins, Nguyen Ba Chung, and Sergey Gerasimov; fiction by Anne Kilfoyle, Matthew Wamser, Olivia Wolfgang-Smith, and Joanna Pearson; creative nonfiction by Kathryn Nuernberger; artwork by Emily Forbes; and reviews by Joseph Holt, Mike Good, Katie Sticca, and Brandel France de Bravo.
Deadline: June 1, 2020
Salamander magazine will award cash prizes of $1,000 and $500 plus publication for the two best fiction stories. Final judge is Elliot Ackerman. All entries will be considered for publication. All entries will be considered anonymously. Send no more than one story per entry. Each story must not exceed 30 double-spaced pages in 12 point font. Multiple entries are acceptable, provided that a separate reading fee is included with each entry. Contest reading fee ($15) includes a one-year subscription. All contest results will be posted on salamandermag.org by August 1.