Each month, the Ashland MFA Program receives calls for submissions and contest deadlines, which it publicizes in its monthly newsletter. Listed below are this month's calls for submissions.
Upstart literary journal tiny poetry: macropoetics seeks submissions for its second issue. While small, its journal is unique and edgy and has already featured luminary American writers. They are looking for space-based poetry that focuses on the relationship between self and nature, self and items (such as household items, books, etc) and self and other (love, friendship, relationship). They want to curate ten total poems for each issue, twenty-five image poems (macros) and five poems surrounding animals, specifically cats. The website where you can view their first issue is macropoetics.com. Send all submissions with an author bio to to macropoetics@gmail.com.
Platypus Press Wildness wants work that evokes the unknown. Platypus Press publishes its online edition every two months. A print anthology will be released once a year. Rolling submissions. No minimum length for poetry and prose, but please keep stories under 2,500 words and each poem under 80 lines. They currently only accept unpublished works; this includes website and personal blogs.
http://readwildness.com/submit
Palaver was recently named one of Flavorwire’s hybrid magazines to follow. They are asking for Creative or Academic Submissions that defy the confines of a single discipline and have accessible language. The written academic work should be typed, double spaced, and follow MLA guidelines. Due to the volume of submissions Palaver receives, they ask that the academic pieces run no longer than twenty-five pages, and they do not accept previously published work-- be it print or online.
http://palaverjournal.com/submit-to-palaver/
Eternal Remedy is an online journal dedicated to creative writing surrounding the topics of existentialism, love, psychology, philosophy, religion and the human condition in general. In its third year of operation, the journal is looking to expand its writing selections.
http://eternalremedy.com/submissions/
Front Porch Journal, the online literary journal of Texas State University’s MFA program, is celebrating its 10th anniversary. The journal publishes three times a year, highlighting emerging and established writers, reviews, and interviews. They are looking for new stories, essays, poems, flash, artwork, and graphic narratives.
http://frontporchjournal.com/submissions/
Barely South Review is now accepting submissions for its Spring 2016 Reading Period. They welcome submissions of fiction, poetry, nonfiction, art, and short essays on craft. Deadline is April 1, 2016. http://barelysouthreview.digitalodu.com/submission-guidelines/
Hippocampus magazine is seeking works of creative nonfiction on “firsts” for their 2016 theme issue, which will be available in July. Submissions should be up to 3,500 words. Deadline April 15. https://hippocampusmagazine.submittable.com/submit/51671
Trigger Warning is now accepting submissions for its first edition. This new literary magazine will focus on works that convey what it is to overcome personal struggles and which accurately illustrate the nature of the human experience. They accept personal essays, memoir, fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry and hybrid works. They read year round and publish their journal three times per year. Reading fee is $5. Accepted writers receive $25.
http://www.triggerwarninglit.com/
Small Po[r]tions is accepting submissions for Issue 6! They aim to curate cross-genre, experimental and multi/intermedia work and hope to offer a shared space for experimental creative fiction and nonfiction, lyrical fiction, poetry, and multimedia pieces. Small Po[r]tions issues have a print component with a focus on book arts and an online component featuring selections from the print issue along with media work. You can view work from their previous issues at smallportionsjournal.com/issues. Please submit up to 1000 words [up to 5 pages] or one multimedia work.
submissions@smallportionsjournal.com
Found Polaroids is looking for flash fiction to accompany their collection of “found polaroids.” While submitted stories are unpaid writing projects, the exposure that students would gain from their stories is widespread. Found Polaroids has been featured on such news outlets as BBC World Radio, The Guardian.com, Dazed Magazine, CBC Radio 'As It Happens’, MutantSpace.com, The Plaid Zebra, and many more.
http://www.foundpolaroids.com/
Belmont Story Review invites submissions of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction for its spring issue. Deadline is April 1. To submit, send an email to BSRsubmissions@gmail.com with the genre of your work in the subject line and attach a Word document. In the body, please include a brief bio. Honorariums provided for accepted work.
www.belmontstoryreview.com.
Glassworks publishes nonfiction, fiction, poetry, hybrid pieces, craft essays, new media, and art both digitally and in print. We also publish flash fiction, prose poetry, and micro essays in our online edition Flash Glass monthly. Submissions for Flash Glass are accepted on a year-round, rolling basis. www.rowanglassworks.org
Foothill: a journal of poetry invites graduate students to submit up to six unpublished, English-language-based poems composed in any poetic genre or form. They accept simultaneous submissions, and they read them year round. As compensation for publication, authors receive one free copy of the print journal. Foothill is published by Claremont Graduate University.
http://www.cgu.edu/pages/9078.asp
submissions page
The 5th Annual Saturday Evening Post Great American Fiction Contest is now underway, and they’re scouting for talent. Each year, they discover new voices – many from MFA programs, including Celeste McMaster, 2016 winner, for her short story “Zelda Burning” and West Moss winner of our 2015 contest with “Omeer’s Mangoes.” The winning story will be published in the January/February 2017 edition of The Saturday Evening Post, and the author will receive $500. Five runners-up will each receive $100 and their stories will be published online. Deadline is July 1, 2016. www.saturdayeveningpost.com/fictioncontest
Celebrate National Poetry Month by writing in response to visual art! Each month, Broadsided Press publishes a collaboration in which a visual artist has responded to a poem. Every spring, they like to turn the tables. From March 1 to April 15, Broadsided Press is seeking submissions of poetry and short prose that respond to the artwork "Undersea" by Broadsided artist Jennifer Bevill. The winning entry will be published on May 1, 2016 as a Broadsided collaboration. The collaboration will be offered, free, from their website and posted on streets, notice boards, and utility poles around the world in serendipitous locations. Poems should be UNDER 20 lines. Prose should be UNDER 300 words. Entries should be sent via Submittable. Please include a brief bio.
http://broadsidedpress.org/switcheroo/april16.shtml
The First Annual Ex Ophidia Press Poetry Book Contest is open for submissions of poetry manuscripts. The contest is offering a $1,000 cash prize, 50 author copies of the book, and all revenues from the sale of the book. Deadline is June 30, 2016.
https://exophidiapress.submittable.com/submit
Postcard from Mars 2016 Field Office Poetry Prize. You are writing from Mars, the blood-red planet once called the “fire star” by Chinese astronomers. It is a place of fierce dust storms and a freezing, rocky terrain of canyons, craters, and volcanoes—and two moons Phobos (fear) and Deimos (panic). What lines do you write in a missive back home to Earth? Prize is a 30-minute consult with 2015 Pulitzer Prize winning poet Gregory Pardlo. April 1 deadline.
http://www.fieldofficeagency.com/office/postcard-prize
The Caterpillar is accepting submissions for their Poetry Prize. They are looking for a single unpublished poem written by an adult for children aged 7–11. The deadline is March 30. Entry fee is €12 per poem. Winner will receive €1000.
http://www.thecaterpillarmagazine.com/a1-page.asp?ID=7253&page=12
Breakwater Review, an online literary journal run by University of Massachusetts Boston MFA students, is seeking submissions to the 2016 Peseroff Prize Poetry Contest and the Breakwater Review Fiction Contest. Both contests have a $10 submission fee. The winning poem and story will each receive a $1,000 prize and publication in their journal. The final judges will be poet Jill McDonough and author Askold Melnyczuk. May 15 deadline for both contests.
breakwaterreview.com
The Cleveland State University Poetry Center welcomes submissions for their First Book Poetry Competition and for their Essay Collection Competition. The winners will receive $1,000, publication and a standard royalty contract. There is a $28 reading fee, and the deadline is March 31.
http://www.csupoetrycenter.com/first-book-poetry/
The Center for Interfaith Relations' 2016 Poetry of the Sacred Contest closes at 11:59 pm (EST) on March 31. This year’s final judge, Elizabeth Robinson, will select three honorable mentions to receive $100.00 and award one winning poem the $500.00 Merton Prize in Poetry of the Sacred. The winning poem and all honorable mentions will be published in the 2016 Winter issue of Parabola Magazine, an internationally recognized magazine devoted to the sacred. The winning poem will also be read on stage at the 2016 Festival of Faiths (festivaloffaiths.org).
https://centerforinterfaithrelations.submittable.com/submit
Indiana University Writers' Conference 2016 is held each year at the beautiful Bloomington campus! They would love for students and writers to join them this year from June 4-8. They have a stellar faculty including Dana Johnson, Gabrielle Calvocoressi, and Wesley Chu leading workshops! The conference includes workshops, classes, and readings (including student readings) and is one of the most affordable in the country. Plus, they offer scholarships. Workshops include: Fiction by Dana Johnson, Poetry by Gabrielle Calvocoressi, and Science Fiction by Wesley Chu. There will also be classes for Fiction, Poetry, and Non-Fiction lead by Salvatore Scibona, Amelia Martens, and Walton Muyumba and David Crabb. Scholarship deadline: March 21, 2016. For any questions, email writecon@indiana.edu.
http://www.iuwc.indiana.edu/registration/
The Times Literary Supplement weekly journal is offering a special price to students in MFA Writing Programs. The regular subscription price is $185. But they have just instituted a discount price limited to students in MFA Writing Programs of just $92.50, payable in monthly installments on a credit card of just $7.70. That saves almost 85% off the regular price. To subscribe, simply go to www.mfa.tls-subscription.com. To access this rate, you must pay by a valid credit card.
Elk River Arts & Lectures is accepting applications for its 2016 summer workshop at Chico Hot Springs in Montana’s Paradise Valley. This second annual event runs August 8-11, bringing prominent writers together with advanced writing students for four days of seminars, workshops, lectures and readings in a small group environment. Deadline to apply is June 1. Three scholarships are available -- scholarship deadline is May 1. This year’s faculty includes 2016 Henry David Thoreau Prize winner Linda Hogan, two-time Pulitzer Prize nominee Craig Lesley, PEN award-winning author Nina McConigley and bestselling novelist Jamie Ford.. Rolling admissions will close when full or on June 1, whichever comes first
ElkRiverWriters.org
The 5th Annual River Teeth Nonfiction Conference is now open for registration! Speakers for this year are Dinty W. Moore, Elena Passarello, Jill Christman, Hope Edelman, Steve Harvey, Kate Hopper, Sonya Huber, Tom Larson, Patrick Madden, Bob Root, Mike Steinberg, Ana Maria Spagna, and of course River Teeth co-editors Joe Mackall and Dan Lehman. River Teeth is excited about this bunch and we hope you are too! Information about registration discounts, deadlines, and more can be found on the website.
http://www.riverteethjournal.com/conference
AWP Conference Scholarship. AWP offers three annual scholarships of $500 each to emerging writers who wish to attend a writers’ conference, center, retreat, festival, or residency. They encourage writers of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction to enter. The scholarships are applied to fees for winners who attend one of the member programs in AWP’s Directory of Conferences & Centers. Winners and six finalists also receive a one-year individual membership in AWP. Submissions accepted through March 30.
https://www.awpwriter.org/contests/wcc_scholarships_overview
Cambridge Writers’ Workshop is having several upcoming writing retreats for MFA students and professional writers. Our 2016 retreat locations such include Newport, Rhode Island; Barcelona, Spain; the South of France; and Granada, Spain. If interested in applying to any of these retreats, please go to https://cww.submittable.com/submit and apply by March 15, 2016. Due to limited seating, early applications are encouraged. Using the online submission system, submit ten pages of prose or five pages of poetry with a $5 application fee. Visit the website (cww.nyc) for an application and complete guidelines.
Something to add? Send it to mfa@ashland.edu. We're especially interested in opportunities that cater to new and emerging writers.
Journal Submissions
Upstart literary journal tiny poetry: macropoetics seeks submissions for its second issue. While small, its journal is unique and edgy and has already featured luminary American writers. They are looking for space-based poetry that focuses on the relationship between self and nature, self and items (such as household items, books, etc) and self and other (love, friendship, relationship). They want to curate ten total poems for each issue, twenty-five image poems (macros) and five poems surrounding animals, specifically cats. The website where you can view their first issue is macropoetics.com. Send all submissions with an author bio to to macropoetics@gmail.com.
Platypus Press Wildness wants work that evokes the unknown. Platypus Press publishes its online edition every two months. A print anthology will be released once a year. Rolling submissions. No minimum length for poetry and prose, but please keep stories under 2,500 words and each poem under 80 lines. They currently only accept unpublished works; this includes website and personal blogs.
http://readwildness.com/submit
Palaver was recently named one of Flavorwire’s hybrid magazines to follow. They are asking for Creative or Academic Submissions that defy the confines of a single discipline and have accessible language. The written academic work should be typed, double spaced, and follow MLA guidelines. Due to the volume of submissions Palaver receives, they ask that the academic pieces run no longer than twenty-five pages, and they do not accept previously published work-- be it print or online.
http://palaverjournal.com/submit-to-palaver/
Eternal Remedy is an online journal dedicated to creative writing surrounding the topics of existentialism, love, psychology, philosophy, religion and the human condition in general. In its third year of operation, the journal is looking to expand its writing selections.
http://eternalremedy.com/submissions/
Front Porch Journal, the online literary journal of Texas State University’s MFA program, is celebrating its 10th anniversary. The journal publishes three times a year, highlighting emerging and established writers, reviews, and interviews. They are looking for new stories, essays, poems, flash, artwork, and graphic narratives.
http://frontporchjournal.com/submissions/
Barely South Review is now accepting submissions for its Spring 2016 Reading Period. They welcome submissions of fiction, poetry, nonfiction, art, and short essays on craft. Deadline is April 1, 2016. http://barelysouthreview.digitalodu.com/submission-guidelines/
Hippocampus magazine is seeking works of creative nonfiction on “firsts” for their 2016 theme issue, which will be available in July. Submissions should be up to 3,500 words. Deadline April 15. https://hippocampusmagazine.submittable.com/submit/51671
Trigger Warning is now accepting submissions for its first edition. This new literary magazine will focus on works that convey what it is to overcome personal struggles and which accurately illustrate the nature of the human experience. They accept personal essays, memoir, fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry and hybrid works. They read year round and publish their journal three times per year. Reading fee is $5. Accepted writers receive $25.
http://www.triggerwarninglit.com/
Small Po[r]tions is accepting submissions for Issue 6! They aim to curate cross-genre, experimental and multi/intermedia work and hope to offer a shared space for experimental creative fiction and nonfiction, lyrical fiction, poetry, and multimedia pieces. Small Po[r]tions issues have a print component with a focus on book arts and an online component featuring selections from the print issue along with media work. You can view work from their previous issues at smallportionsjournal.com/issues. Please submit up to 1000 words [up to 5 pages] or one multimedia work.
submissions@smallportionsjournal.com
Found Polaroids is looking for flash fiction to accompany their collection of “found polaroids.” While submitted stories are unpaid writing projects, the exposure that students would gain from their stories is widespread. Found Polaroids has been featured on such news outlets as BBC World Radio, The Guardian.com, Dazed Magazine, CBC Radio 'As It Happens’, MutantSpace.com, The Plaid Zebra, and many more.
http://www.foundpolaroids.com/
Belmont Story Review invites submissions of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction for its spring issue. Deadline is April 1. To submit, send an email to BSRsubmissions@gmail.com with the genre of your work in the subject line and attach a Word document. In the body, please include a brief bio. Honorariums provided for accepted work.
www.belmontstoryreview.com.
Glassworks publishes nonfiction, fiction, poetry, hybrid pieces, craft essays, new media, and art both digitally and in print. We also publish flash fiction, prose poetry, and micro essays in our online edition Flash Glass monthly. Submissions for Flash Glass are accepted on a year-round, rolling basis. www.rowanglassworks.org
Foothill: a journal of poetry invites graduate students to submit up to six unpublished, English-language-based poems composed in any poetic genre or form. They accept simultaneous submissions, and they read them year round. As compensation for publication, authors receive one free copy of the print journal. Foothill is published by Claremont Graduate University.
http://www.cgu.edu/pages/9078.asp
Contests
Barely South Review, Old Dominion University's literary journal, is open for submissionsto the 2016 Norton Girault Prize in Fiction ($500!), judged by their very own John McManus. The entry fee is only $10. The winning story will be published in their Fall 2016 Issue. One runner up will receive publication as well. The deadline is April 15, 2016.submissions page
The 5th Annual Saturday Evening Post Great American Fiction Contest is now underway, and they’re scouting for talent. Each year, they discover new voices – many from MFA programs, including Celeste McMaster, 2016 winner, for her short story “Zelda Burning” and West Moss winner of our 2015 contest with “Omeer’s Mangoes.” The winning story will be published in the January/February 2017 edition of The Saturday Evening Post, and the author will receive $500. Five runners-up will each receive $100 and their stories will be published online. Deadline is July 1, 2016. www.saturdayeveningpost.com/fictioncontest
Celebrate National Poetry Month by writing in response to visual art! Each month, Broadsided Press publishes a collaboration in which a visual artist has responded to a poem. Every spring, they like to turn the tables. From March 1 to April 15, Broadsided Press is seeking submissions of poetry and short prose that respond to the artwork "Undersea" by Broadsided artist Jennifer Bevill. The winning entry will be published on May 1, 2016 as a Broadsided collaboration. The collaboration will be offered, free, from their website and posted on streets, notice boards, and utility poles around the world in serendipitous locations. Poems should be UNDER 20 lines. Prose should be UNDER 300 words. Entries should be sent via Submittable. Please include a brief bio.
http://broadsidedpress.org/switcheroo/april16.shtml
The First Annual Ex Ophidia Press Poetry Book Contest is open for submissions of poetry manuscripts. The contest is offering a $1,000 cash prize, 50 author copies of the book, and all revenues from the sale of the book. Deadline is June 30, 2016.
https://exophidiapress.submittable.com/submit
Postcard from Mars 2016 Field Office Poetry Prize. You are writing from Mars, the blood-red planet once called the “fire star” by Chinese astronomers. It is a place of fierce dust storms and a freezing, rocky terrain of canyons, craters, and volcanoes—and two moons Phobos (fear) and Deimos (panic). What lines do you write in a missive back home to Earth? Prize is a 30-minute consult with 2015 Pulitzer Prize winning poet Gregory Pardlo. April 1 deadline.
http://www.fieldofficeagency.com/office/postcard-prize
The Caterpillar is accepting submissions for their Poetry Prize. They are looking for a single unpublished poem written by an adult for children aged 7–11. The deadline is March 30. Entry fee is €12 per poem. Winner will receive €1000.
http://www.thecaterpillarmagazine.com/a1-page.asp?ID=7253&page=12
Breakwater Review, an online literary journal run by University of Massachusetts Boston MFA students, is seeking submissions to the 2016 Peseroff Prize Poetry Contest and the Breakwater Review Fiction Contest. Both contests have a $10 submission fee. The winning poem and story will each receive a $1,000 prize and publication in their journal. The final judges will be poet Jill McDonough and author Askold Melnyczuk. May 15 deadline for both contests.
breakwaterreview.com
The Cleveland State University Poetry Center welcomes submissions for their First Book Poetry Competition and for their Essay Collection Competition. The winners will receive $1,000, publication and a standard royalty contract. There is a $28 reading fee, and the deadline is March 31.
http://www.csupoetrycenter.com/first-book-poetry/
The Center for Interfaith Relations' 2016 Poetry of the Sacred Contest closes at 11:59 pm (EST) on March 31. This year’s final judge, Elizabeth Robinson, will select three honorable mentions to receive $100.00 and award one winning poem the $500.00 Merton Prize in Poetry of the Sacred. The winning poem and all honorable mentions will be published in the 2016 Winter issue of Parabola Magazine, an internationally recognized magazine devoted to the sacred. The winning poem will also be read on stage at the 2016 Festival of Faiths (festivaloffaiths.org).
https://centerforinterfaithrelations.submittable.com/submit
Conferences, Workshops, and More
Indiana University Writers' Conference 2016 is held each year at the beautiful Bloomington campus! They would love for students and writers to join them this year from June 4-8. They have a stellar faculty including Dana Johnson, Gabrielle Calvocoressi, and Wesley Chu leading workshops! The conference includes workshops, classes, and readings (including student readings) and is one of the most affordable in the country. Plus, they offer scholarships. Workshops include: Fiction by Dana Johnson, Poetry by Gabrielle Calvocoressi, and Science Fiction by Wesley Chu. There will also be classes for Fiction, Poetry, and Non-Fiction lead by Salvatore Scibona, Amelia Martens, and Walton Muyumba and David Crabb. Scholarship deadline: March 21, 2016. For any questions, email writecon@indiana.edu.
http://www.iuwc.indiana.edu/registration/
The Times Literary Supplement weekly journal is offering a special price to students in MFA Writing Programs. The regular subscription price is $185. But they have just instituted a discount price limited to students in MFA Writing Programs of just $92.50, payable in monthly installments on a credit card of just $7.70. That saves almost 85% off the regular price. To subscribe, simply go to www.mfa.tls-subscription.com. To access this rate, you must pay by a valid credit card.
Elk River Arts & Lectures is accepting applications for its 2016 summer workshop at Chico Hot Springs in Montana’s Paradise Valley. This second annual event runs August 8-11, bringing prominent writers together with advanced writing students for four days of seminars, workshops, lectures and readings in a small group environment. Deadline to apply is June 1. Three scholarships are available -- scholarship deadline is May 1. This year’s faculty includes 2016 Henry David Thoreau Prize winner Linda Hogan, two-time Pulitzer Prize nominee Craig Lesley, PEN award-winning author Nina McConigley and bestselling novelist Jamie Ford.. Rolling admissions will close when full or on June 1, whichever comes first
ElkRiverWriters.org
The 5th Annual River Teeth Nonfiction Conference is now open for registration! Speakers for this year are Dinty W. Moore, Elena Passarello, Jill Christman, Hope Edelman, Steve Harvey, Kate Hopper, Sonya Huber, Tom Larson, Patrick Madden, Bob Root, Mike Steinberg, Ana Maria Spagna, and of course River Teeth co-editors Joe Mackall and Dan Lehman. River Teeth is excited about this bunch and we hope you are too! Information about registration discounts, deadlines, and more can be found on the website.
http://www.riverteethjournal.com/conference
AWP Conference Scholarship. AWP offers three annual scholarships of $500 each to emerging writers who wish to attend a writers’ conference, center, retreat, festival, or residency. They encourage writers of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction to enter. The scholarships are applied to fees for winners who attend one of the member programs in AWP’s Directory of Conferences & Centers. Winners and six finalists also receive a one-year individual membership in AWP. Submissions accepted through March 30.
https://www.awpwriter.org/contests/wcc_scholarships_overview
Cambridge Writers’ Workshop is having several upcoming writing retreats for MFA students and professional writers. Our 2016 retreat locations such include Newport, Rhode Island; Barcelona, Spain; the South of France; and Granada, Spain. If interested in applying to any of these retreats, please go to https://cww.submittable.com/submit and apply by March 15, 2016. Due to limited seating, early applications are encouraged. Using the online submission system, submit ten pages of prose or five pages of poetry with a $5 application fee. Visit the website (cww.nyc) for an application and complete guidelines.
Something to add? Send it to mfa@ashland.edu. We're especially interested in opportunities that cater to new and emerging writers.