After last week’s heat, where parts of Michigan crept toward 100 with humidity to match, we’ve swung into a much gentler stretch. High sixties, low seventies—just about perfect. The kind of weather that makes you want to get outside, catch up on yard work, and tackle that suddenly thriving grass now that the rain has worked its quiet magic.

And that’s the thing about nature: it doesn’t take much to spark a turnaround. A stretch of heat, a little neglect and then, with just a bit of rain, everything begins to revive. Green returns. Growth resumes.

Creative life can work the same way.

If you’ve been feeling a little stalled or worn down, consider this your gentle shift in the weather. We’ve got plenty this week to help you reawaken that momentum: intriguing bookstores to browse, great reading to dive into, and a prompt to help something new take root. Plus, our monthly eLitPak newsletter lands in your inbox Wednesday with even more to explore.

Let’s see what grows.

📩 If this email gets cut off, click ‘View Entire Message’ at the bottom or head to Substack to read the full newsletter!

📰 Recommended Reading

“Radiator Reading” by Dale Scherfling

Do you ever read a piece and think, that sounds a lot like my childhood? Granted, I would be outside sledding down hills in winter, building snowmen and snow forts—unlike the narrator—but I also spent a fair amount of time indoors, nose buried in a book.

Scherfling does an excellent job setting the scene: a boy with his feet resting on a radiator, lost in stories that carry him far away—the San Francisco Bay instead of the Lake Erie shoreline. The sense of transport feels immediate and familiar, but what lingers is how real those imagined places become. The boy may see his own life as mundane, but he reshapes what he knows into something larger—imagining himself in those distant settings, drinking pop while the adults drink cheap beer and whiskey, filling in the gaps with details from his own world. Even the differences matter: where his Ohio fog arrives all at once, in San Francisco it rolls in slow and theatrical.

And anyone who has spent time in a library knows another detail he captures perfectly: the scent. That musty paper smell. Old leather. Dust. It doesn’t take much description to bring it all back.

By the end, the piece opens outward in a quiet, surprising way. The boy isn’t just imagining other lives—he begins to wonder if someone, somewhere, might be imagining his. It’s a small turn, but a powerful one, reminding us how easily we become part of someone else’s imagined world, just as vividly as they become part of ours.

Read the story in iExile, a journal coming back after a long hiatus.

🗞️ Magazine News

Grab a hoodie or a light sweater, your favorite Hydro Flask, and head out under that old tree you love with some great lit in hand. The Magazine Stand is, as always, full of new reading to help keep you company.

Blink-Ink – #64

“Midsummer Magic” theme explores folklore, faerie lore, and liminal enchantment in ~50-word stories. Contributors include Rachel Friedman, Rachel M. Hollis, Daryl Scroggins, Stephanie M. Wytovich, Scott M. Brents, S.A. Greene, and Arno Bohlmeijer, among others.

Consequence – Volume 18.1

This issue focuses on language’s power amid war and geopolitical violence. Features H.R. Spencer’s “The Grammar of War,” Dewaine Farria’s “Speaking as a Veteran,” Bänoo Zan’s “Silent Language” (translation), Glory Duruem’s “Our Unspoken Country,” and Sayani De’s “In the Same Tongue.”

Posit – Issue 42

Issue 42 blends experimental literature and visual art emphasizing innovation and resonance. Contributors include Mike Bagwell, Elizabeth Dodd, Corwin Ericson, Pearl Kan, David Lehman (with David Shapiro), Eléna Rivera, G.C. Waldrep, and Orchid Tierney, alongside artwork by Nancy Cohen, Tamara Kostianovsky, and David Webster.

Presence – 2026

This Tenth Anniversary Issue features poet Judith Valente; translations of Kutsugen, Mei Sheng, Rihaku (via Ezra Pound), and Li Bai (Vayda Pascarella). Includes interviews with Samuel Hazo and on Linda Nemec Foster, “Life’s Work” essays, 26 book reviews, and an In Memoriam honoring Martha Silano, Jane Greer, and Jennifer Martelli.

📖Introducing Nerve to Write

Nerve to Write is an open-access annual online magazine centering disabled, chronically ill, and neurodivergent writers, founded by Sarah Fawn Montgomery after her craft book Nerve. Created to address gaps in publishing, it prioritizes firsthand perspectives often excluded from literary spaces.

The magazine publishes poetry, prose, hybrid work, and art that reflect both the challenges and richness of disabled experience while also embracing work beyond those identities.

With an editorial team including Mialise Carney and Daniel David Froid, each submission is collaboratively reviewed. Featuring contributors like Sonya Huber and Jeannine Hall Gailey, the magazine fosters community, access, and literary innovation.

Read the full interview here.

🏬Bookstore Updates

Feeling restless to lie outside in the sunshine like a cat soaking up the warmth while burying your nose in a book? Stop by the NewPages Guide to Independent Bookstores in the U.S. and Canada to find a local indie near you.

📍Ink Drinkers Bookshop – Kennewick, Washington
A Kennewick indie bookstore featuring used horror, sci-fi, and metaphysical reads alongside community-driven events and book clubs.

📍The Love Potion Library – San Francisco, California
A Castro-based romance bookstore and café offering new books, events, and a cozy community space for readers.

📍Once Upon Again Bookstore – Derry, New Hampshire
A welcoming Derry indie bookstore offering new and used books, events, and a strong community focus.

👉 newpages.com/independent-bookstores

🖋️ Inspiration Prompt: When an Object Becomes “Dad”

It’s a little sad to admit that in 41 years, I’ve spent very little time with my father, but one thing remains true: whether it’s the rev of engines during a NASCAR race, USAF flags flying in the neighborhood, Koegel’s hot dogs on the grill, or a waffle cone filled to bursting with Blue Moon ice cream (it’s a Midwestern thing, trust me), those small things mean he’s always here. Distance doesn’t matter. He travels in objects.

This week, write, draw, craft, or collage into your version of that. What object, sound, or smell became your dad—or your father figure, or the person who shaped you whether they meant to or not? Not a symbol of them. An extension of them.

Make it sensory and specific. Let the object carry the person. Let your reader smell, hear, or taste their way to whoever it brings up for them.

✏️ Craft Tip: Resist the urge to explain why the object matters. Don't tell us it reminds you of him (or someone)—just put the object in the room, fully rendered, and let the person arrive on their own. The reader will feel the connection before you name it, and that gap between the thing and the emotion it carries is where the best writing lives.

Looking for more inspiration? Stop by our Weekly Roundup of Submission Opportunities for more prompts.

📣Calls, Contests, & More

Ready to submit your work or attend a literary event? We’ve got 134 opportunities waiting for you this week.

Below is just a sampling of what paying subscribers receive—explore submission calls, contests, fellowships, and events curated to keep you writing, submitting, and connecting.

Swan Scythe Press announces its 2026 poetry chapbook contest

Deadline: June 15, 2026
Swan Scythe Press announces its 2026 poetry chapbook contest. Entry fee: $18. We are accepting submissions from March 1 to June 15 (postmark deadline). Winner receives $200 and 25 perfect-bound chapbooks. The 2025 winner is Catherine Allen for We Return as Rain. For full guidelines, visit our website and Submittable.

Jerboa Lit 250: Open for Registration!

Deadline: June 26, 2026
The next Jerboa Lit 250 kicks off on June 26! At 10 pm Central, we’ll draw a random prompt (Genre and Character) from our Video Hat, live from our YouTube page. Writers will have until the following Sunday, June 28, 11:59 pm Central, to submit a 250-word story satisfying the prompt. Registration fee of $15, with prizes paid out for first through third – first place takes home $500! Sign up here.

2026 HEART Poetry Award $500

Deadline: June 30, 2026
Nostalgia Press is accepting submissions for the 2026 HEART Poetry Award, offering a $500 prize and publication in HEART #21. A $10 reading fee covers up to 3 unpublished poems and includes a digital copy of the issue. Please include your name, mailing address, and email on each page; identifying information will be removed before judging. Submit your poems via email, and complete payment at the Nostalgia Press website. Visit the website for sample poems, judge information, and full guidelines. Deadline: Midnight, June 30, 2026.

The Slate Roof Press 2026 Elyse Wolf Prize $500

Deadline: June 30, 2026
Member-run Slate Roof Press is pleased to announce the 2026 Elyse Wolf Prize for our annual poetry chapbook contest. The winner receives $500, becomes an active member of the press, and will have their chapbook published by Slate Roof. The runner up receives $100. We publish limited edition, art-quality chapbooks with letterpress covers. Winners make a 3-year commitment to Slate Roof, including monthly meetings via zoom, and share work responsibilities for many aspects of publishing. Submit no more than 28 pages of poetry. $10 reading fee; sliding scale available. Submit May 15 to June 30. Full guidelines at our website.

International Voices in Creative Nonfiction Competition. Prize: $1000 and publication.

Deadline: July 1, 2026 (11:59 PM EEST)
Not all true stories get told. Yours should. Small presses have the power to make a real impact, and at Vine Leaves Press, we take that responsibility seriously. We are committed to giving underrepresented voices the opportunity to build rich, lasting literary legacies. Why? To sustain hope for a more loving, tolerant, and open world. It begins with art. That’s why we invite you to submit your manuscript to the 2027 International Voices in Creative Nonfiction Competition. Prize: $1000 and publication in 2028. Learn more here.

North Street Book Prize

Deadline: July 1, 2026
The North Street Book Prize is now in its 12th year sponsored by Winning Writers. Submit self-published or hybrid-published books to win $10,000. Additional benefits for entrants and winners from our co-sponsors. $23,500 in total cash prizes. Nine categories. Any year of publication eligible. Entry fee: $95. Everyone who submits online can receive feedback from a judge at no extra charge. Deadline: July 1. Learn more at our website.

SUBMIT NOW TO ABLE MUSE (Poetry, Fiction, Essays, Art & More)

Deadline: July 15, 2026
Able Muse is now accepting submissions for our forthcoming issue, winter 2026/2027. Submit poetry, fiction, essays, book reviews, art, and photography. Submission opens yearly January 1 and closes July 15. Read our guidelines and submit at our website.

2027 Press 53 Award for Poetry

Deadline: July 31, 2026
First Prize $1,000, publication, and 53 copies will be awarded to an outstanding, unpublished poetry manuscript. Press 53 Poetry Series Editor Tom Lombardo is the only reader and judge. Prizes awarded upon publication. Deadline July 31. Winner and finalists announced by November 1. Reading fee $30. Complete information at the Press 53 website.

RED WHEELBARROW POETRY PRIZE 2026: $1,000 and letterpress broadside

Deadline: July 31, 2026
Red Wheelbarrow Poetry Prize 2026: $1,000 for first place and a letterpress broadside, $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. For complete guidelines, visit Submittable.

🔔StoryBottle Fiction Chapbook Contest

Deadline: August 15, 2026
StoryBottle Co.’s Fiction Chapbook Contest is now open! We’re looking for the same great, weird fiction we love publishing—just with a little more room to breathe. Submit up to 60 pages of fiction, including flash fiction, short stories, linked stories, story cycles, novelettes, or manuscripts that don’t quite fit anywhere else. The winner receives $1,000, publication as a perfect-bound chapbook, and 25 author copies. All entries will also be considered for publication in StoryBottle. Entry fee: $17. Deadline: August 15, 2026. Send us your fiction object: www.storybottleco.org/contests.

Palooka Seeks Chapbooks, Prose, Poetry, Artwork, Photography

Deadline: Year-round
Palooka is a global literary magazine of daring prose, art, photography, comics, and chapbooks drawn exclusively from unsolicited submissions. We champion underdog voices, read anonymously, and only publish what we love. Bold voices. Brave stories. Learn more.

Want access to the full list of opportunities and upcoming events? Upgrade to a paid subscription for exclusive early access to the full list of vetted and verified submission calls, writing contests, and events!

Upgrade Now

❧ Give Yourself Permission

Step outside and enjoy yourself. Grab a bubble tea, your favorite latte, a flat white—wander into a bookstore and linger a while. Sometimes what you need most is a little distance from the page. A break from the house, the draft, the pressure.

In that space, inspiration has a way of finding you again—and guiding you back.

As always, keep writing words and making art that matters.

— The NewPages Crew

Read more

With more rain and storms in the forecast this week, NewPages has plenty to keep you reading, writing, and submitting—no matter which side of the window you choose.

📩 If this email gets cut off, click ‘View Entire Message’ at the bottom or head to Substack to read the full newsletter!

📰 Recommended Reading: “The Hollow” by N.D. Stone

In a day and age where ICE is everywhere and horror stories abound on the news, N.D. Stone’s “The Hollow” feels less like speculative fiction and more like a distorted mirror of reality. The story follows a narrator trapped in quiet paralysis as people in her community, including her own mother, are taken without explanation. What unfolds is both intimate and surreal, blending domestic detail with creeping horror.

Stone heightens that horror through uncanny imagery: squirrels no longer gather food but instead collect fragments of human identity—fingerprints, keys, green cards, receipts—reducing whole lives to scattered pieces. These grotesque little archivists feel disturbingly bureaucratic, echoing systems that catalog and process people while stripping them of personhood. At the same time, they hint at a strange counterpoint: an “honest census” hidden in the trees, as if truth itself has been displaced from official structures and survives only in fragments.

The story’s emotional core lies in what the narrator cannot do. She watches her neighbor be taken and “eats” her own shouts; she refuses to call her aunt; she withdraws from the world entirely. This quiet complicity isn’t framed as moral failure so much as the numbing effect of fear and grief. Reality itself begins to fracture—faces blur, memory slips, the ordinary becomes unknowable—mirroring the psychological toll of living under constant threat.

What makes “The Hollow” so haunting is its insistence on absence. People vanish, leaving behind wallets, groceries, scraps of paper—the mundane debris of interrupted lives. In their place are systems, silences, and unanswered questions. Stone’s story captures that erosion of identity and certainty with eerie clarity, making it feel uncomfortably close to nonfiction—not because it is literal, but because it is emotionally and politically true.

Read the story in Issue 23 of Variant Literature.

🗞️ Magazine News

Whether you’re riding out a heatwave or listening to the roll of thunderstorms, the Magazine Stand is full of new reading to keep you company.

Cimarron Review – 225

Cimarron Review 225 continues its longstanding tradition of publishing imaginative, truth-driven work, featuring poets Diana K. Malek, A.E. Stallings, and Athena Kildegaard, fiction writers Nona Caspers and JP Gritton, and nonfiction from Andrew Bertaina.

L’Esprit Literary Review – April 2026

L’Esprit Literary Review’s April 2026 issue reflects its High Modernist-inspired mission, publishing adventurous fiction, nonfiction, criticism, and art by contributors including Jessica Faulkner, Miah Jeffra, Daniel Barbiero, Jennifer McMahon, and Amanda Michalopoulou.

The Lake – June 2026

The Lake’s June 2026 issue gathers poetry by Ben Bruges, Clive Donovan, Albert Hwang, and Anya Reeve, alongside reviews by Charles Rammelkamp, Pamela Wax, and Hannah Stone, plus its One Poem Reviews feature highlighting J Brooke and Emma Kate Brown, celebrating contemporary poetry and poetics through diverse voices and perspectives.

🖋️ Inspiration Prompt: The Breaking Point of Numb

Chester Bennington had a voice that could do two things almost no one else could—hold you gently and then break open completely, sometimes within the same breath. In “Numb,” the verses arrive soft, almost resigned: a quiet litany of accumulation. And then the chorus cracks, raw and unmistakable: I’ve become so numb.

It’s both a confession and a protest.

That tension is your prompt this week. Write, draw, or create from the space between those two states—the slow going-quiet, and the part of you that isn’t ready to go quiet. What numbs you: the endless scroll, the bad news that keeps getting worse, the rising costs that grind you down? Or something more personal—a loss, a wound that required you to feel less just to keep moving?

And what still refuses to go quiet?

Create from the litany. Create from the crack in it.

Craft tip: Numbness is hard to write because it’s the absence of feeling. Anchor it in the body instead—what your character stops noticing, stops flinching at, stops reaching for. The void shows up best in the small things that no longer register.

Looking for more inspiration? Stop by our Weekly Roundup of Submission Opportunities for more prompts.

📖Editor’s Choice Book Recommendations

Looking to bulk up your summer reading list? Check out the latest title recommended by NewPages Editor Denise Hill and discover a standout pick worth adding to your shelf.

(Out) On the Road: The Radical Joy of Queer Travel by Lindsey Danis

Lindsey Danis’s (Out) On the Road: The Radical Joy of Queer Travel offers a much-needed, affirming guide for LGBTQ+ travelers often underserved by the industry. Drawing on years of experience, Danis addresses safety, funding, and self-advocacy while encouraging readers to move beyond limiting “safe destination” narratives. Blending practical advice with personal insight, the book empowers queer travelers to explore confidently, build community, and embrace transformative, joy-centered journeys both domestically and abroad.

Learn more here.

📣Calls, Contests, & More

Ready to submit your work or attend a literary event? We’ve got 130 opportunities waiting for you this week.

Below is just a sampling of what paying subscribers receive—explore submission calls, contests, fellowships, and events curated to keep you writing, submitting, and connecting.

2026 Oxford Writers Workshop - Scholarships Available! Register Today!

Register by June 14 (Scholarship Deadline May 31)
The Oxford Writers Workshop, hosted August 14–20 by BookGo, invites writers at all levels of experience to gather for a week of development and inspiration, spent in residence at the legendary Oxford University. Grow your writing through daily masterclasses, one-on-one mentorship, guest presentations, and enriching cultural excursions in England’s historic center of literature and learning. Full accommodations will be provided. Scholarships are available! Since talent should never be limited by circumstance, BookGo is proud to extend funding opportunities to emerging authors, teachers, and veterans. We also offer an institutional funding match. More information can be found on BookGo.pub.

Swan Scythe Press announces its 2026 poetry chapbook contest

Deadline: June 15, 2026
Swan Scythe Press announces its 2026 poetry chapbook contest. Entry fee: $18. We are accepting submissions from March 1 to June 15 (postmark deadline). Winner receives $200 and 25 perfect-bound chapbooks. The 2025 winner is Catherine Allen for We Return as Rain. For full guidelines, visit our website and Submittable.

🔔Jerboa Lit 250: Open for Registration!

Deadline: June 26, 2026
The next Jerboa Lit 250 kicks off on June 26! At 10 pm Central, we’ll draw a random prompt (Genre and Character) from our Video Hat, live from our YouTube page. Writers will have until the following Sunday, June 28, 11:59 pm Central, to submit a 250-word story satisfying the prompt. Registration fee of $15, with prizes paid out for first through third – first place takes home $500! Sign up here.

2026 HEART Poetry Award $500

Deadline: June 30, 2026
Nostalgia Press is accepting submissions for the 2026 HEART Poetry Award, offering a $500 prize and publication in HEART #21. A $10 reading fee covers up to 3 unpublished poems and includes a digital copy of the issue. Please include your name, mailing address, and email on each page; identifying information will be removed before judging. Submit your poems via email, and complete payment at the Nostalgia Press website. Visit the website for sample poems, judge information, and full guidelines. Deadline: Midnight, June 30, 2026.

The Slate Roof Press 2026 Elyse Wolf Prize $500

Deadline: June 30, 2026
Member-run Slate Roof Press is pleased to announce the 2026 Elyse Wolf Prize for our annual poetry chapbook contest. The winner receives $500, becomes an active member of the press, and will have their chapbook published by Slate Roof. The runner up receives $100. We publish limited edition, art-quality chapbooks with letterpress covers. Winners make a 3-year commitment to Slate Roof, including monthly meetings via zoom, and share work responsibilities for many aspects of publishing. Submit no more than 28 pages of poetry. $10 reading fee; sliding scale available. Submit May 15 to June 30. Full guidelines at our website.

International Voices in Creative Nonfiction Competition. Prize: $1000 and publication.

Deadline: July 1, 2026 (11:59 PM EEST)
Not all true stories get told. Yours should. Small presses have the power to make a real impact, and at Vine Leaves Press, we take that responsibility seriously. We are committed to giving underrepresented voices the opportunity to build rich, lasting literary legacies. Why? To sustain hope for a more loving, tolerant, and open world. It begins with art. That’s why we invite you to submit your manuscript to the 2027 International Voices in Creative Nonfiction Competition. Prize: $1000 and publication in 2028. Learn more here.

North Street Book Prize

Deadline: July 1, 2026
The North Street Book Prize is now in its 12th year sponsored by Winning Writers. Submit self-published or hybrid-published books to win $10,000. Additional benefits for entrants and winners from our co-sponsors. $23,500 in total cash prizes. Nine categories. Any year of publication eligible. Entry fee: $95. Everyone who submits online can receive feedback from a judge at no extra charge. Deadline: July 1. Learn more at our website.

SUBMIT NOW TO ABLE MUSE (Poetry, Fiction, Essays, Art & More)

Deadline: July 15, 2026
Able Muse is now accepting submissions for our forthcoming issue, winter 2026/2027. Submit poetry, fiction, essays, book reviews, art, and photography. Submission opens yearly January 1 and closes July 15. Read our guidelines and submit at our website.

2027 Press 53 Award for Poetry

Deadline: July 31, 2026
First Prize $1,000, publication, and 53 copies will be awarded to an outstanding, unpublished poetry manuscript. Press 53 Poetry Series Editor Tom Lombardo is the only reader and judge. Prizes awarded upon publication. Deadline July 31. Winner and finalists announced by November 1. Reading fee $30. Complete information at the Press 53 website.

RED WHEELBARROW POETRY PRIZE 2026: $1,000 and letterpress broadside

Deadline: July 31, 2026
Red Wheelbarrow Poetry Prize 2026: $1,000 for first place and a letterpress broadside, $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. For complete guidelines, visit Submittable.

Palooka Seeks Chapbooks, Prose, Poetry, Artwork, Photography

Deadline: Year-round
Palooka is a global literary magazine of daring prose, art, photography, comics, and chapbooks drawn exclusively from unsolicited submissions. We champion underdog voices, read anonymously, and only publish what we love. Bold voices. Brave stories. Learn more.

Want access to the full list of opportunities and upcoming events? Upgrade to a paid subscription for exclusive early access to the full list of vetted and verified submission calls, writing contests, and events!

Upgrade Now

❧ Give Yourself Permission

Some days call for pushing forward, and others ask something quieter of us. If you’ve felt stuck, behind, or unsure where to begin again, let this be your reminder: not everything unfolds on schedule, and not everything needs to. There’s still time to return to the work, to the page, to yourself.

As always, keep writing words and making art that matters.

— The NewPages Crew

Read more

Don’t forget the sunscreen…even on your hands. Lobster hands are no fun. Trust me.

Summer is the perfect time to visit your local parks with a notebook, a camera, or even just your phone and a good book. There’s something deeply serene about sitting beneath a green canopy, watching sunlight filter through the leaves, or stretching out on the beach with the steady rhythm of the water in your ears. Out there, there’s always something to spark creativity—and just as much room to find a little peace in reading.

As always, NewPages is here to help you find that next great beach read or give you a spark to help your creativity.

📩 If this email gets cut off, click ‘View Entire Message’ at the bottom or head to Substack to read the full newsletter!

📰 Recommended Reading:

Thanh Bùi “the bluest water”

Thanh Bùi’s “the bluest water” begins with a small, familiar experiment: trying to lighten dark hair with sun and lemon juice, only to abandon the effort almost immediately. The poem then shifts into a story passed down by a father—of a man who trained his fish to survive with less and less water until it could follow him anywhere, only for it to later drown in a shallow puddle.

Returning to that early impulse toward lightness, the poem reframes it: not a desire to be someone else entirely, but simply to be lighter. Even so, that reach toward brightness becomes its own kind of deprivation, leaving the speaker—and the collective we—gasping for air.

Arlie Moberly “Palace”

Arlie Moberly’s short story “Palace” asks a quiet, unsettling question: what is real, and who gets to decide? It begins with a wife sending her husband out of the bedroom—she’s nauseated again, though no one, including him, seems to believe her illness is real. As she cycles through imagined conversations and rewritten versions of events, her husband’s insistence that his version is correct begins to erode her own sense of reality.

Moberly traces this disorientation into the surreal: the narrator likens herself to a wind-up toy, animated only for others, her emotions wound tight and released on command. In the aftermath of a sleepless night, she arrives at a stark solution—if everything feels toxic, then everything must go. She locks her husband out and remakes the bedroom into her own private “palace,” covering its surfaces with her own version of events.

It’s an act of reclamation that feels both empowering and deeply unsettling. After all, a palace with no exits is still a kind of prison.

Read both pieces in the Spring 2026 issue of Rawhead.

🔦Sponsor Spotlight

Discover more about the latest literary journals on NewPages.

Peach

Peach is a new annual literary journal founded by the MFA Program at Georgia College & State University. They are devoted to publishing fresh, distinctive poetry and prose. Submissions are read collaboratively to ensure thoughtful, multi-perspective editorial decisions, and contributors receive fair compensation. Peach welcomes writers from all backgrounds and identities, with a focus on singular, memorable voices. The journal will publish one issue per year and will accept submissions via Submittable from August 1 through September 30.

Learn more here.

Rawhead

Rawhead is an online journal of art and literature devoted to work that unsettles in meaningful ways. Publishing poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and multimedia, the journal isn’t interested in horror for its own sake, but in the deeper emotional and cultural truths that discomfort can reveal. Drawing on the idea of folklore monsters as reflections of human fear and resilience, Rawhead sees art as a form of resistance—against silence, against erasure, against complacency. The work they champion is sharp, thoughtful, and often surprising, inviting readers to confront what lingers beneath the surface and to recognize the power of storytelling as both witness and defiance.

Learn more here.

🗞️ Magazine News

With summer on its way, there’s nothing better than curling up with your favorite literary journal. Hop over to the Magazine Stand to see which publications have new releases ready to slake your literary thirst.

About Place Journal – May 2026

The Ground Beneath Us: Place, Power, and Resistance gathers poetry, fiction, essays, and visual art confronting state violence, environmental crisis, and belonging. Centering land as witness, the issue explores displacement, diaspora, and ecological grief, emphasizing memory, survival, and collective resistance in a politically urgent, multi-genre tapestry.

Bellevue Literary Review – Issue 50

Celebrating its 25th anniversary, BLR’s milestone issue features prize winners Shannon Perri, Won Lee, and Dara Laine. Focused on health, illness, and healing, the issue offers emotionally resonant fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, continuing its mission to explore vulnerability, embodiment, and care through literary art.

Missouri Review – Spring 2026

Issue 49.1, themed “The Cost of Living,” examines scarcity and survival, opening with Speer Morgan’s foreword. It features 2025 Editors’ Prize winners Peter Kessler, Eden Mecham, and Seth Simons, alongside new work from Yi Jiang, Geneviève Mathis, and others, plus essays, poetry, and cultural criticism.

New Letters – Winter/Spring 2026

This issue highlights New Letters Literary Award winners and Editor’s Choice recipients, alongside fiction by Andrew Bertaina, Billy O’Callaghan, and Dimitra Rizou. Poetry, essays, and a full-color art portfolio by Dean Kube round out a rich, genre-spanning issue blending established and emerging voices.

🖋️ Inspiration Prompt: Pocketful of Sunshine

My brain does this thing where it takes a phrase at face value and refuses to let go. Natasha Bedingfield’s “Pocketful of Sunshine” is relentlessly cheerful, and somewhere between the chorus and real life, I found myself wondering: what would that actually mean?

Sunshine sounds like exactly the thing you’d want to carry with you—but have you thought it all the way through?

How would you even contain it—a jar, a stitched lining, a folded piece of wax paper? Would it hold back the rain on a day you desperately needed it to? And what happens to a person who keeps that kind of light so close for so long? Does it warm you, or does it burn? Does it fade the longer it stays pocketed, or intensify?

Write, sketch, collage, or create around the idea—literal, lyrical, scientific, or absurd. Follow the sunshine wherever it leads you.

Just maybe don’t look directly at it.

Looking for more inspiration? Stop by our Weekly Roundup of Submission Opportunities for more prompts.

🏬Bookstore Updates

Feeling restless to lie outside in the sunshine like a cat soaking up the warmth while burying your nose in a book? Stop by the NewPages Guide to Independent Bookstores in the U.S. and Canada to find a local indie near you.

📍Bristlecone Bookshop – Nederland, Colorado
A welcoming mountain indie offering new books, gifts, and community events including readings, book clubs, and storytime.

📍Chapter One Bookstore – Mendham, New Jersey
A cozy, community-driven indie offering new books, gifts, and a full calendar of book clubs, storytimes, and author events.

📍Juliet Books & Beautiful Things – Cary, North Carolina
A thoughtfully curated independent bookstore, combining a love of literature with a distinctive selection of gifts in an elegant, welcoming space. Opening this summer!

📍Nuts & Shells Bookshop – Toronto, Ontario, Canada
A vibrant children’s indie featuring diverse books for ages 0–YA, plus storytime, events, and creative gifts.

📍Some Books – Ridgefield, Connecticut
This bookstore offers a curated mix of used and rare literary titles, indie press books, and art publications, along with readings and community events.

👉 newpages.com/independent-bookstores

📣Calls, Contests, & More

Ready to submit your work or attend a literary event? We’ve got 126 opportunities waiting for you this week.

Below is just a sampling of what paying subscribers receive—explore submission calls, contests, fellowships, and events curated to keep you writing, submitting, and connecting.

2026 Oxford Writers Workshop - Scholarships Available! Register Today!

Register by June 14 (Scholarship Deadline May 31)
The Oxford Writers Workshop, hosted August 14–20 by BookGo, invites writers at all levels of experience to gather for a week of development and inspiration, spent in residence at the legendary Oxford University. Grow your writing through daily masterclasses, one-on-one mentorship, guest presentations, and enriching cultural excursions in England’s historic center of literature and learning. Full accommodations will be provided. Scholarships are available! Since talent should never be limited by circumstance, BookGo is proud to extend funding opportunities to emerging authors, teachers, and veterans. We also offer an institutional funding match. More information can be found on BookGo.pub.

2026 Housatonic Book Awards

Deadline: June 15, 2026
The MFA in Creative and Professional Writing at Western Connecticut State University is currently accepting submissions for their 2026 Housatonic Book Awards. The award will be given to book-length works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry published in 2025. The award carries a $1,000 honorarium in exchange for appearing at the winter or summer residency to give a public reading and a master class with MFA students. The award also includes a $500 travel stipend and hotel stay during the residency. For more information on submission guidelines and past winners, visit: Housatonic Book Awards website.

Swan Scythe Press announces its 2026 poetry chapbook contest

Deadline: June 15, 2026
Swan Scythe Press announces its 2026 poetry chapbook contest. Entry fee: $18. We are accepting submissions from March 1 to June 15 (postmark deadline). Winner receives $200 and 25 perfect-bound chapbooks. The 2025 winner is Catherine Allen for We Return as Rain. For full guidelines, visit our website and Submittable.

2026 HEART Poetry Award $500

Deadline: June 30, 2026
Nostalgia Press is accepting submissions for the 2026 HEART Poetry Award, offering a $500 prize and publication in HEART #21. A $10 reading fee covers up to 3 unpublished poems and includes a digital copy of the issue. Please include your name, mailing address, and email on each page; identifying information will be removed before judging. Submit your poems via email, and complete payment at the Nostalgia Press website. Visit the website for sample poems, judge information, and full guidelines. Deadline: Midnight, June 30, 2026.

The Slate Roof Press 2026 Elyse Wolf Prize $500

Deadline: June 30, 2026
Member-run Slate Roof Press is pleased to announce the 2026 Elyse Wolf Prize for our annual poetry chapbook contest. The winner receives $500, becomes an active member of the press, and will have their chapbook published by Slate Roof. The runner up receives $100. We publish limited edition, art-quality chapbooks with letterpress covers. Winners make a 3-year commitment to Slate Roof, including monthly meetings via zoom, and share work responsibilities for many aspects of publishing. Submit no more than 28 pages of poetry. $10 reading fee; sliding scale available. Submit May 15 to June 30. Full guidelines at our website.

International Voices in Creative Nonfiction Competition. Prize: $1000 and publication.

Deadline: July 1, 2026 (11:59 PM EEST)
Not all true stories get told. Yours should. Small presses have the power to make a real impact, and at Vine Leaves Press, we take that responsibility seriously. We are committed to giving underrepresented voices the opportunity to build rich, lasting literary legacies. Why? To sustain hope for a more loving, tolerant, and open world. It begins with art. That’s why we invite you to submit your manuscript to the 2027 International Voices in Creative Nonfiction Competition. Prize: $1000 and publication in 2028. Learn more here.

🔔North Street Book Prize

Deadline: July 1, 2026
The North Street Book Prize is now in its 12th year sponsored by Winning Writers. Submit self-published or hybrid-published books to win $10,000. Additional benefits for entrants and winners from our co-sponsors. $23,500 in total cash prizes. Nine categories. Any year of publication eligible. Entry fee: $95. Everyone who submits online can receive feedback from a judge at no extra charge. Deadline: July 1. Learn more at our website.

SUBMIT NOW TO ABLE MUSE (Poetry, Fiction, Essays, Art & More)

Deadline: July 15, 2026
Able Muse is now accepting submissions for our forthcoming issue, winter 2026/2027. Submit poetry, fiction, essays, book reviews, art, and photography. Submission opens yearly January 1 and closes July 15. Read our guidelines and submit at our website.

2027 Press 53 Award for Poetry

Deadline: July 31, 2026
First Prize $1,000, publication, and 53 copies will be awarded to an outstanding, unpublished poetry manuscript. Press 53 Poetry Series Editor Tom Lombardo is the only reader and judge. Prizes awarded upon publication. Deadline July 31. Winner and finalists announced by November 1. Reading fee $30. Complete information at the Press 53 website.

RED WHEELBARROW POETRY PRIZE 2026: $1,000 and letterpress broadside

Deadline: July 31, 2026
Red Wheelbarrow Poetry Prize 2026: $1,000 for first place and a letterpress broadside, $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. For complete guidelines, visit Submittable.

Bring the Past to Life :: 2026 History Through Fiction Short Story Contest

Do you write historical fiction? Submit your unpublished short story (up to 5,000 words) set in any historical setting, any subgenre, any time period before 2000 to the 4th Annual History Through Fiction Short Story Contest, open June 15 — August 15, 2026. Writers compete for cash prizes, including a $250 grand prize, and publication in the History Through Fiction’s next paperback anthology (March 2, 2027). Writers will also receive editorial feedback on every submission. Multiple submissions accepted. Early bird fee: $20 through July 14; regular fee: $30 beginning July 15. Let your story recover the past and reach new readers! Full Submission Guidelines: www.historythroughfiction.com/short-story-contest

Palooka Seeks Chapbooks, Prose, Poetry, Artwork, Photography

Deadline: Year-round
Palooka is a global literary magazine of daring prose, art, photography, comics, and chapbooks drawn exclusively from unsolicited submissions. We champion underdog voices, read anonymously, and only publish what we love. Bold voices. Brave stories. Learn more.

Want access to the full list of opportunities and upcoming events? Upgrade to a paid subscription for exclusive early access to the full list of vetted and verified submission calls, writing contests, and events!

Upgrade Now

❧ Give Yourself Permission

To pause. To take a break. To step into the sunshine—or create a little of your own.

As always, keep writing words and making art that matters.

— The NewPages Crew

Read more

If you’re rested and recharged and ready to dive into reading, writing, and submitting, NewPages is here to help you out!

📩 If this email gets cut off, click ‘View Entire Message’ at the bottom or head to Substack to read the full newsletter!

📰 Recommended Reading:
“Midlife Musings” by Katharine Corona

After a long weekend celebrating a man who, sadly, did not make it to his 90th birthday, Katharine Corona’s “Midlife Musings” really hits home. After nearly ten years as his caretaker, the essay’s questions feel especially familiar. These unwanted thoughts, am I broken? do I belong here? am I crazy?, really do dance in your head unbidden, showing up whenever they please and burrowing in before you have a chance to brace yourself.

Corona’s opening strategy is effective because she resists answering anything outright, building tension as she moves toward the deeply familiar, almost primal question: “Do I belong here?” But the essay ultimately shifts away from belonging and toward becoming.

At some point in many people’s lives, we are either forced not to live for ourselves or taught, subtly, persistently, to overlook our own needs. The person staring back from the mirror is often someone we buried long ago, waiting patiently for us to notice her again. Corona suggests that this moment—uncomfortable, disorienting, and long overdue—may not be a crisis at all, but an invitation: to finally look closely, and to meet the self we’ve been postponing.

And it’s not just parents or caregivers who will recognize themselves here. Corona’s essay speaks to middle age more broadly, not the cliché of a midlife crisis, but something quieter and more insistent: a steady accumulation of questions. Questions that feel as inevitable as the gray hairs that keep appearing, unwanted and uninvited, no matter how often you try to ignore them.

🔦Sponsor Spotlight

Join us in celebrating our newly added sponsor and enhanced presses and journals!

Bass Clef Books, founded in 2022 in Kentucky, is an independent poetry press dedicated to advancing contemporary language through diverse voices. It publishes chapbooks via general submissions and the George Drew Chapbook Contest, welcomes all forms, and occasionally produces anthologies across genres. Submissions run mid-June through mid-February, with royalties and contributor copies offered.

History Through Fiction, based in Minnesota, publishes historically grounded fiction that blends rigorous research with compelling storytelling. Accepting 60,000–120,000-word manuscripts year-round via Duosuma, the press offers royalty-based traditional or hybrid contracts and seeks immersive narratives that bring real events and people vividly to life today readers.

The Dolomite Review is a Midwest-focused quarterly literary magazine publishing fiction, poetry, and essays that emphasize depth, resonance, and strong craft—seeking work that lingers with readers long after the final line.

🗞️ Magazine News

With the long weekend behind us, you may be seeking new reading material. Swing by the Magazine Stand for fresh issues of outstanding literary magazines to keep you reading all summer.

AGNI – Issue 103

Centered on art’s role in shaping and expressing the self, this issue blends visual art with poetry, fiction, and essays. It explores language, identity, and resilience amid conflict, pairing established voices with global perspectives and extending into rich online features and collaborative portfolios. Learn more.

The Common – Issue 31

A globally minded issue with essays, stories, and poems set across diverse locations and lives, exploring identity, place, and connection. The print issue is complemented by robust online content, including interviews, podcasts, and teaching resources, making it especially valuable for both readers and educators. Learn more.

The Malahat Review – Issue 234

Opens with major prize winners in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, then delivers a rich mix of new work and translations across genres. Featuring established and emerging voices, the issue also includes multiple book reviews, offering a broad, award-driven snapshot of contemporary literary excellence. Learn more.

Valley Voices – Spring 2026

From Mississippi Valley State University, this issue features an interview with poets Tobi and Jeffrey Alfier, a photo essay on transience by Claudia Brefeld, and a wide range of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry exploring time, memory, and the beauty and melancholy of passing moments. Learn more.

🖋️ Inspiration Prompt: Is it a Climb or a Plateau?

After turning 41, I recalled a specific joke from high school: a shabby middle-aged figure coming down off a mountain with the caption, 'Suddenly I am over the hill and I don't remember ascending to much of anything.' It stuck because it's true, and because nobody warns you how undramatic the crossing actually feels.

There’s a particular moment, quiet, usually unremarkable, when you realize you’ve crossed a threshold you once imagined would feel enormous. You’re the age you used to call old. And you got here without fanfare, without ceremony, without any of the things you assumed would mark the climb.

What did you expect to find on this side? What’s actually here instead?

Write, sketch, or create from that moment of arrival—expected or not. You might explore the gap between the life you imagined at twenty and the one you’re actually living. The milestones nobody photographed. The ordinary Tuesday that turned out to matter. The path not taken, and whether it still has a pull. Or the quiet, stubborn satisfaction of a life that doesn’t look extraordinary from the outside but is, unmistakably, yours.

There’s no wrong answer here, only honest ones. Let your work sit with the full complexity of it: the grief, the relief, the pride, the shrug, and whatever strange peace comes from realizing you’re still figuring it out.

Craft tip: Resist the urge to resolve the tension. The most resonant work about age and time tends to hold contradiction without collapsing it. “I didn’t get what I wanted, and I’m okay, and I’m not okay” can all be true at once. Let that complexity breathe rather than tidying it into a lesson.

Looking for more inspiration? Stop by our Weekly Roundup of Submission Opportunities for more prompts.

🏬Bookstore Updates

If you traveled over the long Memorial Day weekend, did you get to explore any new indie bookstores?

If not, no worries—we’ve got you covered. Here’s a sampling of a few stores recently added to our Guide to inspire your next trip:

📍 Bergstrom Press and Books – Kensington, Maryland
A foreign-language bookstore with a focus on Central European literature, featuring Polish, Ukrainian, Russian, German, and more.

📍 Bookish: A Very Small Bookstore – Skowhegan, Maine
An eclectic used bookstore in a historic downtown space, offering curated new and used books, local art, and ever-changing shelves—check Instagram for current hours.

📍 Corridor Bookstore – Wheat Ridge, Colorado
A woman-owned indie shop specializing in feminist, horror, and genre-bending “weird girl” fiction by women authors.

📍 Daydream Bookstore Café – Arlington, Texas
A romance-focused bookstore and café offering curated love stories, specialty drinks, and a cozy space to unwind.

📍 White Oak Books – Vancouver, Washington
An all-inclusive, woman-owned bookstore located in Vancouver’s Uptown Village.

👉 newpages.com/independent-bookstores

📣Calls, Contests, & More

Ready to submit your work or attend a literary event? We’ve got 144 opportunities waiting for you this week.

Below is just a sampling of what paying subscribers receive—explore submission calls, contests, fellowships, and events curated to keep you writing, submitting, and connecting.

Cæsura is Accepting Submissions for its Online and Print Issue!

Deadline: June 1, 2026
Cæsura is accepting submissions for its 2026 printed and online issue! This year’s theme: LIFELINE. We are accepting Artwork, Short Stories (fiction and nonfiction), and Poems through June 1st, June 15 for members of Poetry Center San Jose! We accept unpublished work only. Simultaneous submissions are welcome. All work must be submitted blind (no identifying information in the file). For more information about guidelines and to submit, visit: www.pcsj.org/submission-guidelines.

2026 Oxford Writers Workshop - Scholarships Available! Register Today!

Register by June 14 (Scholarship Deadline May 31)
The Oxford Writers Workshop, hosted August 14–20 by BookGo, invites writers at all levels of experience to gather for a week of development and inspiration, spent in residence at the legendary Oxford University. Grow your writing through daily masterclasses, one-on-one mentorship, guest presentations, and enriching cultural excursions in England’s historic center of literature and learning. Full accommodations will be provided. Scholarships are available! Since talent should never be limited by circumstance, BookGo is proud to extend funding opportunities to emerging authors, teachers, and veterans. We also offer an institutional funding match. More information can be found on BookGo.pub.

2026 Housatonic Book Awards

Deadline: June 15, 2026
The MFA in Creative and Professional Writing at Western Connecticut State University is currently accepting submissions for their 2026 Housatonic Book Awards. The award will be given to book-length works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry published in 2025. The award carries a $1,000 honorarium in exchange for appearing at the winter or summer residency to give a public reading and a master class with MFA students. The award also includes a $500 travel stipend and hotel stay during the residency. For more information on submission guidelines and past winners, visit: Housatonic Book Awards website.

Swan Scythe Press announces its 2026 poetry chapbook contest

Deadline: June 15, 2026
Swan Scythe Press announces its 2026 poetry chapbook contest. Entry fee: $18. We are accepting submissions from March 1 to June 15 (postmark deadline). Winner receives $200 and 25 perfect-bound chapbooks. The 2025 winner is Catherine Allen for We Return as Rain. For full guidelines, visit our website and Submittable.

🔔2026 HEART Poetry Award $500

Deadline: June 30, 2026
Nostalgia Press is accepting submissions for the 2026 HEART Poetry Award, offering a $500 prize and publication in HEART #21. A $10 reading fee covers up to 3 unpublished poems and includes a digital copy of the issue. Please include your name, mailing address, and email on each page; identifying information will be removed before judging. Submit your poems via email, and complete payment at the Nostalgia Press website. Visit the website for sample poems, judge information, and full guidelines. Deadline: Midnight, June 30, 2026.

🔔The Slate Roof Press 2026 Elyse Wolf Prize $500

Deadline: June 30, 2026
Member-run Slate Roof Press is pleased to announce the 2026 Elyse Wolf Prize for our annual poetry chapbook contest. The winner receives $500, becomes an active member of the press, and will have their chapbook published by Slate Roof. The runner up receives $100. We publish limited edition, art-quality chapbooks with letterpress covers. Winners make a 3-year commitment to Slate Roof, including monthly meetings via zoom, and share work responsibilities for many aspects of publishing. Submit no more than 28 pages of poetry. $10 reading fee; sliding scale available. Submit May 15 to June 30. Full guidelines at our website.

International Voices in Creative Nonfiction Competition. Prize: $1000 and publication.

Deadline: July 1, 2026 (11:59 PM EEST)
Not all true stories get told. Yours should. Small presses have the power to make a real impact, and at Vine Leaves Press, we take that responsibility seriously. We are committed to giving underrepresented voices the opportunity to build rich, lasting literary legacies. Why? To sustain hope for a more loving, tolerant, and open world. It begins with art. That’s why we invite you to submit your manuscript to the 2027 International Voices in Creative Nonfiction Competition. Prize: $1000 and publication in 2028. Learn more here.

SUBMIT NOW TO ABLE MUSE (Poetry, Fiction, Essays, Art & More)

Deadline: July 15, 2026
Able Muse is now accepting submissions for our forthcoming issue, winter 2026/2027. Submit poetry, fiction, essays, book reviews, art, and photography. Submission opens yearly January 1 and closes July 15. Read our guidelines and submit at our website.

2027 Press 53 Award for Poetry

Deadline: July 31, 2026
First Prize $1,000, publication, and 53 copies will be awarded to an outstanding, unpublished poetry manuscript. Press 53 Poetry Series Editor Tom Lombardo is the only reader and judge. Prizes awarded upon publication. Deadline July 31. Winner and finalists announced by November 1. Reading fee $30. Complete information at the Press 53 website.

🔔RED WHEELBARROW POETRY PRIZE 2026: $1,000 and letterpress broadside

Deadline: July 31, 2026
Red Wheelbarrow Poetry Prize 2026: $1,000 for first place and a letterpress broadside, $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. For complete guidelines, visit Submittable.

Bring the Past to Life :: 2026 History Through Fiction Short Story Contest

Do you write historical fiction? Submit your unpublished short story (up to 5,000 words) set in any historical setting, any subgenre, any time period before 2000 to the 4th Annual History Through Fiction Short Story Contest, open June 15 — August 15, 2026. Writers compete for cash prizes, including a $250 grand prize, and publication in the History Through Fiction’s next paperback anthology (March 2, 2027). Writers will also receive editorial feedback on every submission. Multiple submissions accepted. Early bird fee: $20 through July 14; regular fee: $30 beginning July 15. Let your story recover the past and reach new readers! Full Submission Guidelines: www.historythroughfiction.com/short-story-contest

2026 Spokane Prize for Short Fiction

Deadline: November 1, 2026
Discounted submission fee through May 15th. Submit to the 2026 Spokane Prize for Short Fiction! For over 15 years, Willow Springs Books has published prize-winning short story collections from authors all over the US. We accept manuscripts with at least three pieces and a minimum of 100 hundred pages. All authors, regardless of publication history, are eligible. Manuscripts must contain page numbers and a table of contents. Winning authors receive $1,500 and publication. Open through November 1st, 2026. Learn more here.

Palooka Seeks Chapbooks, Prose, Poetry, Artwork, Photography

Deadline: Year-round
Palooka is a global literary magazine of daring prose, art, photography, comics, and chapbooks drawn exclusively from unsolicited submissions. We champion underdog voices, read anonymously, and only publish what we love. Bold voices. Brave stories. Learn more.

Want access to the full list of opportunities and upcoming events? Upgrade to a paid subscription for exclusive early access to the full list of vetted and verified submission calls, writing contests, and events!

Upgrade Now

❧ Give Yourself Permission

To honor your achievements, no matter how small. It’s not about grandeur—it’s about recognizing that something was done, something was made, something mattered.

As always, keep writing words and creating art that matters.

— The NewPages Crew

Read more

With the upcoming long weekend, please note that next week’s newsletter will be delivered on Tuesday instead of Monday.

In case you missed it, our May eLitPak went out last Wednesday, featuring submission opportunities, upcoming events, and mentorship options for women writers.

📩 If this email gets cut off, click ‘View Entire Message’ at the bottom or head to Substack to read the full newsletter!

📰 Recommended Reading:

“Tuesday in Ordinary Time” by Michael Jones

“I am alone in the home I grew up in. // It is a terrible silence.” Michael Jones’: poem moves through the quiet rituals of a weekday church—boots on tile, the stillness of the tabernacle—mirroring a more intimate absence at home. By contrasting “ordinary time” with the charged weight of loss, Jones captures how grief settles not just in momentous days, but in the subdued rhythms of everyday life.

“Geography Lessons” by Lou Ventura

Lou Ventura’s “Geography Lessons” maps the uneasy terrain between place and belonging, moving from eviction and displacement to migratory crabs and constricting urban spaces. Anchored by Thomas Merton’s epigraph, the poem asks what it means to truly “know where you are.” Through vivid, often surreal imagery, Ventura suggests that habitability may be less about the spaces themselves than about the human will to endure, adapt, and keep searching for a center.

Find both pieces in GossamerWight Literary Magazine’s Thresholds issue (free PDF download).

🗞️ Magazine News

With the long weekend ahead, now’s the perfect time to line up some new reading—whether you’re by the pool, near the grill, or on the road. Dive into the Magazine Stand to discover fresh issues of literary magazines ready to satisfy your reading appetite.

Alaska Quarterly Review – Spring 2026

Alaska Quarterly Review Spring 2026 pairs expansive literary range with multimedia engagement, featuring fiction by Amy Benson, Maria Kuznetsova, and Jeremy T. Wilson; essays from Heather Sellers and Debbie Urbanski; and poetry by Sara Eliza Johnson, Vandana Khanna, and Rosebud Ben-Oni, alongside in-depth YouTube readings and conversations.

Baltimore Review – Spring 2026

Baltimore Review Spring 2026 stands out for its striking opening lines, including Amy Halloran’s “Vegetable Kingdom” and Betty Ruddy’s “Searching for the Fifth Sense.” Fiction by Yuan Jiang, Julien Shen, and Gordon Brown pairs with poetry from Jane Hilberry, Amie Whittemore, and Zach Eaton in a tightly curated digital issue.

Boulevard – Spring 2026

Boulevard Spring 2026 features 2024 contest winners Mohammad Hakima (nonfiction) and Rachel Stempel (poetry), a craft interview with Aria Aber, and a symposium on silence in art. New work includes fiction by David Nikki Crouse and Amanda DeMatto, and poetry by Ayesha Asad, Bruce Bond, and Patrick Donnelly.

The Greensboro Review – Spring 2026

The Greensboro Review No. 119 spotlights Robert Watson Literary Prize winners Mai Mageed (“Signs of Intelligent Life”) and Anne Shafmaster (“Love and Beauty”). New fiction and poetry from writers such as Taylor Byas, Julia Kolchinsky, and Alison Powell continue the journal’s legacy of elevating emerging and established voices.

The Midwest Quarterly – Spring 2026

The Midwest Quarterly Spring 2026 is a special issue on dyslexia and reading failure, guest edited by David P. Hurford. Essays include Hurford on structured literacy and Michelle M. Keiper on advocacy, alongside work by Alex C. Fender and Paisley Plank, blending research, personal narrative, and interdisciplinary perspectives.

🖋️ Inspiration Prompt: Memory’s Just a Dandelion Away

Memorial Day is a time to honor those who died in service—and, quietly, a day that asks us to sit with memory itself.

What if memories work like dandelions? They begin as something golden and sun-round, fully themselves. Then they soften into whiteness. They go to seed. What was once whole becomes many smaller pieces, scattered by the wind, landing somewhere new—capable of taking root and becoming something that wouldn’t exist without the original.

A memory passed down. A story told at a graveside. A name spoken into the air that carries further than anyone expected.

Create something around the idea of dandelions as memory—how they form, hold their shape, then release. Where do your seeds land? What grows from what someone else left behind?

Two craft tips:

• Let transformation carry the weight.
  The dandelion’s arc—gold to globe to gone—is already a complete emotional story. Resist the urge to explain what it means. Follow the stages and trust the image.

• Find the specific seed.
  Whether you’re writing, drawing, or collaging, anchor your piece in one particular memory or one particular person. Abstraction drifts; specificity takes root.

Looking for more inspiration? Stop by our Weekly Roundup of Submission Opportunities for more prompts.

🏬Bookstore Updates

Whether you’re traveling for the long weekend or staying close to home (especially with gas prices still abysmally high), it’s a great time to explore indie bookstores. Our Guide makes it easy to discover independent shops near you—or at your vacation destination.

Below is just a sampling of a few stores added to our Guide recently.

📍 The Cozy Nook Bookshop – Camrose, Alberta, Canada
A cozy independent bookstore offering thoughtfully curated titles and a welcoming space for readers, located inside Walrus Trading Co.

📍 The Wicked Press – South Windsor, Connecticut
A bookstore café where curated books, coffee, tea, and moody vibes come together for the perfect reading escape.

👉 newpages.com/independent-bookstores

📣Calls, Contests, & More

Ready to submit your work or attend a literary event? We’ve got 140 opportunities waiting for you this week.

Below is just a sampling of what paying subscribers receive—explore submission calls, contests, fellowships, and events curated to keep you writing, submitting, and connecting.

⏳$2,000 Prize + Publication

Deadline: May 18, 2026
New Letters invites you to submit a short story, essay, or poems to the New Letters Literary Awards. Winners in each genre receive $2,000 and publication in New Letters. All entries are considered for publication and must be unpublished. Winners will be announced mid-September 2026. Essay and fiction entries may not exceed 8,000 words; poetry entries may contain one to six poems. Multiple entries are welcome. For complete guidelines, visit our website.

Cæsura is Accepting Submissions for its Online and Print Issue!

Deadline: June 1, 2026
Cæsura is accepting submissions for its 2026 printed and online issue! This year’s theme: LIFELINE. We are accepting Artwork, Short Stories (fiction and nonfiction), and Poems through June 1st, June 15 for members of Poetry Center San Jose! We accept unpublished work only. Simultaneous submissions are welcome. All work must be submitted blind (no identifying information in the file). For more information about guidelines and to submit, visit: www.pcsj.org/submission-guidelines.

2026 Oxford Writers Workshop - Scholarships Available! Register Today!

Register by June 14 (Scholarship Deadline May 31)
The Oxford Writers Workshop, hosted August 14–20 by BookGo, invites writers at all levels of experience to gather for a week of development and inspiration, spent in residence at the legendary Oxford University. Grow your writing through daily masterclasses, one-on-one mentorship, guest presentations, and enriching cultural excursions in England’s historic center of literature and learning. Full accommodations will be provided. Scholarships are available! Since talent should never be limited by circumstance, BookGo is proud to extend funding opportunities to emerging authors, teachers, and veterans. We also offer an institutional funding match. More information can be found on BookGo.pub.

2026 Housatonic Book Awards

Deadline: June 15, 2026
The MFA in Creative and Professional Writing at Western Connecticut State University is currently accepting submissions for their 2026 Housatonic Book Awards. The award will be given to book-length works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry published in 2025. The award carries a $1,000 honorarium in exchange for appearing at the winter or summer residency to give a public reading and a master class with MFA students. The award also includes a $500 travel stipend and hotel stay during the residency. For more information on submission guidelines and past winners, visit: Housatonic Book Awards website.

Swan Scythe Press announces its 2026 poetry chapbook contest

Deadline: June 15, 2026
Swan Scythe Press announces its 2026 poetry chapbook contest. Entry fee: $18. We are accepting submissions from March 1 to June 15 (postmark deadline). Winner receives $200 and 25 perfect-bound chapbooks. The 2025 winner is Catherine Allen for We Return as Rain. For full guidelines, visit our website and Submittable.

International Voices in Creative Nonfiction Competition. Prize: $1000 and publication.

Deadline: July 1, 2026 (11:59 PM EEST)
Not all true stories get told. Yours should. Small presses have the power to make a real impact, and at Vine Leaves Press, we take that responsibility seriously. We are committed to giving underrepresented voices the opportunity to build rich, lasting literary legacies. Why? To sustain hope for a more loving, tolerant, and open world. It begins with art. That’s why we invite you to submit your manuscript to the 2027 International Voices in Creative Nonfiction Competition. Prize: $1000 and publication in 2028. Learn more here.

SUBMIT NOW TO ABLE MUSE (Poetry, Fiction, Essays, Art & More)

Deadline: July 15, 2026
Able Muse is now accepting submissions for our forthcoming issue, winter 2026/2027. Submit poetry, fiction, essays, book reviews, art, and photography. Submission opens yearly January 1 and closes July 15. Read our guidelines and submit at our website.

2027 Press 53 Award for Poetry

Deadline: July 31, 2026
First Prize $1,000, publication, and 53 copies will be awarded to an outstanding, unpublished poetry manuscript. Press 53 Poetry Series Editor Tom Lombardo is the only reader and judge. Prizes awarded upon publication. Deadline July 31. Winner and finalists announced by November 1. Reading fee $30. Complete information at the Press 53 website.

2026 Spokane Prize for Short Fiction

Deadline: November 1, 2026
Discounted submission fee through May 15th. Submit to the 2026 Spokane Prize for Short Fiction! For over 15 years, Willow Springs Books has published prize-winning short story collections from authors all over the US. We accept manuscripts with at least three pieces and a minimum of 100 hundred pages. All authors, regardless of publication history, are eligible. Manuscripts must contain page numbers and a table of contents. Winning authors receive $1,500 and publication. Open through November 1st, 2026. Learn more here.

Palooka Seeks Chapbooks, Prose, Poetry, Artwork, Photography

Deadline: Year-round
Palooka is a global literary magazine of daring prose, art, photography, comics, and chapbooks drawn exclusively from unsolicited submissions. We champion underdog voices, read anonymously, and only publish what we love. Bold voices. Brave stories. Learn more.

Want access to the full list of opportunities and upcoming events? Upgrade to a paid subscription for exclusive early access to the full list of vetted and verified submission calls, writing contests, and events!

Upgrade Now

❧ Give Yourself Permission

To remember—quietly, fully, in your own way.

As always, keep writing words that matter and making art that explores the world.

— The NewPages Crew

Read more

Each issue features digital flyers from literary magazines, creative writing programs, writing conferences, and independent publishers. Read it, share it, pass it along.

Colorado Authors League

The Colorado Authors League (CAL) supports and promotes its community of published writers while connecting with and adding value to the reading world. Formed in 1931, authors become members to: keep up with changes in the craft of writing, publishing, and marketing, gain greater visibility for their writing, join a group of like-minded people who love writing.

View our flyer to see new releases by members and learn more at our website.

The Word Works 2026 Submission Opportunities

The Word Works is currently open for two opportunities. The May/June Open Reading Period accepts full-length poetry manuscripts (typically 48–80 pages) from May 1 through June 30; up to five books are selected for publication; entry fee: $20.

The Tenth Gate Prize (June 1–July 15) awards $1,000 and publication for a full-length collection by a mid-career poet with at least two previously published books (chapbooks and self-published titles do not count). Submissions are read anonymously; follow general guidelines.

View flyer or visit website for more information.

10th Annual Taos Writers Conference with Keynote Speaker, Alexandra Fuller

Join us at the 10^th Annual Taos Writers Conference in beautiful Taos, New Mexico, July 24-26, 2026, with keynote speaker and featured faculty member, Alexandra Fuller (Let’s Not Go to the Dogs Tonight, Fi, and many others). Other instructors include Connie Josefs, Valerie Martinez, Juan Morales, Allegra Huston, Sean Murphy, & Kristina Marie Darling. Offering over twenty workshops in poetry, fiction, memoir, playwriting, screenwriting, and more.

FMI: view flyer, somos@somostaos.org, www.somostaos.org, or 575-758-0081.

Nine Mile Literary Magazine: We believe that poetry is everyone’s art.

Deadline: August 31, 2026
Nine Mile Magazine publishes online twice yearly, showcasing works deeply imbued with life. We seek to bring great writing to our readers, without consideration of school, style, or form, with a special focus on CNY and featuring writers within and outside the mainstream. Our Propel Poetry initiative publishes books by first rate poets with disabilities.

View our flyer and visit our website to learn more.

Enjoying the eLitPak? Subscribe to the NewPages Newsletter for weekly updates, inspiration prompts, and submission opportunities — plus the monthly eLitPak delivered to your inbox.

Subscribe now

See your book project take flight with Birds & Muses

Acclaimed novelist, editor, teacher and “literary godmother” Kate Moses has been taking writers under her wing for over 3 decades – you too can realize your vision for your work with a mentor as invested in your story & your growth as you are. Recent mentees have been published by Flatiron, Northwestern U Press, SheWrites, and Sybilline; won the Pushcart Prize, Narrative Prize, and Independent Book Publishers Association Medal; finalists for Greywolf Nonfiction Prize and Next Generation Indie Book Award; in residence at Breadloaf, Craigardan, Hedgebrook, and Hewnoaks.

View flyer or visit website to learn more.

Changing Light Novel-in-Verse Contest

Deadline: May 31, 2026
NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline: May 31. Send complete Word Document to jwt@uwa.edu, using this format: CHANGINGLIGHT_YOURTITLE_YOURNAME.

Please do include your bio and contact information in the file.

View flyer or visit website for more information.

The Catamaran Poetry Prize

Catamaran seeks unpublished, book-length poetry manuscripts (60–100 pages) in English from poets living in California, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, or Hawaii.

Prize: $1,000 and book publication. Entrants receive a complimentary one year subscription to Catamaran. Judge: Joseph Millar. Deadline: July 1, 2026.

Individual poems may have prior journal publication (with acknowledgments). Simultaneous and multiple submissions allowed; notify if accepted elsewhere. Submit blind (no identifying information). Winner, finalists, and semifinalists announced September 2026; publication expected April 2027.

View flyer for more information and Submit here.

Poetry Chapbook Prize: $1,500, stand-alone chapbook, live launch

Deadline: June 15, 2026
A prize of $1,500, publication of the chapbook in the Tusculum Review’s 22nd volume (2026), and creation of a limited-edition stand-alone chapbook with original art is awarded for the winning chain of poems.

Contest judge: Nate Marshall. Deadline: June 15 on Submittable.

Finalists announced in July, the winner in August. Publication and live launch in November. View flyer for more details.

Advertise in an Upcoming eLitPak

Want to get your call for submissions, contest, event, or new release in front of an engaged literary community? Reserve your spot in an upcoming eLitPak and reach 7,000+ newsletter subscribers—plus promotion on the NewPages blog and across our social channels to 30,000+ followers.

Now accepting reservations for the June 2026 through May 2027 eLitPak Newsletters. Flyer placement is based on order of reservations.

Reserve Your Spot

I spent the weekend deciding linear timelines are for losers, at least until revision begs to differ, and writing scenes to music across the entire arc of a story—beginning, middle, end, and all the strange spaces in between. There’s something freeing about letting the narrative unfold out of order and trusting it will eventually find its shape.

Hopefully, you had a great weekend too—whether that meant drafting, revising, submitting, or simply letting your creative brain rest a little.

Looking for opportunities and good reads? We’ve got plenty waiting for you, so dive on in.

We’re already hitting mid-month this week, which means our latest eLitPak Newsletter is on the way! Keep an eye on your inbox—it arrives Wednesday afternoon.

If you’re an author, editor, or publisher interested in participating in a future eLitPak, learn more here and join us in showcasing fresh literary work, events, and opportunities.

📩 If this email gets cut off, click ‘View Entire Message’ at the bottom or head to Substack to read the full newsletter!

📰 Recommended Reading

Athena Kildegaard “Postcard to Myself at 20”

Kildegaard’s “Postcard to Myself at 20” captures the way memory resists clean narrative, arriving instead in fragments—breathless, unpunctuated, and imperfectly recalled. The poem leans into that instability, allowing details to blur and double back on themselves, mirroring how we revisit our younger selves with equal parts tenderness and uncertainty. What begins as a slightly chaotic Valentine gesture—tiny paper hearts meant to cascade into delight—fails in execution, undone by static and circumstance. Yet the poem reframes that small “failure” with a quiet, generous hindsight: the moment didn’t have to unfold perfectly to endure meaningfully. Its closing turn offers a layered reassurance to that 20-year-old self—awkwardness and expectation aside, the love remained, “electric and sticky,” charged by time rather than diminished by it.

John Cheesebrow “Artifacts of a Bloodline”

Cheesebrow’s “Artifacts of a Bloodline” is a meditation on inheritance—not just of objects, but of memory, longing, and the uneasy weight of history. Moving through a series of artifacts passed down across generations, the essay resists neat sentimentality, instead lingering in the tension between what is preserved and what is misunderstood. Guns, helmets, letters, even the possibility of a skull become charged not with clear meaning, but with questions—about violence, legacy, masculinity, and the desire to feel anchored in something larger than oneself.

What makes the piece especially compelling is its attention to the strange gravitational pull of objects others might discard. These items, collected and handed down almost accidentally, accrue emotional meaning over time, becoming stand-ins for stories half-known or entirely imagined. Cheesebrow understands that inheritance is as much about projection as it is about fact: the narrator’s yearning for purpose, for connection, reshapes these artifacts into something almost mythic.

Yet the essay’s quiet turn comes in its recognition that legacy isn’t ultimately stored in trophies of war or relics of suffering, but in the softer, more ephemeral record of human connection—photographs, relationships, the act of being loved and remembered. In that sense, “Artifacts of a Bloodline” reframes what we choose to keep and why, suggesting that even the most unremarkable remnants can carry the full, imperfect weight of a life.

Read both pieces in South 85 Spring/Summer 2026.

🗞️ Magazine News

With April behind us, our New & Noted roundup has been updated with a fresh slate of literary and alternative magazine releases. Catch up on everything you might have missed.

Looking for new journals to explore? Start with these recent additions to our Big List of Literary Magazines:

• After Brunch Journal — fiction, poetry, cross-genre

• American Poetry Journal — poetry

• Claudine — fiction, nonfiction, reviews

• ELA Literary Magazine — fiction

• Encyclopedia Prismatica — fiction, nonfiction, poetry, cross-genre, art

• Epistle Literary Magazine — fiction, nonfiction, poetry

• Hollow and Sky — fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art, photography

• Nerve to Write — fiction, nonfiction, poetry, cross-genre, art

• Vietnam War Poetry — poetry

If you’re in the mood to discover something new, the Magazine Stand has you covered. Fresh issues, bold voices, and standout art are all waiting—dive in and see what’s just been published.

The Blue Mountain Review – April 2026

The April issue of The Blue Mountain Review opens with Major Jackson’s introduction framing poetry as communal, lifelong practice shaped by pain and language. A Europe-focused edition spotlights Prince Stash and spans interviews, music, travel, fashion, fiction, essays, poetry, and visual art, emphasizing cross-cultural exchange and multidisciplinary storytelling throughout the issue.

The Lake – May 2026

The May issue of The Lake features a wide roster of contemporary poets alongside reviews of recent collections by Laura Kasischke, Tom Kelly, and Polly Clark. Its “One Poem Review” column highlights work from recent books, inviting contributors. The issue foregrounds poetics, access, and ongoing dialogue between poems and criticism.

Mistake House Magazine – Issue 12

Issue 12 of Mistake House Magazine centers creative process, pairing writer Saúl Hernández with artist Ron Young in Soap Bubble Set. Fiction and poetry contributions span emerging voices, while the sixth photography section highlights student work, awarding an Editor’s Prize. The issue balances experimentation, craft, and mentorship within a community-minded editorial vision.

Waxing & Waning – Issue 16

Issue 16 of Waxing & Waning, themed “Free as Animal,” gathers poetry, fiction, nonfiction, drama, comics, and visual art exploring instinct, embodiment, and wildness. Featuring a contributor list, the print issue emphasizes cross-genre experimentation and tactile presentation, inviting readers to engage with primal energies and contemporary voices through diverse forms.

🌟New Book Spotlight
No Packing Necessary: Poems for the Solo Journey by Patricia Ann Joslin

No Packing Necessary: Poems for the Solo Journey by Patricia Ann Joslin is a narrative poetry collection centered on grief, memory, and moving forward after loss. A follow-up to her 2023 collection, it explores widowhood, aging, and the quiet beauty of later life with accessibility and emotional clarity. Joslin balances sorrow with grace, offering vivid sensory imagery and moments of wonder. The poems emphasize that while loss endures, so does connection—carried not physically, but through memory, reminding readers that love and presence persist beyond absence.

Looking for more book recommendations? Catch up with our April collection of new and forthcoming releases.

🖋️ Inspiration Prompt: The Animal I Have Become

Most of us know the moment. Spock behind the glass, hands pressed to the barrier, telling Kirk that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. The logic is clean. The cost is everything. And the people on the other side of the glass can only watch someone they love make a choice they cannot follow.

But flip it. The needs of the one can be just as absolute—just as defensible, just as impossible to explain to a room full of people who’ve already made up their minds.

This is where the monster gets made. Not through malice. Through a choice that is right—that the person making it knows is right—but that cannot be fully spoken, or won’t be heard, or would cost something else entirely to explain. So they carry the label. They let themselves be read as the villain because the alternative is worse. Three Days Grace named the feeling: the animal I have become. Bigbang insisted on the truth beneath it: I’m not a monster.

Both can be true at once. That’s the creative territory this week.

Your Prompt

Write, draw, collage, or create from the perspective of someone who made the necessary choice—the one that looked wrong from the outside. Or inhabit the onlooker: the person whose understanding arrives late, or partially, or not at all. What shifts when the full picture finally comes into focus? What doesn’t?

For visual artists and collage makers, consider the space between two images that don’t obviously belong together—what lives in that gap might be exactly the choice that can’t be explained. Let juxtaposition do what language sometimes can’t.

Two Craft Tips

1. Protect the silence
Whatever your medium, resist filling in the full explanation. The silence—the withheld, the obscured, the deliberately left incomplete—is where the power lives. Write around it, leave the frame deliberately cropped, let the negative space carry what can’t be stated outright.

2. Don’t redeem the onlooker too cleanly
If you’re working the perspective shift—the moment understanding arrives—resist the tidy resolution. Sometimes knowing why someone made the monstrous choice doesn’t bring relief. Sometimes it just means holding two true things at once. That’s the harder and more honest place to land, in any medium.

Looking for more inspiration? Stop by our Weekly Roundup of Submission Opportunities for more prompts.

Calls, Contests, & More

Ready to submit your work or attend a literary event? We’ve got 134 opportunities waiting for you this week! With May just around the corner, there is several opportunities added to the full (paywalled) list—don’t miss out.

Below is a sampling of what you’ll find inside.

⏳Cow Creek Poetry Chapbook Prize

Deadline: May 15, 2026
Submissions are now open for the 2026 Cow Creek Chapbook Prize, a national poetry chapbook contest hosted by Pittsburg State University. We welcome poetry in all styles and on all subjects. If your poems challenge and capture the imagination, we want to read them. The winning poet receives a $1,000 prize and 25 author copies of their published chapbook. Submit 15-30 pages of poetry with a $15 entry fee. Simultaneous and multiple submissions are welcome (each manuscript must be submitted separately). Individual poems may have been previously published, but the chapbook must be an original manuscript. Deadline: May 15. For full guidelines and to submit, visit our website.

⏳Lost Kite Editions Chapbook Prize

Deadline: May 15, 2026
The Lost Kite Editions Chapbook Prize is awarded annually to a chapbook of any genre (fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, etc.). Collaborative, hybrid, and multi-genre submissions are also welcome. The winning author will receive a $1,500 award and 20 contributor copies. The winning chapbook will be published in spring, 2027. The contest will be open from April 1st to May 15th, 2026. The winning manuscript will be selected by Hanif Abdurraqib. For full guidelines and to submit, please visit the Lost Kite Editions website.

⏳$2,000 Prize + Publication

Deadline: May 18, 2026
New Letters invites you to submit a short story, essay, or poems to the New Letters Literary Awards. Winners in each genre receive $2,000 and publication in New Letters. All entries are considered for publication and must be unpublished. Winners will be announced mid-September 2026. Essay and fiction entries may not exceed 8,000 words; poetry entries may contain one to six poems. Multiple entries are welcome. For complete guidelines, visit our website.

Cæsura is Accepting Submissions for its Online and Print Issue!

Deadline: June 1, 2026
Cæsura is accepting submissions for its 2026 printed and online issue! This year’s theme: LIFELINE. We are accepting Artwork, Short Stories (fiction and nonfiction), and Poems through June 1st, June 15 for members of Poetry Center San Jose! We accept unpublished work only. Simultaneous submissions are welcome. All work must be submitted blind (no identifying information in the file). For more information about guidelines and to submit, visit: www.pcsj.org/submission-guidelines.

🔔 2026 Oxford Writers Workshop - Scholarships Available! Register Today!

Register by June 14 (Scholarship Deadline May 31)
The Oxford Writers Workshop, hosted August 14–20 by BookGo, invites writers at all levels of experience to gather for a week of development and inspiration, spent in residence at the legendary Oxford University. Grow your writing through daily masterclasses, one-on-one mentorship, guest presentations, and enriching cultural excursions in England’s historic center of literature and learning. Full accommodations will be provided. Scholarships are available! Since talent should never be limited by circumstance, BookGo is proud to extend funding opportunities to emerging authors, teachers, and veterans. We also offer an institutional funding match. More information can be found on BookGo.pub.

2026 Housatonic Book Awards

Deadline: June 15, 2026
The MFA in Creative and Professional Writing at Western Connecticut State University is currently accepting submissions for their 2026 Housatonic Book Awards. The award will be given to book-length works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry published in 2025. The award carries a $1,000 honorarium in exchange for appearing at the winter or summer residency to give a public reading and a master class with MFA students. The award also includes a $500 travel stipend and hotel stay during the residency. For more information on submission guidelines and past winners, visit: Housatonic Book Awards website.

Swan Scythe Press announces its 2026 poetry chapbook contest

Deadline: June 15, 2026
Swan Scythe Press announces its 2026 poetry chapbook contest. Entry fee: $18. We are accepting submissions from March 1 to June 15 (postmark deadline). Winner receives $200 and 25 perfect-bound chapbooks. The 2025 winner is Catherine Allen for We Return as Rain. For full guidelines, visit our website and Submittable.

International Voices in Creative Nonfiction Competition. Prize: $1000 and publication.

Deadline: July 1, 2026 (11:59 PM EEST)
Not all true stories get told. Yours should. Small presses have the power to make a real impact, and at Vine Leaves Press, we take that responsibility seriously. We are committed to giving underrepresented voices the opportunity to build rich, lasting literary legacies. Why? To sustain hope for a more loving, tolerant, and open world. It begins with art. That’s why we invite you to submit your manuscript to the 2027 International Voices in Creative Nonfiction Competition. Prize: $1000 and publication in 2028. Learn more here.

SUBMIT NOW TO ABLE MUSE (Poetry, Fiction, Essays, Art & More)

Deadline: July 15, 2026
Able Muse is now accepting submissions for our forthcoming issue, winter 2026/2027. Submit poetry, fiction, essays, book reviews, art, and photography. Submission opens yearly January 1 and closes July 15. Read our guidelines and submit at our website.

2027 Press 53 Award for Poetry

Deadline: July 31, 2026
First Prize $1,000, publication, and 53 copies will be awarded to an outstanding, unpublished poetry manuscript. Press 53 Poetry Series Editor Tom Lombardo is the only reader and judge. Prizes awarded upon publication. Deadline July 31. Winner and finalists announced by November 1. Reading fee $30. Complete information at the Press 53 website.

2026 Spokane Prize for Short Fiction

Deadline: November 1, 2026
Discounted submission fee through May 15th. Submit to the 2026 Spokane Prize for Short Fiction! For over 15 years, Willow Springs Books has published prize-winning short story collections from authors all over the US. We accept manuscripts with at least three pieces and a minimum of 100 hundred pages. All authors, regardless of publication history, are eligible. Manuscripts must contain page numbers and a table of contents. Winning authors receive $1,500 and publication. Open through November 1st, 2026. Learn more here.

Palooka Seeks Chapbooks, Prose, Poetry, Artwork, Photography

Deadline: Year-round
Palooka is a global literary magazine of daring prose, art, photography, comics, and chapbooks drawn exclusively from unsolicited submissions. We champion underdog voices, read anonymously, and only publish what we love. Bold voices. Brave stories. Learn more.

Want access to the full list of opportunities and upcoming events? Upgrade to a paid subscription for exclusive early access to the full list of vetted and verified submission calls, writing contests, and events!

Upgrade Now

❧ Give Yourself Permission

to hold two truths at once—even when they refuse to reconcile,
and to make the choice that doesn’t make sense from the outside.

As always, keep writing words that matter and making art that explores the world.

— The NewPages Crew

Read more

It’s a balmy and blustery day here in the mitten state, so even though you might want to grab your laptop and head outside, the wind has other plans. If this volatile spring weather has you stuck indoors, NewPages has plenty to keep you engaged and busy.

With the start of a new month, now’s the perfect time to check out our Guide to Writing Contests for a full list of May—and beyond—deadlines. Whether you’re planning ahead or looking for something to submit right now, there’s plenty waiting for you.

And while the month has only just begun, you can look forward to our special monthly eLitPak Newsletter landing in your inbox next Wednesday with more literary goodies & events!

If you’re an author, editor, or publisher interested in participating, there’s still room. Learn more here and join us in showcasing fresh literary work.

📩 If this email gets cut off, click ‘View Entire Message’ at the bottom or head to Substack to read the full newsletter!

📰 Recommended Reading

No recommended reading today—consider this your permission slip to catch up on something that’s already been tugging at your sleeve. Or, if you’d prefer a recommendation not of a single piece but of a journal as a whole, Epiphany is a must‑read for literature lovers.

The journal features amazing work across both its online platform and print editions, offering a little something for every kind of reader.

🗞️ Magazine News

If you’re in the mood to discover something new—beyond the bookstore stacks and weekend walks—the Magazine Stand has you covered. Fresh issues, bold voices, and standout art are all waiting. Dive in and see what’s just been published.

Revolute – Issue .007

Issue .007, the magazine’s newest annual issue, is now live online. It opens with cover art by Michiko Itatani and an interview with poet Ally Ang. The issue features poetry, fiction, and nonfiction by a diverse range of writers, plus microreviews of recent and classic books for readers everywhere.

Sky Island Journal – Spring 2026 (Issue 35)

Issue 35 foregrounds uncensored truth and global freedom of expression, featuring writers who risk personal safety to publish their work. Framed by a powerful editorial statement, the issue presents poetry and prose from international voices, reinforcing the journal’s mission to protect, amplify, and connect vulnerable writers worldwide.

West Trade Review – Spring 2026 (Vol. 17)

The Spring 2026 issue blends a themed section on “Borders & Border Crossings” with new poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction from an extensive, accomplished contributor list. Available in print with open‑access samples online, the issue reflects the journal’s commitment to breadth, craft, and literary conversation.

🖋️ Inspiration Prompt: May the Fourth be with You

Create a work centered on an unseen force at play—one that influences motion, decisions, composition, or meaning without ever fully appearing. This force might shape a character’s actions, guide a hand mid‑gesture, distort a memory, interrupt a narrative, or determine what remains unsaid or unseen. Let the audience feel its presence through absence, tension, rhythm, or repetition rather than explanation.

Translate this “Force” into something universal and human: intuition, inheritance, history, power, belief, desire, fear, or the pressure of expectation. Explore how it manifests across form—through language, image, sound, structure, pacing, white space, layering, or fragmentation. Consider what resisting or yielding to this force looks like when expressed visually, sonically, physically, or textually.

End the piece with a decision or shift—not necessarily resolution, but alignment. A change in direction, perspective, or form itself. Let the work suggest what it means to choose awareness over autopilot, intention over inertia, even when the path forward remains uncertain.

Looking for more inspiration? Stop by our Weekly Roundup of Submission Opportunities for more prompts.

Calls, Contests, & More

Ready to submit your work or attend a literary event? We’ve got 126 opportunities waiting for you this week! With May just around the corner, there is several opportunities added to the full (paywalled) list—don’t miss out.

Below is a sampling of what you’ll find inside.

Cow Creek Poetry Chapbook Prize

Deadline: May 15, 2026
Submissions are now open for the 2026 Cow Creek Chapbook Prize, a national poetry chapbook contest hosted by Pittsburg State University. We welcome poetry in all styles and on all subjects. If your poems challenge and capture the imagination, we want to read them. The winning poet receives a $1,000 prize and 25 author copies of their published chapbook. Submit 15-30 pages of poetry with a $15 entry fee. Simultaneous and multiple submissions are welcome (each manuscript must be submitted separately). Individual poems may have been previously published, but the chapbook must be an original manuscript. Deadline: May 15. For full guidelines and to submit, visit our website.

Lost Kite Editions Chapbook Prize

Deadline: May 15, 2026
The Lost Kite Editions Chapbook Prize is awarded annually to a chapbook of any genre (fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, etc.). Collaborative, hybrid, and multi-genre submissions are also welcome. The winning author will receive a $1,500 award and 20 contributor copies. The winning chapbook will be published in spring, 2027. The contest will be open from April 1st to May 15th, 2026. The winning manuscript will be selected by Hanif Abdurraqib. For full guidelines and to submit, please visit the Lost Kite Editions website.

$2,000 Prize + Publication

Deadline: May 18, 2026
New Letters invites you to submit a short story, essay, or poems to the New Letters Literary Awards. Winners in each genre receive $2,000 and publication in New Letters. All entries are considered for publication and must be unpublished. Winners will be announced mid-September 2026. Essay and fiction entries may not exceed 8,000 words; poetry entries may contain one to six poems. Multiple entries are welcome. For complete guidelines, visit our website.

🔔 Cæsura is Accepting Submissions for its Online and Print Issue!

Deadline: June 1, 2026
Cæsura is accepting submissions for its 2026 printed and online issue! This year’s theme: LIFELINE. We are accepting Artwork, Short Stories (fiction and nonfiction), and Poems through June 1st, June 15 for members of Poetry Center San Jose! We accept unpublished work only. Simultaneous submissions are welcome. All work must be submitted blind (no identifying information in the file). For more information about guidelines and to submit, visit: www.pcsj.org/submission-guidelines.

2026 Housatonic Book Awards

Deadline: June 15, 2026
The MFA in Creative and Professional Writing at Western Connecticut State University is currently accepting submissions for their 2026 Housatonic Book Awards. The award will be given to book-length works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry published in 2025. The award carries a $1,000 honorarium in exchange for appearing at the winter or summer residency to give a public reading and a master class with MFA students. The award also includes a $500 travel stipend and hotel stay during the residency. For more information on submission guidelines and past winners, visit: Housatonic Book Awards website.

Swan Scythe Press announces its 2026 poetry chapbook contest

Deadline: June 15, 2026
Swan Scythe Press announces its 2026 poetry chapbook contest. Entry fee: $18. We are accepting submissions from March 1 to June 15 (postmark deadline). Winner receives $200 and 25 perfect-bound chapbooks. The 2025 winner is Catherine Allen for We Return as Rain. For full guidelines, visit our website and Submittable.

International Voices in Creative Nonfiction Competition. Prize: $1000 and publication.

Deadline: July 1, 2026 (11:59 PM EEST)
Not all true stories get told. Yours should. Small presses have the power to make a real impact, and at Vine Leaves Press, we take that responsibility seriously. We are committed to giving underrepresented voices the opportunity to build rich, lasting literary legacies. Why? To sustain hope for a more loving, tolerant, and open world. It begins with art. That’s why we invite you to submit your manuscript to the 2027 International Voices in Creative Nonfiction Competition. Prize: $1000 and publication in 2028. Learn more here.

🔔 SUBMIT NOW TO ABLE MUSE (Poetry, Fiction, Essays, Art & More)

Deadline: July 15, 2026
Able Muse is now accepting submissions for our forthcoming issue, winter 2026/2027. Submit poetry, fiction, essays, book reviews, art, and photography. Submission opens yearly January 1 and closes July 15. Read our guidelines and submit at our website.

2027 Press 53 Award for Poetry

Deadline: July 31, 2026
First Prize $1,000, publication, and 53 copies will be awarded to an outstanding, unpublished poetry manuscript. Press 53 Poetry Series Editor Tom Lombardo is the only reader and judge. Prizes awarded upon publication. Deadline July 31. Winner and finalists announced by November 1. Reading fee $30. Complete information at the Press 53 website.

🔔 2026 Spokane Prize for Short Fiction

Deadline: November 1, 2026
Discounted submission fee through May 15th. Submit to the 2026 Spokane Prize for Short Fiction! For over 15 years, Willow Springs Books has published prize-winning short story collections from authors all over the US. We accept manuscripts with at least three pieces and a minimum of 100 hundred pages. All authors, regardless of publication history, are eligible. Manuscripts must contain page numbers and a table of contents. Winning authors receive $1,500 and publication. Open through November 1st, 2026. Learn more here.

Palooka Seeks Chapbooks, Prose, Poetry, Artwork, Photography

Deadline: Year-round
Palooka is a global literary magazine of daring prose, art, photography, comics, and chapbooks drawn exclusively from unsolicited submissions. We champion underdog voices, read anonymously, and only publish what we love. Bold voices. Brave stories. Learn more.

Want access to the full list of opportunities and upcoming events? Upgrade to a paid subscription for exclusive early access to the full list of vetted and verified submission calls, writing contests, and events!

Upgrade Now

❧ Give Yourself Permission

On this May the Fourth, give yourself permission not to resist the pull—toward a piece you’ve been meaning to read, a journal you keep returning to, an idea that won’t leave you alone. Let curiosity be your guide. Let attention be the force you follow, even if it leads you somewhere unexpected.

And as always, keep writing, making, assembling, remixing, and revising. Trust what calls to you. Stay open to what matters. Keep creating words—and work—that matter.

— The NewPages Crew

Read more

🎉 Hope you celebrated Indie Bookstore Day!
There’s nothing like wandering into a cozy indie shop with curated shelves, warm staff, and the occasional cat or dog supervising your browsing. Found a new favorite? Tell us. Still searching? The NewPages Independent Bookstore Guide is ready for your next adventure.

And speaking of discovery—this is the time of year when both bookstores and lit mags feel especially alive. With April ending and May beginning, submission deadlines are closing in, and the Magazine Stand is full of fresh issues and bold new voices waiting to be found.

📩 If this email gets cut off, click ‘View Entire Message’ at the bottom or head to Substack to read the full newsletter!

📰 Recommended Reading

With the school year nearing its close, Tasha Lashawn’s essay feels particularly apt.

“Educators Who Stand Beside” by Tasha Lashawn

Having spent three and a half years working as an in‑class tutor and aide at a community college, I was struck by Lashawn’s nuanced portrayal of the educators who labor quietly at students’ sides. She highlights the steady, often unseen work of those who create environments where students feel safe enough to learn—reminding us that true educational access is rooted in care, presence, and trust. It’s a thoughtful meditation on how far education has come and the distance still ahead.

Lashawn’s essay appears in the Winter 2025 issue of Epistle Literary Magazine.

🗞️ Magazine News

If you’re in the mood to discover something new—beyond the bookstore stacks and weekend walks—the Magazine Stand has you covered. Fresh issues, bold voices, and standout art are all waiting. Dive in and see what’s just been published.

Apple Valley Review — Spring 2026

The Spring 2026 Apple Valley Review offers short fiction, flash, memoir, and poetry from an international roster, including translated work. Edited by Leah Browning, the semiannual journal highlights concise, emotionally resonant writing. The issue features new pieces across genres and a vibrant cover photograph, Peacock Close Up by Tim Mossholder.

The Fiddlehead – Issue 307

The Fiddlehead Issue 307 (Spring 2026) features poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and reviews by emerging and established writers. Highlights include Melanie Power’s Ralph Gustafson Prize–winning poem, new work by Liz Howard and Abhimanyu Acharya, and an essay by Summer Schenk Andrus and Nicole Breit, with cover art by Raymond Martin.

Red Tree Review — Issue 6

Issue 6 of Red Tree Review presents an open‑access collection of poems that “surprise, harrow, and awe.” Featuring both emerging and established poets, the issue spans elegiac, uneasy, nostalgic, surreal, and grief‑stricken modes. A strong showcase of contemporary poetry’s emotional and stylistic range.

The Writing Disorder — Spring 2026

The Spring 2026 issue of The Writing Disorder opens with Jacqueline Hen’s experimental light‑and‑space portfolio, followed by fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and a book review. With a diverse contributor list, the open‑access journal continues its commitment to innovative visual art paired with compelling literary work.

🌱 Introducing VOLTA

Volta is a new online lit mag championing work that’s daring, idiosyncratic, and willing to “bend the familiar.”

Founded by Charlotte Ungar and Maisie Bilston, the magazine pairs literature with visual art, embracing the way young readers move through a world saturated with images.

Their debut issue features a mix of new and established voices across poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and translation. Print editions and contests are already in the works.

👉 Read the full New Lit on the Block interview here.

🖋️ Inspiration Prompt: The Dose Makes the Poison

There’s a lyric from Pink that’s been living in my head lately—“you’re just like a pill, instead of making me better you’re making me ill.” It sent me somewhere older: a principle attributed to Paracelsus, the 16th-century physician considered the father of toxicology. His insight was radical for its time and remains quietly unsettling now.

The dose makes the poison.

Not the substance. The amount.

Water drowns. Sunlight burns. Silence heals—until it suffocates. Honesty clarifies—until it cuts. Love sustains—until it consumes. Almost nothing is inherently harmful or inherently safe. What determines the difference is almost always a matter of degree, of accumulation, of how much and for how long and in what conditions.

I’ve been sitting with this idea deep in my own fiction writing lately, watching characters navigate exactly this—how the things that save us and the things that destroy us are often the same things, measured differently. It makes for rich, uncomfortable storytelling. It makes for rich, uncomfortable living.

This week, create something around the idea that the dose makes the poison.

You might explore:

• A relationship, habit, or belief that began as medicine and became something else entirely—or vice versa

• A character who has miscalculated the dose of something: love, ambition, silence, grief, control, hope

• The moment a remedy tips into harm—or a poison, taken carefully, becomes a cure

• A visual or mixed-media piece built around accumulation, excess, or the thin line between nourishment and damage

Two craft tips for this one:

Resist naming the substance too quickly. The power of this idea is in its universality—readers should feel the principle land before they know exactly what you’re applying it to. Whether you’re writing about addiction, devotion, creative obsession, or something stranger, let the experience of too much or too little arrive before the label does.

Let the threshold be the story. The most interesting creative territory here isn’t the extremes—full health or full ruin—but the moment just before the tipping point, when the dose is almost right, when someone almost knows. That liminal space is where your most honest work will live.

Looking for more inspiration? Stop by our Weekly Roundup of Submission Opportunities for more prompts.

Calls, Contests, & More

Ready to submit your work or attend a literary event? We’ve got 159 opportunities waiting for you this week! With May just around the corner, there is several opportunities added to the full (paywalled) list—don’t miss out.

Below is a sampling of what you’ll find inside.

⏳Tom Howard/John H. Reid Fiction & Essay Contest

Deadline: May 1, 2026
34th year, sponsored by Winning Writers, co-sponsored by Duotrope, and recommended by Reedsy. Submit published or unpublished work online to win $3,500 for the best story and $3,500 for the best essay. Ten Honorable Mentions will receive $500 each. Length limit: 6,000 words. Entry fee: $25. Top 12 entries published online. Final judge: Tamra Badgett. Deadline: May 1. Learn more here.

Cow Creek Poetry Chapbook Prize

Deadline: May 15, 2026
Submissions are now open for the 2026 Cow Creek Chapbook Prize, a national poetry chapbook contest hosted by Pittsburg State University. We welcome poetry in all styles and on all subjects. If your poems challenge and capture the imagination, we want to read them. The winning poet receives a $1,000 prize and 25 author copies of their published chapbook. Submit 15-30 pages of poetry with a $15 entry fee. Simultaneous and multiple submissions are welcome (each manuscript must be submitted separately). Individual poems may have been previously published, but the chapbook must be an original manuscript. Deadline: May 15. For full guidelines and to submit, visit our website.

Lost Kite Editions Chapbook Prize

Deadline: May 15, 2026
The Lost Kite Editions Chapbook Prize is awarded annually to a chapbook of any genre (fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, etc.). Collaborative, hybrid, and multi-genre submissions are also welcome. The winning author will receive a $1,500 award and 20 contributor copies. The winning chapbook will be published in spring, 2027. The contest will be open from April 1st to May 15th, 2026. The winning manuscript will be selected by Hanif Abdurraqib. For full guidelines and to submit, please visit the Lost Kite Editions website.

$2,000 Prize + Publication

Deadline: May 18, 2026
New Letters invites you to submit a short story, essay, or poems to the New Letters Literary Awards. Winners in each genre receive $2,000 and publication in New Letters. All entries are considered for publication and must be unpublished. Winners will be announced mid-September 2026. Essay and fiction entries may not exceed 8,000 words; poetry entries may contain one to six poems. Multiple entries are welcome. For complete guidelines, visit our website.

2026 Housatonic Book Awards

Deadline: June 15, 2026
The MFA in Creative and Professional Writing at Western Connecticut State University is currently accepting submissions for their 2026 Housatonic Book Awards. The award will be given to book-length works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry published in 2025. The award carries a $1,000 honorarium in exchange for appearing at the winter or summer residency to give a public reading and a master class with MFA students. The award also includes a $500 travel stipend and hotel stay during the residency. For more information on submission guidelines and past winners, visit: Housatonic Book Awards website.

🔔 Swan Scythe Press announces its 2026 poetry chapbook contest

Deadline: June 15, 2026
Swan Scythe Press announces its 2026 poetry chapbook contest. Entry fee: $18. We are accepting submissions from March 1 to June 15 (postmark deadline). Winner receives $200 and 25 perfect-bound chapbooks. The 2025 winner is Catherine Allen for We Return as Rain. For full guidelines, visit our website and Submittable.

International Voices in Creative Nonfiction Competition. Prize: $1000 and publication.

Deadline: July 1, 2026 (11:59 PM EEST)
Not all true stories get told. Yours should. Small presses have the power to make a real impact, and at Vine Leaves Press, we take that responsibility seriously. We are committed to giving underrepresented voices the opportunity to build rich, lasting literary legacies. Why? To sustain hope for a more loving, tolerant, and open world. It begins with art. That’s why we invite you to submit your manuscript to the 2027 International Voices in Creative Nonfiction Competition. Prize: $1000 and publication in 2028. Learn more here.

2027 Press 53 Award for Poetry

Deadline: July 31, 2026
First Prize $1,000, publication, and 53 copies will be awarded to an outstanding, unpublished poetry manuscript. Press 53 Poetry Series Editor Tom Lombardo is the only reader and judge. Prizes awarded upon publication. Deadline July 31. Winner and finalists announced by November 1. Reading fee $30. Complete information at the Press 53 website.

Palooka Seeks Chapbooks, Prose, Poetry, Artwork, Photography

Deadline: Year-round
Palooka is a global literary magazine of daring prose, art, photography, comics, and chapbooks drawn exclusively from unsolicited submissions. We champion underdog voices, read anonymously, and only publish what we love. Bold voices. Brave stories. Learn more.

Want access to the full list of opportunities and upcoming events? Upgrade to a paid subscription for exclusive early access to the full list of vetted and verified submission calls, writing contests, and events!

Upgrade Now

❧ Give Yourself Permission

Give yourself permission this week to adjust the dose.

To step back from the thing you love before it consumes you, or to lean a little closer to the thing you’ve been avoiding because it still has something to offer. To submit—or not submit. To rest without justifying it. To trust that you don’t need to extract maximum productivity from every day for it to matter.

You don’t need to live at the extremes to be doing meaningful work. Often, the wisest choice is noticing when “almost enough” is exactly right—and stopping there.

As always, keep writing words that matter.

— The NewPages Crew

Read more

Don’t forget to check out our regularly updated submission opportunities below or on the blog so you don’t miss a deadline.

If you missed it last week, the NewPages April eLitPak is now available. Writers, journals, presses, writing programs, and events interested in being included in a future eLitPak can learn more here—or view the April issue online now.

📩 If this email gets cut off, click ‘View Entire Message’ at the bottom or head to Substack to read the full newsletter!

⏰ Indie Bookstore Day is this Saturday, April 25!

Since this is the last full week of April, that means Indie Bookstore Day is almost here. It’s the perfect excuse to discover a new favorite shop—or finally visit the indie bookstore you’ve been meaning to check out. The NewPages Independent Bookstore Guide makes it easy, with listings by state and province so you can plan your visit in seconds.

Here’s a small sampling of bookstores recently added to our Guide:

📍 Books & Company – North Haven, Connecticut
A welcoming community hub for readers and makers alike, Books & Company offers a thoughtfully curated selection of used books, local crafts, and engaging social events for every kind of book lover.

📍 Hollow and Quill – Reno, Nevada
Dive into a curated world of romance, mystery, and horror at Hollow and Quill, a Reno standout known for its atmospheric genre fiction, specialty journaling supplies, and vibrant community events.

📍 Pages and Perks – St. Petersburg, Florida
Escape the digital noise at Pages and Perks, a vibrant new St. Pete hangout opening in Summer 2026, offering a curated mix of fiction, children’s literature, and a cozy café atmosphere designed for community.

📍 Whistler’s Daughter Books – Ferndale, Michigan
A community‑centered bookstore built by a family of readers and artists, Whistler’s Daughter Books offers new and used titles alongside author signings, book clubs, readings, and storytime.

👉 newpages.com/independent-bookstores

📰 Recommended Reading

“The Rules.” by Gail Kaufman

Inspired by Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl,” Gail Kaufman’s “The Rules.” unfolds as a relentless series of instructions—how to dress, speak, move, hide, comply, and survive. The guidance is often contradictory, shifting from how to protect yourself to how not to provoke attention, tracing the lived anxiety of existing under constant evaluation. Safety is offered, then immediately revoked.

By the time the poem reaches its final lines—“Don’t call yourself queer, that’s a bad word; / Not like the other ones you hear.”—the ache is fully earned. What remains is not clarity but exhaustion, revealing how language framed as care becomes a tool of fear, self‑censorship, and quiet erasure.

“I read the Word ‘Topples’ as ‘Topless’ in a Poem” by Liza Sparks

Liza Sparks’s poem operates across multiple registers at once, beginning with the devastating intimacy of a mother–child relationship and expanding outward into a broader political metaphor. The poem depicts a figure who demands gratitude while offering harm instead of care, collapsing the distance between familial betrayal and national failure. For some readers, it will resonate most as a portrait of an addicted parent; for others, as an indictment of a country that exploits its people while refusing them safety, dignity, or rights. What gives the poem its power is its refusal to separate these readings. By holding the personal and political together, Sparks exposes how systems of neglect are inherited, embodied, and normalized—and why the ache they leave behind is so enduring.

Read both pieces in the October 2025 issue of The B’K Magazine.

📚 Magazine News

Looking for fresh new work to read as the weather warms? Visit the Magazine Stand to see what’s arrived.

Brilliant Flash Fiction – March 2026

Brilliant Flash Fiction’s March 2026 issue showcases vibrant global stories paired with photography, including wilderness misadventure, sibling rivalry, evolving identities, and fading memory. Works by Robert L. Penick, Steven Whitaker, Christy Hartman, Elodie A. Roy, Danielle Ellis, Terrye Turpin, and others continue the magazine’s twenty‑year legacy. Free online to read.

The Fiddlehead – Issue 307

The Fiddlehead Issue 307 (Spring 2026) features poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and reviews by emerging and established writers. Highlights include Melanie Power’s Ralph Gustafson Prize–winning poem, new work by Liz Howard and Abhimanyu Acharya, and an essay by Summer Schenk Andrus and Nicole Breit, with cover art by Raymond Martin.

🌱 Introducing Marmalade Lit

Marmalade Lit is a biannual, open‑access online literary magazine dedicated to amplifying global youth voices. Founded in 2025 by editors‑in‑chief Sierra Elman and Lucile Orr, the magazine publishes poignant, honest prose and poetry that reflect the modern youth experience. Submissions are accepted from writers ages 12–22, with an emphasis on unique voice and emotional resonance.

Editors read all submissions and aim for quick response times. The inaugural issue features a diverse group of young writers from around the world, pairing striking language with fresh perspectives.

Marmalade Lit plans continued growth through a forthcoming blog and newsletter, with hopes of future print editions.

👉 Read the full New Lit on the Block interview here.

🖋️ Inspiration Prompt: When Words Lose Their Magic

Words have power…until repetition wears them thin. I’m sorry. I love you. I promise. Phrases once electric can become so familiar they stop disappearing into the story and pull the reader out instead.

This week, explore what happens when meaning erodes.

Your challenge:
Create something—a scene, poem, sketch, lyric, or micro‑essay—that wrestles with a word or phrase that’s been used so often it’s lost its charge.

Choose an angle:

• A character leans on a phrase that no longer lands.

• A single overused word breaks the spell of a moment.

• An artist discovers their language has gone dull.

• A relationship built on repeated reassurances that no longer ring true.

• Or flip it: a phrase that should be empty but still carries surprising weight.

Guiding thought:
When does repetition become comfort, and when does it become noise?

Optional constraint:
Use one repeated word or phrase at least five times—let its shifting meaning shape the piece.

Looking for more inspiration? Stop by our Weekly Roundup of Submission Opportunities for more prompts.

🌟New Book Spotlight:
Champions of Innocence Edited by Saul Kassin

Champions of Innocence brings together voices from the innocence movement, including exonerees, lawyers, scientists, journalists, and advocates, to confront the reality of wrongful convictions worldwide. Edited by Saul Kassin with an introduction by John Grisham, the book documents systemic failures and the growing movement fighting for justice, reform, and accountability.

Calls, Contests, & More

Ready to submit your work or attend a literary event? We’ve got 162 opportunities waiting for you this week! With April just around the corner, there is several opportunities added to the full (paywalled) list—don’t miss out.

Below is a sampling of what you’ll find inside.

⏳Jerboa Lit 250: Mini Writing Challenge

Deadline: April 24, 2026
On April 24, 2026, at 10 pm Central, our Video Hat surfaces once more: we will draw a prompt (genre and character), and then writers will have ~48-ish hours to write us 250 words of masterful flash fiction. The Jerboa Lit Mini (registration fee of $15) offers $1,000 in prizes, with $500 going to first place, $300 to second place, and $200 to third place. Register and find more info at our website.

Tom Howard/John H. Reid Fiction & Essay Contest

Deadline: May 1, 2026
34th year, sponsored by Winning Writers, co-sponsored by Duotrope, and recommended by Reedsy. Submit published or unpublished work online to win $3,500 for the best story and $3,500 for the best essay. Ten Honorable Mentions will receive $500 each. Length limit: 6,000 words. Entry fee: $25. Top 12 entries published online. Final judge: Tamra Badgett. Deadline: May 1. Learn more here.

Cow Creek Poetry Chapbook Prize

Deadline: May 15, 2026
Submissions are now open for the 2026 Cow Creek Chapbook Prize, a national poetry chapbook contest hosted by Pittsburg State University. We welcome poetry in all styles and on all subjects. If your poems challenge and capture the imagination, we want to read them. The winning poet receives a $1,000 prize and 25 author copies of their published chapbook. Submit 15-30 pages of poetry with a $15 entry fee. Simultaneous and multiple submissions are welcome (each manuscript must be submitted separately). Individual poems may have been previously published, but the chapbook must be an original manuscript. Deadline: May 15. For full guidelines and to submit, visit our website.

Lost Kite Editions Chapbook Prize

Deadline: May 15, 2026
The Lost Kite Editions Chapbook Prize is awarded annually to a chapbook of any genre (fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, etc.). Collaborative, hybrid, and multi-genre submissions are also welcome. The winning author will receive a $1,500 award and 20 contributor copies. The winning chapbook will be published in spring, 2027. The contest will be open from April 1st to May 15th, 2026. The winning manuscript will be selected by Hanif Abdurraqib. For full guidelines and to submit, please visit the Lost Kite Editions website.

$2,000 Prize + Publication

Deadline: May 18, 2026
New Letters invites you to submit a short story, essay, or poems to the New Letters Literary Awards. Winners in each genre receive $2,000 and publication in New Letters. All entries are considered for publication and must be unpublished. Winners will be announced mid-September 2026. Essay and fiction entries may not exceed 8,000 words; poetry entries may contain one to six poems. Multiple entries are welcome. For complete guidelines, visit our website.

2026 Housatonic Book Awards

Deadline: June 15, 2026
The MFA in Creative and Professional Writing at Western Connecticut State University is currently accepting submissions for their 2026 Housatonic Book Awards. The award will be given to book-length works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry published in 2025. The award carries a $1,000 honorarium in exchange for appearing at the winter or summer residency to give a public reading and a master class with MFA students. The award also includes a $500 travel stipend and hotel stay during the residency. For more information on submission guidelines and past winners, visit: Housatonic Book Awards website.

International Voices in Creative Nonfiction Competition. Prize: $1000 and publication.

Deadline: July 1, 2026 (11:59 PM EEST)
Not all true stories get told. Yours should. Small presses have the power to make a real impact, and at Vine Leaves Press, we take that responsibility seriously. We are committed to giving underrepresented voices the opportunity to build rich, lasting literary legacies. Why? To sustain hope for a more loving, tolerant, and open world. It begins with art. That’s why we invite you to submit your manuscript to the 2027 International Voices in Creative Nonfiction Competition. Prize: $1000 and publication in 2028. Learn more here.

2027 Press 53 Award for Poetry

Deadline: July 31, 2026
First Prize $1,000, publication, and 53 copies will be awarded to an outstanding, unpublished poetry manuscript. Press 53 Poetry Series Editor Tom Lombardo is the only reader and judge. Prizes awarded upon publication. Deadline July 31. Winner and finalists announced by November 1. Reading fee $30. Complete information at the Press 53 website.

Read ALOCASIA: A Journal of Queer Planty Writing!

Deadline: Rolling
ALOCASIA is an online literary journal of queer creative writing about plants, nature, and horticulture. Based in the United States, we publish writing from both established and emerging writers around the world in all genres. We publish traditional work, as well as the weird, erotic, explicit, and anti-colonial. Our writers are celebratory, fierce, wounded, loving, and rebellious. Come visit our garden on the web. Also, we would love to read your work, click here for submission information.

Palooka Seeks Chapbooks, Prose, Poetry, Artwork, Photography

Deadline: Year-round
Palooka is a global literary magazine of daring prose, art, photography, comics, and chapbooks drawn exclusively from unsolicited submissions. We champion underdog voices, read anonymously, and only publish what we love. Bold voices. Brave stories. Learn more.

Want access to the full list of opportunities and upcoming events? Upgrade to a paid subscription for exclusive early access to the full list of vetted and verified submission calls, writing contests, and events!

Upgrade Now

❧ Give Yourself Permission

To play in the dirt like you did when you were a child. Smell the earth. Watch earthworms turn what’s dying into nourishment. Let your inspiration breathe, take root, and grow.

As always, keep writing words that matter.

— The NewPages Crew

Read more

Each issue features digital flyers from literary magazines, creative writing programs, writing conferences, and independent publishers. Read it, share it, pass it along.

Changing Light Prize Novel-in-Verse from Livingston Press

Deadline: May 25, 2026
Livingston Press’s fourth annual Changing Light Prize for a novel-in-verse is accepting submissions. No entry fee. Send complete manuscript to jwt@uwa.edu in a Word file. Include your bio in the file. View flyer or visit website for more information.

Press Pause’s Beautiful Pause Prize is Open for Nonfiction

Deadline: May 1, 2026
The Beautiful Pause Prize is a yearly prize of $1,000 and the print publication of a full-length manuscript awarded to a writer of exceptional talent and heart. One runner-up will receive $500 and publication of an excerpt in one of our biannual print volumes. Submit nonfiction manuscripts and pitches by May 1. Send us whatever’s in your hearts.

Enjoying the eLitPak? Subscribe to the NewPages Newsletter for weekly updates, inspiration prompts, and submission opportunities — plus the monthly eLitPak delivered to your inbox.

Subscribe now

Enter Your Best Work to Win up to $400!

Deadline: May 31, 2026
The Flying South contest is now open for submissions. Submit your unpublished work in fiction, creative nonfiction, and/or poetry for a chance to win cash prizes – $400 for first place, $200 for second, and $100 for third in each category. All finalists receive publication in the Flying South journal. See website for a list of guidelines.

Changing Skies — Call for Submissions

Deadline: May 1, 2026
The Hindsight Journal is currently seeking written submissions that address or center climate issues for their upcoming Changing Skies V. All submissions are free and are considered for print, online publication, and podcast features. Before submitting, read submission guidelines at www.hindsightjournal.org. AI-generated submissions will not be considered.

10th Annual Taos Writers Conference with Keynote Speaker, Alexandra Fuller

Join us at the 10^th Annual Taos Writers Conference in beautiful Taos, New Mexico, July 24-26, 2026, with keynote speaker and featured faculty member, Alexandra Fuller (Let’s Not Go to the Dogs Tonight, Fi, and many others). Other instructors include Connie Josefs, Valerie Martinez, Juan Morales, Allegra Huston, Sean Murphy, & Kristina Marie Darling. Offering over twenty workshops in poetry, fiction, memoir, playwriting, screenwriting, and more. FMI: view flyer, somos@somostaos.org, www.somostaos.org, or 575-758-0081.

Advertise in an Upcoming eLitPak

Want to get your call for submissions, contest, event, or new release in front of an engaged literary community? Reserve your spot in an upcoming eLitPak and reach 7,000+ newsletter subscribers—plus promotion on the NewPages blog and across our social channels to 30,000+ followers.

Now accepting reservations for the May 2026 through April 2027 eLitPak Newsletters. Flyer placement is based on order of reservations.

Reserve Your Spot

With April already halfway over, you still have our special eLitPak newsletter to look forward to—but that also means there are plenty of mid‑month submission deadlines you won’t want to miss.

Now let’s jump in with some great lit and great submission opportunities.

📩 If this email gets cut off, click ‘View Entire Message’ at the bottom or head to Substack to read the full newsletter!

📰 Recommended Reading

“The Path of Needles” by Emma Bolden

The inaugural issue of Nerve to Write features three strong poems by Emma Bolden, but “The Path of Needles” lingered with me the longest. Drawing on fairy‑tale logic without softening its teeth, the poem traces a body moving from youth to grandmotherhood with a clarity that feels both strange and earned. The speaker likens the body to a stone fruit sucked clean—yet what might sound like loss becomes knowledge instead. The pit isn’t emptiness; it’s a seed.

Rather than mourning youth, the poem embraces appetite, transformation, and survival. Hunger is acknowledged without shame. Age becomes an ending the speaker is allowed to keep, not a punishment or diminishment. Bolden’s poem manages something rare: it’s whimsical without being precious, mythic without being distant, and deeply embodied all the way through.

If you’re drawn to work that reclaims inheritance, desire, and the complicated wisdom of becoming, this poem is well worth following down the path.

“How to Make Your Own Luck (Field Guide for the Fae-Adjacent)” by Isabella Nesheiwat

What if luck—good or bad—isn’t something that happens to you, but something shaped by attention and belief? Isabella Nesheiwat’s poem approaches luck less as chance and more as practice, gently setting aside faith in coin tosses and inherited superstitions in favor of intentional noticing: four‑leaf clovers, green things, the small acts of choosing what to gather and keep.

The poem offers a way to transform what looks like misfortune into something else entirely—something livable, even beautiful. It reads like a quiet instruction manual for reframing the world, especially when you’re feeling off‑balance or unlucky. A lovely piece to return to when you need a breath of optimism, like fresh air slipping in through an open window on an early spring morning.

Read the poem on The Writing Fae website.

📚 Magazine News

Even if the weather insists its already summer, new literary issues continue to bloom. Like spring growth pushing through warm soil, these magazines are fresh, vibrant, and worth lingering over. Visit the Magazine Stand to see what’s arrived.

The Lake – April 2026

This issue brings together new poetry from an international lineup of writers alongside thoughtful reviews of recent poetry collections. The issue also features One Poem Reviews, highlighting individual poems from newly published books, offering readers a broad, critically engaged snapshot of contemporary poetry.

The MacGuffin – November 2025 (Vol. 41, No. 1)

Launching its forty‑first volume, The MacGuffin blends momentum and variety, from Gregory Stump’s asemic cover art to poems by Liz Marlow, Andrew Collard, and Dixie Partridge. This issue’s prose mixes voices and forms into a richly textured, satisfying literary spread.

The Shore – Issue 29

This issue bursts into spring with poems that navigate life’s tangles while uncovering beauty in unexpected places. Featuring an expansive roster of accomplished and emerging poets alongside vibrant artwork by Adam Benedict, the issue offers lush language, emotional range, and a sense of renewal rooted in close attention.

Introducing Brown Hound Press

Brown Hound Press is a new literary magazine built on a refreshing premise: treat writers with respect, pay them well, and publish work that’s genuinely fun to read. Founded by novelist Josh Boldt, the press specializes in offbeat mystery, dark humor, southern gothic, and literary fiction, releasing one open‑access story every Thursday.

Though still young, Brown Hound Press already reaches thousands of readers and maintains a fast, transparent submission process, responding to every writer within two weeks. With weekly story deliveries, curated music pairings, and ambitious plans for print anthologies and major awards, it’s a promising new home for adventurous short fiction.

Read the full article here.

🏬 2026 National Indie Bookstore Day

🗓️ Two weeks until Indie Bookstore Day (April 25).

Independent bookstores are more than places to buy books—they’re community hubs, author launching pads, and literary lifelines. The NewPages Bookstore Guide makes it easy to find one wherever you are. Now’s a great time to check it out and start planning your bookstore day crawl.

👉 newpages.com/independent-bookstores

🖋️ Inspiration Prompt: Don’t Speak Ill of the Dead

There’s a particular kind of silence we keep around the dead. While someone is living—present, capable of being hurt, capable of responding—we hold things back. We soften. We choose our words. We decide that some truths aren’t worth the cost of saying them aloud.

And then they’re gone.

Sometimes what follows is a flood: stories that were never told, grievances carried quietly for years, a full picture of someone that only becomes visible once the person at the center of it can no longer complicate it. Suddenly others are speaking freely. Suddenly you learn things. Or maybe you’re the one finally saying them.

But there’s another version too—the one where the person who died was difficult, or harmful, or simply not who they needed to be. Where grief and relief arrive together, uncomfortably. Where you don’t want to write a bitter diatribe, but you also can’t write something false. Where the honest thing isn’t cruel and isn’t kind—it’s just complicated.

What do you do with a person whose full story can never be known? What do you say when speaking ill would be true, but staying silent would be a lie?

Write, draw, collage, or create around the complexity of a life that’s beyond reach now—and what that changes about what we’re allowed to say, feel, or know.

You might choose one of these ways in:

Some directions

• A character finally learns the truth about someone after they’re gone and has to decide what to do with it, alone.

• A eulogy that is painfully, carefully honest. Not unkind. Just true.

• A piece from the perspective of the person being talked about—the version of events only they knew.

• A letter never sent, now never sendable. What does it say?

• A portrait of grief and relief arriving together—not dramatic, just quiet and real.

• A family where different people are telling different versions of the same person’s life. Who decides which one gets kept?

• A visual piece—collage, photograph, illustration—that holds both tenderness and truth about someone without choosing between them.

Looking for more inspiration? Stop by our Weekly Roundup of Submission Opportunities for more prompts.

🌟New Books Spotlight

Alteration by Claire Ibarra follows an acclaimed fashion designer who makes the radical decision to stay in bed. What begins as rest becomes reckoning, as visitors and memories surface long‑buried truths. Witty, tender, and quietly subversive, the novel explores stillness as transformation rather than escape.

This Ground Beneath Our Feet by Emily Bright gathers two decades of poetry rooted in place, memory, and human connection. Moving from ancestral crossings to backyard gardens, these poems honor daily rituals, historical reckonings, and resilience. Bright’s work blends lyrical precision with grounded compassion across four thoughtfully structured sections.

Romances Without Words / In Solitary presents definitive new translations of Paul Verlaine’s poetry, spanning love, exile, and imprisonment. Larry Beckett restores the lyric intensity of Verlaine’s work, including the first complete English translation of the prison poems. A vital volume capturing music, longing, and rupture.

Calls, Contests, & More

Ready to submit your work or attend a literary event? We’ve got 162 opportunities waiting for you this week! With April just around the corner, there is several opportunities added to the full (paywalled) list—don’t miss out.

Below is a sampling of what you’ll find inside.

⏳Agha Shahid Ali Prize in Poetry

Deadline: April 15, 2026
Submit your poetry manuscript for a chance to win $1,000, publication with the University of Utah Press, and a public reading sponsored by the University of Utah English Department. Publication for the finalist may also be considered. The contest closes April 15, 2026. Last year’s winner was Caleb Nolen for Afterlight. This year’s judge is Abigail Chabitnoy. Enter via Submittable. Entry fee is $25. Learn more here.

Jerboa Lit 250: Mini Writing Challenge

Deadline: April 24, 2026
On April 24, 2026, at 10 pm Central, our Video Hat surfaces once more: we will draw a prompt (genre and character), and then writers will have ~48-ish hours to write us 250 words of masterful flash fiction. The Jerboa Lit Mini (registration fee of $15) offers $1,000 in prizes, with $500 going to first place, $300 to second place, and $200 to third place. Register and find more info at our website.

Tom Howard/John H. Reid Fiction & Essay Contest

Deadline: May 1, 2026
34th year, sponsored by Winning Writers, co-sponsored by Duotrope, and recommended by Reedsy. Submit published or unpublished work online to win $3,500 for the best story and $3,500 for the best essay. Ten Honorable Mentions will receive $500 each. Length limit: 6,000 words. Entry fee: $25. Top 12 entries published online. Final judge: Tamra Badgett. Deadline: May 1. Learn more here.

Cow Creek Poetry Chapbook Prize

Deadline: May 15, 2026
Submissions are now open for the 2026 Cow Creek Chapbook Prize, a national poetry chapbook contest hosted by Pittsburg State University. We welcome poetry in all styles and on all subjects. If your poems challenge and capture the imagination, we want to read them. The winning poet receives a $1,000 prize and 25 author copies of their published chapbook. Submit 15-30 pages of poetry with a $15 entry fee. Simultaneous and multiple submissions are welcome (each manuscript must be submitted separately). Individual poems may have been previously published, but the chapbook must be an original manuscript. Deadline: May 15. For full guidelines and to submit, visit our website.

Lost Kite Editions Chapbook Prize

Deadline: May 15, 2026
The Lost Kite Editions Chapbook Prize is awarded annually to a chapbook of any genre (fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, etc.). Collaborative, hybrid, and multi-genre submissions are also welcome. The winning author will receive a $1,500 award and 20 contributor copies. The winning chapbook will be published in spring, 2027. The contest will be open from April 1st to May 15th, 2026. The winning manuscript will be selected by Hanif Abdurraqib. For full guidelines and to submit, please visit the Lost Kite Editions website.

$2,000 Prize + Publication

Deadline: May 18, 2026
New Letters invites you to submit a short story, essay, or poems to the New Letters Literary Awards. Winners in each genre receive $2,000 and publication in New Letters. All entries are considered for publication and must be unpublished. Winners will be announced mid-September 2026. Essay and fiction entries may not exceed 8,000 words; poetry entries may contain one to six poems. Multiple entries are welcome. For complete guidelines, visit our website.

2026 Housatonic Book Awards

Deadline: June 15, 2026
The MFA in Creative and Professional Writing at Western Connecticut State University is currently accepting submissions for their 2026 Housatonic Book Awards. The award will be given to book-length works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry published in 2025. The award carries a $1,000 honorarium in exchange for appearing at the winter or summer residency to give a public reading and a master class with MFA students. The award also includes a $500 travel stipend and hotel stay during the residency. For more information on submission guidelines and past winners, visit: Housatonic Book Awards website.

International Voices in Creative Nonfiction Competition. Prize: $1000 and publication.

Deadline: July 1, 2026 (11:59 PM EEST)
Not all true stories get told. Yours should. Small presses have the power to make a real impact, and at Vine Leaves Press, we take that responsibility seriously. We are committed to giving underrepresented voices the opportunity to build rich, lasting literary legacies. Why? To sustain hope for a more loving, tolerant, and open world. It begins with art. That’s why we invite you to submit your manuscript to the 2027 International Voices in Creative Nonfiction Competition. Prize: $1000 and publication in 2028. Learn more here.

2027 Press 53 Award for Poetry

Deadline: July 31, 2026
First Prize $1,000, publication, and 53 copies will be awarded to an outstanding, unpublished poetry manuscript. Press 53 Poetry Series Editor Tom Lombardo is the only reader and judge. Prizes awarded upon publication. Deadline July 31. Winner and finalists announced by November 1. Reading fee $30. Complete information at the Press 53 website.

Read ALOCASIA: A Journal of Queer Planty Writing!

Deadline: Rolling
ALOCASIA is an online literary journal of queer creative writing about plants, nature, and horticulture. Based in the United States, we publish writing from both established and emerging writers around the world in all genres. We publish traditional work, as well as the weird, erotic, explicit, and anti-colonial. Our writers are celebratory, fierce, wounded, loving, and rebellious. Come visit our garden on the web. Also, we would love to read your work, click here for submission information.

Palooka Seeks Chapbooks, Prose, Poetry, Artwork, Photography

Deadline: Year-round
Palooka is a global literary magazine of daring prose, art, photography, comics, and chapbooks drawn exclusively from unsolicited submissions. We champion underdog voices, read anonymously, and only publish what we love. Bold voices. Brave stories. Learn more.

Want access to the full list of opportunities and upcoming events? Upgrade to a paid subscription for exclusive early access to the full list of vetted and verified submission calls, writing contests, and events!

Upgrade Now

❧ Give Yourself Permission

To step back and let the storms arrive. To trust that lightning can spark renewal and thunder can break what’s grown stagnant through winter.

As always, keep writing words that matter.

— The NewPages Crew

Read more

If you’re stuck indoors, NewPages has plenty of good reading and submission opportunities to make the rainy days feel productive.

📩 If this email gets cut off, click ‘View Entire Message’ at the bottom or head to Substack to read the full newsletter!

📰 Recommended Reading

“As the Victor” by Hannah Bottigheimer

A surprising number of us can relate to staying in a relationship long after the red flags start waving—romantic or otherwise. In Bottigheimer’s story, our narrator believes she’s the victor, the one who has finally “won” Peter’s heart. But Peter is a man who broke up with his long‑distance girlfriend to be with her, and who still talks to that same ex, who hasn’t entirely given up hope.

The story leaves us with an unsettled feeling: Would you ignore those flags and walk down the aisle? Will she regret choosing him? Will she become the loser in a game she thought she had already won? Bottigheimer doesn’t answer these questions—we’re left to sit in the uncertainty.

Read this gem in Chicago Story Press Literary Journal.

“Migration” by Yong Takahashi

This poem revisits a classic story of emigration—leaving a home country for a place meant to be safer, better, full of promise. Takahashi approaches migration through multiple lenses: a child uprooted from friends and familiarity; parents determined to build a future while being treated as outsiders; grandparents brought over later as caretakers, cultural anchors, and unacknowledged labor.

Each perspective reveals a new layer of pressure and quiet resilience. Ordinary moments become freighted with meaning, and survival itself becomes a form of inheritance.

Read the poem in faoileánach, Issue 4: Migration.

📚 Magazine Stand

Like a breath of fresh air—or a spring awakening—dive into the latest issues of standout literary journals on the Magazine Stand, a tasty morsel for every appetite.

The Shore – Issue 29

The Shore Issue 29 arrives just in time for spring, bursting with poems that navigate life’s tangles and find beauty in the weeds. Featuring new work by Amorak Huey and dozens of poets, the issue is complemented by an explosion of art from Adam Benedict.

Southern Humanities – 59.1

Founded in 1967 at Auburn University, Southern Humanities Review publishes fiction, poetry, and essays recognized by literary awards. Issue 59.1 features nonfiction by Sarah Gorham and Annelise Richardson; fiction by Fernanda Coutinho Teixeira, Reyumeh Ejue, Imogen Osborne, and Don Zancanella; and poetry by contributors, with art by Fidelia Bridges, artist.

Ready to discover even more literary journals? These magazines were newly added to our Big List of Literary Magazines in March—perfect for expanding your reading and submission horizons.

• ! Exclamation Mark

• Chicago Story Press

• COPE Magazine

• Corpus Callosum

• faoileánach journal

• The New Monuments

• Phil Lit Journal

• SEXTET

• Sonic Boom

• The Thieving Magpie

🖋️ Inspiration Prompt: Chasing the Sunrise

Around this time of year, many people wake early to greet the sunrise. Not out of obligation, but out of curiosity—to witness a moment most days begin without us noticing. When was the last time you truly paused to watch the sun rise?

For creators, sunrise is a reminder of what happens when we slow down and let light arrive gradually. Write, sketch, compose, or collage from that moment of quiet becoming: the shift from dark to visible, the reveal of what was already there, the magic that only appears when we’re paying attention.

Looking for more inspiration? Stop by our Weekly Roundup of Submission Opportunities for more prompts.

🌟Sponsor Spotlight: irl by Danielle McMahon

irl: poems by Danielle McMahon (Stanchion, March 2026) is a chapbook cast in amber, blending nostalgic lyric poems with fragments of AOL Instant Messenger conversations. Both a love story and not one, irl explores kinship, communication, coming of age, and the ache of being truly seen. Tender without tipping into sentimentality, McMahon’s poems capture the agony and ecstasy of youth with striking clarity.

“At turns visually striking and intimately conversational, irl is a fascinating poetic exploration.”
—Audrey T. Carroll

Calls, Contests, & More

Ready to submit your work or attend a literary event? We’ve got 166 opportunities waiting for you this week! With April just around the corner, there is several opportunities added to the full (paywalled) list—don’t miss out.

Below is a sampling of what you’ll find inside.

🔔 Agha Shahid Ali Prize in Poetry

Deadline: April 15, 2026
Submit your poetry manuscript for a chance to win $1,000, publication with the University of Utah Press, and a public reading sponsored by the University of Utah English Department. Publication for the finalist may also be considered. The contest closes April 15, 2026. Last year’s winner was Caleb Nolen for Afterlight. This year’s judge is Abigail Chabitnoy. Enter via Submittable. Entry fee is $25. Learn more here.

🔔 Jerboa Lit 250: Mini Writing Challenge

Deadline: April 24, 2026
On April 24, 2026, at 10 pm Central, our Video Hat surfaces once more: we will draw a prompt (genre and character), and then writers will have ~48-ish hours to write us 250 words of masterful flash fiction. The Jerboa Lit Mini (registration fee of $15) offers $1,000 in prizes, with $500 going to first place, $300 to second place, and $200 to third place. Register and find more info at our website.

Tom Howard/John H. Reid Fiction & Essay Contest

Deadline: May 1, 2026
34th year, sponsored by Winning Writers, co-sponsored by Duotrope, and recommended by Reedsy. Submit published or unpublished work online to win $3,500 for the best story and $3,500 for the best essay. Ten Honorable Mentions will receive $500 each. Length limit: 6,000 words. Entry fee: $25. Top 12 entries published online. Final judge: Tamra Badgett. Deadline: May 1. Learn more here.

Midnight Mind is Going to the Ocean. Get In!

Deadline: May 10, 2026
Midnight Mind is going to the pool! Or ocean. Or hot tub. Get in with us! Americans contemplate life choices while staring at the ocean. Annnnnnd we use it as an opportunity to drink beer and surf and get sunburned. Issue #10 will explore our connection to water: from pool parties to powerboats to quiet rivers to late night illegal fountain swimming. Let’s hear stories of failure, fear, redemption and as we negotiate the pool, ponds, lakes and rivers of our lives. We are also looking for essays on authors or books/films/music that fit the theme. The water is nice! Get in at our website.

Cow Creek Poetry Chapbook Prize

Deadline: May 15, 2026
Submissions are now open for the 2026 Cow Creek Chapbook Prize, a national poetry chapbook contest hosted by Pittsburg State University. We welcome poetry in all styles and on all subjects. If your poems challenge and capture the imagination, we want to read them. The winning poet receives a $1,000 prize and 25 author copies of their published chapbook. Submit 15-30 pages of poetry with a $15 entry fee. Simultaneous and multiple submissions are welcome (each manuscript must be submitted separately). Individual poems may have been previously published, but the chapbook must be an original manuscript. Deadline: May 15. For full guidelines and to submit, visit our website.

Lost Kite Editions Chapbook Prize

Deadline: May 15, 2026
The Lost Kite Editions Chapbook Prize is awarded annually to a chapbook of any genre (fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, etc.). Collaborative, hybrid, and multi-genre submissions are also welcome. The winning author will receive a $1,500 award and 20 contributor copies. The winning chapbook will be published in spring, 2027. The contest will be open from April 1st to May 15th, 2026. The winning manuscript will be selected by Hanif Abdurraqib. For full guidelines and to submit, please visit the Lost Kite Editions website.

$2,000 Prize + Publication

Deadline: May 18, 2026
New Letters invites you to submit a short story, essay, or poems to the New Letters Literary Awards. Winners in each genre receive $2,000 and publication in New Letters. All entries are considered for publication and must be unpublished. Winners will be announced mid-September 2026. Essay and fiction entries may not exceed 8,000 words; poetry entries may contain one to six poems. Multiple entries are welcome. For complete guidelines, visit our website.

🔔 2026 Housatonic Book Awards

Deadline: June 15, 2026
The MFA in Creative and Professional Writing at Western Connecticut State University is currently accepting submissions for their 2026 Housatonic Book Awards. The award will be given to book-length works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry published in 2025. The award carries a $1,000 honorarium in exchange for appearing at the winter or summer residency to give a public reading and a master class with MFA students. The award also includes a $500 travel stipend and hotel stay during the residency. For more information on submission guidelines and past winners, visit: Housatonic Book Awards website.

🔔 International Voices in Creative Nonfiction Competition. Prize: $1000 and publication.

Deadline: July 1, 2026 (11:59 PM EEST)
Not all true stories get told. Yours should. Small presses have the power to make a real impact, and at Vine Leaves Press, we take that responsibility seriously. We are committed to giving underrepresented voices the opportunity to build rich, lasting literary legacies. Why? To sustain hope for a more loving, tolerant, and open world. It begins with art. That’s why we invite you to submit your manuscript to the 2027 International Voices in Creative Nonfiction Competition. Prize: $1000 and publication in 2028. Learn more here.

🔔 2027 Press 53 Award for Poetry

Deadline: July 31, 2026
First Prize $1,000, publication, and 53 copies will be awarded to an outstanding, unpublished poetry manuscript. Press 53 Poetry Series Editor Tom Lombardo is the only reader and judge. Prizes awarded upon publication. Deadline July 31. Winner and finalists announced by November 1. Reading fee $30. Complete information at the Press 53 website.

Read ALOCASIA: A Journal of Queer Planty Writing!

Deadline: Rolling
ALOCASIA is an online literary journal of queer creative writing about plants, nature, and horticulture. Based in the United States, we publish writing from both established and emerging writers around the world in all genres. We publish traditional work, as well as the weird, erotic, explicit, and anti-colonial. Our writers are celebratory, fierce, wounded, loving, and rebellious. Come visit our garden on the web. Also, we would love to read your work, click here for submission information.

Palooka Seeks Chapbooks, Prose, Poetry, Artwork, Photography

Deadline: Year-round
Palooka is a global literary magazine of daring prose, art, photography, comics, and chapbooks drawn exclusively from unsolicited submissions. We champion underdog voices, read anonymously, and only publish what we love. Bold voices. Brave stories. Learn more.

Want access to the full list of opportunities and upcoming events? Upgrade to a paid subscription for exclusive early access to the full list of vetted and verified submission calls, writing contests, and events!

Upgrade Now

❧ Give Yourself Permission

To chase the sunrise—and to forgive yourself if you never wake early enough to find it. Another chance will always come.

As always, keep writing words that matter.

— The NewPages Crew

Read more

It won’t last, but today the sun is out, we’ve hit the 60s, and suddenly it feels impossible to sit at a desk for eight hours straight. Days like this make a person want to sit on a porch, wander a trail, or bask in the sunlight like a cat—anything but stay indoors.

If you’re feeling that good‑weather itch, too, consider it permission to step outside with a notebook, your laptop, or a book you’ve been meaning to read. Touch some grass, breathe some real air, and let your thinking loosen up a little. Sometimes the best work happens when you follow the light for a while.

Wherever you choose to spend this Monday, I hope you give yourself a moment to recharge. Now, onto this week’s opportunities, updates, and inspiration!

📩 If this email gets cut off, click ‘View Entire Message’ at the bottom or head to Substack to read the full newsletter!

📰Recommended Reading

“Mel’s City: Illustrated Journal” by Melanie Rejón
Rejón’s simple chronicling of her daily life is magic in its quiet honesty. We all go through stretches when every day feels gray, but finding a way to communicate with the people we care about—or simply to express what we’re carrying—can brighten even the dimmest season.

“Turtle Breath” by Karuna Eberl
Many of us have weathered a serious storm at some point—tornado, hurricane, blizzard, or otherwise. Eberl’s essay juxtaposes the brown, stripped‑bare landscape left behind after a hurricane with the earliest signs that life, color, and normalcy still exist. It’s a reminder of how resilience first appears: small, almost unnoticed, but steady.

You can read both pieces in Issue 5 of Hairstreak Butterfly Review, a literary journal from Colorado College.

📚 Magazine Stand

Like a breath of fresh air—or a spring awakening—dive into the latest issues of standout literary journals on the Magazine Stand, a tasty morsel for every appetite.

Bennington Review – Issue 15

Bennington Review’s “The Secret History” issue explores public and private histories through work by seventy‑one poets, seven fiction writers, and eleven nonfiction writers. Highlights include Jonathan Kline’s haunting cover photograph and Camille Guthrie’s conversation with poet‑translator Donna Stonecipher. Contributors span established voices and emerging talents engaging trauma, myth, and global interconnectedness.

Blink-Ink – #63

Blink‑Ink #63 gathers fifty‑word stories responding to “Lost Civilizations / The Silurian Hypothesis,” inspired by planetary deep time and vanished cultures. With contributors like Alisa Golden, David Galef, and Eileen Tynion, the issue blends speculative micro‑fiction and scientific wonder. IrinaTall Navikova’s cover art enhances the theme of mysteries hidden beneath geological epochs.

Chestnut Review – Winter 2026

Chestnut Review’s Winter 2026 issue champions “stubborn artists” with work selected for excellence and resilience. Featuring contributors such as Lauren Saxon, Marvellous Igwe, Sodïq Oyèkànmí, Chelsea Lebron, and Jen Feroze, the issue spans poetry, prose, and art. Its ethos echoes the chestnut tree’s persistence, honoring creative endurance amid rejection and challenge.

The Courtship of Winds – Winter 2026

The Winter 2026 issue of The Courtship of Winds opens with Editor William Ray’s reflections and features poetry, fiction, essays, drama, and artwork. Themes include spiritual searching, social conflict, nature, war, and creative inquiry. Standout contributors include George Freek, Anne Whitehouse, Ace Boggess, TITOXZ, Emma Kohut, Gary DeCoker, and Nuala McEvoy.

🖋️ Inspiration Prompt: Let There Be Light

Light is how we see. It bounces off everything around us, bends through water, disappears at dusk. It makes plants reach and moods shift. It’s the first thing called into existence in the oldest stories we have — and the last thing a character notices before everything changes.

This week, we’re writing toward the light. Or away from it. Or somewhere in between.

Write a scene, poem, or flash piece, or create a collage in which light—or the absence of it—is doing more than one kind of work at once. Maybe the afternoon light in a room signals the end of something. Maybe a character is afraid of brightness. Maybe darkness is the only honest space left.

Let the light (or its lack) carry both physical and emotional weight.

Looking for more inspiration? Stop by our Weekly Roundup of Submission Opportunities for more prompts.

🏬 NewPages Guide to Indie Bookstores

Indie bookstores are vibrant hubs for the communities they serve. From personal recommendations and thoughtful curation to supporting local authors—and even fueling your coffee and pastry habits—our Guide to Indie Bookstores offers a little magic for every kind of reader.

📍 Dog Ear Books – Brookhaven, Mississippi
Dog Ear Books combines a vibrant indie bookstore experience with children’s books, gifts, and the beloved Wild Fox Coffee café, all housed under one welcoming roof.

📍 Dungeon’s Gate – Ankeny, Iowa
Dungeon’s Gate blends an indie bookstore with a lively game store, creating an inclusive, community‑driven space for readers, gamers, and fans of sci‑fi, fantasy, comics, and more.

📍 Midnight Readers Shop – Apple Creek, Ohio
Midnight Readers Shop is a cozy bookstore‑and‑coffee spot offering new books, community events, and their signature “Blind Date with a Book” experience.

📍 Oracle Books – Wytheville, Virginia
Oracle Books offers an eclectic mix of used and rare books, private press treasures, poetry, history, metaphysical favorites, and even vinyl for adventurous readers and collectors.

📍 Sugar and Spice Books – Boulder, Colorado
Sugar and Spice Books delivers a woman‑owned, romance‑only bookstore experience with curated titles, charming bookish merch, and lively community gatherings.

Want to share your book, catalog, or events with indie shops? We maintain up‑to‑date mailing lists of the bookstores featured in our guide, available for authors, publishers, and publicists who want to reach these vibrant communities.

Calls, Contests, & More

Ready to submit your work or attend a literary event? We’ve got 187 opportunities waiting for you this week! With April just around the corner, there is several opportunities added to the full (paywalled) list—don’t miss out.

Below is a sampling of what you’ll find inside.

2026 ABLE MUSE CONTESTS :: SUBMIT NOW

Deadline: March 31
Able Muse’s BOOK AWARD for poetry closes soon! $1000 + book publication awarded to the winner. Final Judge: Annie Finch; $25 entry fee; deadline: March 31, 2026. Visit our website for details.

The Headlight Review’s Annual Poetry Chapbook Prize

Deadline: March 31
The Headlight Review’s Annual Poetry Chapbook Prize of 2026 is accepting submissions through March 31st, 2026. Our first round finalists will be judged by Alafia Nichole Sessions and will have their poems featured in an upcoming issue. The winner of The Headlight Review’s 2026 Poetry Chapbook Prize Contest will receive publication (a perfectly bound book with a full color or black/white cover), an award of $500, and 25 copies of the book. Learn more.

The Missouri Review’s 6th Annual Perkoff Prize Invites Entries

Extended Deadline: March 31, 2026
The Missouri Review is pleased to announce that the 6th annual Perkoff Prize is now open. Winners in fiction, poetry, and nonfiction receive $1,000 and publication in the Winter 2026 issue, plus social media promotion. Regular fee $20; All Access fee $30. All entries are considered for publication in TMR, or in our web-exclusive features, BLAST and/or Poem of the Week. Visit our website to learn more.

2026 National Indie Excellence© Awards

Deadline: March 31, 2026
The 2026 National Indie Excellence© Awards (NIEA) are open to all English language printed books currently for sale including self-published authors, small to midsize independent publishers, and university presses. Now in our twentieth year, NIEA is a proud champion of self and independent publishing and authors of all genres who produce books of excellence and distinction. Eligible books must have been published within the two calendar years prior to our deadline. Please visit our website for more information about our prizes, awards, and how to submit.

2026 Prime Number Magazine Awards

Deadline: March 31, 2026
Two prizes of $1,000 each and publication in Prime Number Magazine are given annually for a poem and a short story. Two runners-up in each category receive $250 each and publication. Using only the online submission system, submit a poem of up to three pages or a short story of up to 5,300 words with a $15 entry fee by March 31. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

New American Voices Award for Immigrant Writers

Deadline: March 31, 2026
The New American Voices Award is a $5,000 post-publication book prize from Fall for the Book and the Institute for Immigration Research, which recognizes prose works that illuminate the complexity of the human experience as told by immigrants. Two finalists each will receive $1,000. All finalists will appear at the Fall for the Book Festival in October 2026. $20 entry fee. Previous winners include Shubha Sunder, Shahnaz Habib, Rachel Heng, and Sindya Bhanoo. Visit website to learn more.

Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest (no fee)

Deadline: April 1, 2026
Submit one humor poem up to 250 lines to win $2,000. Second prize: $500. Third prize: $250. 10 Honorable Mentions: $100 each. Top 13 poems published online. 25th annual contest sponsored by Winning Writers and co-sponsored by Duotrope and Chill Subs. No fee to enter. Accepts published and unpublished work. Judge: Jendi Reiter, assisted by Lauren Singer. This contest is recommended by Reedsy. Learn more and submit at our website.

🔔 Rekindle your Creative Spark through Community, Writing, and Meaningful Action

Deadline: April 30, 2026
Are you seeking inspiration and accountability as a writer? Would your writing practice benefit from structure, resources, and light-touch craft lessons? If you’re doubting your capacity to create or feeling isolated by the onslaught of bad news, then join the WRITEABILITY® nonprofit’s Sustaining Circle! Participate via Zoom with award-winning author Katey Schultz, who will offer free writes, calls to action, and craft resources within a supportive community. Members will have the opportunity to meet authors, publicists, and publishers in bonus Q&A events. Program runs May 2026 to April 2027, each Thursday from noon to 1:30 pm ET, with a monthly cost of $67. Register here: www.writeability.org/jointhecircle.

Write at Jack Kerouac’s Residency in Orlando for Seven Weeks

Extended Deadline: May 1, 2026
Write where Jack Kerouac wrote The Dharma Bums. The Kerouac Project residency of Orlando, FL offers the house to yourself, $600 grocery stipend, utilities paid. Finish your project in seven weeks. Six time slots available per year. We accept: Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Poetry, Plays, Screenplays. Fiction and Nonfiction can be in graphic narrative form if preferred. Applications now due May 1, 2026. Learn more and apply here.

Flash in Bloom - Queer Flash Fiction

Deadline: May 1, 2026
We are thrilled to announce an additional category of our contest this year, Flash In Bloom, seeking flash fiction and creative nonfiction by BIPOC, queer, and trans writers. We encourage submissions on multicultural and queer fantasies, futurisms, and liberations. The winner will be awarded $200 in cash prizes, and will also be guaranteed the publication of their submission in the Fall 2026 issue of the Santa Clara Review. The winner will also have the opportunity to participate in an interview conducted by the SCR and Office for Multicultural Learning, to discuss their experiences in writing and publication as a BIPOC and/or LGBTQ artist, their inspirations, creative processes, and more. Visit website.

🔔 Tom Howard/John H. Reid Fiction & Essay Contest

Deadline: May 1, 2026
34th year, sponsored by Winning Writers, co-sponsored by Duotrope, and recommended by Reedsy. Submit published or unpublished work online to win $3,500 for the best story and $3,500 for the best essay. Ten Honorable Mentions will receive $500 each. Length limit: 6,000 words. Entry fee: $25. Top 12 entries published online. Final judge: Tamra Badgett. Deadline: May 1. Learn more here.

Cow Creek Poetry Chapbook Prize

Deadline: May 15, 2026
Submissions are now open for the 2026 Cow Creek Chapbook Prize, a national poetry chapbook contest hosted by Pittsburg State University. We welcome poetry in all styles and on all subjects. If your poems challenge and capture the imagination, we want to read them. The winning poet receives a $1,000 prize and 25 author copies of their published chapbook. Submit 15-30 pages of poetry with a $15 entry fee. Simultaneous and multiple submissions are welcome (each manuscript must be submitted separately). Individual poems may have been previously published, but the chapbook must be an original manuscript. Deadline: May 15. For full guidelines and to submit, visit our website.

🔔 Lost Kite Editions Chapbook Prize

Deadline: May 15, 2026
The Lost Kite Editions Chapbook Prize is awarded annually to a chapbook of any genre (fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, etc.). Collaborative, hybrid, and multi-genre submissions are also welcome. The winning author will receive a $1,500 award and 20 contributor copies. The winning chapbook will be published in spring, 2027. The contest will be open from April 1st to May 15th, 2026. The winning manuscript will be selected by Hanif Abdurraqib. For full guidelines and to submit, please visit the Lost Kite Editions website.

$2,000 Prize + Publication

Deadline: May 18, 2026
New Letters invites you to submit a short story, essay, or poems to the New Letters Literary Awards. Winners in each genre receive $2,000 and publication in New Letters. All entries are considered for publication and must be unpublished. Winners will be announced mid-September 2026. Essay and fiction entries may not exceed 8,000 words; poetry entries may contain one to six poems. Multiple entries are welcome. For complete guidelines, visit our website.

Read ALOCASIA: A Journal of Queer Planty Writing!

Deadline: Rolling
ALOCASIA is an online literary journal of queer creative writing about plants, nature, and horticulture. Based in the United States, we publish writing from both established and emerging writers around the world in all genres. We publish traditional work, as well as the weird, erotic, explicit, and anti-colonial. Our writers are celebratory, fierce, wounded, loving, and rebellious. Come visit our garden on the web. Also, we would love to read your work, click here for submission information.

Palooka Seeks Chapbooks, Prose, Poetry, Artwork, Photography

Deadline: Year-round
Palooka is a global literary magazine of daring prose, art, photography, comics, and chapbooks drawn exclusively from unsolicited submissions. We champion underdog voices, read anonymously, and only publish what we love. Bold voices. Brave stories. Learn more.

Want access to the full list of opportunities and upcoming events? Upgrade to a paid subscription for exclusive early access to the full list of vetted and verified submission calls, writing contests, and events!

Upgrade Now

❧ Give Yourself Permission

To take a break. To stop berating yourself for winter malaise or for wanting—finally—to step away from the indoors. The great thing about writing and reading? They don’t require four walls. Don’t let yourself gather dust or grow stagnant. Let a fresh spring breeze and golden sunlight stir your imagination and brighten your pages.

As always, keep writing words that matter.

— The NewPages Crew

Read more

The calendar insists it’s spring, but Mother Nature seems to be rolling her eyes and tossing us another round of snow just to make a point. On the bright side, my foray into sourdough hasn’t stalled out the way the weather has—apparently my starter is far more willing to commit to change than March is.

If you missed it last week, our March eLitPak went out, packed with submission opportunities, a residency you might want to bookmark, new book releases, and MFA program news.

Whether you’re looking for recommendations, submission opportunities, or something else, we have you covered this week.

📩 If this email gets cut off, click ‘View Entire Message’ at the bottom or head to Substack to read the full newsletter!

📰Recommended Reading

In the Fall/Winter 2025 issue of Epiphany, you’ll find June Glass’s “In McDonald’s,” a fierce and unflinching story about returning to a place soaked with memory and confronting the self you once were. Over the course of a snow‑choked afternoon, the narrator spirals through identity, dissociation, and the gravity of an old relationship that still pulls at her edges. By the time the storm breaks, so does something in her—a first, shaky sense that a different future might actually be possible.

Don’t miss JJ Amaworo Wilson’s “The Song of the Crow” in the March 2026 Cutleaf Journal—a jagged, propulsive portrait of Merle Divine Brown, a singer whose talent lifts her to dizzying heights and nearly destroys her. Haunted by family, history, and the music she can’t escape, she survives by sheer force of will and keeps singing into the void.

📚 Magazine Stand

Since the weather can’t decide whether to be spring instead of winter, escape to the Magazine Stand instead. Browse fresh issues from literary journals near and far and let them keep you nourished—if not emotionally, at least literarily.

New England Review – Issue 47.1

A wide-ranging issue featuring contemporary poetry, fiction, nonfiction, translations from German and Spanish, and a “rediscovery” of Edmund Burke. Contributors explore grief, identity, technology, family, failure, and memory across genres, offering a rich blend of established and emerging voices.

Still Point Arts Quarterly – Spring 2026

A visually driven, theme-based arts and literary journal. The Spring “Crafting a Life” issue examines the overlap between craft and living with intention. Featuring historical and contemporary art, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, it highlights the risks, patience, and perseverance inherent in both art‑making and life‑making.

The Sunlight Press – March 2026

A nonprofit digital journal publishing new work twice weekly, The Sunlight Press features photography, poetry, fiction, essays, and its ongoing “Artists on Craft” series. Recent contributors include Russell Nichols, Thehara S.U., Claire Lynch, Lee Bernstein, Yiyao Li, and Ron Clinton Smith. Submissions open for essays, reviews, craft reflections, and photography.

Superpresent – Winter 2026

The Winter “echo” issue gathers visual art and writing interpreting echo from multiple angles. Featuring both emerging and seasoned creators, Superpresent continues its mission to present striking work online and in print, entirely free to read and submit to, with an affordable print edition for those who prefer paper.

Coming soon:

Swing back to our Magazine Stand later in the week to discover Chestnut Review Winter 2026, The Courtship of the Winds Winter 2026, and Blink-Ink #63.

🗄️ The Fool’s World :: Zine Alive Archive

The Fool’s World is growing its Zine Alive Archive, a free, accessible home for literary magazines and blogzines that have gone offline. Much like university special collections—but open to anyone—the archive preserves issues, provides active links when available, and keeps once‑vanished work discoverable. If your publication has ceased but deserves a life beyond its domain name, Zine Alive offers a place to keep those voices in circulation. Learn more about submitting your magazine’s past issues at The Fool’s World’s Zine Alive Archive.

📖 Book News

Eternidades / Eternities gathers poems Juan Ramón Jiménez wrote between 1916–1917, a pivotal period marked by his first trip to America and his engagement with English‑language poetry, especially Emily Dickinson. Nobel laureate Jiménez’s shift from “pure poetry” toward the spare, revelatory style he later called “naked poetry” is on full display here. A.F. Moritz’s new translation and introduction illuminate this landmark work of modern Spanish literature, now available from Bitter Oleander Press.

🖋️ Inspiration Prompt: Echoes Beneath the Nursery Rhyme

Mary Had a Little Lamb. Ring‑around‑the‑Rosie. London Bridge.
We grow up singing these without thinking much about them—simple melodies, easy to memorize, handed to us before we even remember learning them. But many nursery rhymes carry shadows: plague histories, ruined cities, forgotten tragedies. Others simply feel eerie, even without a confirmed backstory, as though something older and heavier is woven into the tune.

This week, choose a children’s song or rhyme—whether it’s one whose proposed “dark origins” you know, or one you’ve never questioned—and create from the feeling it stirs in you now.

What lives under the melody?
What memory, fear, tenderness, or myth does it unlock when you listen as an adult rather than a child?

Your challenge:
Write, draw, collage, compose, choreograph, design, or otherwise craft a piece that responds to the emotional undercurrent of a nursery rhyme. Don’t retell the rhyme itself; instead, follow the atmosphere it conjures—the sweetness, the dread, the nostalgia, the uncanny, the grief, the comfort.

Let the rhyme be a doorway, not a subject.

Looking for more inspiration? Stop by our Weekly Roundup of Submission Opportunities for more prompts.

🏬 NewPages Guide to Indie Bookstores

For writers and independent publishers, knowing where to take your work is half the battle. The NewPages Bookstore Directory gives you a searchable, curated list of independent bookstores across the U.S. and Canada—the kind of shops that actually hand-sell books, host local authors, and build the word-of-mouth that sustains literary careers.

Use the directory to find stores that are the right fit for your book, then reach out to schedule readings and signings, pitch consignment arrangements, or introduce yourself to the buyers and booksellers who champion independent voices. Planning a tour? The directory makes it easy to map out stops city by city, identify stores with active event programming, and build relationships before you ever walk through the door. You can also use it to target stores for review copy outreach, research which shops carry titles in your genre, or simply discover the indie bookselling community that your work belongs in.

Whether you’re a debut novelist trying to get your foot in the door or a small press building long-term retail relationships, the NewPages Bookstore Directory is the resource that puts the right stores at your fingertips.

And if you’d like to reach out to stores directly by mail, we also offer curated mailing lists for U.S. and Canadian independent bookstores, Barnes & Noble locations, and U.S. public libraries.

Purchase a Mailing List

Calls, Contests, & More

Ready to submit your work or attend a literary event? We’ve got 178 opportunities waiting for you this week! With a new month comes a fresh wave of listings newly added to the full (paywalled) list—don’t miss out.

Below is a sampling of what you’ll find inside.

2026 ABLE MUSE CONTESTS :: SUBMIT NOW

Deadline: March 23 (Write Prize); March 31 (Book Award)
Able Muse’s writing contests are open! WRITE PRIZE (poetry & fiction - we particularly want short stories): $500 each + publication. Final Judges: Catherine Tufariello (poetry), Tobias Carroll (fiction); $15 entry; extended deadline: March 23, 2026. BOOK AWARD (poetry): $1000 + book publication. Final Judge: Annie Finch; $25 entry; deadline: March 31, 2026. Visit our website for details.

National Baseball Poetry Festival Call for Submissions

Deadline: Noon, March 27, 2026
The National Baseball Poetry Festival invites submissions of poems that deal with any aspect of the gamesmanship, nature, and atmosphere of Baseball and/or Softball, for example: opening day, ballpark food, childhood memories, first pitch, athletic heroes, uniforms, ball parks, Little League, dugout chatter, the season of the game, etc. No restriction on form. Poets may submit one (1) poem for consideration, which should fit on a single page. The thematic views of baseball/softball and the game will be given wide interpretation by the judge(s). Submissions are free. For full submission guidelines, please visit our website.

The Headlight Review’s Annual Poetry Chapbook Prize

Deadline: March 31
The Headlight Review’s Annual Poetry Chapbook Prize of 2026 is accepting submissions through March 31st, 2026. Our first round finalists will be judged by Alafia Nichole Sessions and will have their poems featured in an upcoming issue. The winner of The Headlight Review’s 2026 Poetry Chapbook Prize Contest will receive publication (a perfectly bound book with a full color or black/white cover), an award of $500, and 25 copies of the book. Learn more.

The Missouri Review’s 6th Annual Perkoff Prize Invites Entries

Extended Deadline: March 31, 2026
The Missouri Review is pleased to announce that the 6th annual Perkoff Prize is now open. Winners in fiction, poetry, and nonfiction receive $1,000 and publication in the Winter 2026 issue, plus social media promotion. Regular fee $20; All Access fee $30. All entries are considered for publication in TMR, or in our web-exclusive features, BLAST and/or Poem of the Week. Visit our website to learn more.

2026 National Indie Excellence© Awards

Deadline: March 31, 2026
The 2026 National Indie Excellence© Awards (NIEA) are open to all English language printed books currently for sale including self-published authors, small to midsize independent publishers, and university presses. Now in our twentieth year, NIEA is a proud champion of self and independent publishing and authors of all genres who produce books of excellence and distinction. Eligible books must have been published within the two calendar years prior to our deadline. Please visit our website for more information about our prizes, awards, and how to submit.

2026 Prime Number Magazine Awards

Deadline: March 31, 2026
Two prizes of $1,000 each and publication in Prime Number Magazine are given annually for a poem and a short story. Two runners-up in each category receive $250 each and publication. Using only the online submission system, submit a poem of up to three pages or a short story of up to 5,300 words with a $15 entry fee by March 31. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

New American Voices Award for Immigrant Writers

Deadline: March 31, 2026
The New American Voices Award is a $5,000 post-publication book prize from Fall for the Book and the Institute for Immigration Research, which recognizes prose works that illuminate the complexity of the human experience as told by immigrants. Two finalists each will receive $1,000. All finalists will appear at the Fall for the Book Festival in October 2026. $20 entry fee. Previous winners include Shubha Sunder, Shahnaz Habib, Rachel Heng, and Sindya Bhanoo. Visit website to learn more.

Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest (no fee)

Deadline: April 1, 2026
Submit one humor poem up to 250 lines to win $2,000. Second prize: $500. Third prize: $250. 10 Honorable Mentions: $100 each. Top 13 poems published online. 25th annual contest sponsored by Winning Writers and co-sponsored by Duotrope and Chill Subs. No fee to enter. Accepts published and unpublished work. Judge: Jendi Reiter, assisted by Lauren Singer. This contest is recommended by Reedsy. Learn more and submit at our website.

Write at Jack Kerouac’s Residency in Orlando for Seven Weeks

Extended Deadline: May 1, 2026
Write where Jack Kerouac wrote The Dharma Bums. The Kerouac Project residency of Orlando, FL offers the house to yourself, $600 grocery stipend, utilities paid. Finish your project in seven weeks. Six time slots available per year. We accept: Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Poetry, Plays, Screenplays. Fiction and Nonfiction can be in graphic narrative form if preferred. Applications now due May 1, 2026. Learn more and apply here.

Flash in Bloom - Queer Flash Fiction

Deadline: May 1, 2026
We are thrilled to announce an additional category of our contest this year, Flash In Bloom, seeking flash fiction and creative nonfiction by BIPOC, queer, and trans writers. We encourage submissions on multicultural and queer fantasies, futurisms, and liberations. The winner will be awarded $200 in cash prizes, and will also be guaranteed the publication of their submission in the Fall 2026 issue of the Santa Clara Review. The winner will also have the opportunity to participate in an interview conducted by the SCR and Office for Multicultural Learning, to discuss their experiences in writing and publication as a BIPOC and/or LGBTQ artist, their inspirations, creative processes, and more. Visit website.

Flash Takes Flight at the Santa Clara Review — Flash Fiction and Creative Nonfiction Contest

Deadline: May 1, 2025
Welcome to Flash Takes Flight! We are excited to announce our second annual flash fiction and flash creative nonfiction contest for the chance to win cash prizes as well as publication in the Santa Clara Review! The first prize winner will be awarded $200, the first runner-up will be awarded $100, and the second runner-up will be awarded $50. The contest winner will be published in the 2026 fall issue of the Santa Clara Review. All other work will be considered for publication. We look forward to reading your submissions! Visit website.

Cow Creek Poetry Chapbook Prize

Deadline: May 15, 2026
Submissions are now open for the 2026 Cow Creek Chapbook Prize, a national poetry chapbook contest hosted by Pittsburg State University. We welcome poetry in all styles and on all subjects. If your poems challenge and capture the imagination, we want to read them. The winning poet receives a $1,000 prize and 25 author copies of their published chapbook. Submit 15-30 pages of poetry with a $15 entry fee. Simultaneous and multiple submissions are welcome (each manuscript must be submitted separately). Individual poems may have been previously published, but the chapbook must be an original manuscript. Deadline: May 15. For full guidelines and to submit, visit our website.

🔔 $2,000 Prize + Publication

Deadline: May 18, 2026
New Letters invites you to submit a short story, essay, or poems to the New Letters Literary Awards. Winners in each genre receive $2,000 and publication in New Letters. All entries are considered for publication and must be unpublished. Winners will be announced mid-September 2026. Essay and fiction entries may not exceed 8,000 words; poetry entries may contain one to six poems. Multiple entries are welcome. For complete guidelines, visit our website.

Read ALOCASIA: A Journal of Queer Planty Writing!

Deadline: Rolling
ALOCASIA is an online literary journal of queer creative writing about plants, nature, and horticulture. Based in the United States, we publish writing from both established and emerging writers around the world in all genres. We publish traditional work, as well as the weird, erotic, explicit, and anti-colonial. Our writers are celebratory, fierce, wounded, loving, and rebellious. Come visit our garden on the web. Also, we would love to read your work, click here for submission information.

Palooka Seeks Chapbooks, Prose, Poetry, Artwork, Photography

Deadline: Year-round
Palooka is a global literary magazine of daring prose, art, photography, comics, and chapbooks drawn exclusively from unsolicited submissions. We champion underdog voices, read anonymously, and only publish what we love. Bold voices. Brave stories. Learn more.

Want access to the full list of opportunities and upcoming events? Upgrade to a paid subscription for exclusive early access to the full list of vetted and verified submission calls, writing contests, and events!

Upgrade Now

❧ Give Yourself Permission

Writing and life can feel a lot like crafting a loaf of sourdough. It’s messy, smelly, and sometimes downright unpleasant—bitter or sour in ways you’d rather avoid. But often it’s just a matter of hanging in there, trying again, and trusting that one day everything will click and the chemistry will rise like magic. Remember to breathe deeply and let those anxieties settle.

As always, keep writing words that matter.

— The NewPages Crew

Read more

Each issue features digital flyers from literary magazines, creative writing programs, writing conferences, and independent publishers. Read it, share it, pass it along.

The National Indie Excellence® Awards

The National Indie Excellence® Awards honor outstanding English-language books from self-published authors, indie presses, and university publishers. Now in its 20th year, NIEA celebrates excellence across all genres. Eligible books must be published within two years of the March 31 deadline. See flyer to learn more and submit at our website.

Changing Light Prize Novel-in-Verse from Livingston Press

Deadline: May 25, 2026
Livingston Press’s fourth annual Changing Light Prize for a novel-in-verse is accepting submissions. No entry fee. Send complete manuscript to jwt@uwa.edu in a Word file. Include your bio in the file. View flyer or visit website for more information.

Write at Jack Kerouac’s Orlando Residence for Seven Weeks

Application Deadline: May 1, 2026
Write where Jack Kerouac wrote The Dharma Bums. The Kerouac Project residency of Orlando, FL offers the house to yourself, $600 grocery stipend, utilities paid. Finish your project in seven weeks. Six time slots available per year. We accept: Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Poetry, Plays, Screenplays. Application due date May 1, 2026, but we’ve been known to extend it. View our flyer and visit our website to learn more.

Colorado Authors League

The Colorado Authors League (CAL) supports and promotes its community of published writers while connecting with and adding value to the reading world. Formed in 1931, authors become members to: keep up with changes in the craft of writing, publishing, and marketing, gain greater visibility for their writing, join a group of like-minded people who love writing. View our flyer to see new releases by members and learn more at our website.

The Word Works Hilary Tham Capital Collection

NOMINATIONS BY APRIL 20, PLEASE. POETS SUBMIT BY MAY 1

Any literary organization may nominate their poet-volunteers for the HTCC, an invitation-only judging process. All nominees may submit, and manuscripts are reviewed by an outside judge. 1-3 titles per year are selected for publication. Request a nomination form from Series Editor Brad Richard. View our flyer for more information.

Press Pause’s Beautiful Pause Prize is Open for Nonfiction

Deadline: May 1, 2026
The Beautiful Pause Prize is a yearly prize of $1,000 and the print publication of a full-length manuscript awarded to a writer of exceptional talent and heart. One runner-up will receive $500 and publication of an excerpt in one of our biannual print volumes. Submit nonfiction manuscripts and pitches by May 1. Send us whatever’s in your hearts.

Enjoying the eLitPak? Subscribe to the NewPages Newsletter for weekly updates, inspiration prompts, and submission opportunities — plus the monthly eLitPak delivered to your inbox.

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POETRY and HAIKU Prizes

Stretch your poetry muscles… You have max 60 lines to impress judge Billy Collins, and have your poem published in the Fish Anthology 2026. Poetry closes March 31st.

We have added a Haiku Prize for 2026—an ancient art that can capture an ocean in a droplet. Closing date is April 5th. Learn more.

Enter Your Best Work to Win up to $400!

Deadline: May 31, 2026
The Flying South contest is now open for submissions. Submit your unpublished work in fiction, creative nonfiction, and/or poetry for a chance to win cash prizes – $400 for first place, $200 for second, and $100 for third in each category. All finalists receive publication in the Flying South journal. See website for a list of guidelines.

Changing Skies — Call for Submissions

The Hindsight Journal is currently seeking written submissions that address or center climate issues for their upcoming Changing Skies V. All submissions are free and are considered for print, online publication, and podcast features. Before submitting, read submission guidelines at www.hindsightjournal.org. AI-generated submissions will not be considered.

Kubrick Reimagined: Strangelove Country on the Awards Circuit

Strangelove Country explores Stanley Kubrick’s futurist cinema through science fiction, “filmosophy,” and the theory-fictional lens that defines D. Harlan Wilson’s oeuvre. Nominated for the BSFA Award and eligible for the Locus Award, the book has been praised by critics as intellectually rigorous, provocative, and boldly original—one of the most compelling studies of Kubrick’s films to date. View flyer to learn more.

L’Esprit Literary Review 2026 Dalloway Prize

L’Esprit seeks short prose of exceptional vision and skill, now sponsored by Chill Subs’ Contest Transparency Program.

The Prize will be awarded to the best piece of fiction, nonfiction, or hybrid work under 5,000 words. We’re simply looking for the best work we can find: risk-adept, language-driven writing crafted in a revolutionary spirit. We welcome pieces that challenge convention in form, style, and/or content.

Submissions open from February 21-May 10 || Submit via Submittable || Full info

MFA in Writing at Lindenwood University

The MFA in Writing at Lindenwood University focuses on the study and practice of the craft of creative writing. Our program offers a variety of craft classes, literature classes, and writing workshops, all in small-group settings and taught by experienced writers who are published authors, journalists, and editors. Students can participate in several industry learning experiences, such as serving as an editorial assistant for The Lindenwood Review, our national literary journal. View flyer and learn more at our website.

Pacifica Literary Review 2026 Poetry Contest

Deadline: June 1
Pacifica Literary Review is proud to announce our 2026 Poetry Contest, judged by Emily Van Kley! Winner receives $500, publication, and the envy of their peers. For contest details and how to submit, check us out at pacificareview.com.

Advertise in an Upcoming eLitPak

Want to get your call for submissions, contest, event, or new release in front of an engaged literary community? Reserve your spot in an upcoming eLitPak and reach 7,000+ newsletter subscribers—plus promotion on the NewPages blog and across our social channels to 30,000+ followers.

Now accepting reservations for the April 2026 through March 2027 eLitPak Newsletters. Flyer placement is based on order of reservations.

Reserve Your Spot

I hope you’re all staying safe, dry, and warm as the storms and high winds sweep across the country. After such a mild start, March seems determined to remind us it’s never been known for a gentle spring.

In brighter news, NewPages will be delivering a full-course eLitPak Newsletter this Wednesday evening for you to savor. Submission opportunities, upcoming events, and plenty more will be landing right in your inbox.

📩 If this email gets cut off, click ‘View Entire Message’ at the bottom or head to Substack to read the full newsletter!

📰Recommended Reading :: Zine Machine

If you’ve ever stumbled across a project and immediately thought, Everyone making this is clearly having a blast, you already understand the spirit of Zine Machine. What began as a literal vending machine for handmade zines has grown into a quarterly publication celebrating creativity, play, and the joy of small-format storytelling.

Zine Machine brings together writing, visual art, and hands-on bookmaking in a way that feels refreshing in today’s polished, hyper‑curated literary landscape. It’s quirky, community‑minded, and proudly low‑industrial—an invitation to explore, experiment, and maybe even make a zine of your own.

Read a full interview with Zine Machine.

📚 Magazine Stand

Since the weather can’t decide whether to soothe us or torment us, escape to the Magazine Stand instead. Browse fresh issues from literary journals near and far and let them keep you nourished—if not emotionally, then at least literarily.

Brilliant Flash Fiction – January 2026

Brilliant Flash Fiction is a nonprofit journal devoted to powerful, concise storytelling paired with vivid photography. The January 2026 issue continues its mission to spotlight international voices and emerging writers. Recent contributors include Dirk Kortz, Alethea Paul, Hannah Wyatt, Tracy Royce, David L. Updike, Samuel Cromwell, Jonathan Worlde, Bethany Bruno, Benjamin Brindise, Pravy Jha, and Mandira Pattnaik.

Cholla Needles – Issue 111

Cholla Needles, a nonprofit supporting desert-inspired writing, publishes a monthly print issue focused on ten poets with accompanying photography or artwork. Issue 111 features James Marvelle, Bonnie Bostrom, Rick Adang, Sarah Marie, Duane Anderson, Arvilla Fee, Patty Prewitt, Francene Kaplan, Barry Kritzberg, and J. Malcolm Garcia, with cover and interior photos by Kim Martin.

swamp pink – February 2026

swamp pink publishes fiction, poetry, and nonfiction twice monthly, emphasizing exceptional work from emerging and marginalized writers. Issue 24 includes fiction by Brian Ma, Skyler Melnick, and Abeje Zora Schnake; poetry by Elisa Luna Ady, Ben Cooper, Sam Dickerson, and others; and nonfiction by Philip Metres and Amber Flora Thomas.

Terrain.org – February 2026

Terrain.org is a place-based journal uniting literature, science, art, and environmental activism. The February 2026 offerings include essays by Joe Whitworth, Rob Carney, Lis McLoughlin, Lisbeth White, and Elise Arellano-Thompson, plus new podcast episodes. Terrain.org also features poetry, fiction, reviews, interviews, and visual work through its ARTerrain and Upsprawl series.

The Writing Disorder – Winter 2025/26

The Writing Disorder’s Winter 2025/26 issue presents fiction, poetry, nonfiction, art, interviews, and reviews, centered around “The Fantastic Art of Dan May.” The issue includes fiction by James Joaquin Brewer and others; poetry by Suzette Bishop, Richard Dinges Jr., and more; nonfiction by Kevin Brown and Caitlin Garvey; plus an interview with Diana Josefowicz.

Zone 3 – Issue 40.1

Zone 3’s Issue 40.1 offers poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction from emerging and established writers through Austin Peay State University’s CECA. Highlights include nonfiction by Zehra Habib and Matthew Pitt; poetry by Claire Cella, Aminata Gueye, Jim Daniels, and others; and fiction by Barbara Krasner and Jacob Vaus.

Coming soon:

Swing back to our Magazine Stand later in the week to discover Superpresent Winter 2026, The Sunlight Press March 2026, and Still Point Arts Quarterly Spring 2026.

🖋️ Inspiration Prompt: Out of the Gray Silence

Before anything had a name, there was only gray silence—lightless, soundless, waiting like a blank canvas. Then a whisper gathered force until it became a world-shaping boom that cracked open the nothingness.

What emerges in that first impossible moment?

Create what arrives with that sound—a world, a creature, a memory, a myth, a color, a mistake, a miracle. Write it, draw it, photograph it, collage it, or push two forms together into something new. Let the boom give birth to something only you could make.

Looking for more inspiration? Stop by our Weekly Roundup of Submission Opportunities for more prompts.

🏬 NewPages Mailing Lists

Reaching bookstores and libraries just got even easier. Our Mailing Lists connect you with the places most likely to champion your books, magazines, and literary projects. Choose from U.S. independent bookstores, Canadian independent bookstores, Barnes & Noble locations, or U.S. public libraries—all curated, up‑to‑date, and ready for your next mailing or outreach campaign.

We now offer an Indie Bookstore Bundle, giving you both our U.S. and Canadian indie bookstore lists at a discounted price. And for those planning a big push, you can save even more with our All‑Lists Package, which includes every mailing list we offer in one convenient deal.

Whether you’re sending review copies, promoting an author tour, or building long‑term relationships with book buyers, these lists help your work land where it matters most.

Explore the lists and start connecting with your future readers.

Purchase a Mailing List

Calls, Contests, & More

Ready to submit your work or attend a literary event? We’ve got 169 opportunities waiting for you this week! With a new month comes a fresh wave of listings newly added to the full (paywalled) list—don’t miss out.

Below is a sampling of what you’ll find inside.

2026 ABLE MUSE CONTESTS :: SUBMIT NOW

Deadline: March 23 (Write Prize); March 31 (Book Award)
Able Muse’s writing contests are open! WRITE PRIZE (poetry & fiction): $500 each + publication. Final Judges: Catherine Tufariello (poetry), Tobias Carroll (fiction); $15 entry; extended deadline: March 23, 2026. BOOK AWARD (poetry): $1000 + book publication. Final Judge: Annie Finch; $25 entry; deadline: March 31, 2026. Visit our website for details.

National Baseball Poetry Festival Call for Submissions

Deadline: Noon, March 27, 2026
The National Baseball Poetry Festival invites submissions of poems that deal with any aspect of the gamesmanship, nature, and atmosphere of Baseball and/or Softball, for example: opening day, ballpark food, childhood memories, first pitch, athletic heroes, uniforms, ball parks, Little League, dugout chatter, the season of the game, etc. No restriction on form. Poets may submit one (1) poem for consideration, which should fit on a single page. The thematic views of baseball/softball and the game will be given wide interpretation by the judge(s). Submissions are free. For full submission guidelines, please visit our website.

Cloudbank 20 Poetry/Flash Fiction Contest—New Deadline

Deadline: March 31, 2026
A prize of $500 will be awarded for one poem or flash fiction (up to 1000 words) appearing in Cloudbank 20. All contest submissions will be considered for publication. The $15 entry fee includes a two-issue subscription to the journal. Submissions accepted via Submittable or by mail. Find complete guidelines here. For information about past issues, including winning poems in those journals, visit Cloudbank. Revive us with your fire.

The Headlight Review’s Annual Poetry Chapbook Prize

Deadline: March 31
The Headlight Review’s Annual Poetry Chapbook Prize of 2026 is accepting submissions through March 31st, 2026. Our first round finalists will be judged by Alafia Nichole Sessions and will have their poems featured in an upcoming issue. The winner of The Headlight Review’s 2026 Poetry Chapbook Prize Contest will receive publication (a perfectly bound book with a full color or black/white cover), an award of $500, and 25 copies of the book. Learn more.

🔔The Missouri Review’s 6th Annual Perkoff Prize Invites Entries

Extended Deadline: March 31, 2026
The Missouri Review is pleased to announce that the 6th annual Perkoff Prize is now open. Winners in fiction, poetry, and nonfiction receive $1,000 and publication in the Winter 2026 issue, plus social media promotion. Regular fee $20; All Access fee $30. All entries are considered for publication in TMR, or in our web-exclusive features, BLAST and/or Poem of the Week. Visit our website to learn more.

2026 National Indie Excellence© Awards

Deadline: March 31, 2026
The 2026 National Indie Excellence© Awards (NIEA) are open to all English language printed books currently for sale including self-published authors, small to midsize independent publishers, and university presses. Now in our twentieth year, NIEA is a proud champion of self and independent publishing and authors of all genres who produce books of excellence and distinction. Eligible books must have been published within the two calendar years prior to our deadline. Please visit our website for more information about our prizes, awards, and how to submit.

New Short Story Contest - Cash Prizes and Publication!

Deadline: March 31, 2026
The PING Anthology Short Story Contest is now open for submissions! PING stands for Personal Inter-Consciousness Nuance Gauge. Our short story contest is around the theme of a futuristic app (called PING) that can tell you in real time how many people are thinking about you, and if they’re thinking about you with love or fear-related emotions. The Premium version can tell you the names of those who are thinking about you. We offer three cash prizes ($500/ $250/ $150), and the top 25 submissions will be published in our Anthology. Word count 1,000-3,000 words. Due March 31, 2026. Visit website.

2026 Prime Number Magazine Awards

Deadline: March 31, 2026
Two prizes of $1,000 each and publication in Prime Number Magazine are given annually for a poem and a short story. Two runners-up in each category receive $250 each and publication. Using only the online submission system, submit a poem of up to three pages or a short story of up to 5,300 words with a $15 entry fee by March 31. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

New American Voices Award for Immigrant Writers

Deadline: March 31, 2026
The New American Voices Award is a $5,000 post-publication book prize from Fall for the Book and the Institute for Immigration Research, which recognizes prose works that illuminate the complexity of the human experience as told by immigrants. Two finalists each will receive $1,000. All finalists will appear at the Fall for the Book Festival in October 2026. $20 entry fee. Previous winners include Shubha Sunder, Shahnaz Habib, Rachel Heng, and Sindya Bhanoo. Visit website to learn more.

Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest (no fee)

Deadline: April 1, 2026
Submit one humor poem up to 250 lines to win $2,000. Second prize: $500. Third prize: $250. 10 Honorable Mentions: $100 each. Top 13 poems published online. 25th annual contest sponsored by Winning Writers and co-sponsored by Duotrope and Chill Subs. No fee to enter. Accepts published and unpublished work. Judge: Jendi Reiter, assisted by Lauren Singer. This contest is recommended by Reedsy. Learn more and submit at our website.

Write at Jack Kerouac’s Residency in Orlando for Seven Weeks

Extended Deadline: May 1, 2026
Write where Jack Kerouac wrote The Dharma Bums. The Kerouac Project residency of Orlando, FL offers the house to yourself, $600 grocery stipend, utilities paid. Finish your project in seven weeks. Six time slots available per year. We accept: Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Poetry, Plays, Screenplays. Fiction and Nonfiction can be in graphic narrative form if preferred. Applications now due May 1, 2026. Learn more and apply here.

Flash in Bloom - Queer Flash Fiction

Deadline: May 1, 2026
We are thrilled to announce an additional category of our contest this year, Flash In Bloom, seeking flash fiction and creative nonfiction by BIPOC, queer, and trans writers. We encourage submissions on multicultural and queer fantasies, futurisms, and liberations. The winner will be awarded $200 in cash prizes, and will also be guaranteed the publication of their submission in the Fall 2026 issue of the Santa Clara Review. The winner will also have the opportunity to participate in an interview conducted by the SCR and Office for Multicultural Learning, to discuss their experiences in writing and publication as a BIPOC and/or LGBTQ artist, their inspirations, creative processes, and more. Visit website.

Flash Takes Flight at the Santa Clara Review — Flash Fiction and Creative Nonfiction Contest

Deadline: May 1, 2025
Welcome to Flash Takes Flight! We are excited to announce our second annual flash fiction and flash creative nonfiction contest for the chance to win cash prizes as well as publication in the Santa Clara Review! The first prize winner will be awarded $200, the first runner-up will be awarded $100, and the second runner-up will be awarded $50. The contest winner will be published in the 2026 fall issue of the Santa Clara Review. All other work will be considered for publication. We look forward to reading your submissions! Visit website.

🔔Cow Creek Poetry Chapbook Prize

Deadline: May 15, 2026
Submissions are now open for the 2026 Cow Creek Chapbook Prize, a national poetry chapbook contest hosted by Pittsburg State University. We welcome poetry in all styles and on all subjects. If your poems challenge and capture the imagination, we want to read them. The winning poet receives a $1,000 prize and 25 author copies of their published chapbook. Submit 15-30 pages of poetry with a $15 entry fee. Simultaneous and multiple submissions are welcome (each manuscript must be submitted separately). Individual poems may have been previously published, but the chapbook must be an original manuscript. Deadline: May 15. For full guidelines and to submit, visit our website.

Read ALOCASIA: A Journal of Queer Planty Writing!

Deadline: Rolling
ALOCASIA is an online literary journal of queer creative writing about plants, nature, and horticulture. Based in the United States, we publish writing from both established and emerging writers around the world in all genres. We publish traditional work, as well as the weird, erotic, explicit, and anti-colonial. Our writers are celebratory, fierce, wounded, loving, and rebellious. Come visit our garden on the web. Also, we would love to read your work, click here for submission information.

Palooka Seeks Chapbooks, Prose, Poetry, Artwork, Photography

Deadline: Year-round
Palooka is a global literary magazine of daring prose, art, photography, comics, and chapbooks drawn exclusively from unsolicited submissions. We champion underdog voices, read anonymously, and only publish what we love. Bold voices. Brave stories. Learn more.

Want access to the full list of opportunities and upcoming events? Upgrade to a paid subscription for exclusive early access to the full list of vetted and verified submission calls, writing contests, and events!

Upgrade Now

❧ Give Yourself Permission

Spring cleaning. Reorganization. Walking through a house you’ve always lived in, suddenly seeing it differently—rooms lit by the ghosts of memories and the people who came before. Change is hard. Knowing when to let go is even harder. Sometimes we all need to step back, breathe, and give ourselves permission—to release something or hold it close. Small decisions. Monumental ones. In life and in writing.

As always, keep writing words that matter.

— The NewPages Crew

Read more

In true March fashion, we go from gray, warm, and rainy days straight into freezing rain and potential snowstorms. If this weather whiplash has your spirits dampened, NewPages is here with our weekly newsletter to brighten your day—bringing you good lit to read, inspiration to help you write, and places to submit your work.

📩 If this email gets cut off, click ‘View Entire Message’ at the bottom or head to Substack to read the full newsletter!

📰Recommended Reading

COPE Magazine provides the chronic illness community a space to share stories, connect, and be real. Having been struggling with caretaking and now chronic stomach issues, their second issue, Chronic Connections: Navigating Relationships Through Illness, really spoke to me and had some great standout writing and art.

Tilly Morris’ piece “The Door is Locked” is a strong poem about the desire for true human connection despite an illness, not because of one, but also being afraid to be open and vulnerable, to chase after it.

Justin Nightshade's "The Toymaker's Wreck," about not being made of quality parts and feeling you lack something others have, is relatable far beyond chronic illness. How often do we feel our own design was wrong, whether in health, sexuality, or mentality?

Madison K. Myer’s “Hannah” discusses the negative aspects of illness and finding out who in your circle cannot cope with the diagnoses, but also focusing on the positives, the people who stay and show up even at 2AM.

📚 Magazine Stand

Love reading a wide variety of work? Drop by the Magazine Stand to explore the latest issues from literary journals across the spectrum and around the world.

Broadsided – March 2026 Special Folio

Broadsided’s March 2026 folio, “Signs of Life: Artists and Writers Respond to AI,” pairs notebook images from four artists with AI-related prompts for writers. Collaborative broadsides feature S.D. Dillon, Hilish Patel, Jacqueline Lyons, Beth Feldman Brandt, and Angie Vorhies. Each piece is available as a free downloadable PDF.

Colorado Review – Spring 2026

The Spring 2026 Colorado Review, introduced by Editor Stephanie G’Schwind, explores the tension between sorrow and joy. Contributors include Darius Stewart, Suphil Lee Park, Bob Hicok, John Gallaher, and Priscilla Hunnewell. The issue’s fiction, poetry, and essays examine emotional complexity, offering resonance for readers navigating grief or delight.

The Lake – March 2026

The March 2026 issue of The Lake features new poems by Naned Bajevic, Holly Day, Hannah Stone, J.S. Watts, and others, plus reviews by Charles Rammelkamp and Hannah Stone. Its “One Poem Reviews” section spotlights recent books through single‑poem features from Ruth Holzer, Xi Nan, Alan Perry, and Bethany Pope.

The Malahat Review – Issue 233

Issue 233, “Inhale/Exhale: Contemporary Indigenous Storytelling,” is guest‑edited by Richard Van Camp and dedicated to Dr. Greg Younging. It gathers extensive Indigenous fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and visual art from contributors including Autumn Moosehunter, Syndel Thomas Kozar, Jennifer Adese, Francine Cunningham, and Lareina Abbott, celebrating vibrant contemporary Indigenous voices.

Coming soon: Zone 3 Issue 40.1, Zine Machine, The Writing Disorder Winter 2025/26, and Terrain.org February 2026

🖋️ Inspiration Prompt: This House is Alive

But what if it’s not alive with memories or ghosts—what if a house is a body? The roof is the hair, the attic the brain, the windows the eyes, the door a mouth. Select one options below to explore in writing, art, or collage. Or, if you’re feeling adventurous, try out all four and see where they take you.

Option 1: Renovation

Your house‑body needs repair. When the wallpaper‑skin is peeled back, what forgotten history is revealed? What memory rises when the attic‑brain is opened for light? Write or create from the moment something is exposed—or refused to be repaired.

Option 2: The Architect Arrives

A visitor appears claiming to be the architect of your house‑body—your past self, future self, or a stranger with impossible knowledge. They walk room to room explaining their choices and pointing out one flaw they regret. What happens next?

Option 3: Structural Integrity Report

Your house‑body is being inspected by an unexpected entity: a doctor, a ghost, an emotion, or a loved one. What do they find in the wiring, the foundation, the crawlspace? What truth does their report force you to confront?

Option 4: Guests

Your house‑body fills with guests—memories, habits, ancestors, characters, or intrusive thoughts. Where do they stay? Who rearranges the furniture? Who leaves without saying goodbye? Create from the tension or tenderness of guesthood.

Looking for more inspiration? Stop by our Weekly Roundup of Submission Opportunities for more prompts.

🏬 NewPages Mailing Lists

Reaching bookstores and libraries just got easier. Our Mailing Lists connect you with the places most likely to champion your books, magazines, and literary projects. Choose from U.S. independent bookstores, Canadian independent bookstores, Barnes & Noble locations, or U.S. public libraries—all curated, up‑to‑date, and ready for your next mailing or outreach campaign. Whether you’re sending review copies, promoting an author tour, or building long‑term relationships with book buyers, these lists save you time and help your work land where it matters most.

Explore the lists and start connecting with your future readers.

Purchase a Mailing List

Calls, Contests, & More

Ready to submit your work or attend a literary event? We’ve got 180 opportunities waiting for you this week! With a new month comes a fresh wave of listings newly added to the full (paywalled) list—don’t miss out.

Below is a sampling of what you’ll find inside.

About Place Journal Call for Submissions: The Ground Beneath Us

Deadline: March 10, 2026
Each issue of About Place Journal, the arts publication of the Black Earth Institute, focuses on a specific theme. From January 1st to March 10th we’ll be accepting submissions for our Spring 2026 issue The Ground Beneath Us: Place, Power, and Resistance. Our mission: to have art address the causes of spirit, earth, and society; to protect the earth; and to build a more just and interconnected world. We publish prose, poetry, visual art, photography, video, and music which fit the current theme. More about this issue’s theme and our submission guidelines at our website.

2026 ABLE MUSE CONTESTS :: SUBMIT NOW

Deadline: March 15 (Write Prize); March 31 (Book Award)
Able Muse’s writing contests are now open! WRITE PRIZE (poetry & fiction): $500 each + publication. Final Judges: Catherine Tufariello (poetry), Tobias Carroll (fiction); $15 entry; deadline: March 15, 2026. BOOK AWARD (poetry): $1000 + book publication. Final Judge: Annie Finch; $25 entry; deadline: March 31, 2026. Visit our website for details.

National Baseball Poetry Festival Call for Submissions

Deadline: Noon, March 27, 2026
The National Baseball Poetry Festival invites submissions of poems that deal with any aspect of the gamesmanship, nature, and atmosphere of Baseball and/or Softball, for example: opening day, ballpark food, childhood memories, first pitch, athletic heroes, uniforms, ball parks, Little League, dugout chatter, the season of the game, etc. No restriction on form. Poets may submit one (1) poem for consideration, which should fit on a single page. The thematic views of baseball/softball and the game will be given wide interpretation by the judge(s). Submissions are free. For full submission guidelines, please visit our website.

Cloudbank 20 Poetry/Flash Fiction Contest—New Deadline

Deadline: March 31, 2026
A prize of $500 will be awarded for one poem or flash fiction (up to 1000 words) appearing in Cloudbank 20. All contest submissions will be considered for publication. The $15 entry fee includes a two-issue subscription to the journal. Submissions accepted via Submittable or by mail. Find complete guidelines here. For information about past issues, including winning poems in those journals, visit Cloudbank. Revive us with your fire.

The Headlight Review’s Annual Poetry Chapbook Prize

Deadline: March 31
The Headlight Review’s Annual Poetry Chapbook Prize of 2026 is accepting submissions through March 31st, 2026. Our first round finalists will be judged by Alafia Nichole Sessions and will have their poems featured in an upcoming issue. The winner of The Headlight Review’s 2026 Poetry Chapbook Prize Contest will receive publication (a perfectly bound book with a full color or black/white cover), an award of $500, and 25 copies of the book. Learn more.

2026 National Indie Excellence© Awards

Deadline: March 31, 2026
The 2026 National Indie Excellence© Awards (NIEA) are open to all English language printed books currently for sale including self-published authors, small to midsize independent publishers, and university presses. Now in our twentieth year, NIEA is a proud champion of self and independent publishing and authors of all genres who produce books of excellence and distinction. Eligible books must have been published within the two calendar years prior to our deadline. Please visit our website for more information about our prizes, awards, and how to submit.

New Short Story Contest - Cash Prizes and Publication!

Deadline: March 31, 2026
The PING Anthology Short Story Contest is now open for submissions! PING stands for Personal Inter-Consciousness Nuance Gauge. Our short story contest is around the theme of a futuristic app (called PING) that can tell you in real time how many people are thinking about you, and if they’re thinking about you with love or fear-related emotions. The Premium version can tell you the names of those who are thinking about you. We offer three cash prizes ($500/ $250/ $150), and the top 25 submissions will be published in our Anthology. Word count 1,000-3,000 words. Due March 31, 2026. Visit website.

2026 Prime Number Magazine Awards

Deadline: March 31, 2026
Two prizes of $1,000 each and publication in Prime Number Magazine are given annually for a poem and a short story. Two runners-up in each category receive $250 each and publication. Using only the online submission system, submit a poem of up to three pages or a short story of up to 5,300 words with a $15 entry fee by March 31. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

New American Voices Award for Immigrant Writers

Deadline: March 31, 2026
The New American Voices Award is a $5,000 post-publication book prize from Fall for the Book and the Institute for Immigration Research, which recognizes prose works that illuminate the complexity of the human experience as told by immigrants. Two finalists each will receive $1,000. All finalists will appear at the Fall for the Book Festival in October 2026. $20 entry fee. Previous winners include Shubha Sunder, Shahnaz Habib, Rachel Heng, and Sindya Bhanoo. Visit website to learn more.

Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest (no fee)

Deadline: April 1, 2026
Submit one humor poem up to 250 lines to win $2,000. Second prize: $500. Third prize: $250. 10 Honorable Mentions: $100 each. Top 13 poems published online. 25th annual contest sponsored by Winning Writers and co-sponsored by Duotrope and Chill Subs. No fee to enter. Accepts published and unpublished work. Judge: Jendi Reiter, assisted by Lauren Singer. This contest is recommended by Reedsy. Learn more and submit at our website.

Write at Jack Kerouac’s Residency in Orlando for Seven Weeks

Extended Deadline: May 1, 2026
Write where Jack Kerouac wrote The Dharma Bums. The Kerouac Project residency of Orlando, FL offers the house to yourself, $600 grocery stipend, utilities paid. Finish your project in seven weeks. Six time slots available per year. We accept: Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Poetry, Plays, Screenplays. Fiction and Nonfiction can be in graphic narrative form if preferred. Applications now due May 1, 2026. Learn more and apply here.

Flash in Bloom - Queer Flash Fiction

Deadline: May 1, 2026
We are thrilled to announce an additional category of our contest this year, Flash In Bloom, seeking flash fiction and creative nonfiction by BIPOC, queer, and trans writers. We encourage submissions on multicultural and queer fantasies, futurisms, and liberations. The winner will be awarded $200 in cash prizes, and will also be guaranteed the publication of their submission in the Fall 2026 issue of the Santa Clara Review. The winner will also have the opportunity to participate in an interview conducted by the SCR and Office for Multicultural Learning, to discuss their experiences in writing and publication as a BIPOC and/or LGBTQ artist, their inspirations, creative processes, and more. Visit website.

Flash Takes Flight at the Santa Clara Review — Flash Fiction and Creative Nonfiction Contest

Deadline: May 1, 2025
Welcome to Flash Takes Flight! We are excited to announce our second annual flash fiction and flash creative nonfiction contest for the chance to win cash prizes as well as publication in the Santa Clara Review! The first prize winner will be awarded $200, the first runner-up will be awarded $100, and the second runner-up will be awarded $50. The contest winner will be published in the 2026 fall issue of the Santa Clara Review. All other work will be considered for publication. We look forward to reading your submissions! Visit website.

Read ALOCASIA: A Journal of Queer Planty Writing!

Deadline: Rolling
ALOCASIA is an online literary journal of queer creative writing about plants, nature, and horticulture. Based in the United States, we publish writing from both established and emerging writers around the world in all genres. We publish traditional work, as well as the weird, erotic, explicit, and anti-colonial. Our writers are celebratory, fierce, wounded, loving, and rebellious. Come visit our garden on the web. Also, we would love to read your work, click here for submission information.

Palooka Seeks Chapbooks, Prose, Poetry, Artwork, Photography

Deadline: Year-round
Palooka is a global literary magazine of daring prose, art, photography, comics, and chapbooks drawn exclusively from unsolicited submissions. We champion underdog voices, read anonymously, and only publish what we love. Bold voices. Brave stories. Learn more.

Want access to the full list of opportunities and upcoming events? Upgrade to a paid subscription for exclusive early access to the full list of vetted and verified submission calls, writing contests, and events!

Upgrade Now

❧ Time to Dust Out the Cobwebs

They’ve been hanging around too long, and you’re becoming frightfully familiar with the inhabitants. And once cleaning begins—and the ADD or OCD portion of your brain inevitably takes over—you’ll uncover a partridge in a pear tree, a forgotten key, a hidden memory, and maybe even a spark of inspiration to keep you going as the weather slips into its moodier phases.

May your creative house creak, expand, and open new doors this week. And, as always, keep writing words that matter.

— The NewPages Crew

Read more

Hard to believe February is already behind us. It always seems to vanish in a blink, but that’s the nature of the shortest month—gone before we’ve settled into it.

Here in the Midwest, we’re no strangers to weather whiplash, but March is making an entrance: this week promises rain instead of snow and temperatures climbing into the 60s by the weekend. If you’re also in for a stretch of gentler weather, consider it an invitation. Shake off the winter cobwebs, grab a good book, a notepad or laptop, your favorite drink, and step out into the fresh air. Let the shift in season give you room to breathe, explore some great lit, and write your heart out.

📩 If this email gets cut off, click ‘View Entire Message’ at the bottom or head to Substack to read the full newsletter!

📰Recommended Reading

Brilliant Flash Fiction is always a great journal for bite-sized stories in a variety of flavors, but their January 2026 issue is especially strong. This selection moves from the speculative to the deeply human, with many pieces circling the idea of connection—or its absence.

One standout is Dirk Kortz’s “Elmwood,” which follows a man renting a home in a neighborhood obsessed with lawn ornaments and tidy gardens. When he’s blamed for several missing ornaments, the accusations escalate into threats and even stories in the local paper. And when the missing pieces finally reappear, his relief at simply being spoken to leads him to confess that he “took them abroad,” even though he never left town. It’s an unsettling, resonant piece about isolation, miscommunication, and the small violences of community dynamics.

Another striking story is Bethany Bruno’s “The Diner Aquarium.” A child waits for his mother to finish her shift so they can go home and becomes fixated on a dead fish floating in the diner’s countertop aquarium. He asks why none of the other fish seem to care and why no one bothers to remove the dead one. His mother’s quiet, layered responses hint that his questions are about more than a fish—and that their own family story may have losses they haven’t fully voiced.

📚 Magazine Stand

Love reading a wide variety of work? Drop by the Magazine Stand to explore the latest issues from literary journals across the spectrum and around the world.

The Tiger Moth Review – Issue 25
Issue 15 of The Tiger Moth Review centers on environmental care and mindful action. The issue features globally diverse contributors—from Singapore, India, South Africa, Iran, Nigeria, the U.S., and more—offering poems and stories meant to inspire intimate, earth‑focused reflection and stewardship.

Vita Poetica – Winter 2026
Vita Poetica’s Winter 2026 issue explores “immobility” amid cultural and political tension, highlighting art that breaks through stuckness. The issue features poetry, nonfiction, visual art, an interview with Jon Bishop, and contemplative pieces, with contributors including Richard Jackson, Dion O’Reilly, Bern Mulvey, and others.

📘New Additions to NewPages

With another month behind us, here’s a quick look at the literary magazines added to our Big List of Literary Magazines during February:

• Brown Hound Press — fiction (online)

• Dog Throat Journal — fiction, prose poetry (online)

• Ellipsis — fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art, photography, drama (print)

• New Word Order — fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art, interviews, translations (online)

• Poetry Midwest — poetry (online)

• Menagerie Magazine — fiction, nonfiction, poetry (online)

• VOLTA — fiction, nonfiction, poetry, comics, reviews, interviews, translations, art, photography (online)

🌟Sponsor Spotlight:
Souvenirs from Another Life by Leah Browning

Souvenirs from Another Life by Leah Browning is a full-length short story collection exploring the surreal and tender edges of love, family, and everyday strangeness. The book features stories such as “Caught,” in which a man discovers his Tinder date surrounded by ominous birds, and “The Surrogate Wife,” where a returning traveler finds a housekeeper overtaking her home. Ranging from flash to linked stories, the collection blends sharp observation with emotional nuance. Available in print, e‑book, and audiobook, Browning’s work has appeared widely and earned multiple award nominations.

Learn more here.

🖋️ Inspiration Prompt: I Watched the Movie, Does that Count?

What do Clueless, 10 Things I Hate About You, and Cruel Intentions have in common? On the surface, not much—different vibes, different eras, different aesthetics. And yet each one is a modern reimagining of a classic work of literature.

Clueless brings Jane Austen’s Emma into the world of Beverly Hills, transforming a well‑meaning but oblivious matchmaker into a valley girl with a big heart and even bigger platform shoes. 10 Things I Hate About You riffs on Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, trading Elizabethan marital politics for high‑school scheming and poetry slams. And Cruel Intentions updates Les Liaisons Dangereuses, swapping French aristocrats for Manhattan prep-school power players.

Maybe you already knew these were adaptations. Maybe you didn’t. But it’s a good reminder: great stories can travel farther than their original context—and sometimes a change of setting brings the themes into sharper focus.

As writers, we often get stuck in our own heads. And as readers, we sometimes love to side‑eye adaptations. But the classics can be unexpectedly fertile ground for new work—especially when the world has changed so dramatically since they were written. What would it look like to carry their conflicts, commentary, or emotional cores into our short‑form, hyper‑online, modern moment?

Your Challenge

Choose a classic work you love—ancient, medieval, Victorian, early 20th century, whatever calls to you—and reimagine it for right now.
Create a new piece inspired by it in whatever form feels most alive to you:

• a collage remixing themes or imagery

• a poem that modernizes a character or conflict

• a short story that drops a favorite scene into a contemporary setting

• or any hybrid or cross‑genre experiment you feel like exploring

Let the original be a springboard, not a cage. What does the story become in your hands today?

Looking for more inspiration? Stop by our Weekly Roundup of Submission Opportunities for more prompts.

🏬 Bookstore Updates

Indie bookstores are vibrant community hubs—hosting readings, story times, book clubs, and the kinds of gatherings that make a place feel like home. Want to join in? Explore our Guide to Independent Bookstores to discover one near you.

📍 Caversham Booksellers – Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Caversham Booksellers is a specialized mental‑health bookstore in Toronto, Ontario, now operating from its new location at 262B Geary Avenue after moving last fall.

📍 Lake Erie Book Company – Geneva, Ohio
Lake Erie Book Company is a charming independent bookstore in downtown Geneva, housed in a beautifully restored historic drugstore near the Lake Erie shoreline and offering new and used books for all ages, unique gifts, local artisan work, and treats from their original Soda Fountain.

Are you an author looking to promote a new book, schedule events, or connect with local booksellers? We’ve been steadily updating our bookstore mailing lists since the start of the new year and continue refreshing them year‑round. They’re a great resource when you’re ready to reach out.

Purchase a Mailing List

Calls, Contests, & More

Ready to submit your work or attend a literary event? We’ve got 175 opportunities waiting for you this week! With a new month comes a fresh wave of listings newly added to the full (paywalled) list—don’t miss out.

Below is a sampling of what you’ll find inside.

6th Annual Gutsy Great Novelist Chapter One Prize

Deadline: March 3, 2026
$20 ENTRY FEE. Submissions open Tuesday, Feb 3, 2026. Deadline Tuesday March 3, 2026. The 6th Annual Gutsy Great Novelist Chapter One Prize is awarded for an outstanding first chapter of an unpublished novel. First prize is $1,000; 2nd is $500; and 3rd is $250. The prize is open internationally to anyone over 18 writing a novel in English in any genre for adult or YA readers (fiction only). Winners will be announced Tuesday, April 14, 2026. Learn more here.

Sand Hills Literary Magazine Call for Submissions! (50th Anniversary Issue)

Deadline: March 8, 2026
Sand Hills Literary Magazine, in print since 1973, is now open for its 50th anniversary issue! We are a national publication based in Augusta, Georgia, accepting prose, poetry, and art from emerging and established writers and artists in the United States. We are also accepting submissions for our annual poetry and prose contests judged by the Sand Hills editorial team. Winning entries in each category receive $500 and publication in the issue. The deadline for general and contest submissions is March 8th, 2026. Learn more here. We look forward to reviewing your work.

About Place Journal Call for Submissions: The Ground Beneath Us

Deadline: March 10, 2026
Each issue of About Place Journal, the arts publication of the Black Earth Institute, focuses on a specific theme. From January 1st to March 10th we’ll be accepting submissions for our Spring 2026 issue The Ground Beneath Us: Place, Power, and Resistance. Our mission: to have art address the causes of spirit, earth, and society; to protect the earth; and to build a more just and interconnected world. We publish prose, poetry, visual art, photography, video, and music which fit the current theme. More about this issue’s theme and our submission guidelines at our website.

2026 ABLE MUSE CONTESTS :: SUBMIT NOW

Deadline: March 15 (Write Prize); March 31 (Book Award)
Able Muse’s writing contests are now open! WRITE PRIZE (poetry & fiction): $500 each + publication. Final Judges: Catherine Tufariello (poetry), Tobias Carroll (fiction); $15 entry; deadline: March 15, 2026. BOOK AWARD (poetry): $1000 + book publication. Final Judge: Annie Finch; $25 entry; deadline: March 31, 2026. Visit our website for details.

National Baseball Poetry Festival Call for Submissions

Deadline: Noon, March 27, 2026
The National Baseball Poetry Festival invites submissions of poems that deal with any aspect of the gamesmanship, nature, and atmosphere of Baseball and/or Softball, for example: opening day, ballpark food, childhood memories, first pitch, athletic heroes, uniforms, ball parks, Little League, dugout chatter, the season of the game, etc. No restriction on form. Poets may submit one (1) poem for consideration, which should fit on a single page. The thematic views of baseball/softball and the game will be given wide interpretation by the judge(s). Submissions are free. For full submission guidelines, please visit our website.

🔔 Cloudbank 20 Poetry/Flash Fiction Contest—New Deadline

Deadline: March 31, 2026
A prize of $500 will be awarded for one poem or flash fiction (up to 1000 words) appearing in Cloudbank 20. All contest submissions will be considered for publication. The $15 entry fee includes a two-issue subscription to the journal. Submissions accepted via Submittable or by mail. Find complete guidelines here. For information about past issues, including winning poems in those journals, visit Cloudbank. Revive us with your fire.

The Headlight Review’s Annual Poetry Chapbook Prize

Deadline: March 31
The Headlight Review’s Annual Poetry Chapbook Prize of 2026 is accepting submissions through March 31st, 2026. Our first round finalists will be judged by Alafia Nichole Sessions and will have their poems featured in an upcoming issue. The winner of The Headlight Review’s 2026 Poetry Chapbook Prize Contest will receive publication (a perfectly bound book with a full color or black/white cover), an award of $500, and 25 copies of the book. Learn more.

2026 National Indie Excellence© Awards

Deadline: March 31, 2026
The 2026 National Indie Excellence© Awards (NIEA) are open to all English language printed books currently for sale including self-published authors, small to midsize independent publishers, and university presses. Now in our twentieth year, NIEA is a proud champion of self and independent publishing and authors of all genres who produce books of excellence and distinction. Eligible books must have been published within the two calendar years prior to our deadline. Please visit our website for more information about our prizes, awards, and how to submit.

New Short Story Contest - Cash Prizes and Publication!

Deadline: March 31, 2026
The PING Anthology Short Story Contest is now open for submissions! PING stands for Personal Inter-Consciousness Nuance Gauge. Our short story contest is around the theme of a futuristic app (called PING) that can tell you in real time how many people are thinking about you, and if they’re thinking about you with love or fear-related emotions. The Premium version can tell you the names of those who are thinking about you. We offer three cash prizes ($500/ $250/ $150), and the top 25 submissions will be published in our Anthology. Word count 1,000-3,000 words. Due March 31, 2026. Visit website.

2026 Prime Number Magazine Awards

Deadline: March 31, 2026
Two prizes of $1,000 each and publication in Prime Number Magazine are given annually for a poem and a short story. Two runners-up in each category receive $250 each and publication. Using only the online submission system, submit a poem of up to three pages or a short story of up to 5,300 words with a $15 entry fee by March 31. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

New American Voices Award for Immigrant Writers

Deadline: March 31, 2026
The New American Voices Award is a $5,000 post-publication book prize from Fall for the Book and the Institute for Immigration Research, which recognizes prose works that illuminate the complexity of the human experience as told by immigrants. Two finalists each will receive $1,000. All finalists will appear at the Fall for the Book Festival in October 2026. $20 entry fee. Previous winners include Shubha Sunder, Shahnaz Habib, Rachel Heng, and Sindya Bhanoo. Visit website to learn more.

Submit to Ploughshares’ Emerging Writers’ Contest!

Deadline: March 31, 2026 at 12PM EST
Ready to be discovered? Submit your fiction, nonfiction, and poetry to the Emerging Writers’ Contest between February 1 and March 31 for the chance to see your work in print. Winners receive $2,000, publication in Ploughshares, and a conversation with the literary agency Aevitas Creative Management. Learn more here.

Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest (no fee)

Deadline: April 1, 2026
Submit one humor poem up to 250 lines to win $2,000. Second prize: $500. Third prize: $250. 10 Honorable Mentions: $100 each. Top 13 poems published online. 25th annual contest sponsored by Winning Writers and co-sponsored by Duotrope and Chill Subs. No fee to enter. Accepts published and unpublished work. Judge: Jendi Reiter, assisted by Lauren Singer. This contest is recommended by Reedsy. Learn more and submit at our website.

Write at Jack Kerouac’s Residency in Orlando for Seven Weeks

Deadline: April 14, 2026
Write where Jack Kerouac wrote The Dharma Bums. The Kerouac Project residency of Orlando, FL offers the house to yourself, $600 grocery stipend, utilities paid. Finish your project in seven weeks. Six time slots available per year. We accept: Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Poetry, Plays, Screenplays. Fiction and Nonfiction can be in graphic narrative form if preferred. Applications due April 14, 2026, but we’ve been known to extend it. Learn more and apply here.

🔔 Flash in Bloom - Queer Flash Fiction

Deadline: May 1, 2026
We are thrilled to announce an additional category of our contest this year, Flash In Bloom, seeking flash fiction and creative nonfiction by BIPOC, queer, and trans writers. We encourage submissions on multicultural and queer fantasies, futurisms, and liberations. The winner will be awarded $200 in cash prizes, and will also be guaranteed the publication of their submission in the Fall 2026 issue of the Santa Clara Review. The winner will also have the opportunity to participate in an interview conducted by the SCR and Office for Multicultural Learning, to discuss their experiences in writing and publication as a BIPOC and/or LGBTQ artist, their inspirations, creative processes, and more. Visit website.

🔔 Flash Takes Flight at the Santa Clara Review — Flash Fiction and Creative Nonfiction Contest

Deadline: May 1, 2025
Welcome to Flash Takes Flight! We are excited to announce our second annual flash fiction and flash creative nonfiction contest for the chance to win cash prizes as well as publication in the Santa Clara Review! The first prize winner will be awarded $200, the first runner-up will be awarded $100, and the second runner-up will be awarded $50. The contest winner will be published in the 2026 fall issue of the Santa Clara Review. All other work will be considered for publication. We look forward to reading your submissions! Visit website.

Read ALOCASIA: A Journal of Queer Planty Writing!

Deadline: Rolling
ALOCASIA is an online literary journal of queer creative writing about plants, nature, and horticulture. Based in the United States, we publish writing from both established and emerging writers around the world in all genres. We publish traditional work, as well as the weird, erotic, explicit, and anti-colonial. Our writers are celebratory, fierce, wounded, loving, and rebellious. Come visit our garden on the web. Also, we would love to read your work, click here for submission information.

JackLeg Press is Looking for the Next Great Thing

Deadline: Rolling
JackLeg Press seeks bold, vibrant, authentic writers. Is that you? We’d love to find out. We focus on poetry, short fiction collections, select novels & creative nonfiction. Query us today!

Palooka Seeks Chapbooks, Prose, Poetry, Artwork, Photography

Deadline: Year-round
Palooka is a global literary magazine of daring prose, art, photography, comics, and chapbooks drawn exclusively from unsolicited submissions. We champion underdog voices, read anonymously, and only publish what we love. Bold voices. Brave stories. Learn more.

Want access to the full list of opportunities and upcoming events? Upgrade to a paid subscription for exclusive early access to the full list of vetted and verified submission calls, writing contests, and events!

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❧ Make Time for Some Spring Breathing

Spring cleaning can wait, cobwebs and all. Let this early shift in the season be a reminder to pause, reset, and take in a few deep breaths of fresh air before diving back into the work.

As always, keep writing words that matter.

— The NewPages Crew

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Winter is back in full force after teasing us with a few milder days. If you’re in the path of the major storms, I hope you’re staying safe and taking things slow out there. And if you’re snowed in, you’re in luck—this week brings a bounty of reading material, from February’s newly released lit mag issues to our latest lineup of new & notable books.

If you’re a new subscriber or missed last week’s mid-month special, you can dive into our February eLitPak newsletter below. If you’re a writer with a new book or an editor of a journal or press, we only have four spots remaining in our March eLitPak Newsletter!

Recommended Reading

As we get ready to say goodbye to February, what better way to close out the month than with Issue 13 of 7th‑Circle Pyrite. This edition features new work by Edilson Afonso Ferreira, Gwendolyn M. Hicks, Craig Kirchner, David Anson Lee, Simon MacCulloch, Jim Murdoch, Terry Trowbridge, D.J. Tuskmore, and Ariel Warren.

With AI on everyone’s mind these days, David Anson Lee’s poem “Gospel of the Listening Machine” feels especially poignant: “we taught the Machine to speak / so we would not have to listen / to the dark alone.” If you’ve ever lived alone—or spent an hour talking to ChatGPT about life—those lines land with particular force.

Another standout is Gwendolyn M. Hicks’ “A Cup to Carry Memory,” which gathers anecdotes from mourners and wonders what they’ve poured into a cup meant for the dead to drink in the otherworld—an image that lingers long after the poem ends.

📩 If this email gets cut off, click ‘View Entire Message’ at the bottom or head to Substack to read the full newsletter!

📚 Magazine Stand

Love reading a wide variety of work? Drop by the Magazine Stand to explore the latest issues from literary journals across the spectrum and around the world.

Baltimore Review – Winter 2026
Baltimore Review’s Winter 2026 issue features contest winners chosen by final judge Mandy Moe Pwint Tu—Rebecca Bernard, Nadia Born, and Jehanne Dubrow—plus new work across genres by writers including Emma Bolden, Ashley Hutson, L. A. Johnson, Akshay Pendyal, Hayden Saunier, and more.

The Fiddlehead – Winter 2026
The Fiddlehead Issue 306 (Winter 2026) offers new poetry, fiction, CNF, and reviews, including work by Carl Phillips, José Teodoro, Susan Robertson, and Ariadne Asho, winner of the 35th annual Fiction Contest judged by Anuja Varghese, plus an interview with Mary Dalton and more.

Posit – Issue 41
Posit Issue 41 offers “works of resistance and reflection,” introduced with an Editor’s Note framing art‑making as defiance in violent, repressive times. The issue features new work by Charles Bernstein, Susan Bee, Joanna Doxey, Heikki Huotari, Bai Juyi (trans. Jaime Robles), Laura Mullen, Anne Waldman, and more.

Coming Soon
Keep an eye out for these upcoming releases: Vita Poetica Winter 2026 and The Tiger Moth Review Issue 25; we’ll share highlights in future newsletters!

Introducing The Fool’s World

The Fool’s World—a sister publication to Raleigh Review—channels the adventurous spirit of the Tarot’s Fool, offering readers twice‑yearly issues of fiction, nonfiction, travel flash, poetry, and reviews. Launched to give Raleigh Review a more expansive, less region‑bound companion, the magazine benefits from a dynamic intergenerational team, including editors and interns from UNC Chapel Hill and rising visual talent.

Originally a placeholder for displaced campus magazines, The Fool’s World quickly evolved into its own vibrant hub, with Raleigh Review supporting its distribution and the younger staff helping the older journal reengage post‑pandemic.

The magazine defines “travel” broadly and welcomes poetry, prose, and visual art through two annual submission windows. Early issues feature visual artists, poetry, nonfiction, and an “Immigrant Voices” section, showcasing contributors such as Gerard Sanat, Kali Pezzi, Pin Yi Yee, Sean Bw Parker, Alina Amin, Glenis Moore, and many others.

🖋️ Inspiration Prompt: I’ll Carry You Home

There are songs that become anchors—melodies we cling to during grief, change, and those moments that bend us into new shapes. For me, James Blunt’s “Carry You Home” was that anchor while caring for my grandparents, who also raised me. Even now, the line “I’m watching you breathing for the last time” cuts straight through me. But it was the quieter refrain—“I’ll carry you home”—that stayed lodged in my mind the longest.

What does it mean to carry someone home?

Imagine a character—aware of their dying or not—seeking someone out with a final request: “Carry me home.” What story begins with those words?

Maybe it’s someone who needs to see one person—that person—one last time. After reconnection, after forgiveness or revelation or simply presence, they ask to be carried back home to complete the circle, to make the family whole again.

Maybe it’s someone far from where they belong—caught in sudden illness, war, or accident—and their last words ask to be brought back to their roots. Not just geographically, but spiritually, culturally, ancestrally.

Or perhaps the story belongs to the one receiving the request. What if the ask feels like a betrayal?
A burden?
An honor?
A duty owed to a stranger—or to someone they barely know?

How does the person being asked change when they hear those words?

Let this prompt lead you wherever it wants: Write, sketch, compose. Create a photo essay. Build a comic. Craft a collage. Write dueling poems—one from the one making the request, and one from the one asked to carry them home.

Let the phrase be a door. What’s waiting on the other side?

Looking for more inspiration? Stop by our Weekly Roundup of Submission Opportunities for more prompts.

🏬 Bookstore Updates

Indie bookstores are vibrant community hubs—hosting readings, story times, book clubs, and the kinds of gatherings that make a place feel like home. Want to join in? Explore our Guide to Independent Bookstores to discover one near you.

📍 Best Bookstore in Union Square – San Francisco, California
Embark on an epic literary adventure at The Best Bookstore in Union Square, a premier San Francisco independent bookstore in the heart of downtown SF where you’ll find everything from rare local gems to your next sizzling pool read.

📍 Half Full Bookstore – Portsmouth, Virginia
Half Full Bookstore in Portsmouth, Virginia is a Black women‑owned indie shop that celebrates community through local authors, curated gifts, and welcoming, story‑centered events.

📍 Moss & Midnight Bookstore – Genoa, Nevada
Moss & Midnight Bookstore in Genoa, Nevada offers a moody, magical browsing experience with fantasy favorites, dark romance, special editions, and its signature Velvet Spell room.

📍 Read a Book STL – St. Louis, Missouri
Read a Book STL in St. Louis is a secondhand bookstore in Dutchtown that salvages books to keep reading accessible, affordable, and rooted in community.

Are you an author looking to promote a new book, schedule events, or connect with local booksellers? We’ve been steadily updating our bookstore mailing lists since the start of the new year and continue refreshing them year‑round. They’re a great resource when you’re ready to reach out.

Purchase a Mailing List

Calls, Contests, & More

Ready to submit your work or attend a literary event? We’ve got 190 total opportunities waiting for you this week! We added several new February 28 deadlines to the full list. Don’t miss out!

⏳New from Jerboa Lit: Mini Contests!

Registration Deadline: February 27, 2026
Announcing a new mini-contest from Jerboa Lit! On Friday, February 27, we’ll pull a random prompt from our Video Hat that includes a genre and a character. You’ll have the weekend (until 11:59 pm CT on Sunday, March 1) to write a 250-word story based on the prompt. Winners are announced just 1 month later, and first place will take home $500! There is a $15 entry fee, but Community Passes are available for writers in need—just email us! Check out our contest page for more info.

6th Annual Gutsy Great Novelist Chapter One Prize

Deadline: March 3, 2026
$20 ENTRY FEE. Submissions open Tuesday, Feb 3, 2026. Deadline Tuesday March 3, 2026. The 6th Annual Gutsy Great Novelist Chapter One Prize is awarded for an outstanding first chapter of an unpublished novel. First prize is $1,000; 2nd is $500; and 3rd is $250. The prize is open internationally to anyone over 18 writing a novel in English in any genre for adult or YA readers (fiction only). Winners will be announced Tuesday, April 14, 2026. Learn more here.

Sand Hills Literary Magazine Call for Submissions! (50th Anniversary Issue)

Deadline: March 8, 2026
Sand Hills Literary Magazine, in print since 1973, is now open for its 50th anniversary issue! We are a national publication based in Augusta, Georgia, accepting prose, poetry, and art from emerging and established writers and artists in the United States. We are also accepting submissions for our annual poetry and prose contests judged by the Sand Hills editorial team. Winning entries in each category receive $500 and publication in the issue. The deadline for general and contest submissions is March 8th, 2026. Learn more here. We look forward to reviewing your work.

About Place Journal Call for Submissions: The Ground Beneath Us

Deadline: March 10, 2026
Each issue of About Place Journal, the arts publication of the Black Earth Institute, focuses on a specific theme. From January 1st to March 10th we’ll be accepting submissions for our Spring 2026 issue The Ground Beneath Us: Place, Power, and Resistance. Our mission: to have art address the causes of spirit, earth, and society; to protect the earth; and to build a more just and interconnected world. We publish prose, poetry, visual art, photography, video, and music which fit the current theme. More about this issue’s theme and our submission guidelines at our website.

2026 ABLE MUSE CONTESTS :: SUBMIT NOW

Deadline: March 15 (Write Prize); March 31 (Book Award)
Able Muse’s writing contests are now open! WRITE PRIZE (poetry & fiction): $500 each + publication. Final Judges: Catherine Tufariello (poetry), Tobias Carroll (fiction); $15 entry; deadline: March 15, 2026. BOOK AWARD (poetry): $1000 + book publication. Final Judge: Annie Finch; $25 entry; deadline: March 31, 2026. Visit our website for details.

Cloudbank 20 Poetry/Flash Fiction Contest—New Deadline

Deadline: March 15, 2026
A prize of $500 will be awarded for one poem or flash fiction (up to 1000 words) appearing in Cloudbank 20. All contest submissions will be considered for publication. The $15 entry fee includes a two-issue subscription to the journal. Submissions accepted via Submittable or by mail. Find complete guidelines here. For information about past issues, including winning poems in those journals, visit Cloudbank. Revive us with your fire.

National Baseball Poetry Festival Call for Submissions

Deadline: Noon, March 27, 2026
The National Baseball Poetry Festival invites submissions of poems that deal with any aspect of the gamesmanship, nature, and atmosphere of Baseball and/or Softball, for example: opening day, ballpark food, childhood memories, first pitch, athletic heroes, uniforms, ball parks, Little League, dugout chatter, the season of the game, etc. No restriction on form. Poets may submit one (1) poem for consideration, which should fit on a single page. The thematic views of baseball/softball and the game will be given wide interpretation by the judge(s). Submissions are free. For full submission guidelines, please visit our website.

🔔 The Headlight Review’s Annual Poetry Chapbook Prize

Deadline: March 31
The Headlight Review’s Annual Poetry Chapbook Prize of 2026 is accepting submissions through March 31st, 2026. Our first round finalists will be judged by Alafia Nichole Sessions and will have their poems featured in an upcoming issue. The winner of The Headlight Review’s 2026 Poetry Chapbook Prize Contest will receive publication (a perfectly bound book with a full color or black/white cover), an award of $500, and 25 copies of the book. Learn more.

2026 National Indie Excellence© Awards

Deadline: March 31, 2026
The 2026 National Indie Excellence© Awards (NIEA) are open to all English language printed books currently for sale including self-published authors, small to midsize independent publishers, and university presses. Now in our twentieth year, NIEA is a proud champion of self and independent publishing and authors of all genres who produce books of excellence and distinction. Eligible books must have been published within the two calendar years prior to our deadline. Please visit our website for more information about our prizes, awards, and how to submit.

New Short Story Contest - Cash Prizes and Publication!

Deadline: March 31, 2026
The PING Anthology Short Story Contest is now open for submissions! PING stands for Personal Inter-Consciousness Nuance Gauge. Our short story contest is around the theme of a futuristic app (called PING) that can tell you in real time how many people are thinking about you, and if they’re thinking about you with love or fear-related emotions. The Premium version can tell you the names of those who are thinking about you. We offer three cash prizes ($500/ $250/ $150), and the top 25 submissions will be published in our Anthology. Word count 1,000-3,000 words. Due March 31, 2026. Visit website.

2026 Prime Number Magazine Awards

Deadline: March 31, 2026
Two prizes of $1,000 each and publication in Prime Number Magazine are given annually for a poem and a short story. Two runners-up in each category receive $250 each and publication. Using only the online submission system, submit a poem of up to three pages or a short story of up to 5,300 words with a $15 entry fee by March 31. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

New American Voices Award for Immigrant Writers

Deadline: March 31, 2026
The New American Voices Award is a $5,000 post-publication book prize from Fall for the Book and the Institute for Immigration Research, which recognizes prose works that illuminate the complexity of the human experience as told by immigrants. Two finalists each will receive $1,000. All finalists will appear at the Fall for the Book Festival in October 2026. $20 entry fee. Previous winners include Shubha Sunder, Shahnaz Habib, Rachel Heng, and Sindya Bhanoo. Visit website to learn more.

Submit to Ploughshares’ Emerging Writers’ Contest!

Deadline: March 31, 2026 at 12PM EST
Ready to be discovered? Submit your fiction, nonfiction, and poetry to the Emerging Writers’ Contest between February 1 and March 31 for the chance to see your work in print. Winners receive $2,000, publication in Ploughshares, and a conversation with the literary agency Aevitas Creative Management. Learn more here.

🔔 Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest (no fee)

Deadline: April 1, 2026
Submit one humor poem up to 250 lines to win $2,000. Second prize: $500. Third prize: $250. 10 Honorable Mentions: $100 each. Top 13 poems published online. 25th annual contest sponsored by Winning Writers and co-sponsored by Duotrope and Chill Subs. No fee to enter. Accepts published and unpublished work. Judge: Jendi Reiter, assisted by Lauren Singer. This contest is recommended by Reedsy. Learn more and submit at our website.

Write at Jack Kerouac’s Residency in Orlando for Seven Weeks

Deadline: April 14, 2026
Write where Jack Kerouac wrote The Dharma Bums. The Kerouac Project residency of Orlando, FL offers the house to yourself, $600 grocery stipend, utilities paid. Finish your project in seven weeks. Six time slots available per year. We accept: Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Poetry, Plays, Screenplays. Fiction and Nonfiction can be in graphic narrative form if preferred. Applications due April 14, 2026, but we’ve been known to extend it. Learn more and apply here.

Read ALOCASIA: A Journal of Queer Planty Writing!

Deadline: Rolling
ALOCASIA is an online literary journal of queer creative writing about plants, nature, and horticulture. Based in the United States, we publish writing from both established and emerging writers around the world in all genres. We publish traditional work, as well as the weird, erotic, explicit, and anti-colonial. Our writers are celebratory, fierce, wounded, loving, and rebellious. Come visit our garden on the web. Also, we would love to read your work, click here for submission information.

JackLeg Press is Looking for the Next Great Thing

Deadline: Rolling
JackLeg Press seeks bold, vibrant, authentic writers. Is that you? We’d love to find out. We focus on poetry, short fiction collections, select novels & creative nonfiction. Query us today!

Palooka Seeks Chapbooks, Prose, Poetry, Artwork, Photography

Deadline: Year-round
Palooka is a global literary magazine of daring prose, art, photography, comics, and chapbooks drawn exclusively from unsolicited submissions. We champion underdog voices, read anonymously, and only publish what we love. Bold voices. Brave stories. Learn more.

Want access to the full list of opportunities and upcoming events? Upgrade to a paid subscription for exclusive early access to the full list of vetted and verified submission calls, writing contests, and events!

Upgrade Now

❧ Take it One Step at a Time

There’s never a need to rush yourself—even when deadlines loom. Give yourself permission to pause, breathe, and take a small step back. Often that’s exactly what helps you move forward with more clarity and a little more ease.

As always, keep writing words that matter.

— The NewPages Crew

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