Happy Sunday, writers! I hope the words have been flowing and the submissions have been received with appreciation.

For our next links roundup, we’ve got the ball pit of our imagination, how jazz can inform our writing, how book prizes work, a debut novel flop, the Submission Sunday Summer Support Group, twenty things an agent learned in twenty years, AI and publishing, what writers are and do, the 100 best novels of all time, and more. Here we go.

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Happy Sunday, writers! Thank you for subscribing. Every other Sunday, you’ll receive eight literary submission opportunities, varying in audience and genre, that have been selected for quality and relevance.

Submission Sunday relies on the support of paying subscribers. If you enjoy this newsletter, please consider an upgrade! I’m planning some additional online events available to paid subscribers (see below for the Submission Sunday Summer Support Group!) as well as the usual benefits: craft essays by writers, interviews with published authors about their submission process, interviews with editors about what they’re looking for, round-ups of articles about submitting and writing in general, and full access to the archives.

Subscribe now

This edition of Submission Sunday has calls and contests from the Granum Foundation, Atticus Review, Granta, University of Georgia Press, Pleiades: Literature in Context, Broadsided, Thimble Literary Magazine, and Headlands Center for the Arts. More details below.

Follow the Submission Sunday Instagram

Granum Foundation Prizes (Deadline August 1 or when submission cap is met)

The Granum Foundation Prize will be awarded annually to help U.S.-based writers complete substantive literary works—such as poetry books, essay or short story collections, novels, and memoirs—or to help launch these works. Additionally, the Granum Foundation Translation Prize will be awarded to support the completion of a work translated into English by a U.S.-based writer.

Funding from both prizes can be used to provide a writer with the tools, time, and freedom to help ensure their success. For example, resources may be used to cover basic needs, equipment purchases, mentorship, or editing services. Competitive applicants will be able to present a compelling project with a reasonable timeline for completion. They also should be able to demonstrate a record of commitment to the literary arts. The Granum Foundation is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds.

Atticus Review Call for Submissions (“Song” – Deadline June 28)

We’re looking for work that comes out of “song.” It might be a particular song, or it might be a group of songs. Maybe it’s an era of songwriting. In any case “song” should be the launching point. Birdsong, waxing lyrical, harmony, chorale. We’re looking for pieces that treat song not only as “music,” but as a gateway to memory, confession, protest, or revelation.

We’re most interested in writing that explores “song” as backdrop or as metaphor. Or maybe a song or songs is what gives a structure to your piece. We welcome essays, fiction, poetry, hybrid work, video, or audio. We are not interested in “music reviews.” The analysis should be personal or cultural, not about the song itself. Prose should be no longer than 3500 words.

Granta Call for Submissions (Deadline June 30)

Granta magazine and Granta Books share a remit to discover and publish the best in new literary fiction, memoir, reportage and poetry from around the world.

The magazine was founded in 1889 by students at Cambridge University as The Granta, a periodical of student politics, badinage and literary enterprise, named after the river that runs through the town. In this original incarnation it published the work of writers like A.A. Milne, Michael Frayn, Stevie Smith, Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath.

In 1979, Bill Buford and Pete de Bolla transformed Granta from a student publication to the literary quarterly it remains today. Each themed issue of Granta turns the attention of the world’s best writers on to one aspect of the way we live now.

University of Georgia Press Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction (Deadline May 31)

More than seventy short-story collections have appeared in the Flannery O’Connor Award series, which was established to encourage gifted emerging writers by bringing their work to a national readership. Since the first prize-winning book was published in 1983, the award has become an important proving ground for writers and a showcase for the talent and promise that have brought about a resurgence in the short story as a genre.

Winners are selected through an annual competition that attracts as many as three hundred manuscripts. Winners of the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction include such widely read authors as Ha Jin, Antonya Nelson, Rita Ciresi, and Mary Hood.

Sign Up Now!

Starting Sunday, June 21, we’ll meet from 9:00 to 10:00 AM Pacific time online through August 30 (with no meeting on July 5). We’ll have a quick check-in, a sneak preview of that day’s new post of eight opportunities if there is one or a reminder of some submission tips, and then spend the rest of the hour off-camera sending out work before a final wrap-up. I’ll be available for one-on-one breakouts to discuss any issues you’re running into, and we’ll keep a group Google sheet of our submissions and results.

If you are an annual paid subscriber, send an email to submissionsunday@gmail.com to sign up and we’ll make this summer a memorable one! If you’re a monthly paid subscriber, all you need to do is switch to an annual plan and send me an email. Please feel free to ask any questions you might have. Let’s do this!

Pleiades: Literature in Context Call for Submissions (Deadline June 30)

Pleiades: Literature in Context is a nationally recognized literary magazine published by the University of Central Missouri. Each issue includes a guest-edited folio that highlights literature within a specific cultural or geographic context. These folios, beginning 2026, are re-published on our website. Our tagline, “literature in context,” reflects our commitment to publishing work that engages with place, community, and the diverse conditions that shape creative expression. We publish original poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, works in translation, book reviews, and interviews. Our print issues are published twice per year, Spring and Fall.

Over the years, Pleiades has made a point of publishing well-established writers alongside unknown writers. Among the journal’s literary “discoveries” (poets and writers who published work in its pages before their first books were released) are Amina Gautier, Zachary Mason, Alexander Weinstein, Tiphanie Yanique, Adrian Matejka, Ken Chen, Joy Katz, Arielle Greenberg, Christine Sneed, Mark Bibbins, Randall Mann, Hadara Bar-Nadav, and Michael Snediker.

Broadsided Call for Submissions

Broadsided seeks poetry and prose that is evocative, riveting, and not too esoteric. Broadsides are out on the streets, and we hope that they compel all kinds of people to stop, read, and consider. We want them to draw in readers, not push them away. That said, we want smart, difficult work. Work that challenges and speaks strongly.

Real people on our all-volunteer editorial team read each and every submission. We are honored when writers we know and admire send work our way, we also leap with glee when a writer who has not yet been published blows our collective editorial minds. This is to say: your work gets a fair and real read at Broadsided.

If accepted for publication, a Broadsided artist will respond to your work visually, and then words and art will be made into a broadside. You will not be in conversation with the artist during this process, which is why we also publish a brief author/artist Q&A along with the broadside to lift the curtain and let people peer into the process behind a creation. We nominate work published at Broadsided for consideration in national prizes, such as the Pushcart.

Thimble Literary Magazine Call for Submissions (Deadline June 30)

At Thimble Literary Magazine, we believe armor can be found in the oddest of places, whether that’s facing a hard truth head-on or reframing it so you can better understand it. We believe the stories we tell ourselves to be the most powerful protection for our edges.

Thimble Literary Magazine is primarily a poetry journal, but we happily publish plenty of short prose and art. We are not looking for anything in particular in terms of form or style, but that it speaks to the reader or writer in some way. Meaning, we’re not huge fans of abstractions. When selecting your poems or prose, please ask yourself, did writing this poem help me create shelter?

Headlands Center for the Arts Residency Program (Sausalito, California – Deadline June 1)

The Artist in Residence (AIR) program awards fully sponsored residencies to approximately 50 local, national, and international artists each year. Residencies of four to ten weeks include studio space, chef-prepared meals, housing, travel and living expenses. AIRs become part of a dynamic community of artists participating in Headlands’ other programs, allowing for exchange and collaborative relationships to develop within the artist community on campus. Artists selected for this program are at all career stages and work in all media, including drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, film, video, new media, installation, fiction and nonfiction writing, poetry, dance, music, interdisciplinary, social practice, arts professions, and architecture.

Here’s a reminder of the deadlines coming up from previous posts. Hot tips:

• If you go into the archives and revisit posts from this time of year during previous years, you’ll find additional calls that are open annually.

• If you submit to any of the Submission Sunday calls and publish or win, let me know and I’ll broadcast your success in a future post.

AGNI Call for Submissions (Deadline May 31)
2026 Whiting Nonfiction Grant for Works-in-Progress (Deadline May 31)
The Offing Call for Submissions (“Insights,” “Translation: Poetry,” and “Micro” – Deadline May 31)
The 2026 Halifax Ranch Fiction Prize (Deadline June 1)
Feminist Press Call for Manuscript Submissions (“Genre Fiction” – Deadline June 5 or at submission cap)
Prairie Ronde Artist Residency Call for Applications (Vicksburg, Michigan – Deadline June 15 for Fall Session)
CRAFT 2026 First Chapters Contest (Deadline June 28)
Feign The Reign Prize (Deadline June 30)
Prairie Schooner Summer Creative Nonfiction Contest (Deadline August 1)
Reed Magazine Call for Submissions (General + Contests – Deadline October 1)

*This newsletter does not guarantee the unimpeachable behavior of all venues shared here but the odds are good.

Work with Chris

Happy Sunday, writers! I hope the words have been flowing and the submissions have been received with appreciation.

Earlier this year, after our first Improve Your Submission Game webinar, I mentioned I was brainstorming some other opportunities for paid subscribers. I’m happy to announce today that I’ll be offering our inaugural Submission Sunday Summer Support Group. If you’re into alliteration, you’re already a fan. :-) If you’re already an annual paid subscriber, all you need to do is sign up. Read below for more details! If you’re not a paid subscriber, this support group might be a good reason to join us.

A few years ago, I ran several iterations of a submission support group in person and online and it was great! Writers came together to catch up on their latest submission efforts and then spent an hour researching new opportunities and sending out work. Much success was had!

Starting Sunday, June 21, we’ll meet from 9:00 to 10:00 AM Pacific time online through August 30 (with no meeting on July 5). We’ll have a quick check-in, a sneak preview of that day’s new post of eight opportunities if there is one or a reminder of some submission tips, and then spend the rest of the hour off-camera sending out work before a final wrap-up. I’ll be available for one-on-one breakouts to discuss any issues you’re running into, and we’ll keep a group Google sheet of our submissions and results.

If you are an annual paid subscriber, send an email to submissionsunday@gmail.com to sign up and we’ll make this summer a memorable one! If you’re a monthly paid subscriber, all you need to do is switch to an annual plan and send me an email. Please feel free to ask any questions you might have. Let’s do this!

Here’s a reminder of the deadlines coming up from previous posts. Hot tips:

• If you go into the archives and revisit posts from this time of year during previous years, you’ll find additional calls that are open annually.

• If you submit to any of the Submission Sunday calls and publish or win, let me know and I’ll broadcast your success in a future post.

• Learn more about getting your own classified ad. 📚

Kweli Call for Submissions (Deadline May 30)
AGNI Call for Submissions (Deadline May 31)
2026 Whiting Nonfiction Grant for Works-in-Progress (Deadline May 31)
The Offing Call for Submissions (“Insights,” “Translation: Poetry,” and “Micro” – Deadline May 31)
The 2026 Halifax Ranch Fiction Prize (Deadline June 1)
Feminist Press Call for Manuscript Submissions (“Genre Fiction” – Deadline June 5 or at submission cap)
Prairie Ronde Artist Residency Call for Applications (Vicksburg, Michigan – Deadline June 15 for Fall Session)
CRAFT 2026 First Chapters Contest (Deadline June 28)
Feign The Reign Prize (Deadline June 30)
Prairie Schooner Summer Creative Nonfiction Contest (Deadline August 1)
Reed Magazine Call for Submissions (General + Contests – Deadline October 1)

*This newsletter does not guarantee the unimpeachable behavior of all venues shared here but the odds are good.

Happy Sunday, writers! Thank you for subscribing. Every other Sunday, you’ll receive eight literary submission opportunities, varying in audience and genre, that have been selected for quality and relevance.

Submission Sunday relies on the support of paying subscribers. If you enjoy this newsletter, please consider an upgrade! I’m planning some additional online events available to paid subscribers as well as the usual benefits: craft essays by writers, interviews with published authors about their submission process, interviews with editors about what they’re looking for, round-ups of articles about submitting and writing in general, and full access to the archives.

Subscribe now

This edition of Submission Sunday has calls and contests from Prairie Schooner, The Offing, CRAFT, The Rumpus, Feminist Press, Feign, Reed Magazine, and Martin-Newens Literary Management. More details below.

Follow the Submission Sunday Instagram

Prairie Schooner Summer Creative Nonfiction Contest (Deadline August 1)

Prairie Schooner, an international literary magazine, publishes poetry, short fiction, and essays from around the world. In recent years, the quarterly has included authors from six of the seven continents (with subscribers in just as many). Historically, it is one of the nation’s five oldest quarterlies and will celebrate its centennial with the Spring 2027 issue.

Each year from May 15 to August 1, the Schooner accepts submissions to the Summer Creative Nonfiction Contest, open to all types of creative nonfiction essays, up to 5,000 words. Winner receives $1,000 and publication in the following Spring issue. This year’s guest judge is Orenda Fink, author of The Witch’s Daughter.

The Offing Call for Submissions (“Insights,” “Translation: Poetry,” and “Micro” – Deadline May 31)

The Offing is an online literary magazine publishing creative writing in all genres and art in all media. The Offing publishes work that challenges, experiments, provokes—work that pushes literary and artistic forms and conventions. The Offing is a place for new and emerging writers to test their voices, and for established writers to test their limits.

Insights: Creative nonfiction (usually personal essay) that centers one’s personal experience against the backdrop of art, literature, and culture. In essence, Insight essays are personal essay meets cultural criticism.

Micro: Ten- to 560-character (including spaces) works in any genre. You may submit one to five Micros in a single submission.

CRAFT 2026 First Chapters Contest (Deadline June 28)

There’s an unforgettable electricity that courses through the first chapters of a terrific novel. So much magic and mystery. So many potential paths for our protagonists. This summer, CRAFT wants to be transported by your early pages. The CRAFT First Chapters Contest encourages novelists to harness the energy of their openings for the opportunity to win a $2,000 award, excerpt publication, and a full manuscript critique by Artful Editor. Our annual contest is designed to reward and encourage the diligent novelist. Your manuscript need not be complete for you to enter your first chapters. We just want to see that spark. Here’s what Guest Judge Deb Olin Unferth would love to read:

I’m looking for a first chapter of a novel that, by the end of it, a few things are happening: I’m moved by the narrative voice—maybe it feels unique and inviting, or rebellious. Also, I’m deep into a character, I feel like I want to know them. And I need to be pulled along by the momentum of the story, promises are being made to me. The style needs to light me up, as well. Also, I’d like to know that this is all important somehow, that the story is about larger ideas, beliefs, global problems or philosophical ones.

The Rumpus Call for “Sunday Scaries” Submissions

Horror is life. You come in kicking and crying, lots of blood and screaming involved. Then it gets worse.

Jokes aside, horror is everywhere, and that includes The Rumpus. As editor of Sunday Scaries, I want to bring readers the best contemporary horror fiction has to offer. The genre can be very entertaining, but it has also always been a place to explore society and culture, to talk about politics, to explore identity, to protest against the status quo, and to chronicle history. Give me your zombies, ghosts, demons, werewolves, vampires, and cryptids, but also your grief, pain, fears, creepy encounters, and struggles. I want horror that punches, that says something. —Gabino Iglesias

McCormack Writing Center Speculative Online Workshop (October 3–12, 2026 – Application Deadline June 3)

We welcome writers working on speculative projects, in all its forms including speculative nonfiction, as well as writers who may be venturing into these genres for the first time or those simply needing community and a space to create. While speculative work is this conference’s overarching theme, we believe good craft is good craft. There’s always a benefit to learning with smart, thoughtful writers, regardless of genre.

📚 Every other week, I’ll be making space for up to three online writing classes or programs (and the occasional retreat or conference). Learn more about getting your own classified ad. 📚

Feminist Press Call for Manuscript Submissions (“Genre Fiction” – Deadline June 5 or at submission cap)

We’re looking for novels, novellas, and short story collections that bring a literary depth and flair to genre fiction—specifically sci-fi, horror, fantasy/romantasy, and speculative fiction.

Please consider how your submission is aligned with Feminist Press’s decolonial feminist mission. If you use the conventions of sci-fi to script an alternative world, does your plot interrogate its kinship to empire? How might your horror story mirror and warp the grim details of our global slide towards fascism, or the queer and racial politics of monstrosity?

If your work spikes genre with social critique and moral reflection in the vein of María Fernanda Ampuero, K-Ming Chang, N.K. Jemisin, Megan Milks, Carmen Maria Machado, Ted Chiang, Alison Rumfitt, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, or other comparable voices, please send it to us!

Feign The Reign Prize (Deadline June 30)

Feign is an online literary magazine for fiction and operates out of Reno, Nevada. Inspired by the city’s gambling roots, Feign notices fiction that takes risks. Feign seeks stories that entertain, surprise, and devastate. Feign wants stories that are inventive, and they may even arrive with their cards face down. Imaginative stories, ones that hurt like nearly drawing that royal flush. Stories that make us go all in, leaving us either gutted by a lost chance or soaring with luck. They may bluff to throw us off, but ultimately through the pretense, we see the joker’s heart.

The REIGN Prize 2026 Excellence in Fiction seeks short story submissions up to 7500 words. $777 grand prize, online publication, and print run. This year's Guest Judge is John Calvin Hughes.

Reed Magazine Call for Submissions (General + Contests – Deadline October 1)

Reed Magazine is California’s oldest literary journal. Tracing its heritage to 1867, the journal started as a mere pamphlet published by students of the California State Normal School, the precursor of San José State University. In more than a century and a half of publication, the journal’s name evolved until the end of World War II. Then in 1948, we adopted The Reed, which was later shortened to just Reed, the title we have proudly held ever since.

Awarding one of the richest purses among literary magazines—$1,000 for the winning story—the John Steinbeck Award recognizes exceptional works of fiction. The Gabriele Rico Challenge for Nonfiction recognizes outstanding works of nonfiction, awarding $1,333 to the author of the winning entry. We are looking for creative nonfiction, such as personal essays and narratives, not scholarly papers or book reviews. With an award of $1,000 for the winning poem, the Edwin Markham Prize honors outstanding works of poetry.

Martin-Newens Literary Management Open for Queries

Martin-Newens Literary Management, formerly Martin Literary Management, founded in 2003, is a full service literary and media management agency. We focus on representing authors of adult nonfiction, fiction, and books for children and young adults. Our clients’ titles have appeared on the New York Times bestseller and other national bestseller lists, earned strong reviews, received many awards, and garnered national media attention. Many of our clients’ works have been optioned and developed for film and television projects and have helped promote speaking engagements.

We pride ourselves on providing thoughtful and considerate management of our clients. We also pride ourselves on being a modern literary agency capable of developing the many potential ancillary opportunities that exist outside of the book world.

Here’s a reminder of the deadlines coming up from previous posts. Hot tips:

• If you go into the archives and revisit posts from this time of year during previous years, you’ll find additional calls that are open annually.

• If you submit to any of the Submission Sunday calls and publish or win, let me know and I’ll broadcast your success in a future post.

The New Letters Literary Awards: $2,000 Patricia Cleary Miller Award for Poetry, $2,000 Robert Day Award for Fiction, and $2,000 Conger Beasley Jr. Award for Nonfiction (Deadline May 18)
Kweli Call for Submissions (Deadline May 30)
AGNI Call for Submissions (Deadline May 31)
The Iowa Review Veterans’ Contest (Deadline May 31)
2026 Whiting Nonfiction Grant for Works-in-Progress (Deadline May 31)
Black Fox 2026 Spring Fox Tales Writing Prize (“First Chapters” – Deadline May 31)
The 2026 Halifax Ranch Fiction Prize (Deadline June 1)
The Masters Review Call for Anthology Submissions (Best Emerging Writers 2026 – Deadline June 7)
The Moth Short Story Prize (Deadline June 15)
Prairie Ronde Artist Residency Call for Applications (Vicksburg, Michigan – Deadline June 15 for Fall Session)
Narrative Spring 2026 Story Contest (Deadline June 26)

*This newsletter does not guarantee the unimpeachable behavior of all venues shared here but the odds are good.

Work with Chris

Happy Sunday, writers! Thank you for subscribing. Your support is much appreciated always.

Herein I continue my quest to interview successful people about their experiences with rejection. I’m grateful to writers Cecil Castellucci, Kate Maruyama, Camden Noir, Tamara MC, Jennifer R. Edwards, Diana Wagman, Rachel Kramer Bussel, and Sara Campbell for agreeing to participate in The Rejection Interview series. I’d love to conduct some more interviews with writers coming from a variety of perspectives, so please get in touch!

Somehow we haven’t had an installment in the Rejection Interview series since last May! I’m so excited to rectify that. Next up in our series, we have writer, editor, actor, and teacher Dinah Lenney.

Longtime actor and teacher Dinah Lenney is the author or editor of six books, most recently Snapshots: An Album of Essay and Image. She lives in Los Angeles, and you can find her on Instagram @dinahlenney or at www.dinahlenney.com.

I first met Dinah when she included my essay “Thoughts on Time After Viewing Christian Marclay’s ‘The Clock’” in the anthology she co-edited with Judith Kitchen in 2015, Brief Encounters: A Collection of Contemporary Nonfiction. Since then, I’ve run into her at various Los Angeles literary events, but we reconnected when we were in the same French class at Coucou LA in 2025. Last month, we had coffee a couple times in the neighborhood where we were both staying, the sixth arrondissement in Paris, and Dinah generously agreed to revive the Rejection Interview series.

Let’s get this interview started…

SS: Thank you for being here, Dinah! Do you fear rejection? Why or why not?

Deep down, maybe I do. But mostly I expect it. Not because I have a lousy attitude, not because I’m not hopeful (the audacity of hope trips me up all the time); but consider my original training, as an actor, I mean, where rejection is not only part and parcel, but a means to an end. For actors, each audition is as much for the next one as it is for the job at hand. It’s just so rare that you get that job. What you get is an opportunity to make an impression/connection. So, my well-honed sense of entitlement notwithstanding, I’ve experienced far more rejection than otherwise. And, as a late-blooming writer, having put whole decades into that other humiliating career, I anticipated rejection from the get-go. I was stunned, frankly, and thrilled by every little acceptance. Still am.

SS: What does literary rejection mean to you?

Well… Literary rejection might mean I have work to do. Or it might simply mean that a piece hasn’t yet found the right home. Either way, it hurts. Especially as a writer of nonfiction, I’m bound to wonder: Is this publication rejecting my work or my experience? My voice or my values (reflected in my voice), or both? Especially now, in the current cultural climate, I can’t help but be afraid that my concerns (personal, domestic, picayune) are inconsequential or boring. That’s my first thought when I get a rejection: I’m not interesting enough.

SS: What’s a rejection that you mourned at the time but now are grateful for?

Read more

Happy Sunday, writers! Thank you for subscribing. Every other Sunday, you’ll receive eight literary submission opportunities, varying in audience and genre, that have been selected for quality and relevance.

Submission Sunday relies on the support of paying subscribers. If you enjoy this newsletter, please consider an upgrade! I’m planning some additional online events available to paid subscribers as well as the usual benefits: craft essays by writers, interviews with published authors about their submission process, interviews with editors about what they’re looking for, round-ups of articles about submitting and writing in general, and full access to the archives.

Subscribe now

This edition of Submission Sunday has calls and contests from The Moth Magazine, Narrative, The Masters Review, The Iowa Review, Black Fox, Gooseberry Pie Lit Magazine, Stillhouse Press, and Ragdale. More details below.

Follow the Submission Sunday Instagram

☆☆☆ This week, we’re celebrating our latest (reported) success with submitting superstar Dan Murphy, whose poem “Make a Rough Circle” was published in Mouthful of Salt. He saw the call for submissions listed here on March 8. Nice work, Dan! ☆☆☆

Surely, Dan can’t be the only subscriber who’s publishing. Get in touch!

The Moth Short Story Prize (Deadline June 15)

The Moth Short Story Prize is an international prize, open to anyone from anywhere in the world, as long as your story is original and previously unpublished. The winners are chosen by a single judge each year, who reads the stories anonymously. Previous judges include Ottessa Moshfegh, Kevin Barry, Mark Haddon, Ali Smith, Sarah Hall and Evie Wyld. This year’s judge is Wendy Erskine.

THE PRIZES
1st prize €3,000
2nd prize €1,000
3rd prize a week at The Moth Retreat

The winning story is printed as part of the summer fiction series in the Irish Times, while the 2nd and 3rd-prize-winning stories are published in the Irish Times online.

Narrative Spring 2026 Story Contest (Deadline June 26)

Our spring contest is open to all fiction and nonfiction writers. We’re looking for short shorts, short stories, essays, memoirs, photo essays, graphic stories, all forms of literary nonfiction, and excerpts from longer works of both fiction and nonfiction. Entries must be previously unpublished, no longer than 15,000 words, and must not have been previously chosen as a winner, finalist, or honorable mention in another contest.

Narrative winners and finalists have gone on to win Whiting Awards, the Pulitzer Prize, the Pushcart Prize, and the Atlantic prize, and have appeared in collections such as Best American Short Stories, Best American Nonrequired Reading, and many others. As always, we are looking for works with a strong narrative drive, with characters we can respond to, and with effects of language, situation, and insight that are intense and total. We look for works that have the ambition of enlarging our view of ourselves and the world.

The Masters Review Call for Anthology Submissions (Best Emerging Writers 2026 – Deadline June 7)

Fifteen years ago, The Masters Review opened with a call for stories with a sense of urgency and authenticity, with a dare to “be creative, bend genres, and be yourself.” From this call emerged our very first anthology, and for every year since, these criteria have been our guiding principles. This April, we’re opening a call for submissions for our anthology for the fifteenth time. Best Emerging Writers 2026 will showcase a collection of prose from ten emerging writers who are bold and brave, who tell stories only they can tell, stories that must be told now.

Ramona Ausubel, author of The Last Animal, will select this year’s best emerging writers! Each of our ten winners will receive a $700 award and a print copy of the book. Our anthology has been at the heart of our mission to provide a platform for emerging writers since day one, and we’re excited to share these stories and essays both in our printed book and on our website, where they will be highlighted for a full year. The book will be available for purchase at Bookshop.org and other online distributors.

The Iowa Review Veterans’ Contest (Deadline May 31)

The Iowa Review’s mission is to provide an expertly curated, carefully edited, and beautifully designed print and online space for the voices of writers of every kind of diversity to move and enlighten us; to use the experience gained from fifty-plus years of continuous publication and our connection to the University of Iowa as a home for creative writing to validate, amplify, and encourage those voices; and to serve the reading public by presenting the best contemporary writing in short fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction.

This creative writing contest was founded with a gift from the family of Jeff Sharlet (1942–69), a Vietnam veteran and antiwar writer and activist. It has continued to be supported thanks to funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Amy B. Kretkowski Veterans Law Office, and donors to One Day for Iowa 2024. The contest is open to U.S. veterans and active duty personnel writing in any genre and about any subject matter. The 2026 judge is Khadijah Queen.

Developing Your Personal Essays with Ethan Gilsdorf (June 10–August 5, 2026 – 10:30 am–1:30 pm Eastern)

This workshop is designed for intermediate and advanced essay writers who are already working on personal essay projects who want to receive regular feedback in a supportive and constructively critical environment. The class will include in-depth workshops of student writing, discussions on the art of the personal essay and relevant craft essays, and readings of works in the genre.

📚 Every other week, I’ll be making space for up to three online writing classes or programs (and the occasional retreat or conference). Learn more about getting your own classified ad. 📚

Black Fox 2026 Spring Fox Tales Writing Prize (“First Chapters” – Deadline May 31)

For our spring contest, we’re switching things up. We want to read the first chapter of your work in progress! First chapters can often be one of the most challenging parts of a book to write—they are, after all, a first impression. A good first chapter sets the tone for the book and keeps readers turning pages. We’re challenging writers to dig into their project files and polish up those opening pages. Hook us with your first line. Immerse us in your setting. Earn our intrigue with your plot. Make us root for your main character. Capture our attention with your voice. Give us honesty so raw we lose ourselves in time while reading your work.

We’re looking for first chapters of novels, memoirs, or novels in verse that are so compelling we’ll want to read on.

Gooseberry Pie Lit Magazine Call for Submissions

Gooseberry Pie Lit Magazine publishes microfiction stories that are exactly six-sentences with no more than 400 words (excluding the title).

We strive to showcase the finest microfiction online, featuring work from both well-known authors and emerging voices alike.

We enjoy stories that are like gooseberry pie: Tart, Messy, and Satisfying, but leave us wanting more. With microfiction stories, every word matters.

Stillhouse Press Call for Manuscript Submissions

At Stillhouse Press, we believe in fostering author relationships that are rooted in genuine collaboration and in championing work that is strange, unconventional, transcendent, and risky. We look for fresh voices and authors who push the boundaries of their craft in ways we haven’t seen before. We are committed to soliciting work from the widest possible range of voices, including those often excluded from traditional publishing, including writers of color, gender non-conforming and LGBTQ+ writers, low-income writers, and those living with disabilities. We especially love publishing emerging authors and debut works.

As a student and alumni-led teaching press, our primary aim is to provide educational opportunity through applied experience in the art of craft publishing. Student staff are responsible for acquiring, producing, and marketing work from independent authors in the course of their education, allowing them to forge lasting professional relationships and step out with confidence into the greater literary community.

Ragdale Artist Residency Program (Lake Forest, Illinois – Deadline May 15)

Ragdale is a non-profit artists’ community located on architect Howard Van Doren Shaw’s country estate in Lake Forest, IL, 30 miles north of Chicago. In 1976, Shaw’s granddaughter, Alice Judson Hayes, transformed her family’s summer home into an artist’s retreat to provide time and space for artists to create important new work.

Today, Ragdale annually hosts nearly 200 visual artists, writers, dancemakers, composers, and interdisciplinary artists at all stages of their careers for 18-day residencies, making it one of the largest interdisciplinary artist communities in the country. Ragdale offers a retreat setting where at any given time, up to a dozen creative individuals experience uninterrupted time for dedicated work, a supportive environment, family-style dinners, and dynamic artist exchanges within a backdrop of 80 acres of nature preserves.

Introducing Hang Your Shingle Studio

Follow the Hang Your Shingle Instagram

Here’s a reminder of the deadlines coming up from previous posts. Hot tips:

• If you go into the archives and revisit posts from this time of year during previous years, you’ll find additional calls that are open annually.

• If you submit to any of the Submission Sunday calls and publish or win, let me know and I’ll broadcast your success in a future post.

Writer’s Digest Annual Writing Competition (Deadline May 4)
The Gotham Guillotine Call for Submissions (“The People’s Magazine” – Deadline May 8)
Cow Creek Chapbook Prize (Deadline May 15)
Dear Aliens Call for Submissions (Deadline May 15)
Oyster River Pages Call for Submissions (Deadline May 15)
The Georgia Review Call for Submissions (Deadline May 15)
The New Letters Literary Awards: $2,000 Patricia Cleary Miller Award for Poetry, $2,000 Robert Day Award for Fiction, and $2,000 Conger Beasley Jr. Award for Nonfiction (Deadline May 18)
Kweli Call for Submissions (Deadline May 30)
AGNI Call for Submissions (Deadline May 31)
2026 Whiting Nonfiction Grant for Works-in-Progress (Deadline May 31)
The 2026 Halifax Ranch Fiction Prize (Deadline June 1)
Prairie Ronde Artist Residency Call for Applications (Vicksburg, Michigan – Deadline June 15 for Fall Session)

*This newsletter does not guarantee the unimpeachable behavior of all venues shared here but the odds are good.

Share Submission Sunday

Happy Sunday, writers! I hope the words have been flowing and the submissions have been received with appreciation.

For our next links roundup, we’ve got debut novel data, starting personal essays, the best literary adaptation of the last fifty years, how publishers decide which authors go on tour, a query letter that got twenty-two full requests, top ten line edits, translating editor rejections, Jeanette Winterson on Substack’s latest dumb decisions, and more. Here we go.

Read more

Happy Sunday, writers! Thank you for subscribing. Every other Sunday, you’ll receive eight literary submission opportunities, varying in audience and genre, that have been selected for quality and relevance.

Submission Sunday relies on the support of paying subscribers. If you enjoy this newsletter, please consider an upgrade! I’m planning some additional online events available to paid subscribers as well as the usual benefits: craft essays by writers, interviews with published authors about their submission process, interviews with editors about what they’re looking for, round-ups of articles about submitting and writing in general, and full access to the archives.

Subscribe now

This edition of Submission Sunday has calls and contests from American Short Fiction, The Georgia Review, Oyster River Pages, The Whiting Foundation, New Letters, Dear Aliens, Santa Monica Review, and Antsu Literary Agency. More details below.

Follow the Submission Sunday Instagram

The 2026 Halifax Ranch Fiction Prize (Deadline June 1)

American Short Fiction is pleased to announce that our judge for this year’s Halifax Ranch Fiction Prize will be Rachel Khong, author of the New York Times bestselling novel Real Americans, the award-winning novel Goodbye, Vitamin, and the new story collection My Dear You, out from Knopf in April 2026. Khong lives in Los Angeles, where she teaches creative writing in a collective called The Dream Slide.

In addition to publication and a $3,000 prize, in partnership with the Tasajillo Residency, we are excited to once again offer the winning writer an all-expenses-paid writing retreat at a beautiful, remote cabin on idyllic land that neighbors the Halifax Ranch, just outside of Austin in Kyle, Texas.

The Georgia Review Call for Submissions (Deadline May 15)

The Georgia Review is the literary-cultural journal published out of the University of Georgia since 1947. While it began with a regional commitment, its scope has grown to include readers and writers throughout the U.S. and the world, who are brought together through the print journal as well as live programming. Convinced that communities thrive when built on dialogue that honors the difference between any two interlocutors, we publish imaginative work that challenges us to reconsider any line, distinction, or thought in danger of becoming too rigid or neat, so that our readers can continue the conversations in their own lives.

Oyster River Pages Call for Submissions (Deadline May 15)

One of the most profound ways in which humans have always sought hope, healed, and tried to make sense of the world is through the creation and experience of art in its various forms. Oyster River Pages was conceived at the dawn of what is already becoming one of the darkest chapters in postmodern American history. In dealing with this surreal landscape, many of us find ourselves exhausted into a kind of aphasia. But like every generation that has faced the challenge of living in an often baffling world, we find ourselves turning to lyric and narrative, metaphor and image in order to reclaim the ineffable beauty and indestructible compassion of humanity. And especially in this political moment, we at ORP recognize the power of artistic expression to stand up to the possessive investment in privilege and to disrupt the cycles of hegemonic oppression.

2026 Whiting Nonfiction Grant for Works-in-Progress (Deadline May 31)

The 2026 Whiting Nonfiction Grant for Works-in-Progress of $40,000 will be awarded to ten writers completing a deeply researched and imaginatively composed book-length work of nonfiction for a general adult readership. The grant supports multiyear projects at a crucial mid-process stage, after substantial progress has been made but before the final work is complete, when additional support can meaningfully shape the final work. The program’s objective is to foster original, ambitious projects brought to the highest possible standard.

Whiting welcomes applications for works of history, cultural or political reportage, biography, memoir, science, philosophy, criticism, graphic nonfiction, and personal essays, among other categories. The work should be intended for a general, rather than academic, adult readership. Self-help titles, historical fiction, textbooks, books primarily for a scholarly audience, and books for young readers are not eligible.

CRAFT SCHOOL (Deadline to Enroll: April 24)

CRAFT SCHOOL is a vibrant community for writers led by Jeannine Ouellette, Emily Rapp Black, and Gina Frangello—three established writers with extensive teaching experience. CRAFT SCHOOL is for prose writers of all levels who want to deepen and accelerate their craft through dedicated effort with close reading of acclaimed published work, an array of live (virtual) cross-disciplinary instruction, visiting writers and editors, generative writing rooms, publishing talks, small work groups, weekly office hours with core faculty, and more.

📚 Every other week, I’ll be making space for up to three online writing classes or programs (and the occasional retreat or conference). Learn more about getting your own classified ad. 📚

The New Letters Literary Awards (Deadline May 18)

• $2,000 Patricia Cleary Miller Award for Poetry

• $2,000 Robert Day Award for Fiction

• $2,000 Conger Beasley Jr. Award for Nonfiction

The mission of New Letters magazine is to discover, publish and promote the best and most exciting literary writing, wherever it might be found. We publish and serve readers and writers worldwide. In recent years, New Letters has won a National Magazine Award, the industry’s highest honor, plus multiple Pushcart Prizes, and is reprinted often in the Best American anthology series.

Dear Aliens Call for Submissions (Deadline May 15)

WE NEED YOUR HELP.

The aliens are coming. Or at least they told us they were.

They asked us for just one item: a written document from humanity.

This is the only thing they are going to read before they arrive.

We have no idea what the document should be, so we’re asking you.

Should we share a history of humanity? An introduction to your family? A science fiction story? A description of a sunset? A narrative from your life? A joke?

We’re not sure (yet), but we’d like your help. We’re giving $2,000 USD to the best submission. Second and third place get $250 each.

Santa Monica Review Call for Submissions

The Santa Monica Review features fiction and nonfiction only. The editors are committed to fostering new talent as well as presenting new work by established authors. There is a special effort toward presenting and promoting writers who make their home in Southern California. To this end, each issue combines work by established and emerging writers from Southern California and beyond.

The Santa Monica Review acquires first serial rights on accepted pieces; copyright reverts to the author after publication. Like most small, institutionally sponsored journals, we do not pay except in copies, a journal subscription, and vigorous promotion of our writers. We do not as a rule consider previously published material. Simultaneous submission is fine, as long as we are notified of the fact. Response time averages two months. A self-addressed, stamped envelope must, of course, accompany submissions. SMR does NOT accept email submissions.

Antsu Literary Agency Open to Queries

Founded on a passion for exceptional storytelling, Antsu Literary Agency represents authors who dare to push boundaries and redefine genres.

Wadzanai Mhute is an author, journalist, and former books editor at Oprah Daily and Oprah’s Book Club where she edited and wrote about authors and books, helping to shape literary conversations on diverse platforms. She was also fiction editor at The Sunday Long Read.

She has an MFA in Creative Writing from Brooklyn College, where she received the Himan Brown Creative Writing Award, and an MSc. in Journalism from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Wadzanai is currently serving on the National Book Critic’s Circle Board.

Introducing Hang Your Shingle Studio

Follow the Hang Your Shingle Instagram

Here’s a reminder of the deadlines coming up from previous posts. Hot tips:

• If you go into the archives and revisit posts from this time of year during previous years, you’ll find additional calls that are open annually.

• If you submit to any of the Submission Sunday calls and publish or win, let me know and I’ll broadcast your success in a future post.

Fractured Lit Ghost, Fable, and Fairy Tales Prize (Deadline April 19)
Beaver Magazine Call for Submissions (Deadline April 22)
Redivider Call for Submissions (Deadline April 30)
Spotify Audiobook Selects Call for Romance Novellas (Deadline April 30)
The Rumpus Initiatives: Harnisch Microgrants, Writing Fellowships, and Editorial Fellowships (Deadline April 30)
Paramount Writers Mentoring Program (Deadline May 1)
Soft Focus Zine Call for Submissions (“Tearjerkers” – Deadline May 1)
American Literary Review Call for Submissions (Deadline May 2)
Writer’s Digest Annual Writing Competition (Deadline May 4)
The Gotham Guillotine Call for Submissions (“The People’s Magazine” – Deadline May 8)
Cow Creek Chapbook Prize (Deadline May 15)
Kweli Call for Submissions (Deadline May 30)
AGNI Call for Submissions (Deadline May 31)
Prairie Ronde Artist Residency Call for Applications (Vicksburg, Michigan – Deadline June 15 for Fall Session)

*This newsletter does not guarantee the unimpeachable behavior of all venues shared here but the odds are good.

Share Submission Sunday

Happy Sunday, writers! I hope the words have been flowing and the submissions have been received with appreciation.

For our next links roundup, we’ve got Freida McFadden’s wig, scary things, a memoir playbook, a ‘90s rock memoir, an atrocious edit letter, rejecting Robert Olen Butler, pitching Newsweek, dissecting a query that worked, and more. Here we go.

Read more

Happy Sunday, writers! Thank you for subscribing. Every other Sunday, you’ll receive eight literary submission opportunities, varying in audience and genre, that have been selected for quality and relevance.

Submission Sunday relies on the support of paying subscribers. If you enjoy this newsletter, please consider an upgrade! I’m planning some additional online events available to paid subscribers as well as the usual benefits: craft essays by writers, interviews with published authors about their submission process, interviews with editors about what they’re looking for, round-ups of articles about submitting and writing in general, and full access to the archives.

Subscribe now

This edition of Submission Sunday has calls and contests from McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Paramount, The Rumpus, Spotify, The Gotham Guillotine, CRAFT, Kismet, and Prairie Ronde. More details below.

Follow the Submission Sunday Instagram

McSweeney’s Internet Tendency Call for Submissions

All of the satire and comedy we publish on this website comes from complete strangers such as yourselves. While we remain small and irresponsible and afflicted with mold-borne allergies, we do our best to respond to all submissions quickly and professionally. That said, there are a number of things you can do to further enhance and streamline the experience for yourselves and for your friendly McSweeney’s Internet Tendency editorial staff, which since 2007 has been mostly run by one person out of a living room in a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts. See guidelines for Timely Submissions, Lists, Open Letters to People or Entities Who Are Unlikely to Respond, and Reviews of New Food.

Paramount Writers Mentoring Program (Deadline May 1)

Paramount’s Writers Mentoring Program offers an eight-month opportunity for writers. It focuses on building relationships, improving writing skills, and developing essential interpersonal and industry “soft skills.” For over two decades the Paramount Writers Mentoring Program has helped emerging writers enter the television business, launching more than 125 writing careers. Alumni include over 20 showrunners and executive producers.

Participants in the program will work with executive mentors from Paramount to create a new writing sample. Weekly workshop-style meetings will be held for 16 weeks, featuring showrunners and industry professionals such as agents, managers, and executives. Mentees will also have the opportunity to participate in a half-day mock writers room experience in a supportive setting. Each participant will have help in creating a rigorous career action plan and there will be on-going support in evaluating and achieving those goals. Another important benefit of the program is the development of a close-knit peer support group that will sustain participants through the program and beyond, as well as a supportive and vibrant alumni community. [Note: Sharing this opportunity does not indicate support for the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger.]

The Rumpus Initiatives: Harnisch Microgrants, Writing Fellowships, and Editorial Fellowships (Deadline April 30)

The Rumpus will host two Harnisch microgrant cycles each year, where we award ten (10) writers a microgrant of $1,000 + a technology package (Macbook Neo, a pair of Airpod Pro 3, and a 1-year subscription to Apple Creator Studio). These microgrants are designed to help writers who need material support to further or finish a creative writing project. The microgrants are unrestricted and grantees may use the funds as they see fit.

The Rumpus Writing Fellowships will offer two writers a year a $10,000 stipend and mentorship to write two pieces of fiction or creative nonfiction to be published on The Rumpus during the course of the fellowship. This fellowship is open to emerging writers who have not published a book and have five (5) or fewer essay or story publications. This is a remote position and fellows can participate from anywhere.

The Rumpus Editorial Fellowships will offer two six-month editorial fellowships a year with a stipend of $12,000 and editorial mentorship for candidates who are interested in the practice of literary editing. Fellows will be expected to work 20 hours a week, and the stipend will be paid monthly. Duties include reading and responding to Rumpus submissions and each fellow will have the opportunity to develop an editorial feature of their choosing.

Spotify Audiobook Selects Call for Romance Novellas (Deadline April 30)

The next chapter is yours to write. Spotify Audiobook Selects is a new publishing program offering indie authors professional audio production, upfront payment, promotion, and distribution to Spotify listeners around the world. Twice a year, Spotify Audiobooks Selects will request manuscripts around a specific theme.

We’re looking to fall in love. For our current theme, we’re calling all swoon-worthy tropes: Enemies to lovers, grumpy/sunshine, fake marriage, falling in love with your sibling’s best friend, and any other of your juicy favorites! Send us your on-theme, new adult or adult romance novellas between 10,000 and 40,000 words. No erotica or children’s content, please.

Deep Dive Into Dialogue: A Master Class on the Art of What People Say with Karen E. Bender (Saturday, April 11, 12 pm EST)

In this class, we’ll do a detailed look into how dialogue reveals character, and how to give your dialogue more urgency. We’ll look at dialogue and emotion, how to combine dialogue and gesture, rants, situation and dialogue. We’ll examine stories by John Cheever, Ernest Hemingway, JD Salinger, Edward P. Jones, Rebecca Lee, Roz Chast, ZZ Packer. Then we’ll do some exercises, practicing dialogue in a variety of contexts. $150.

📚 Every other week, I’ll be making space for up to three online writing classes or programs (and the occasional retreat or conference). Learn more about getting your own classified ad. 📚

The Gotham Guillotine Call for Submissions (“The People’s Magazine” – Deadline May 8)

The Gotham Guillotine is not the place for staid sloganeering, liberal pessimism, or literary bootlickers. There’s enough of that shit already. We want to revolutionize socialist realism, pioneer socialist surrealism, eviscerate capitalist literary conventions, and stuff the ivory tower full of TNT.

Every issue of The Gotham Guillotine will trigger an uprising. Barricades of print issues will be formed minutes after publication. We expect to be the most popular literary magazine in America, if not the world, before you can say fully automated luxury communism. Nothing can damper our revolutionary optimism. Pessimistic punks, fuck off.

No one’s dared to wage the twenty-first century class war through literature, but history is only made by those who dare. We’re gonna change the world. Are you?

2026 CRAFT Award for Excellence (Deadline April 12)

CRAFT’s mission since day one has been to explore how writing works and to celebrate the art of prose. With that goal in mind, we are introducing the CRAFT Award for Excellence, honoring the very best in each of our creative prose genres: Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Flash Fiction, and Flash Creative Nonfiction.

Each genre will award one winner the CRAFT Award for Excellence, selected by CRAFT’s editors; these winners will receive a $1,000 prize, online publication, reMarkable Paper Pro tablet & set up, and a CRAFT plaque commemorating your win. Two editors’ choice selections from any genre will receive $500 and online publication.

Show off your setting skills, dazzle us with snappy dialogue, render us spellbound with your lyricism. Whatever your craft, our only requirement is excellence.

Kismet Call for Submissions

Kismet is a new literary magazine offering a fresh perspective on spirituality, religion, and mysticism for seekers and skeptics alike. Kismet isn’t tied to any particular tradition or spiritual outlook. Instead, the magazine aims to make space for diverging voices to pursue new ways of speaking to our longing for transcendence.

We’re living through a period of profound transformation, as the longstanding fonts of meaning and spiritual nourishment dry up and new visions emerge. Kismet will chase the spirit of the moment, offering a new forum for an ancient conversation, publishing emerging and established voices from around the world.

Prairie Ronde Artist Residency Call for Applications (Vicksburg, Michigan – Deadline June 15 for Fall Session)

Prairie Ronde is an artist residency and gallery rooted in place, process, and transformation. It exists at the intersection of creative expression and adaptive reuse, offering artists the opportunity to engage deeply with an area undergoing a massive transformation.

Over time, Prairie Ronde has grown into a highly competitive residency, widely respected for its place-based approach and commitment to artists. Today, the program attracts applications from established national and international artists.

We’re looking for individuals who are highly independent, engaged and curious. We do not limit our residency to any specific medium, but rather are looking for diverse artists who can creatively interact with The Mill. We host three sessions annually and accept 2–4 residents per session. Accepted residents receive a stipend of $2,000 for 5–6 weeks, a $500 travel grant and private housing. We work with residents to share their work with the community (a gallery show, public workshop or other).

Introducing Hang Your Shingle

Here’s a reminder of the deadlines coming up from previous posts. Hot tips:

• If you go into the archives and revisit posts from this time of year during previous years, you’ll find additional calls that are open annually.

• If you submit to any of the Submission Sunday calls and publish or win, let me know and I’ll broadcast your success in a future post.

Palette Poetry 2026 Rising Poet Prize (Deadline April 12)
Journal of Fandom Studies Call for Pitches (“Heated Rivalry” – Deadline April 13)
Hedgebrook Writer-in-Residence Program Call for Applicants (Deadline April 17)
Outskirts Literary Journal Call for Submissions (Deadline April 18)
Fractured Lit Ghost, Fable, and Fairy Tales Prize (Deadline April 19)
Beaver Magazine Call for Submissions (Deadline April 22)
Redivider Call for Submissions (Deadline April 30)
Soft Focus Zine Call for Submissions (“Tearjerkers” – Deadline May 1)
American Literary Review Call for Submissions (Deadline May 2)
Writer’s Digest Annual Writing Competition (Deadline May 4)
Cow Creek Chapbook Prize (Deadline May 15)
Kweli Call for Submissions (Deadline May 30)
AGNI Call for Submissions (Deadline May 31)

*This newsletter does not guarantee the unimpeachable behavior of all venues shared here but the odds are good.

Share Submission Sunday

Happy Sunday, writers! I hope the words have been flowing and the submissions have been received with appreciation.

I’m in the mood to play some music loud and take some risks, so I’m going to (re)mix things up a little this week for the paid subscribers with a playlist for the next time rejections are getting you down. Nothing makes me feel better when I’m down than a hype song. I’ve also thrown in a few getting-over-heartbreak songs because they’re my jam. If you find this playlist to be helpful for any kind of rejection, that would make me happy. (Listen at your own risk re: profanity, personal taste, etc.)

I originally posted this playlist in 2024 but the upcoming deadlines are up to date! See you next week and enjoy . . . 😊

Read more

Happy Sunday, writers! Thank you for subscribing. Every other Sunday, you’ll receive eight literary submission opportunities, varying in audience and genre, that have been selected for quality and relevance.

Submission Sunday relies on the support of paying subscribers. If you enjoy this newsletter, please consider an upgrade! I’m planning some additional online events available to paid subscribers as well as the usual benefits: craft essays by writers, interviews with published authors about their submission process, interviews with editors about what they’re looking for, round-ups of articles about submitting and writing in general, and full access to the archives.

Subscribe now

This edition of Submission Sunday has calls and contests from Writer’s Digest, The Adroit Journal, Michigan Quarterly Review, The Disappointed Housewife, American Literary Review, Black Lawrence Press, Journal of Fandom Studies, and The Jane Rotrosen Agency. More details below.

Follow the Submission Sunday Instagram

Writer’s Digest Annual Writing Competition (Deadline May 4)

Writers helping writers improve their craft, achieve their goals and recognize their dreams—since 1920. Our mission is to help ignite writers’ creative vision and connect them with the community, education and resources they need to bring it to life.

Writer’s Digest has been shining a spotlight on up-and-coming writers in all genres through its Annual Writing Competition for over 90 years. Enter our 95th Annual Writing Competition for your chance to win and have your work be seen by editors and agents! Almost 500 winners will be chosen.

The Adroit Journal Call for Submissions (Deadline April 1)

The Adroit Journal is a registered literary and arts nonprofit organization that was founded in 2010 by poet Peter LaBerge. At its foundation, the journal has its eyes focused ahead, seeking to showcase what its global staff of emerging writers sees as the future of poetry, prose, and art.

We’re looking for work that’s bizarre, authentic, subtle, outrageous, indefinable, raw, paradoxical. We’ve got our eyes on the horizon. Send us writing that lives just between the land and the sky.

Michigan Quarterly Review Call for Submissions (“The New Age of Fascism” – Deadline April 1)

Michigan Quarterly Review, founded in 1962, is an interdisciplinary and international literary journal, combining distinctive voices in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, as well as works in translation. The flagship literary journal of the University of Michigan, our magazine embraces creative urgency and cultural relevance, aiming to challenge conventions and address long-overdue conversations.

MQR invites submissions for a special issue on the rise of fascism, broadly defined, as a political and cultural force in the U.S. and around the globe. This special issue is to be published in Winter 2027. While fascism is often associated with historical interwar regimes, scholars increasingly identify “strongman” tactics in the present day: elected leaders who consolidate power, undermine democratic institutions, delegitimize opposition, and cultivate loyalty to personality over policy. In the U.S., these dynamics have manifested in practices that echo key elements of fascist playbooks, from attacks on critical media and courts to the undermining of agreed-up facts and shared understanding.

The Disappointed Housewife Call for Submissions

The Disappointed Housewife seeks fiction, essays, and poetry—along with unclassifiable writings, photos, and drawings—that stretch genre definitions, break the rules, challenge readers, and bend their brains, all while maintaining the highest levels of style and substance. We think that literature has to evolve, that it should keep up with the world around it even if it doesn’t reflect it so much as use it. Taunt it. Remold it, when required.

We’re looking for stories that strike us as different, always with that idiosyncratic touch. Iconoclastic. Kind of bent. Humorous. Poems that find the metaphors we’ve been looking for but never quite landed on. Essays that take us away from the usual and into the world of the unseen and overlooked. Above all, The Disappointed Housewife is a literary journal. We aren’t looking for genre material, though if your submission manipulates a genre in a literary way, we might just bite.

📚 Every other week, I’ll be making space for up to three online writing classes or programs (and the occasional retreat or conference). Learn more about getting your own classified ad. 📚

American Literary Review Call for Submissions (Deadline May 2)

Since 1990, the American Literary Review has been published through the Department of English at the University of North Texas. We feature poems, stories, essays, reviews, and interviews that reflect the diverse tradition of writers living in the United States and abroad. Our aim is to expand the notion of publishing literature that is American. We welcome work that speaks to American place, culture, history, and future, among other subjects.

We are particularly interested in writing that speaks to underrepresented and historically disadvantaged communities in the United States. Including such a diversity of perspectives in our journal is essential to our mission of expanding the breadth of American literature. This mission also entails welcoming authors of varying experience. From the journal’s inception, we have made a point of publishing poetry, fiction, and nonfiction by writers at all stages of their careers. We revel in the opportunity to be a promising writer’s first publication, just as we relish the chance to publish writers with multiple books.

Black Lawrence Press The Hudson Prize (Deadline March 31)

Black Lawrence Press is an independent publisher of contemporary poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. We also publish the occasional translation from German. Founded in 2004 by Colleen Ryor, Black Lawrence became an imprint of Dzanc Books in 2008. In January 2014, we spread our wings and became an independent company in the state of New York.

Each year Black Lawrence Press will award The Hudson Prize for an unpublished collection of poems or prose (short stories or essays). Novels are not eligible for this prize. The prize is open to new, emerging, and established writers. The winner of this contest will receive book publication, a $1,000 cash award, and ten copies of the book. Entries are read blind by senior Black Lawrence Press editors and a rotating panel of former Hudson Prize winners.

Journal of Fandom Studies Call for Pitches (“Heated Rivalry” – Deadline April 13)

In the Heated Rivalry fandom, the politics of sports are contested with the politics of queerness, gender, sexuality, and race, and it is doing so in the pop culture zeitgeist. It is transforming the popular understanding of hockey, but also potentially transforming the structure of fandom itself; Heated Rivalry has built fandom across networked platforms, in conversation with sports fans, and with potentially new aesthetics of fan production. While there are strong intellectual histories in both sports fandom and transformative media fandoms, they are rarely studied in conversation with one another. This Special Issue will explore the impact of Heated Rivalry in both subcultural fan spaces and mainstream pop culture.

The Jane Rotrosen Agency Open to Queries

The Jane Rotrosen Agency has represented authors of fiction and nonfiction since 1974. Our client list includes over 1,000 international and domestic bestsellers in all formats.

JRA maintains long-term partnerships with our clients. Their goals are our goals: financial success, brand recognition, career longevity, and an engaged and active audience. We partner with both established names and new voices, and provide personalized service to meet the individual needs of each client. While continually strengthening our traditional publishing relationships, we also find innovative avenues for growing our authors’ success. Welcome to JRA and our dog-friendly townhouse in midtown Manhattan.

Here’s a reminder of the deadlines coming up from previous posts. Hot tips:

• If you go into the archives and revisit posts from this time of year during previous years, you’ll find additional calls that are open annually.

• If you submit to any of the Submission Sunday calls and publish or win, let me know and I’ll broadcast your success in a future post.

Ploughshares Emerging Writers’ Contest (Deadline March 31)
THREE Call for Submissions (“Boundless” – Deadline March 31)
The Masters Review Prize for New Narratives (Deadline March 31)
Oxford American Call for Pitches (“Home” – Deadline April 3)
Palette Poetry 2026 Rising Poet Prize (Deadline April 12)
Hedgebrook Writer-in-Residence Program Call for Applicants (Deadline April 17)
Outskirts Literary Journal Call for Submissions (Deadline April 18)
Fractured Lit Ghost, Fable, and Fairy Tales Prize (Deadline April 19)
Beaver Magazine Call for Submissions (Deadline April 22)
Redivider Call for Submissions (Deadline April 30)
Soft Focus Zine Call for Submissions (“Tearjerkers” – Deadline May 1)
Cow Creek Chapbook Prize (Deadline May 15)
Kweli Call for Submissions (Deadline May 30)
AGNI Call for Submissions (Deadline May 31)

*This newsletter does not guarantee the unimpeachable behavior of all venues shared here but the odds are good.

Share Submission Sunday

Happy Sunday, writers! I hope the words have been flowing and the submissions have been received with appreciation.

I don’t know if it’s the season for writers coming together or whether my algorithm or mood is on high alert to see these opportunities right now, but I was inspired to start a new Submission Sunday feature for paid subscribers: Community. I’ve put together a collection of classes, programs, and events where we can meet up with other writers to work on our craft and/or have some fun. I’ve tried to include a variety of locations—in person and online—and price points. Let me know in the comments if this is something you’d like to see more often. Here we go.

Read more

Happy Sunday, writers! Thank you for subscribing. Every other Sunday, you’ll receive eight literary submission opportunities, varying in audience and genre, that have been selected for quality and relevance.

Submission Sunday relies on the support of paying subscribers. If you enjoy this newsletter, please consider an upgrade! I’m planning some additional online events available to paid subscribers as well as the usual benefits: craft essays by writers, interviews with published authors about their submission process, interviews with editors about what they’re looking for, round-ups of articles about submitting and writing in general, and full access to the archives.

Subscribe now

This edition of Submission Sunday has calls and contests from Oxford American, Fractured Lit, Mouthful of Salt, Pittsburg State University, Soft Focus Zine, THREE, Beaver Magazine, and Hedgebrook. More details below.

Follow the Submission Sunday Instagram

Oxford American Call for Pitches (“Home” – Deadline April 3)

What makes a place feel like home? Is it an inbuilt connection to the land? Fond memories of a childhood bedroom or family table? A sense of pride and shared community?

We want stories about how an idea of a home can change when you leave it, whether by choice or by force. We wonder how our domestic lives—our messy rooms, our packed closets, our dustless collections—reflect or inform the social life of the South. We welcome meditations on homesickness, personal histories of home-making, and polemics against a “home sweet home.” We would love to read critiques of domestic architecture, investigations of threatened ecological homelands, and reports from neighborhoods affected by ICE raids. Where are your second homes, your spiritual homes, and how do they thrive? No subject is too great or small, no setting too famous or too obscure, so long as the story is fresh. We learned long ago to follow our writers’ passions.

Fractured Lit Ghost, Fable, and Fairy Tales Prize (Deadline April 19)

Fractured Lit is looking for stories of ghosts, fables, and fractured fairy tales in 1,000 words or fewer. Whichever tradition you choose, make sure you find a new way to approach it, to twist and discombobulate it, to push us away from the mundane and into the strange or uncanny. Transport us from the here and now to a new land of discovery, where specific characters take on unique challenges inspired by these tropes. This contest produces some of the most imaginative submissions each year, and we look forward to reading your creations!

Guest Judge Melissa Llanes Brownlee will choose three prize winners from a shortlist. We’re excited to offer the winner of this prize $3,000 and publication, while the second- and third-place winners will receive publication and $300 and $200, respectively. All entries will be considered for publication.

Mouthful of Salt Call for Submissions (Deadline March 13)

For Issue 03, we’re drawn to work that understands flavor as more than a metaphor. We want writing that carries heat, density, and residue. Send us your poems, stories, and hybrid pieces that are seasoned with tension, rich with voice, and brined with memory. It’s free to submit, always.

Mouthful of Salt accepts poetry, creative nonfiction, flash fiction, hybrid work, and visual art. We’re drawn to pieces that are beautifully messy, intimate, nontraditional, and hard to categorize—work that pushes boundaries and invites deep attention. Above all, we seek to uplift voices from marginalized communities.

Cow Creek Chapbook Prize (Deadline May 15)

Submissions are now open for the 2026 Cow Creek Chapbook Prize, a national poetry chapbook contest brought to you by Pittsburg State University. We welcome work in all styles and on all subjects. As long as the poems challenge and capture the imagination, we want to read them.

The winning poet will receive a $1,000 prize and 25 author copies of their published chapbook.

Fuck You, Write Your Pages: An Online Accountability Group led by Edan Lepucki (March 16–June 15, 2026)

This asynchronous group communicates via a private newsletter. Weekly emails include wisdom from working writers and members are required to post updates on goals met and made. Membership also includes three optional Study Hall Zoom sessions. Reach your goals and deepen your creative practice in a supportive community. Open to writers of all genres and skill levels. $125.

📚 Every other week, I’ll be making space for up to three online writing classes or programs (and the occasional retreat or conference). Learn more about getting your own classified ad. 📚

Soft Focus Zine Call for Submissions (“Tearjerkers” – Deadline May 1)

We are a print zine publication looking to foster a community where people can share their love for movies through writing and art. We are interested in the process of sharing ideas through tangible means and creating a physical object that can be held, shared, lost, found, framed, ripped, etc.​

We hope to create an accessible space that is enjoyable for folks with all different levels of filmic knowledge and experience. Whether you only watch films made in the 1930s or love to preach about rom coms, we want to hear from you!

We are excited to open submissions for Issue 02 of our zine on the theme of TEARJERKERS. Tell us about the movies that make you cry: from grief, joy, nostalgia, hilarity, irony, beauty, anger; feel free to interpret the theme in whatever way makes sense to you.

THREE Call for Submissions (“Boundless” – Deadline March 31)

Boundless heart. Boundless vision. Boundless voice. Bound-ary-less rights to dignity and safety and peace. Themed issues, three pieces per issue. Just enough to say something and say it well. Just enough to see yourself in others’ stories and then have the space to find yourself in your own. Third Rail Press was created to give women the opportunity to tell the untold stories of their lives.

Beaver Magazine Call for Submissions (Deadline April 22)

Beaver Magazine is a literary journal accepting poetry, fiction, nonfiction and art! We love works of any kind. You won’t find a strict, gatekeeping submission guideline in these waters. Writing and reading is for peace, not stress. Our editors met in undergrad poetry workshops and loved each other so much we had to start a flourishing project together. Our editors were unified by the beautiful discovery of creative writing’s impact on all of our souls. After being separated by space and time and forking paths, we woke up one morning and started this journal to be able to read and enjoy writing and art together again. We hope that you enjoy immersing yourself in our dam website. Take a load off, throw that tree you’ve been gnawing to the side, and swim in these waterways of words from around the world.

Hedgebrook Writer-in-Residence Program Call for Applicants (Deadline April 17)

Hedgebrook’s Writer-in-Residence Program supports writers from all over the world for residencies of two to three weeks. Hedgebrook’s mission is to support visionary women-identified writers,18 and older, whose stories and ideas shape our culture now and for generations to come. The cottage, all meals, and the entire residency experience at Hedgebrook is free to selected writers. Travel is not included and is the responsibility of the writer to arrange and pay for. Up to six writers can be in residence at a time, each housed in their own handcrafted cottage. They spend their days in solitude – writing, reading, taking walks in the woods on the property or on nearby Double Bluff beach. In the evenings, “The Gathering” is a social time for residents to connect and share over their freshly prepared meals.

Here’s a reminder of the deadlines coming up from previous posts. Hot tips:

• If you go into the archives and revisit posts from this time of year during previous years, you’ll find additional calls that are open annually.

• If you submit to any of the Submission Sunday calls and publish or win, let me know and I’ll broadcast your success in a future post.

Stillhouse Press Call for Nonfiction Manuscripts (Deadline March 10)
The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize (Deadline March 13)
Version Originale Call for Submissions (“Hunger” – Deadline March 15)
The Other Almanac Call for Submissions (Deadline March 20)
Ploughshares Emerging Writers’ Contest (Deadline March 31)
The Masters Review Prize for New Narratives (Deadline March 31)
Palette Poetry 2026 Rising Poet Prize (Deadline April 12)
Outskirts Literary Journal Call for Submissions (Deadline April 18)
Redivider Call for Submissions (Deadline April 30)
Kweli Call for Submissions (Deadline May 30)
AGNI Call for Submissions (Deadline May 31)

*This newsletter does not guarantee the unimpeachable behavior of all venues shared here but the odds are good.

Share Submission Sunday

Happy Sunday, writers! I hope the words have been flowing and the submissions have been received with appreciation.

For our next links roundup, we’ve got recognition of the life work of Michael Silverblatt, research as metaphor, literary scams, revising your big fat mess, books to look forward to in 2026, a 40,000-year-old precursor to written language, thoughts on self-publishing, the last word on query letters, and more. Here we go.

Read more

Happy Sunday, writers! Thank you for subscribing. Every other Sunday, you’ll receive eight literary submission opportunities, varying in audience and genre, that have been selected for quality and relevance.

Submission Sunday relies on the support of paying subscribers. If you enjoy this newsletter, please consider an upgrade! I’m planning some additional online events available to paid subscribers as well as the usual benefits: craft essays by writers, interviews with published authors about their submission process, interviews with editors about what they’re looking for, round-ups of articles about submitting and writing in general, and full access to the archives.

Subscribe now

This edition of Submission Sunday has calls and contests from The Center for Fiction, VOLTA, Palette Poetry, Outskirts, Atmo, Wine Enthusiast, Version Originale, and The Unter Agency. More details below.

Follow the Submission Sunday Instagram

The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize (Deadline March 13)

The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, first awarded in 2006, recognizes the best debut novel of the year, and supports emerging voices in fiction. The winner receives a $15,000 prize and each shortlisted author receives $1,000.

The First Novel Prize is given to a debut novel published in the United States between January 1st and December 31st of the competing year. The longlist is announced in the summer, followed by the shortlist in the fall. In December, the shortlisted authors are celebrated at the First Novel Fête and the winner is announced at our Annual Awards Benefit.

The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize is supported in part by Hawthornden Foundation.

VOLTA Call for Submissions (Deadline March 2)

Literature that leads us to feel something we don’t understand – empathy for a character who is different from us, admiration for an action we’d in real life condemn – is at best uncomfortable and at worst profoundly threatening. But at VOLTA, we believe that it’s precisely this quality of good literature that makes it matter: art pushes us towards encounters we shrink from. Like the shadow-boxer, fighting air, we train our feelings through fictional experience. We become emotionally stronger and more agile, so that in our real lives, we can feel more powerfully and honestly.

We’re looking for pieces that constantly confront readers with images that startle them into looking at the world in new ways. Our ambition is to reinvigorate the written word for our generation and encourage writers of all ages to keep engaging with and challenging literary convention. VOLTA publishes poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and visual art. We welcome submissions from both emerging and established writers and artists.

Palette Poetry 2026 Rising Poet Prize (Deadline April 12)

Back by popular demand, the Rising Poet Prize is returning this spring! Palette Poetry invites all poets who have not yet published a full-length collection to send us your best poems. We are looking to celebrate new and exciting work, and we hope to shine a light on up-and-coming poets. The judge for this prize is Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo.

Palette’s editors will choose the ten finalists and any honorable mentions that warrant extra attention. Our judge will then select the winner and runners-up for publication. The winner will be awarded $3,000, publication, and a brief interview in Palette Poetry. Second and third place will receive $300 and $200, respectively, as well as publication. Finalists may also be considered for publication in our Featured Poetry category.

Outskirts Literary Journal Call for Submissions (Deadline April 18)

Outskirts (n) — The fringes of a place, existing with and pushing against imposed boundaries.

Outskirts publishes poetry, short stories, essays, hybrid works, and visual art. We seek to amplify a wide range of voices from emerging and established artists. In fact, we’d love to be your first publication!

We want to read work that, like rural spaces, challenges the constructs of what’s interesting, valuable, or sacred. While we’re interested in place-based writing, we have a broad understanding of what “place” can be — a body, a mind, a cookie jar, a mountain range — and care more about a piece’s connection to the world than anything else. For a better sense of our aesthetic and mission, please read our first issue.

Tales of The Weller House: A Mendocino Coast Horror Writing Retreat (February 26 – March 1)

In this immersive weekend, you will have the chance to sink into your writing with Kate Maruyama and M.M. Olivas in a Victorian mansion. With fellow horror writers, push your work into the professional realm with tools that you'll carry into your writing in the years to come.

Note from Chris:

I recently put together this video showing a website update I did for one of my design clients, journalist Miranda Spivack, to better showcase her latest publication Backroom Deals in Our Backyards: How Government Secrecy Harms Our Communities—and the Local Heroes Fighting Back. I originally designed her website in Squarespace version 7.0 and we upgraded her to version 7.1. This behind-the-scenes look will demonstrate some of the excellent features you can get with Squarespace.

But before you watch, I wanted to let you know about a February offer.

Some mentors in the web design space have persuaded me that it’s time for my rates to better reflect the market, so while the cost of a standard website design will be going up, as a subscriber to this newsletter, you can schedule a website design to take place anytime in 2026 at the 2025 price (a $400 discount) before the end of February.

Get the Discount

Please feel free to visit my website for more information or email me at the button above with questions.

📚 Every other week, I’ll be making space for up to three online writing classes or programs (and the occasional retreat or conference). Learn more about getting your own classified ad. 📚

Atmo: A Literary Journal Call for Submissions

Atmo: A Literary Journal is a thoughtfully curated, limited-edition digital literary journal dedicated to the elevation and celebration of short-form writing. Designed with a discerning and thoughtful reader and writer in mind, Atmo: A Literary Journal serves as a vibrant platform for contemporary literary expression, bridging the aesthetic rigor of fine publishing with the intimacy of carefully selected prose and poetry.

In keeping with the journal’s limited-edition format, each issue is released with intention, designed not for mass consumption but for reflective engagement. We invite readers, educators, and creative practitioners to experience Atmo: A Literary Journal as both a literary artifact and a living document of voices shaping the future of short-form literature.

Wine Enthusiast Call for Pitches

At Wine Enthusiast, we’re enthusiastic about wine. Shocking, we know. But we’re also deeply committed to telling stories that span the beverage landscape, from spirits and cocktails to beer and beyond.

On Digital, we craft content that appeals to both the still-learning drinker and the seasoned aficionado. We cover basics, pop culture, travel, behind-the-bottle stories, industry news with takeaways for consumers, and more. Digital rates begin at $0.50/word. See our list of monthly themes and recurring series here.

In Print, we entertain and empower readers with a mix of reported features, travel stories, and recipes. We also publish wine and spirits recommendations, which are selected in-house. From freelancers, we’re looking for previously unreported, meaty stories that go untold in other media outlets, such as profiles of innovative winemakers and other industry pros, colorful peeks into subcultures, opinionated essays, and more. We’re drawn to pitches with compelling narratives and human-interest angles. Review the 2026 print issue themes here.

Version Originale Call for Submissions (“Hunger” – Deadline March 15)

Version Originale is now open for submissions for our fourth issue, with the theme of Hunger. As always, we welcome a wide range of interpretations of this theme, whether it’s a strictly food-driven approach or a more metaphorical desire. Let your creativity be your guide!

We’re looking for:

• Short stories

• Memoirs

• Literary essays

• Poems

Texts are accepted in English or French. The sporadic use of words or phrases in other languages is accepted. This issue is guest edited by Emily Monaco, a culinary journalist, professor of French food and culture, and food tour guide in Paris.

The Unter Agency Open for Queries

The Unter Agency is a full-service boutique agency specializing in quality fiction and nonfiction, with a particular interest in memoir, food/cooking, nature/environment, pop culture, travel/adventure, true crime, sports, politics and health/fitness. The Unter Agency also represents all types of children’s literature (picture books, middle grade and young adult).

Here’s a reminder of the deadlines coming up from previous posts. Hot tips:

• If you go into the archives and revisit posts from this time of year during previous years, you’ll find additional calls that are open annually.

• If you submit to any of the Submission Sunday calls and publish or win, let me know and I’ll broadcast your success in a future post.

2026 Harper’s Bazaar Short Story Competition (Deadline February 22)
The Faber Action! Prize (Deadline February 27)
Brink Literary Journal Award for Hybrid Writing 2026 (Deadline February 28)
The Edinburgh Writing Awards: Short Story, Novel, Young Adult Novel, and Essay (Deadline February 28)
Syncopation Literary Journal Call for Submissions (“Dreams & Fantasy” – Deadline March 5)
The Coachella Review Call for Submissions (Deadline March 7)
Stillhouse Press Call for Nonfiction Manuscripts (Deadline March 10)
The Other Almanac Call for Submissions (Deadline March 20)
Ploughshares Emerging Writers’ Contest (Deadline March 31)
The Masters Review Prize for New Narratives (Deadline March 31)
Redivider Call for Submissions (Opens January 1 through April 30)
Kweli Call for Submissions (Deadline May 30)
AGNI Call for Submissions (Deadline May 31)

*This newsletter does not guarantee the unimpeachable behavior of all venues shared here but the odds are good.

Share Submission Sunday

Happy Sunday, writers! I hope the words have been flowing and the submissions have been received with appreciation.

For our next links roundup, we’ve got thoughts on when to stop querying, scene shuffling, what writers do when they’re not writing, comps advice, query letter tips, expository asides, red flags for story submitting, a February website design discount, and more. Here we go.

Read more

Happy Sunday, writers! Thank you for subscribing. Every other Sunday, you’ll receive eight literary submission opportunities, varying in audience and genre, that have been selected for quality and relevance.

Submission Sunday relies on the support of paying subscribers. If you enjoy this newsletter, please consider an upgrade! I’m planning some additional online events available to paid subscribers as well as the usual benefits: craft essays by writers, interviews with published authors about their submission process, interviews with editors about what they’re looking for, round-ups of articles about submitting and writing in general, and full access to the archives.

Subscribe now

This edition of Submission Sunday has calls and contests from Ploughshares, The Coachella Review, The Rumpus, Brink Literary Journal, Faber Action! Prize, Syncopation Literary Journal, The Masters Review, and Writing Between the Vines. More details below.

Follow the Submission Sunday Instagram

Ploughshares Emerging Writers’ Contest (Deadline March 31)

Since 1971, Ploughshares has been committed to promoting the work of up-and-coming writers. In the spirit of the journal’s founding mission, the Ploughshares Emerging Writers’ Contest recognizes work by an emerging writer in each of three genres: fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. We consider authors “emerging” if they haven’t published or self-published a book in any of the contest genres.

One winner in each genre per year will receive $2,000 and publication in Ploughshares. The winners will also receive a conversation with our partnering literary agency, Aevitas Creative Management, regarding their work and writing careers. The 2026 contest judges are Crystal Hana Kim in fiction, T Bambrick in poetry, and Melissa Febos in nonfiction.

The Coachella Review Call for Submissions (Deadline March 7)

Welcome to The Coachella Review—a literary arts journal nestled in the Coachella Valley, but with an eye towards writers and readers around the globe. As a vibrant online multimedia magazine, TCR is free to all and aims to showcase the best of what is possible on the web, where visual and auditory arts can coexist with poetry and prose in lively ways that enrich the reader’s interaction with a magazine. Located close to Los Angeles, we also have a keen interest in screenplays and one-act plays, and a relationship with the Palm Springs International Film Festival. Basically, if you can imagine it and make it, we are probably interested in checking it out! Our only criteria is quality. Knock us over, because that’s why we’re here.

The Rumpus Call for Submissions

The Rumpus publishes original fiction, poetry, literary humor writing, comics, essays, book reviews, and interviews with authors and artists of all kinds. We publish new work five days a week. Our mostly volunteer-run magazine strives to be a platform for risk-taking voices and writing that might not find a home elsewhere. We lift up new voices alongside those of more established writers our readers may already know and love. We want to bring new perspectives into the conversation that will make us look deeper.

Over our 15 year history, the writing we’ve published has been nominated for and won many of the major literary awards and prizes including inclusion in numerous Best American anthologies, Best of the Net best of lists, the PEN Robert J. Dau Prize, the Pushcart Prize, and more. Frequently, work that debuts in the magazine ends up in anthologies and book collections of all sorts or becomes a part of an author’s first book. We are proud to help shape the work of thousands of authors throughout our existence and help them find their audience.

Brink Literary Journal Award for Hybrid Writing 2026 (Deadline February 28)

Brink is a non-profit independent publisher of hybrid writing. Through our publications, Brink Literary Journal and Brink Books, we create space in the literary world for hybrid, cross-genre, and unclassified works by emerging and established writers and artists. At Brink, we actively work to engage, promote, and expand the reach of voices from diverse groups and communities.

The contest is open to all writers and artists who identify their work as hybrid or cross-genre in nature. Hybrid writing often includes multiple mediums such as visual and written elements that together accomplish a result impossible to achieve alone. Text-based hybrid writing harnesses form and content in singular ways to create dynamic work primed to offer new perspectives, voices, and ideas. Hybrid writing is not experimental or ekphrastic. Instead, it is a style that prioritizes the combination of multiple literary and artistic elements to produce a readable, engaging piece of work.

📚 Every other week, I’ll be making space for up to three online writing classes or programs (and the occasional retreat or conference). Learn more about getting your own classified ad. 📚

The Faber Action! Prize (Deadline February 27)

In 2024, Faber launched the Action! Prize with Film & TV Producer Eddie Gamarra in direct response to research from the National Literacy Trust that revealed children’s reading enjoyment was at its lowest level in almost two decades.

The prize is open to writers in the UK, Ireland, US and now Canada, calling for fast-paced and filmic stories in one of three categories: YOUNG FICTION for 6-8 years (such as Dave Pigeon), GRAPHIC NOVELS for 6-14 years (such as Peng & Spanners) and ACTION ADVENTURE for 9-12 years (such as Alex Rider and the Gone series). The winner will receive a publishing offer, and Faber will consider offering publishing deals to runners up, depending on the submissions.

Syncopation Literary Journal Call for Submissions (“Dreams & Fantasy” – Deadline March 5)

Syncopation Literary Journal seeks to amalgamate the realms of music and literature. Syncopation is a free online, open-access journal. We are currently seeking poetry, short stories, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction for Volume 5, Issue 2, to be published on the website in June 2026.

The theme of Volume 5, Issue 2 is Dreams & Fantasy. Music has the power to stir our emotions more than any other medium. Music may be tied to our hopes and aspirations. It can also take us to worlds beyond our imaginations. Syncopation wants your music-themed poetry and prose that relates to dreams, phantasmagoria, and/or to the genre of fantasy.

The Masters Review Prize for New Narratives (Deadline March 31)

For writers who challenge convention, The Masters Review Prize for New Narratives is calling. With this contest, The Masters Review will celebrate stories that push boundaries and subvert expectations, that experiment with form, voice, and point-of-view, that demonstrate an innovative approach to storytelling. We are not looking for the traditional or the conventional. Instead, we want to read your metafiction, your fragmented narratives, your stories in second person, your nonlinear essays. The Masters Review Prize for New Narratives will make space for narratives that may not find a home in other journals. Whatever your story, we want to see it in its most daring and authentic form.

Three finalists will be chosen by Charles Yu, author of Interior Chinatown, winner of the National Book Award for Fiction. The grand-prize winner will earn a $3,000 prize along with publication and a two-year subscription to Duotrope. Second- and third-place finalists will receive $300 and $200 respectively, along with publication.

Writing Between the Vines Vineyard Retreats for Writers (Sonoma County, California – Deadline February 11)

Writing Between the Vines offers writers a space to work, a place to create, surrounded by the beauty and majesty of vineyards. Funded through application fees and in partnership with wineries, Writing Between the Vines provides writers the time to focus on works in progress or cultivate new ideas in residencies of up to one week in length at no charge.

Here’s a reminder of the deadlines coming up from previous posts. Hot tips:

• If you go into the archives and revisit posts from this time of year during previous years, you’ll find additional calls that are open annually.

• If you submit to any of the Submission Sunday calls and publish or win, let me know and I’ll broadcast your success in a future post.

Palette Poetry 2025-26 Rejected Poetry Prize (Deadline February 9)
The Tin House Summer Writers Workshop Is Back as the MWC Oregon Summer Workshop (Portland, Oregon – Deadline February 9)
The Journal Call for Submissions (Deadline February 15)
2026 Harper’s Bazaar Short Story Competition (Deadline February 22)
The Edinburgh Writing Awards: Short Story, Novel, Young Adult Novel, and Essay (Deadline February 28)
Stillhouse Press Call for Nonfiction Manuscripts (Deadline March 10)
The Other Almanac Call for Submissions (Deadline March 20)
Redivider Call for Submissions (Opens January 1 through April 30)
Kweli Call for Submissions (Deadline May 30)
AGNI Call for Submissions (Deadline May 31)

*This newsletter does not guarantee the unimpeachable behavior of all venues shared here but the odds are good.

Share Submission Sunday

When I first posted this overview, I had a coaching client who was interested in publishing a short story collection, and I thought I would put together some of the thoughts I had in preparation for our conversation. If you want to publish a short story collection, what are some questions you should ask yourself? What are some steps you should take?

Read more

Happy Sunday, writers! Thank you for subscribing. Every other Sunday, you’ll receive eight literary submission opportunities, varying in audience and genre, that have been selected for quality and relevance.

Submission Sunday relies on the support of paying subscribers. If you enjoy this newsletter, please consider an upgrade! I’m planning some additional online events available to paid subscribers as well as the usual benefits: craft essays by writers, interviews with published authors about their submission process, interviews with editors about what they’re looking for, round-ups of articles about submitting and writing in general, and full access to the archives.

Subscribe now

This edition of Submission Sunday has calls and contests from Harper’s Bazaar, PEN Emerging Voices, Lullaby Machine, Made in L.A. Writers, Fodor’s, Spellbinder Magazine, The Fiction Desk/Uncertain Stories, and the McCormack Writing Center. More details below.

Follow the Submission Sunday Instagram

2026 Harper’s Bazaar Short Story Competition (Deadline February 22)

The author Ali Smith once said: “With the short story, you are up against mortality. I know how tough they are, but they’re also a total joy.” This year, we are inviting published and non-published writers to tackle this most challenging of forms with the launch of our annual short-story competition, previously won by acclaimed novelists including by the acclaimed novelists Kaliane Bradley and Daisy Johnson.

Entrants should submit an original story of up to 2,000 words to shortstory@harpersbazaar.co.uk on the theme of “The conversation” by midnight on 22 February. The star entry will be chosen by a judging panel comprising the author Ruth Ozeki, the Fourth Estate editor Michelle Kane and the literary super-agent Caroline Michel, who join Bazaar’s editor-in-chief Lydia Slater, features director Helena Lee and literary editor Erica Wagner. The winner will receive a stay at the iconic Art Deco hotel Burgh Island in Devon—the setting that inspired Agatha Christie’s 1939 crime caper And Then There Were None—and the chance to have their story published in the magazine.

PEN Emerging Voices Fellowship (Deadline February 2)

The Emerging Voices Fellowship provides a virtual five-month immersive mentorship program for early-career writers from communities that are traditionally underrepresented in the publishing world. The program is committed to cultivating the careers of Black writers, and serves writers who identify as Indigenous, persons of color, LGBTQ+, immigrants, writers with disabilities, and those living outside of urban centers. Through curated one-on-one mentorship and introductions to editors, agents, and publishers, in addition to workshops on editing, marketing, and creating a platform, the five-month fellowship nurtures creative community, provides a professional skill-set, and demystifies the path to publication—with the ultimate goal of diversifying the publishing and media industries.

Lullaby Machine Call for Recorded Lullabies

Lullaby Machine is a digital rest-stop dedicated to sharing lullabies in a world where it can be hard to fall asleep. Growing from the idea of lullabies as portals into dream and potential tools for collective care, the site hosts a library of .mp3 lullabies and an e-magazine featuring meditations on lullaby, rest, dreams, grief, capitalism, ecology, and the internet.

We are currently accepting submissions of .mp3/.m4a lullabies on a rolling basis. We like to think of “the lullaby” as a form with an expansive and subjective definition. We are excited about contributions that span languages, geographies, genres, and production methods. A recorded soundscape, a rendition of a folk song, and an abstract collage of sound, for example, are all equally welcome.

Made in L.A. Writers Call for Anthology Submissions

The Made in L.A. indie author co-op is a Los Angeles-based group of writers dedicated to the support and appreciation of independent authors. We publish work by new, emerging, and established writers, including those who have been underrepresented or historically misrepresented, with a preference for writers who currently live in and around Los Angeles. Previously published and unpublished fiction will both be considered. Submissions are free.

Made in L.A. Writers is accepting submissions for future volumes of short stories. We seek stories that evoke nuanced feelings and leave a lasting impression. We want to meet vibrant characters, hear their distinct voices, and—as always—see the action unfold in a strong Los Angeles setting. To date, our novel-length anthologies, published roughly every two years, have featured stories in a range of genres around loosely defined themes. Going forward, we’re also exploring more frequent publication of shorter, more tightly focused, genre-specific volumes.

Gift of Deep Song: A Short Course on the Poetry of Federico Garcia Lorca (Tuesdays, March 10–April 7)

Federico Garcia Lorca (1898-1936) is a touchstone of 20th century poetry. His concepts of duende and deep song, and his theories about imagination and creativity and poetry…have had an immense and lasting influence on poets around the world. In this short course with Victoria Chang and Matthew Zapruder, we will combat indifference, by engaging energetically with Lorca’s poetry and prose.

📚 Every other week, I’ll be making space for up to three online writing classes or programs (and the occasional retreat or conference). Learn more about getting your own classified ad. 📚

Fodor’s Call for Pitches

Fodor’s tells travel stories that excite, inspire, and make our readers want to get out there. Whether you’re planning a trip, want to know more about the world around you, or just craving a little adventure from the comfort of your couch, we’re the go-to destination for unique, timely, and global travel writing.

Fodor’s is always looking for stories to publish! And we rely on an amazing team of freelance writers to connect our readership with the world. But we’re also always looking for new writers—so if you haven’t written for us before, we invite you to pitch.

Some general things to consider: There are no destinations that are off limits, no topics we will not consider, and no specific way a story must be told. However, we want to be fascinated and inspired, learn something we didn’t already know, and find ourselves riveted by your writing and angle.

Spellbinder Magazine Call for Submissions (Deadline February 1)

Spellbinder is an independent, self-sustained quarterly literary and art magazine that celebrates and provides a platform for artists, dramatists, poets, and writers of both fiction and nonfiction.

Spellbinder was founded in 2020 by a group of students in Durham, England. Since then, our team has grown to include editors from around the world, all generously contributing their time to maintain this literary and artistic platform.

The Fiction Desk/Uncertain Stories Call for Ghost Stories (Deadline January 30)

We’re changing the rules a little for the 2025-2026 edition of our annual ghost story call. In the past, we’ve used the term “ghost story” loosely, the way a well-meaning aunt might use it when shopping for a Christmas present in a bookshop: as a catch-all term for any kind of supernatural, strange, or weird fiction.

This year, we’d really like you to send in stories specifically featuring ghosts. That is, the unquiet spirit of a dead person (or animal). Other than that, feel free to experiment.

The Tin House Summer Writers Workshop Is Back as the MWC Oregon Summer Workshop (Portland, Oregon – Deadline February 9)

The McCormack Writing Center Oregon Summer Workshop is a weeklong intensive featuring curated workshops, one-on-one meetings with faculty, craft lectures, author conversations, generative exercises, affinity group meetings, and student/faculty readings. There will be plenty of opportunities for mingling, happy hours, and, of course, our world-famous karaoke.

The Workshop will take place at Reed College, located on 100 acres of rolling lawns, winding lanes, and magnificent old trees in southeast Portland, Oregon, just minutes from downtown and twelve miles from the airport.

Here’s a reminder of the deadlines coming up from previous posts. Hot tips:

• If you go into the archives and revisit posts from this time of year during previous years, you’ll find additional calls that are open annually.

• If you submit to any of the Submission Sunday calls and publish or win, let me know and I’ll broadcast your success in a future post.

Salt Hill Call for Submissions (Deadline January 31)
Ink in Thirds Call for Submissions (Deadline January 31)
The Bombay Literary Magazine Call for Submissions (Deadline January 31)
Elegant Literature Call for Submissions (“Ink & Iron” – Deadline January 31)
César Egido Serrano Foundation VIII International Microfiction Contest (Deadline January 31)
The Masters Review Winter Short Story Award for New Writers (Deadline February 1)
Palette Poetry 2025-26 Rejected Poetry Prize (Deadline February 9)
The Journal Call for Submissions (Deadline February 15)
The Edinburgh Writing Awards: Short Story, Novel, Young Adult Novel, and Essay (Deadline February 28)
Stillhouse Press Call for Nonfiction Manuscripts (Deadline March 10)
The Other Almanac Call for Submissions (Deadline March 20)
Redivider Call for Submissions (Opens January 1 through April 30)
Kweli Call for Submissions (Deadline May 30)
AGNI Call for Submissions (Deadline May 31)

*This newsletter does not guarantee the unimpeachable behavior of all venues shared here but the odds are good.

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