2026 FAWC SUMMER WORKSHOP SCHOLARSHIPS
The Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture (MOAC) / City of Boston / Fine Arts Work Center (FAWC)
DEADLINE: February 2, 2026 at 8:00pm
INFO: The Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture (MOAC), City of Boston, in partnership with the Fine Arts Work Center (FAWC), is excited to announce the 2026 FAWC Summer Workshop Scholarships opportunity for emerging poets who live and/or work in Boston to participate in FAWC’s 2026 Summer Workshop Program.
The Fine Arts Work Center (FAWC) in Provincetown is a leading residency program for emerging writers and artists, known for its fellowships and summer workshops. In partnership with the Mayor’s Office of Arts & Culture, FAWC is offering Boston’s emerging poets the opportunity to attend a summer workshop of their choice, expanding access to creative learning and supporting the next generation of Boston poets.
SCHOLARSHIP DETAILS:
Number of Scholarships: 6 total
Coverage: Full tuition, housing, and a $500 travel/food stipend
Writers will spend one week in Provincetown, Massachusetts writing and studying under a poet or writer of their choice
Workshop Selection: Recipients will attend one workshop, selected from their top five choices. FAWC's online catalog will be available to view current class descriptions, in late January 2026, you can go here to view past workshops.
ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA:
Artists must have lived or worked in the city of Boston for at least the last two years.
Emerging writers must be between the ages of 18 and 35 or, if older than 35, have published no more than one book. (If you self-published a book, you are eligible).
Individuals impacted by long-standing systemic inequities are strongly encouraged to apply.
APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS:
Please see below for a detailed overview of the application questions. All applicants must submit their application via submittable unless alternative arrangements have been made for accommodations.
Personal Contact Information
Background and Experience
Creative Submission
Programmatic Questions
Demographic information
SELECTION PROCESS:
Selection Facilitator: Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture (MOAC), City of Boston Poet Laureate Emmanuel Oppong-Yeboah, and 2 professionals from the literary community
Final Selection: Applications will be reviewed and scored by literary professionals who will score all applications and determine the strongest candidates to move forward for this round. There will be six poets total to receive this grant from City of Boston Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture for Summer 2026
KEY DATES:
Application Deadline: February 2, 2026 at 8 p.m.
Notification of Scholarship: March 1, 2026
Workshop Assignment Notification: Early April 2026
RESPONSIBILITIES OF RECIPIENTS:
Arrange personal travel to the workshop
Cover any travel/food expenses exceeding the $500 stipend
Relevant communication with the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture and the Fine Arts Work Center
APPLY NOW:
To apply to the FAWC Summer Workshop Scholarship, please complete the application via submittablebelow. If you do not already have a submittable account, you will be prompted to create one in order to fill out your application.
For any questions regarding the scholarship or application process, please reach out to Tom Johnston at thomas.johnston@boston.gov.
ACCOMODATIONS:
MOAC is committed to providing an inclusive and accessible experience. If you require accommodations to complete the application process or participate in the program, please contact Tom Johnston at thomas.johnston@boston.gov as soon as possible. We are happy to discuss your needs and make the necessary arrangements.
cityofbostonartsandculture.submittable.com/submit/344162/fawc-moac-scholarship-2026
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2026 CANTOMUNDO RETREAT
CantoMundo
DEADLINE: February 6, 2026
INFO: CantoMundo is dedicated to serving Latinx poets and poetry across regional, aesthetic, ethnic, racial (e.g. Afro-Latinx/Caribbean/Indigenous) linguistic, generational, and LGBTQIA+ spectrums. Our work is motivated by the understanding that Latinx voices, despite historic silencing, have always resounded within the chorus of American poetry.
CantoMundo hosts in-person and online workshops, readings, lectures, and professional development opportunities for Latinx poets.
Our primary annual event is a 4-day poetry retreat for Latinx poets that provides a space for the creation, documentation, and celebration of Latinx poetry. CantoMundo aims to bring various latinidades into conversation with each other; these represent diverse poetic styles and heritages in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and indigenous languages. Over the course of the retreat, CantoMundo fellows have the opportunity to take poetry workshops from established Latinx poets and to participate in public readings, panel discussions, and informal conversations. Poetry is not critiqued at the CantoMundo retreat workshops. The workshops are generative and accepted fellows participate in two workshops, one with each faculty member.
Past retreats have been held in Albuquerque NM, Austin TX, New York NY, Tucson AZ, and Tempe AZ.
EXPENSES: Fellows accepted to CantoMundo cover their travel and housing during the four-day retreat. We aim to reserve rooms that are affordable and accessible to all abilities, and we provide most meals. If travel and housing is cost prohibitive for you, fellows may apply for a travel scholarship.
hfr.submittable.com/submit/344163/2026-cantomundo-retreat-application
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call for poetry
The Offing
DEADLINE: February 8, 2026
INFO: One to five poems of any form and length. Please submit multiple poems in a single document, and use page breaks or titles to indicate where one poem ends and the next begins. Total page count should not exceed 10 pages.
Submissions will close once we receive 400 submissions.
theoffingmag.submittable.com/submit
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call for applications: Fall 2026 / Winter 2027 residencies
MacDowell
DEADLINE: February 10, 2026
INFO: MacDowell offers residencies at no cost to artists and provides need-based stipends to help cover expenses incurred during the residency, including rent, utilities, childcare, and lost income. Travel reimbursements are also available.
We welcome applications from artists of all backgrounds and nationalities in the following disciplines: architecture, film/video arts, interdisciplinary arts, literature, music composition, theatre, and visual arts.
macdowell.org/apply/apply-for-fellowship
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call for submissions: Callaloo 44.4: Southern Voices
Callaloo
DEADLINE: February 14, 2026
INFO: Callaloo seeks submissions for a special issue to commemorate the journal’s 50th anniversary. In 1976, Callaloo was founded to create a space for writers from the US South whose voices had been overlooked or excluded from mainstream American literature.
The issue, guest edited by our co-editor for Poetry Tyree Daye, will feature pieces by Southern writers or those living in, working in, or observing the South from another regional vantage point. We seek poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, scholarly articles, book reviews, interviews, and artwork for a survey of the contemporary arts and letters landscape in the South.
GUIDELINES: All manuscripts must be double spaced (except poetry) and submitted only as a Word document (.doc or .docx). We suggest that prose manuscripts not exceed 6,000 words (excluding the abstract and references in the case of scholarly articles), although we will consider submissions of up to 10,000 words if the piece truly merits the length. All manuscripts should follow the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing (3rd edition) and include a works cited and endnotes, not footnotes. Callaloo's Style Guidelines can be downloaded here.
IMPORTANT NOTE: All submissions made to the journal are considered final drafts. In order to honor our publisher's production schedule, manuscripts accepted for publication in Callaloo must be forwarded to our Production Editor immediately, allowing contributors no time to make revisions. Before submitting your work, please be sure that the manuscript being uploaded is the version you wish to ultimately see in print.
Poetry submissions are limited to no more than six poems at a time (all in a single document) with a maximum of twelve poems by an author per calendar year. Additional poems (unless requested by an editor) will automatically be declined.
Prose submissions are limited to one manuscript per submission with a maximum of three submissions by an author each calendar year. Additional prose submissions (unless requested by an editor) will automatically be declined.
Artwork must include the following information: title of piece, year created, media, dimensions (in inches), location of the piece.
We do not accept any unsolicited material that has been previously published.
Please do not send revisions during the time your manuscript is being reviewed; those revisions will not be considered during the review process.
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The Kathryn A. Morton Prize in Poetry
Sarabande Books
DEADLINE: February 15, 2026
SUBMISSION FEE: $34
INFO: The Kathryn A. Morton Prize in Poetry is awarded annually to one full-length manuscript of poetry. The prize includes $2,000, publication of a the work, a standard royalty contract, and an introduction written by the guest judge. Kathryn A. Morton was an author and devotee of fine literature, especially poetry.
ELIGIBILITY: This contest is open to any poet writing in English. Employees and board members of Sarabande are not eligible. Agented manuscripts are not eligible. Individual poems from the manuscript may have been published previously in magazines, chapbooks of less than 48 pages, or anthologies, but the collection as a whole must be unpublished. Translations and previously published collections are not eligible. To avoid conflict of interest, close friends of a judge or current students in a degree-granting program with a judge are not eligible.
2026 JUDGE: Adrian Matejka
SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS:
Manuscript must be anonymous
Manuscript must be typed, standard font, 12 pt.
Minimum length 48 pages
Manuscript must be paginated consecutively with a table of contents
Cover letter or manuscript should include acknowledgements list (a list of publications in which poems in the manuscript have appeared)
Multiple submissions are permitted if submitted separately, each with a submission fee. Simultaneous submissions to other publishers are permitted, but please withdraw the submission if accepted elsewhere.
Sarabande Books considers all finalists for publication.
sarabandebooks.submittable.com/submit
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INAUGURAL PSA SUMMER FELLOWSHIP
Poetry Society of America
DEADLINE: February 15, 2026
INFO: Beginning January 1, 2026, poets are invited to apply to the Poetry Society of America’s inaugural Summer Fellowship session.
The Summer Fellowship, offered free of charge, provides an opportunity for twelve emerging poets to participate in a week-long, intensive writing workshop led by Lynn Melnick at the Poetry Society of America’s headquarters in Brooklyn, New York, from June 22 to June 27, 2026. This Fellowship is open to all poets 18 years of age or older writing primarily in English.
Daily workshop sessions will be supplemented by class visits from prominent poets and editors of New York–based literary magazines, as well as optional field trips. From roughly 11:30–5:00 p.m. for the duration of the Fellowship, Fellows can expect to be occupied with discussing the craft and profession of poetry in a group setting.
During the Fellowship period, Fellows will have access to the Poetry Society of America’s library, office, and back garden to read, write, and convene. The Fellowship will conclude with a garden party at the Poetry Society of America with readings, snacks, and drinks.
Fellows will have the option to join a listserv to remain in contact with other Fellows during and after the workshop.
WHERE: Poetry Society of America, 119 Smith Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201
WHEN: June 22 to June 27
HOW TO APPLY:
Applications will be accepted via Submittable.
Applications consist of a short manuscript of poems (10 pages of poetry) and a cover letter (1 page).
The application window is January 1 to February 15. Accepted students will be notified by April 1.
YOUR APPLICATION SHOULD:
A formal cover letter (one page) addressed to the workshop leader summarizing your background, accomplishments, and reason(s) for applying to the Fellowship.
Up to ten pages of original poetry. You must be the sole author of the work you submit. Work made with the assistance of AI or AI tools may not be submitted. You may apply with poems that have been previously published or are forthcoming in journals or chapbooks (please indicate where published poems have appeared). If you are submitting multiple poems, each poem should begin on a new page.
ABOUT LYNN MELNICK: Lynn Melnick is the author of three poetry collections, including, most recently, Refusenik, winner of the Julie Suk award, and a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award. She is also the author of the memoir, I've Had to Think Up a Way to Survive: On Trauma, Persistence, and Dolly Parton, most recently out in paperback with Spiegel & Grau. Her poems have appeared in The New Yorker, Poetry, American Poetry Review, New Republic, and A Public Space. She teaches at Princeton University and Columbia University, and lives in Brooklyn with her family. You can find her online at www.lynnmelnick.com.
poetrysociety.org/about/news/summer-fellowship-26
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Undocupoets Fellowship
Undocupoets
DEADLINE: February 15, 2026 at 11:59pm EDT
INFO: The annual Undocupoets Fellowship grants three unrestricted $500 fellowships to poets who are currently or who were formerly undocumented in the United States.
Fellows also receive a scholarship from the Fine Arts Work Center to attend the 2026 Summer Workshop Program in Provincetown, MA. The scholarship covers the cost of tuition and housing for a one-week residency, as well as a $500 stipend to help cover transportation and food costs. Selected Fellows are not required to attend and this will not impact final decisions.
Honoring our foundational, five-year partnership with Sibling Rivalry Press, Undocupoets remains committed to reserving at least one of the fellowships to LGBTQ poets who are currently or who were formerly undocumented in the United States.
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2026 Furious Flower Poetry Prize
Furious Flower Poetry Center at James Madison University
DEADLINE: February 15, 2026 at 11:59pm
SUBMISSION FEE: $20
INFO: The Furious Flower Poetry Center at James Madison University, the nation’s first academic center devoted to Black poetry, offers a $1,500 prize for a group of three poems through its annual prize. The Furious Flower Poetry Center is committed to ensuring the visibility, inclusion, and critical consideration of Black poetry in American letters and across the full range of educational curricula. Through programs, publications, and productions, the Center celebrates Black poetry's rich global and national traditions, exposes and educates audiences about its historical and contemporary impact, and preserves its powerful legacy for future generations. We welcome submissions in conversation with the Center’s mission. Poets with no more than one published book are invited to submit up to three poems for consideration.
PRIZES:
Winner: $1,500
Honorable mention: $750
Both the winner and honorable mention will be invited to read as part of the Furious Flower Poetry Reading Series in September 2026. The winner, honorable mention, and select finalists will also be published in Obsidian.
2026 JUDGE:
Major Jackson is the author of six books of poetry, including Razzle Dazzle: New & Selected Poems (2023), The Absurd Man (2020), Roll Deep (2015), Holding Company (2010), Hoops (2006) and Leaving Saturn (2002), which won the Cave Canem Poetry Prize for a first book of poems. His edited volumes include: Best American Poetry 2019, Renga for Obama, and Library of America’s Countee Cullen: Collected Poems. He is also the author of A Beat Beyond: The Selected Prose of Major Jackson, edited by Amor Kohli. A recipient of fellowships from the Academy of American Poets, Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, John S. Guggenheim Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, Major Jackson has been awarded a Pushcart Prize, a Whiting Writers’ Award, and has been honored by the Pew Fellowship in the Arts and the Witter Bynner Foundation in conjunction with the Library of Congress. He has published poems and essays in American Poetry Review, The New Yorker, Orion Magazine, Paris Review, Ploughshares, Poetry, Poetry London,and World Literature Today. Major Jackson lives in Nashville, Tennessee, where he is the Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Chair in the Humanities at Vanderbilt University. He is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and serves as the Poetry Editor of The Harvard Review.
Submissions are read blind, and the judge will not see any identifying information.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
Submit up to 3 poems that do NOT exceed 6 total pages. Please put all poems in a single PDF document.
Upload all work through our submission manager in a PDF file format only.
No previously published work will be accepted.
Simultaneous submissions are welcome. If your work is accepted elsewhere, please withdraw your submission, send us a note on Submittable, or notify us immediately by emailing us at furiousflower@jmu.edu.
Please do not put your name in the poems, in the submission, or in the file name. We read these submissions blind. Failure to comply will result in disqualification from the prize.
ELIGIBILITY RULES:
Authors with more than one published or self-published book are not eligible. This does NOT include chapbooks; this rule is only relevant to full-length collections.
Winner and honorable mention must be available to read at the Poetry Prize Reading in September.
You may only submit one submission entry up to three poems that do NOT exceed six total pages. Multiple submission entries will disqualify you.
Please note: Current JMU employees and students are not eligible for this prize.
Previous winners are not eligible for the prize. (Honorable mentions and finalists are eligible)
Submission fees are non-refundable.
furiousflowerpoetry.submittable.com/submit
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call for submissions: ‘Awakening’
Prarie Schooner
DEADLINE: February 15, 2026 (or until submission caps are met)
INFO: The Spring 2027 issue will mark the 100th anniversary of the first issue of Prairie Schooner, so we are seeking work on the theme of Awakening. Awakening, awareness, revival, rebirth. Our centenary coincides with overwhelming challenges to our freedoms, our cultures, our progress, our expression, and the next 100 years will be informed by the wisdom and invention of writers and thinkers, by strong voices, creative vision. We seek inspiring work that will carry us forward, or reflect on the past, work that will pose questions, or suggest answers. We want work that will invigorate with new understanding or break our hearts with it—all with insight and perspective, whether lyric or bold, quiet or insistent.
GUIDELINES:
Fiction - Send one story at a time. Stories should be double-spaced and formatted using a standard font.
Poetry - Send a single document containing up to 7 poems.
Essay - Send one essay at a time. Essays should be double-spaced and formatted using a standard font.
We're interested in reading imaginative essays of general interest. Scholarly articles requiring footnote references should be submitted to journals of literary scholarship.
prairieschooner.submittable.com/submit
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James Welch Prize
Poetry Northwest
DEADLINE: February 15, 2026
SUBMISSION FEE: $0
INFO: Poetry Northwest’s James Welch Prize is awarded for two outstanding poems, each written by an Indigenous U.S. poet. The prize is named for Blackfeet and Gros Ventre writer James Welch, whose early poems were featured in Poetry Northwest and who went on to become one of the region’s most important writers.
ELIGIBILITY: The prize is open to emerging poets who are community-recognized members of tribal nations within the United States and its trust territories (including American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, Chamorros, and American Samoans). Only poets who have not published more than one book-length literary work in any genre are eligible; however, previous publication is not a requirement. Eligible contestants must be community-recognized members of their tribal nation and over the age of 18. Formal tribal enrollment is not the only way of acknowledging belonging, and this prize aims to recognize all Native writers who are in community. Previous first place winners of this prize are not eligible, but previous finalists are welcome to submit work.
HOW TO SUBMIT: Each entrant may submit up to three poems in a single submission. Please submit only once. Each poem must be under three pages in length.
Submissions must include a cover letter with any tribal affiliation(s) and ties (official enrollment is not necessary) as well as a brief biography. However, please do not include any personal information (name, mailing address, etc.) on the poems themselves. All entries will be screened by writers and editors from In-Na-Po (Indigenous Nations Poets). All identifying information will be removed from the submissions before each round of judging, and entries will be read blind at each stage of the judging process.
Entries must be previously unpublished. We accept simultaneous submissions. You may withdraw your submission at any time via Submittable.
General submission guidelines can be found here.
poetrynw.org/about/james-welch-prize
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CLBS Indigenous Writer in Residence program
Cranberry Lake Biological Station
DEADLINE: February 15, 2026
APPLICATION FEE: $0
INFO: The CLBS Indigenous Writer in Residence program began in 2022. Its creation was spurred by the work of Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer who has and continues to draw inspiration from and write at Cranberry Lake Biological Station. The residency seeks to provide Indigenous writers with the space, time, and place to explore their creative endeavors.
THE RESIDENCY:
Cranberry Lake Biological Station is located in the heart of the Adirondack Park, on the ancestral lands of the Mohawk Nation of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and has been in use as a living classroom for 105 years. CLBS provides seclusion for research, teaching, contemplation, and creative endeavors.
The residency consists of three, three-week residency slots are: May 24– June 12, June 14 – July 3, July 19- August 7. Housing, a private room with shared living space, three meals a day are provided at the station dining hall, and a workspace will be provided. The resident will also have access to all facilities including canoes, classroom spaces, microscopes, and the ability to join classes if desired. Additional needs and requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
ELIGIBILITY: The residency is open to Indigenous writers over 21 years of age who write poetry, plays/screenplays, fiction/short stories, and/or nonfiction.
FUNDING: The residency is fully subsidized and provides housing, food, and workspace space at no cost. In addition, the selected artist will receive a stipend/travel allowance of $1,000.
EXPECTATIONS: It is expected that each resident will offer two evening readings/discussion during the residency, one for students at the station and one for local residents, these programs will be planned in conjunction with CLBS staff. In the fall writers are asked to participate either virtually or in person in an event on the SUNY ESF main campus in Syracuse, NY alongside the other residents. Past residents are also asked to serve on the selection committee for the next year.
SUPPORT: The residency is funded jointly by the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment and Cranberry Lake Biological Station
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call for nyc poets: issue 35: ‘neighbors’
No, Dear
DEADLINE: February 15, 2026
INFO: Calling at NYC poets! No, Dear is seeking poetry for their next issue “Neighbors.’
No, Dear comes out each fall and spring, accompanied by issue release readings for the featured poets.
GUIDELINES:
Send up to 3 pages of poems as a docx to nodearmagazine@gmail.com (One poem max per page; If you have formatting needs that require a pdf, please send a pdf & a docx).
We encourage poets for whom this will be your first publication to submit. Please let us know if this would be your first publication.
Include your neighborhood in your cover letter.
If you’re open to revision suggestions, let us know. Every once in a while, we love a poem and have a thought about how it could be stronger in the context of the issue.
NYC poets only!
nodearmagazine.com/submissions
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call for submissions: spring 2026 Issue
Raat Ki Rani
DEADLINE: February 15, 2026
SUBMISSION FEE: $0
INFO: Raat Ki Rani publishes poetry, short stories, personal essays, screenplays, photography, and experimental work. We aim to uplift South Asian voices, queer voices, female voices, and voices from other marginalized communities, while remaining open to all writers and artists.
SPRING 2026 THEME: Pressed Petals (open to interpretation)
SUBMISSION:
We accept original, unpublished work. If your piece has appeared on a personal blog or a social page, that is completely fine. We simply ask that it has not been formally published elsewhere.
You are welcome to submit to multiple categories, but please only submit once per category.
Poetry: 1–2 poems, max 5 pages total
Screenplay: Short film or mini-series pilot, max 15 pages
Short Story: 500–2,500 words
Personal Essay: 500–1,500 words + 3–5 images
Photography: 4–10 images + 200–500 word summary and/or 1-2 sentence captions
Other: We're open to new categories! Do you have a comic you've been working on? A completed short film you'd like to share? Do you have a scrapbook the world needs to see? You're welcome to submit!
RIGHTS: Once we publish your work, all rights remain with you. You are free to share or republish it anywhere else at any time.
PAYMENT: We are a reader-funded magazine offering $10 per accepted submission. As we grow, we hope to increase our rates. If your piece is selected for publication, we will contact you to arrange payment via your preferred method.
DONATE: Raat Ki Rani is fueled by community support. If you'd like to help us keep the magazine blooming, you can make an optional donation below. Thank you for supporting independent art!
EXPECTED RESPONSE TIME: 4-6 weeks
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc9PrDym5qWhx9CS65FEszeE2u2VK1ORlc5PBHIubYSjEJZQQ/viewform
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2026 Spring Artist in Residence Application
Creekside Arts (Freshwater, CA)
DEADLINE: February 15, 2026
INFO: At Creekside Arts, our mission is to create a dynamic and collaborative space where artists push the boundaries of their creative pursuits and engage deeply with one another and their audiences through residencies, workshops, and performances. We are seeking residency artists with an artistic project that focuses on land, place, nature, community and with a political/social consciousness.
We are committed to fostering an environment of mutual inspiration, where artists pursue bold experimentation and learn from and inspire their peers. Committed to, and actively working towards equity, we welcome diverse voices and perspectives, inviting artists from all cultures, backgrounds, and experiences to enrich our community. We welcome artists from a wide range of creative disciplines.
Creekside Arts residencies offers an inspiring rural, natural setting among Northern California's coastal redwoods, providing a unique opportunity to reflect, create, and explore away from the hectic demands of daily life, and an ideal environment for individual and collaborative artistic work and expression. Through this collective creative energy, we aim to make a lasting impact on both the artistic landscape and the broader Humboldt community.
Please visit creeksidearts.org for more information about Creekside Arts and our residency programs.
IMPORTANT DATES:
Artists Arrive: 5/22/26 - 5/23/26
Residency Begins: 5/24/26
Residency Ends: 6/14/26
Artists Depart: 6/15/26 - 6/16/25
MEDIUMS / DISCIPLINES:
Visual
Literary
Researcher
Performer
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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: POETRY, FICTION, CREATIVE NONFICTION
steel wool magazine
DEADLINE: February 16, 2026
INFO: steel wool magazine is an independent, artist-run literary publication for the drifters and musers – for those suspended in space and stillness, who invite friction and interrogate what’s given. steel wool reaches wildly for the ether while digging its heels deep into Earth’s molten core. we seek to platform voices and stories that might not otherwise be heard, with particular attention to writers of color, women and others navigating the margins of literary culture. we solicit familiar obscurity and abstract mundanity. based in Los Angeles’ South Bay and founded by a young Black woman, steel wool mag is a new press seeking innovation.
GUIDELINES: writers may submit one piece per category (poetry, fiction, or nonfiction) during the submission period. we also welcome pieces that push the bounds of genre. please do not submit multiple pieces in the same category for this issue.
short fiction (up to 3,500 words)
poetry (up to 3 poems with a soft cap of ~6 pages total)
creative nonfiction (up to 3,500 words)
we ask that all submissions be previously unpublished.
simultaneous submissions are welcome. if your work is accepted elsewhere, please notify us promptly so we can withdraw it from consideration.
RESPONSE TIME: we aim to respond to all submissions within 6-8 weeks of the submission deadline.
COMPENSATION: steel wool mag is an independent, artist-run publication in its first issue. contributors whose work is selected for issue 00 will receive a $25 honorarium, along with two complimentary copies of the print zine. we value transparency and care deeply about the labor of writers, and we hope to grow toward increased compensation in future issues.
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THE WITCHES & WARRIORS RETREAT
Brew + Forge
DEADLINE: February 19, 2026 at 11:59 pm EST
INFO: The Witches & Warriors Retreat is a program for BIPOC poets and movement workers to learn, write, and dream together.
Bringing together the radical creativity of poets with the audacity and expertise of activists, this biennial retreat gathers poets and activists/organizers from across the Northeast and Mid Atlantic regions of Turtle Island. Activities include workshops, discussions, writing sessions with faculty, rest and play time, and a public reading. Fellows are asked to take what they learn at the retreat back to their communities through a public event or project, seeding new ideas for creative movement-building throughout our region.
DATES: Thursday, July 23 to Monday, July 27, 2026.
LOCATION: The Watershed Center, Millerton, NY
ELIGIBILITY: BIPOC poets, organizers, activists, and/or movement workers based in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic US (or native to those lands) who are interested in the intersection of poetry and social justice organizing are welcome to apply. Fellows must be age 16 or older and may be at any level of experience.
ACTIVITIES:
Daily workshops taught by faculty and staff
Discussions on the past, present, and future of the interplay between arts and organizing
Presentations of participant work, including a reading open to the community
Collaborative writing sessions
Free time and fun activities, such as swimming, hiking, yoga, games, and karaoke.
COST: There is no fee to attend the Witches & Warriors Retreat! Participants may also receive partial support to cover travel expenses.
ACCESSIBILITY:
We provide scent-free toiletries and ask all participants to refrain from using scented products.
The Watershed Center can accommodate a wide variety of dietary restrictions.
The all-gender bathrooms include single-stall bathrooms and showers.
The Watershed Center has several sleeping rooms and bathrooms that are accessible to folks with wheelchairs.
The paths at the center are dirt and packed gravel, and include some steep inclines. There is a golf cart that can be made available for navigating the paths.
We will have cars on site to help shuttle participants to other locations as needed
See the FAQs for COVID protocols and other accessibility questions.
HOW TO APPLY: Go to this page to see application details and apply via Submittable.
INFO SESSION: We’ll be hosting an info session on Instagram Live (@brewandforge) on Wednesday, Feb 4th at 6pm EST.
MORE QUESTIONS? Check out our FAQ page or email hello [at] brewandforge.com.
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MACONDO WRITERS WORKSHOP
Macondo Writers Workshop / Trinity University (San Antonio, TX)
DEADLINE: February 22, 2026
APPLICATION FEE: $37
INFO: The Macondo Writers Workshop is an association of socially-engaged writers working to advance creativity, foster generosity, and serve the community. Founded in 1995 by poet and writer Sandra Cisneros and named after the town in Gabriel García Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, the workshop gathers writers from all genres who work on geographic, cultural, economic, gender, and spiritual borders. An essential aspect of the Macondo Workshop is a global sense of community; participants recognize their place as writers in our society and the world. We are also experienced writers who demonstrate a professional or master’s level of writing. Qualified applicants must meet both criteria. Excellent writing does not excuse poor community spirit; vice-versa, an impressive record of community involvement does not excuse poor writing. Macondo is a gift we give to one another, with willing hands and open hearts.
Macondo Writers Workshop is a weeklong experience for professional writers that is made up of daily workshops with guest faculty, optional afternoon seminars, and evening public readings. We normally hold the workshop annually the last week of July in San Antonio, Texas.
In your first year as a new member, you must participate in a workshop. However, if you return to the Macondo Writers Workshop in the future, you have the option of coming as either a workshop participant or as a Chuparosa (hummingbird), a designation for Macondistas who choose to come and work independently during the workshop time, but who participate in seminars, readings, and within the wider community activities during our week together. Returning Macondistas do not have to reapply to come back again, but they do need to submit an application for the workshop they would like to join, or sign up as a Chuparosa.
When you apply for the workshop, whether you are new or returning Macondista, you select the workshop that you would like to join. We offer workshops across different genres (fiction, poetry, non-fiction, etc.) and each year we invite different distinguished guest faculty. Some past faculty have included: the Poet Ai, Joy Harjo, Julia Alvarez, Helena María Viramontes, Marjorie Agosín, Ruth Behar, Leslie Marmon Silko, Richard Blanco, Sandra Cisneros, John Phillip Santos, Dorothy Allison, Sherwin Bitusi, Luis Rodríguez, Joy Castro, Manuel Muñoz, and others. Acceptance to workshops is based on availability, with workshops generally limited to ten participants.
LOCATION / DATES: Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas July 20-26, 2026
WHAT DOES THE WORKSHOP EXPERIENCE LOOK LIKE?
The workshops are either generative workshops or reading/response workshops. In reading/response workshops, all the participants and faculty read and comment on the manuscripts (usually 10-20 pages) of all their workshop cohort ahead of Macondo. During the workshop week, participants meet every afternoon for three hours and give feedback to two writers in the workshop each day. These morning sessions are confidential and it is mandatory that all participants attend and participate fully. Generative workshops do not require submission of manuscripts. The writing and sharing of writing happens within the workshop week.
As a participant you agree to abide by the Compassionate Code of Conduct, a charter our members have developed to make this workshop experience different. You can expect critical insight and critique, but this is made within a kind, generous, and generative community. Many lasting friendships, collaborations, and projects have grown out of this space. Our mission, then, is to help each other create community, assist others as activist writers, and to continually grow to be better, more empathic, compassionate individuals.
WHO CAN APPLY?
You! We are a group of experienced writers who demonstrate a professional or master’s level of writing. The workshop gathers writers from all genres who work on geographic, cultural, economic, gender, and spiritual borders. Qualified applicants must meet both high writing standards and dedicated community involvement. It is a highly competitive process and you must be willing and able to offer rigorous, helpful critiques. Excellent writing does not excuse poor community spirit; vice-versa, an impressive record of community involvement does not excuse poor writing. Please review the application for additional details. Each year we accept 3-4 new Macondistas in each workshop. It is a highly competitive process, and writers who do not get accepted are welcome to reapply again in the future. We add a small cohort each year to make sure that we have the resources and space to accommodate their participation and experience. Once you have been accepted you can apply to return to future workshops. At this time we do not have formal requirements for members. We strongly encourage active engagement. Stay in touch with Macondo, share accomplishments and publications, give back regularly, and volunteer to help!
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?
We aim to keep workshop costs as low as possible to maximize participation. Workshop costs will be posted at the same time as the applications open.
Costs in 2026:
$855 for Workshop classes
$350 for Chuparosas (Chuparosa participation is open to returning Macondistas only.)
$688 for room and board, includes: Single lodging (shared bathroom), breakfast and lunch, linens and facilities. Early Sunday arrival can be added for an additional $35.
$279 Commuter pass is required for all participants staying off campus.
Participants are responsible for covering the cost of their own transportation, dinners, and incidentals.
ARE THERE SCHOLARSHIPS OR FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE AVAILABLE?
There are no waivers to cover the $37 workshop application and processing fee. A limited amount of partial and full scholarships will be available to accepted participants to attend the workshop, with preference for first-time Macondistas. This amount varies based on the amount of donations that come in and distributed in a way that allows for maximum participation.
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Open Call for eearly career artists
The Shed (New York, NY)
DEADLINE: February 24, 2026 at 11:59pm EST
INFO: Born out of The Shed’s commitment to act as a platform for NYC-based, early-career artists working in a range of artistic disciplines, Open Call selects, fosters, and presents new work. The program showcases a wide, multiborough range of voices, lived experiences, and perspectives, demonstrating the multitude of ways in which artists are working today.
It embraces proposals for new works in disciplines including the visual arts, theater, dance, music, performance, spoken word, literary arts, film, fashion, art and technology, new media, social practice, and public art and architecture, as well as across multiple and new disciplines. As with all Shed civic programs, we center Black, POC, people with disabilities, and other communities that have been historically excluded and most impacted by structural racism and other forms of oppression.
Participants for Open Call's fifth edition will be selected in fall 2026. Projects will be reviewed in spring/summer 2026 by more than 60 independent leaders across artistic fields, including artists, cultural programmers, curators, producers, academics, and members of The Shed’s program team. The Shed will support selected projects with a commissioning fee of up to $15,000 of producing stewardship per artist or collective as well as in-kind financial, artistic, and production support managed by The Shed.
ELIGIBILITY:
Open Call accepts applications from artists who are:
Early-career artists and art collectives
18+ years old
Currently living or working in New York City
Able to provide a W9 for payment
With or without a traditional arts degree and/or training
Working in a range of artistic disciplines, including the visual arts, theater, dance, music, performance, spoken word, literary arts, film, fashion, art and technology, new media, social practice, and public art and architecture, as well as across multiple and new disciplines
FAQs
Who is considered an “early-career” artist?
For The Shed, an early-career artist is one who has not yet received major support to create new work. We define major support as a range of opportunities, from the receipt of substantial institutional funding to presenting and/or producing opportunities at large-scale cultural organizations. There is no age limitation.
Do I have to live in New York City to apply? What if I work in New York City but live somewhere else?
If you do not live in one of the five boroughs of New York City, but you work predominantly in New York City, your application will be considered. You will be asked to provide a New York City working address in your application.
If work has been shown elsewhere, can it be considered a new commission?
Some projects may have been shown in the past, for example in school, a work-in-progress showing, or included in a public program like a reading or workshop. In the Submittable application, you will be prompted to explain how your project would transform in The Shed’s presentation and how your proposed work or any its components have been shared in the past in any form.
We are looking for new work but understand that each artist has different development processes, with moments of public showing and feedback as part of them.
theshed.org/program/485-open-call-applications
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Call for proposalS: The Dominican Writers Conference 2026
Dominican Writers Association (New York, NY)
DEADLINE: February 27, 2026
INFO: The Dominican Writers Association is now accepting proposals for the Dominican Writers Conference 2026: Reclaiming Our Palabras, taking place May 1–3, 2026 at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City.
We invite writers, educators, artists, and cultural workers to submit proposals for panels, writing workshops, and interactive sessions that provide clear educational, craft-based, or professional development value to writers across genres and career stages.
Grounded in the theme Reclaiming Our Palabras, the conference centers Dominican stories, language, and lived experience, while creating space for meaningful conversations about craft, publishing, identity, and creative sustainability. Programming reflects the Dominican Writers Association’s long-standing focus on fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and children’s literature within the U.S. publishing landscape.
The Dominican Writers Conference exists to support emerging and established writers through intentional programming that builds skill, knowledge, and community.
For more information, email Dwconference@dominicanwriters.org
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfPeEwztIx3_9saiCnubk7MEs2ibknMWhi-EbAfnHBoDIuR5A/viewform
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On Assignment Residency Program
Creative Soul House (Harlem, NY)
DEADLINE: February 28, 2026
INFO: On Assignment is 6-month residency program that guides practicing poets to use their gift to shape the consciousness of their community. This residency is for poets who understand that language shapes public memory, collective spiritual health and possibilities for the future.
We know that it takes time, support and courage to create groundbreaking work. Therefore, Creative Soul House designed this program to nurture you with structure and mentorship so that you aren't rushed, erased or burned out in the process.
We are seeking individuals:
with vision
who are prepared to work honestly and bravely,
who are invested in the advancement of Harlem, its people, and its living history, as this is a Harlem-based residency program.
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeib0hncjw3uIoGpr68mGBwKEM6KHKRILJIVDqPpd1zwWhbLA/viewform
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Call for Submissions: Archipelagic Entanglements
SUSPECT
DEADLINE: March 1, 2026
INFO: Along the shoreline, rubber trees—or their remnants—bristle against a tangle of tropical foliage. On the street, a mélange of words and music; a single sentence conveys the rhythm of three or four languages.
We find ourselves in the Southeast Asian or Caribbean Archipelagos, both regions shaped by indigenous perseverance, histories of migration, the vocabulary of the tropics, ruptures of slavery and colonialism—and the negotiation and reconstitution that came afterwards. The archipelago is not a place where identity is ‘fixed and established’; instead, it is one where ‘creolization… the blend of cultures, was most brilliantly fulfilled’, in the words of Édouard Glissant. From a similar perspective, Gina Apostol, in her preface to Ulirát, a collection of translations arising from the archipelagic condition of the Philippines, invites us to think through the polyphony of languages which, ‘being so prone to borrowing and puns and play, explode the fallacy of… essentialism’.
In May 2026, SUSPECT will publish a portfolio of writing and art putting the Southeast Asian and Caribbean archipelagos in conversation. We are interested in works that explore the histories, presents, and futures of the archipelagos through the nodes of plantation, patois, and possibility. If you are writing from—or about—the Southeast Asian or Caribbean archipelagos, we invite you to submit work that ruminates on these nodes in the form of short fiction, poetry, or essays. We welcome translations into English. Translators must provide documentation of authorisation to translate and publish from the writer whom they are translating.
PORTFOLIO TIMELINE:
Announcement of decisions: 1 April 2026
The portfolio will run throughout May 2026
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
Short fiction: Please submit either a single short story ranging from 1,500 to 6,500 words or a suite of flash fiction ranging from 2-4 pieces with a minimum word count of 1,500
Poetry: Please submit a suite of 3-5 poems of not more than 10 pages
Essays: Please submit either a single essay ranging from 1,500 to 6,500 words or a suite of flash non-fiction ranging from 2-4 pieces with a minimum word count of 1,500
Although we accept simultaneous submissions, we ask that you inform us if your work has been accepted elsewhere. We do not accept previously published work. Please include a short cover letter in your submission detailing your connection to either the Southeast Asian or Caribbean archipelagos. Submit your work to EIC Sharmini Aphrodite at suspect@singaporeunbound.org.
PAYMENT: SUSPECT pays USD100 for each accepted work/suite of work.
singaporeunbound.org/opp/archipelagic-entanglements
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Sewanee Writers’ Conference
Sewanee Writers’ Conference (Sewanee, TN)
DEADLINE: March 1, 2026
INFO: For twelve summer days, writers gather on one of the most beautiful campuses in the country for readings and workshops in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and playwriting. Not to mention all of the morning hikes, lake swims, receptions, readings, and late night festivities.
WHILE HERE, YOU'LL FIND:
A talented community of writers where the friendships and connections we make last much longer than the twelve days we are together
Feedback from a highly competitive, warm, and inclusive workshop led by two renowned faculty members
The opportunity to help other promising writers
An hour-long individual conference with a faculty member
Two visitor meetings with editors, publishers, or theatre professionals
Two special topics courses
Three meals a day and a furnished, individual dorm room
All the readings, hikes, ghost walks, karaoke, receptions, and dancing you can handle — at your own pace, of course!
2026 CONFERENCE: JULY 14-26
COST: Tuition, room, and board will now be $3,000 for all participants, who will have the same reading time, status, and opportunities. $3,000 is 40% of the actual cost to attend, so every writer will receive 60% support to participate.
2026 FACULTY:
FICTION - Chris Bachelder • Sarah Shun-lien Bynum • Lydi Conklin • Amitava Kumar • Margot Livesey • Jill McCorkle • Claire Messud • Chinelo Okparanta • Maurice Carlos Ruffin • Stephanie Powell Watts
POETRY - Marianne Chan • Eduardo C. Corral • Danielle Cadena Deulen • Ananda Lima • Carl Phillips • Caki Wilkinson
NONFICTION - Jaquira Díaz • Amy Leach • Alex Marzano-Lesnevich • Elena Passarello
PLAYWRITING - David Adjmi • Nathan Alan Davis • Dan O'Brien • Lauren Yee
All participants are expected to attend the Conference for its entire 12-day duration.
Applicants must be 21 years of age by the time of the Conference. Past that criteria, age is not a factor in admissions. We welcome a wide range of ages to the Conference.
Applicants accepted to the Conference will have the opportunity to submit a separate manuscript for workshop as well as their top choices for a faculty reader.
All applicants will be notified of decisions via email April 15.
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2026 Manuscript Coaching Fellowship
The Watering Hole
DEADLINE: February 28, 2026 at 11:59pm
SUBMISSION FEE: $40
INFO: Launched in 2018, our Manuscript Coaching Fellowship gives up to eight unpublished poets of color an opportunity to polish their manuscripts-in-progress with world-class and broadly published writers. Selected poets for the 2026 Manuscript Coaching Fellowship will focus on the advanced aspects of manuscript preparation in community with each other and under the guidance of the Manuscript Coach. The Fellowship offers three virtual intensives, peer review feedback on manuscripts of 35 to 45 pages, and one individual coaching session with the Manuscript coach.
Past facilitators have included Pulitzer Prize winners Jericho Brown and Tyehimba Jess, LA Times Book Prize winner Remica Bingham-Risher, and critically acclaimed poets Tara Betts and Franny Choi.
FELLOWSHIP DATES: July 11, 18, and 25, 2026
Applicants must be either a TWH Fellow or Graduate Fellow.
Location: Virtual
Manuscript Coach: TBA
THIS PROGRAM INCLUDES:
Daily virtual classes focused on advanced aspects of manuscript preparation.
Peer Review feedback on a 30 to 45-page manuscript
An individual coaching session with the Manuscript Coach
WHAT’S THE APPLICATION PROCESS?
Submission Components:
A Query Letter
A Manuscript of 30 - 45 pages of poetry here on Submittable.
If you need help with the basic query letter format, click here for a sample query letter. Write the letter addressed to a press that you'd eventually want to publish with.
A Manuscript consists of a Title Page, a table of Contents, an acknowledgment Page (for previously published poems), and a Sample Manuscript (30 - 45 pages). A poem may be multiple pages, but no more than one poem per page is permitted.
NOTES:
***We ask for a query letter because once you have one written, you can use it to apply for lots of manuscript publishing opportunities across the industry. Not just for TWH. It's just a great tool to have in your toolbox. Writing it to your ideal press carries some energetic weight, too. You might want to pin it to your wall, so that you can see it every day.
ELIGIBILITY:
Applicants must be a TWH Fellow or a TWH Graduate Fellow.
Applicants cannot have a full-length collection either published or under contract for publication.
Poetry must be original, not translations. AI-generated and AI-assisted work is not eligible.
WHAT’S THE REVIEW PROCESS?
Applications are reviewed and accepted by The Watering Hole graduate fellows who have published at least one book. They have a vested interest in continuing to build TWH Tribe with a wide variety of talents, backgrounds, and aesthetics.
WHAT IF MY APPLICATION IS ACCEPTED?
Acceptance letters will be emailed by March 1, 2026.
Turn in your final manuscript of 35 to 45 pages by March 15, 2026.
A deposit of 50% due May 1, 2026.
The registration fee must be paid in full by June 1, 2026.
Each fellow reviews five of their peers’ manuscripts from June 1 to July 1.
July 11, 18, and 25: Fellows meet for the Manuscript Coaching Fellowship and turn in their peer reviews.
When the time comes, The Watering Hole will send out information about online payment options and the welcome packet upon acceptance.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
The Watering Hole sponsors between 50% and 75% (depending on the year) of every fellow's fees. Your portion of this year's registration fee is $299.
Refunds to be requested by June 15th
twhpoetry.submittable.com/submit
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2026 Just Buffalo Literary Center Poetry Fellowship
Just Buffalo Literary Center (Buffalo, NY)
DEADLINE: February 28, 2026 at 11:59pm ET
INFO: Each year, Just Buffalo invites adult poets of all ages and stages of their career to apply for its Poetry Fellowship, which gives one talented writer a cash stipend to live and write in one of the nation’s most vibrant literary cities, plus an opportunity to read at an event curated by Just Buffalo Literary Center.
THE FELLOWSHIP AWARD:
A $2,000 stipend
One month of free lodging during August
An opportunity to read at the Silo City Reading Series
RESIDENCY PERIOD: August 2026
Applications will be reviewed in March and early April, with the Fellow and all applicants notified of status by the end of April. A public announcement will follow.
ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS:
Applicants must be 21 years or older
A completed application must be received by 11:59 p.m. on the deadline (incomplete applications will NOT be considered)
Past or present employees of Just Buffalo Literary Center are NOT eligible to apply
OUR 2026 JUDGE:
Tarfia Faizullah is the author of two poetry collections, Registers of Illuminated Villages (Graywolf, 2018) and Seam (SIU, 2014). Tarfia’s writing appears widely in the U.S. and abroad in the Daily Star, Hindu Business Line, BuzzFeed, PBS News Hour, Huffington Post, Poetry Magazine, Ms. Magazine, the Academy of American Poets, Oxford American, the New Republic, the Nation, Halal If You Hear Me (Haymarket, 2019), and has been displayed at the Smithsonian, the Rubin Museum of Art, and elsewhere. Born in Brooklyn, NY to Bangladeshi immigrants and raised in Texas, Tarfia currently lives in Dallas.
justbuffalo.org/apply-for-the-2026-jb-poetry-fellowship/
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2026 Brink Literary Journal Award for Hybrid Writing
Brink Literary Journal
DEADLINE: February 28, 2026
ENTRY FEE: $25 (a limited number of fee waivers are available upon request. Email info@brinkliterary.com for more information)
INFO: The Brink Literary Journal Award for Hybrid Writing is a literary contest that recognizes and awards hybrid and cross-genre writing that is exceptional in nature. Initial screening for the prize is facilitated by Brink Editors. The winner, selected by the contest judge, is announced in early May.
CONTEST RULES:
The contest is open to all writers and artists who identify their work as hybrid or cross-genre in nature.
Submit up to 15 pages of unpublished work
One previously unpublished submission per entrant
All entries will be read anonymously. Before you submit, please remove your name and any other identifying information from your submission
Family, colleagues, intimate friends, and contributors previously published in Brink Literary Journal are ineligible
CONTEST PRIZE
$1,000
Publication in the fall issue of Brink Literary Journal
4 copies of the journal issue in which the winning submission appears
2026 JUDGE: Diana Khoi Nguyen is the author of Root Fractures and Ghost Of, a finalist for the National Book Award and winner of the 2019 Kate Tufts Discovery Award. She is a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, and her video work has been exhibited at Miller ICA. A Kundiman and MacDowell fellow, and member of the Vietnamese artist collective, She Who Has No Master(s), Nguyen teaches creative writing in the MFA programs at Randolph College and the University of Pittsburgh.
brinkliterary.com/award-for-hybrid-writing
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CALL FOR POETRY + PROSE
Ninth Letter
DEADLINE: February 28, 2026
READING FEE: $3 reading fee.
INFO: Ninth Letter is published semi-annually in print at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. We are interested in prose and poetry that experiment with form, narrative, and nontraditional subject matter, as well as more traditional literary work.
We do not accept previously published work, including self-published work on websites, blogs, etc. Simultaneous submissions are welcome! Please send a message withdrawing your poem(s) or flash piece(s) immediately upon acceptance elsewhere. Please only send only one submission per genre at a time. We ask that previous contributors wait three years from your publication date before submitting again.
We accept electronic submissions via Submittable. We do not accept submissions by email attachment. Email submissions will not be read.
To see what we publish, you can purchase our current issue or a subscription via Submittable. All issues (including back issues) can be purchased here.
PRINT SUBMISSIONS GUIDELINES:
Poetry Guidelines: Please submit 3-5 poems (max. 8 pages) at a time.
Creative Nonfiction Guidelines: For creative nonfiction, submit one essay up to 8,000 words at a time. For flash, you may submit up to 3 pieces with a total word count totaling no more than 4,000 words.
Fiction Guidelines: For fiction, submit one story up to 8,000 words at a time. For flash, you may submit up to 3 pieces with a total word count totaling no more than 4,000 words.
If you classify your work as "hybrid," please submit to the genre category you feel your submission most closely applies. You are welcome to leave a note in the cover letter field with any details you think our reading team would find helpful. We will make sure your submission gets to the right team and receives the attention and consideration it deserves.
PUBLICATION TERMS & PAYMENT:
Ninth Letter pays $25 per poem and $100 for prose upon publication and two complementary copies of the issue in which the work appears. Contributors also receive an exclusive subscription discount offer at the time of acceptance. Ninth Letter acquires First North American Serial Rights (FNASR). We ask that you acknowledge Ninth Letter upon reprint of your work.
RESPONSE TIME:
We strive to respond to your submission within six months. Please wait until that time has elapsed before querying about the status of your submission.
ninthletteronline.submittable.com/submit
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Donald Hall Prize for Poetry
AWP
DEADLINE: February 28, 2026
ENTRY FEES:
AWP Members: $20
Nonmembers: $30
INFO: Submissions to the Donald Hall Prize for Poetry are open January 1–February 28 each year. The winner receives $5,500 and publication by the University of Pittsburgh Press.
You will be required to remit an entry fee—$30 for nonmembers and $20 for AWP members—at the time of submission. All entry fees are nonrefundable. Be sure to verify your membership status before submitting by clicking your name at the top of the page when logged into the AWP website. Next to "Type," you will see your AWP membership status; if the type is NM Individual, you will need to either purchase a membership or submit to the nonmember category. (Please note that the submission categories refer only to pricing, and will not affect the level of consideration given to your manuscript.)
Note for new members: If you purchase a new membership just before submitting, be sure to log out of our submission portal by clicking Log Out on the left-hand sidebar, and then log back in using your AWP credentials, in order to give the system a chance to reset and update your membership status accordingly. Reach out to programs@awpwriter.org with any questions.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
Eligibility Requirements
Only book-length manuscripts are eligible. The AWP Award Series defines “book-length” as follows:
poetry: 48 pages minimum text;
short story collection or creative nonfiction: 150–300 manuscript pages; and
novel: at least 60,000 and no more than 110,000 words.
Poems, stories, and essays previously published in periodicals are eligible for inclusion in submissions, but manuscripts previously published in their entirety, including self-published manuscripts, are not eligible. As the series is judged anonymously, no list of acknowledgments should accompany your manuscript.
The AWP Award Series is open to all authors writing original works primarily in English for adult readers. Mixed-genre manuscripts cannot be accepted. Criticism and scholarly monographs are not acceptable for creative nonfiction, which the AWP Award Series defines as factual and literary writing that has the narrative, dramatic, meditative, and lyrical elements of novels, plays, poetry, and memoir.
To avoid conflicts of interest, friends and former students of a judge (former students who studied with a judge in an academic degree-conferring program or its equivalent) are ineligible to enter the competition in the genre for which their former teacher is serving as judge.
Current staff of AWP and members of the AWP Board of Directors may not enter the AWP Award Series, and previous staff and board members may not enter for a minimum of three years after leaving AWP or rotating off the board, respectively.
AWP makes every effort to vary the judges by region, aesthetic, and institution so that writers, if ineligible one year, will certainly be eligible other years. If contestants win in any genre, they may not enter the competition again in the same genre for the next five consecutive years.
TERMS + CONDITIONS:
Your submitted manuscript must be an original work of which you are the sole author.
The decision of the judge is final. The judge may choose no winner if he or she finds no manuscript that, in their estimation, merits publication and the award.
Your manuscript must be submitted in accordance with the eligibility requirements, format guidelines, and entry requirements, or it will be disqualified.
No entry fees will be returned.
This competition is void where prohibited or restricted by law.
MANUSCRIPT FORMAT GUIDELINES:
Manuscripts must be typed and double-spaced. Poetry manuscripts may be single-spaced. Each manuscript must include a title page with the manuscript title only. If the author’s name appears anywhere on the manuscript, the submission will be disqualified. Do not add a page with acknowledgment of previous publications or a biographical note. Please upload your manuscript to our submission system as a .doc, .docx, or .pdf file.
Entry Requirements
Please upload your manuscript to our submission system as a .doc, .docx, or .pdf file.
You will be required to remit an entry fee—$30 for nonmembers and $20 for AWP members—at the time of submission. All entry fees are nonrefundable. Students and faculty who have been registered by their program directors as members of AWP are eligible for the member fee. (Please note that if you are not an AWP member and submit to the member category, your submission will be disqualified).
You may enter in more than one genre, and you may also enter multiple manuscripts in one genre, provided that each manuscript is uploaded separately as an individual entry.
2026 JUDGE: Maggie Smith is the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of nine books of poetry and prose, including A Suit or a Suitcase, Dear Writer, You Could Make This Place Beautiful, Good Bones, Goldenrod, Keep Moving, and My Thoughts Have Wings. A 2011 recipient of a Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, Smith has also received a Pushcart Prize and numerous grants and awards from the Academy of American Poets, the Sustainable Arts Foundation, the Ohio Arts Council, the Greater Columbus Arts Council, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She has been widely published, appearing in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, The Nation, The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Best American Poetry, and more. You can find her on social media at @MaggieSmithPoet.
awpwriter.secure-platform.com/applications/page/AwardSeries/DonaldHall
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FICTION + POETRY CONTEST
Hayden’s Ferry Review
DEADLINE: February 28, 2026
ENTRY FEE: $23
INFO: HFR will accept contest submissions in poetry and fiction between Feb 1-28, 2026.
PRIZES: There will be two prizes of $1,000 each and publication in Hayden’s Ferry Review (online in summer 2026 and in the fall/winter 2026 print issue) for a poem or a group of poems and a work of fiction. A runner-up in each category will receive $250 and publication. All entries are considered for publication.
Judges will pick the winners and runners-up from a list of finalists chosen by HFR editors. All entries are considered for publication in the fall/winter 2026 print issue. We do not read submissions anonymously.
JUDGES: This year's poetry judge is Sarah Ghazal Ali, author of Theophanies. This year’s fiction judge is Gina Chung, author of Sea Change.
GUIDELINES:
Submit a short story or novel excerpt of up to 20 pages.
The $23 entry fee includes a 1-year print subscription (US addresses). Your 1-year subscription will begin with our spring/summer 2026 issue 78. Current subscribers will receive a 1-year renewal. Writers may submit multiple entries, but each entry must include its own $23 fee.
*For international addresses outside of the US, please submit to the "HFR CONTEST 2025: FICTION ($15 submission)" queue, which comes with a 1-year digital subscription. If you have an international shipping address and are interested in a 1-year print subscription, we are happy to accommodate this with an additional shipping fee. Please get in touch before submitting and no later than February 20th to discuss details at haydensferryreview (at) gmail (dot) com.*
Submitted work must be original work by the writer and unpublished. If your work is accepted elsewhere for publication, please withdraw your submission. If only a part of your poetry submission has been accepted elsewhere, please leave a note in Submittable.
ELIGIBILITY: Close friends, family, or former and current students of the judges should refrain from submitting. We define a "former or current student" as someone who has done a semester-length course with the judge or who the judge has served as a thesis advisor. If you attended a one- or two-week-long workshop or similar with the judge, you are still eligible.
If you were published in one of HFR's print journals or web issues in the past two years, you CAN submit to this contest. (See our "general notes on submission" for specific guidelines for our print and web issues, which may differ from contest guidelines.)
Anyone affiliated with ASU (staff, faculty, and graduate/undergraduate students) is not eligible to submit to this contest and should refrain from submitting to HFR until they have been unaffiliated from ASU for three years.
We do not accept work that was produced wholly or in part by AI.
All individuals are able to submit without regard to sex, race, national origin, religion, disability or any other characteristic protected by law.
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Call for workshop proposals
Literary Liberation
DEADLINE: February 28, 2026
INFO: LitLib is now accepting proposals for 2026– workshops that crack open new worlds, sessions that make space for the voices this world tries to silence, courses that remind them writing is both weapon and salve.
They invite teaching artists to think deeply about future course offerings and having LitLib as your beacon. They are interested in a wide variety of ideas and welcome your pitch.
https://tally.so/r/31egEM
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call for submissions: “Blackness, Queerness and Nature” anthology
The Lupine Collective
DEADLINE: March 1, 2026
INFO: We’re pleased to announce a global call for submissions for a multimedia anthological book of “Blackness, Queerness, and Nature” (working title) co-edited by Erin Sharkey and Grace Anderson.
With this anthology, Erin and Grace, seek to compile a collection that is a testament and reflection of how Black Queer communities across the diaspora live in relationship to nature. We welcome submissions across mediums that interrogate consider, imagine, reimagine, detail, and illuminate the way our communities commune with the Earth.
“Blackness, Queerness, and Nature” will be a rich and varied collection of personal and lyric essays, fiction, poems, photographs, oral histories, meditations, recipes, songs, stories, and experimental writing about the experiences/vision/love/erotics/connections of Black Queer folks and nature/environment/Earth/earth, water and cosmos. With this project writers will have the opportunity to reflect on the significance of nature in their lived experience and speculation, hopes, pessimism, and imagination. This anthology will ask, what does the light of Queer Black life illuminate? Possibilities ? How does our shine allow for all of these other things to shine? How have we created fertile ground for others to survive?
We are accepting submissions from Black AND Queer people from across the diaspora.
ABOUT THE PUBLISHER: Based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Milkweed Editions is a nonprofit independent publisher of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry who believes that literature has the potential to change the way we see the world. Milkweed’s books include You are Here by Ada Limón, Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, A Darker Wilderness by Erin Sharkey, Startlement by Ada Limón, Aster of Ceremonies by JJJJJJJerome Ellis, Bluest Nude by Ama Codjoe, and World of Wonders by Aimee Nezhukumatathil.
QUESTIONS: submissions@thelupinecollaborative.org
thelupinecollaborative.org/callforsubmissions
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KHN RESIDENCY: Writers & Poets
Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts (Nebraska City, NE)
DEADLINE: March 1, 2026
APPLICATION FEE: $35
INFO: The mission of the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts is to support established and emerging writers, visual artists, and composers/musicians by providing working and living environments that allow uninterrupted time for work, reflection, and creative growth.
For 2026 Session II residency awards are scheduled from July 6 - December 18, 2026. KHN awards approximately 30-40 residencies PER SESSION. Of these, approximately 10-16 spots are awarded to writers working in a variety of genres.
Residency awards include living and studio space plus a weekly stipend of $175 for the duration of the residency. A private writer’s studio is located within each of the double-occupancy apartments featuring a desk, white board or cork board, 23" monitor, and surge protector. A shared printer is available in the residents' lounge. Wi-fi access is available throughout the grounds.
khncenterforthearts.slideroom.com/#/Login
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2026 Virtual Summer Retreat
Abode Press
DEADLINE: March 7, 2026
READING FEE: $10
INFO: Starting June 7th, 2026, Abode Press is returning with our virtual retreat experience! With the success of our first retreat, we are coming back bigger and better than ever! We will also have workshops available in poetry, fiction, novel, and nonfiction, and attendees will also be able to attend 2-3 craft talks and lectures throughout the week (x2 as much than our first retreat).
Most retreat experiences are costly, tending to be upwards to $2000. At Abode, we are working tirelessly to increase accessibility for writers to attend much needed spaces to work on their craft and build connections without compromising their livelihood. This is why the retreat will have an asking price of $325 (sliding scale) with partial scholarships available to writers in need, but because of this low price, applicants will be selected based off the strength of their application and alignment with our press.
Applications will open via Submittable from January 1st to March 7th. It is FREE to apply for the first application (though we do appreciate donations!). Applicants may apply for additional cohorts but must select a reading fee of $10 or more for each additional application for it to be accepted. Applicants will be notified of acceptance in late-March. All funds will go towards paying our presenters, press operations, and Retreat admins.
VIRTUAL RETREAT:
Starting June 7th, workshops every Sunday in June 2026 from 11am-2pm CST
Includes 2-3 weekly craft talks, lectures, and panels
Cost: $325 asking price, sliding scale. *Scholarships for writers in need.
Acceptances will be sent in late-March
FACULTY:
Ariana Brown (Poetry Instructor) - Ariana Brown is a queer Black Mexican American writer and the author of We Are Owed. (Grieveland, 2021) and Sana Sana (Game Over Books, 2020). A national collegiate poetry slam champion, Ariana holds a B.A. in African Diaspora Studies and Mexican American Studies, an M.F.A. in Poetry, and M.S. in Library Science. She lives and works in Houston, TX, where she teaches creative writing to teens. She has been writing, performing, and teaching poetry for over a decade.
Saúl Hernández (Poetry Instructor) - Saúl Hernández is a queer writer, who was raised by former undocumented parents. He has an MFA in Creative Writing from The University of Texas at El Paso. Saúl is a 2025 National Endowment for the Arts Fellow. His debut poetry collection, How to Kill a Goat & Other Monsters, is a 2025 Lambda Literary Award Winner in Gay Poetry, a Texas League of Writers’ Discovery Award Winner, was longlisted for a PEN Open Book Award, and received the Institute of Letters’ honor-winner for First Book of Poetry. He's the winner of both the 2022 Pleiades Prufer Poetry Prize judged by Joy Priest & the 2021 Two Sylvias Press Chapbook Prize judged by Victoria Chang. His poems have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize & Best of The Net. Saúl’s work is featured in American Poetry Review, Poetry Daily, The Slowdown, Literary Hub, & elsewhere.
Camille U. Adams (Nonfiction Instructor) - CAMILLE U. ADAMS, Ph.D. was born and raised in beautiful Trinidad and Tobago. She is the author of the explosive memoir How To Be Unmothered: a Trinidadian memoir, finalist in the Restless Books Prize in New Immigrant Writing 2023. Camille’s memoir writing is featured in Passages North, Citron Review, XRAY Literary Magazine, Variant Literature, The Forge Literary Magazine, Kweli Magazine, and was awarded Best of the Net 2024 (creative nonfiction). Her other honours include an awarded fellowship as an inaugural Tin House Reading Fellow, an inaugural Granta nature writing workshop fellowship, an inaugural Anaphora Arts Italy Writing Retreat Fellowship, a McKnight Doctoral Fellowship, a Community of Writers Fellowship, A VONA scholarship, and a Roots Wounds Words Fellowship.
Annell López (Short Fiction Instructor) - Annell López is the winner of the Louise Meriwether First Book Prize and the author of the short story collection I’ll Give You a Reason, a finalist for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for best debut short story collection. Named a best short story collection of 2024 by Electric Literature, I’ll Give You a Reason has been longlisted for the Maya Angelou Book Award, the Reforma Latinx Book Award, and shortlisted for the Clark Fiction Prize. Most recently, López was recognized as a Gambit’s 40 under 40. Her work has appeared in Guernica, American Short Fiction, The Common, Brooklyn Rail, Refinery29, and TIME. López received her MFA from the University of New Orleans, where she was awarded the Joanna Leake Fiction Prize. She is working on a novel.
Benedict Nguyễn (Novel Instructor) - Benedict Nguyễn (she/her) is a #freelanceflailing dancer, writer, and creative producer who's taught workshops for AAWW, Tin House, and at Louis Place. She’s danced in recent projects by Sally Silvers, Kris Seto, Monstah Black, among other choreographers, appeared in the short film “Don’t F*ck with Bà” (2024, dir. Sally Tran), and began developing the dance theater work “DEFENSE” with Sugar Vendil in 2025. Her writing on labor and culture has appeared in The Baffler, BOMBMagazine, Vanity Fair, Los Angeles Review of Books, and AAWW’s The Margins. A Publishers Weekly 2025 Writer to Watch, Benedict is the author of the [redacted] freelance labor zine nasty notes (2022). Her debut novel Hot Girls with Balls (Catapult 2025) was an ABA Indie Next Pick, an Aardvark Book Club Pick, and a USA Today National Bestseller.
abodepress.com/2026-virtual-summer-retreat
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Raz/Shumaker Book Prize in Fiction and poetry
Prairie Schooner
DEADLINE: March 15, 2026 at 11:59pm CST
ENTRY FEE: $25
INFO: The Prairie Schooner Raz/Shumaker Book Prize Series welcomes manuscripts from all living writers, including non-US citizens, writing in English. Both unpublished and published writers are welcome to submit manuscripts. However, we will not consider manuscripts that have previously been published anywhere in the world, which includes self-publication. Writers may enter both contests. Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but we ask that you notify us immediately if your manuscript is accepted for publication somewhere else. No past or present paid employee of Prairie Schooner or the University of Nebraska Press or current faculty or student at the University of Nebraska will be eligible for the prizes.
PRIZES: Winners will receive $3000 and publication through the University of Nebraska Press.
MANUSCRIPT: We prefer that fiction manuscripts be at least 150 pages long and poetry manuscripts at least 50 pages long. Novels are not considered; we will consider manuscripts comprised either entirely of short stories or one novella along with short stories (please do not send a single novella or a collection of novellas). Manuscripts may contain stories or poems that have been published in journals or in chapbook form; however, if the full-length manuscript includes work from a previously published chapbook, the majority of the manuscript must be additional work not appearing in the chapbook. Prairie Schooner accepts electronic submissions as well as hard copy submissions. Please see below for further formatting guidelines and the link to submit electronically.
Electronic Submissions - The author’s name should not appear anywhere on the manuscript. Acknowledgments of previous publications should not be included. All entries will be read anonymously. No application forms are necessary. Click here to submit via Submittable.
Hard Copy Submissions - The author’s name should not appear on the manuscript. Acknowledgments of previous publications should not be included. All entries will be read anonymously. Please include two cover pages: one listing only the title of the manuscript, and the other listing the author’s name, address, telephone number, and email address. No application forms are necessary.
For hard copy submissions, photocopies are acceptable. Please do not bind manuscripts with anything other than a binder clip or rubber band. Please include a self-addressed postage-paid postcard for confirmation of manuscript receipt. Please use a standard postcard—small index cards will not be accepted by the U.S. Postal Service. A stamped, self-addressed business size envelope must accompany the submission for notification of results. No manuscripts will be returned. All manuscripts that do not win will be recycled.
NOTIFICATION: Results will be emailed or mailed and winners will be announced on this website on or before August 15 of each year.