POETRY — MARCH 2022

Summer 2022 The VONA Experience

VONA

DEADLINE: March 4, 2022, by 11:59pm PST

ENTRY FEE: $35

INFO: The VONA Experience is a spectacular week of writing workshops, professional development, panels, and community building designed for writers of color (June 27, 2022 - July 3, 2022).

TUITION:

  • Workshop: $1,000

  • Residency: $1,200

WORKSHOPS INCLUDE:

  • Poetry Residency with Adrian Castro - This workshop will be conducted focusing on writing about place. We will examine poems both from workshop participants and other poets that exemplify the use of place. We will also ask where is that place? Where is that physical place, that geographical place, and also where is that mental place? Is that place existent, nostalgic, dreamt, etc.? Participants will bring to the workshop poems with these themes. Feedback will be given based on the Liz Lerhman method, which focuses feedback beginning from the artist place of inspiration and creative space, then from the reader’s/listener’s perspective—i.e. what the reader thought, felt, assimilated while reading the poem. Lastly poets will be encouraged to appropriately render their poems out aloud—from their voice, their perspective, their place.

    Adrian Castro is a poet, performer, and interdisciplinary artist. Born in Miami from Caribbean heritage which has provided fertile ground for the rhythmic Afro-Caribbean style in which he writes and performs. He is the author of Cantos to Blood and Honey, Wise Fish, Handling Destiny (all Coffee House Press). He has been published in many literary anthologies. He is the recipient of many awards and fellowships including from the Academy of American Poets and USA Knight Fellowship for Writing. He is also a Doctor of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine practicing in Miami.

  • Prose Residency with Reyna Grande - The prose residency mainly consists of individual conferences with the instructor. The conferences are designed for the instructor to give intense individual attention to the student’s work (this is not a workshop where students critique each other’s work). The topics of the noontime daily classes will include material on the writing process, on race and creative writing, and on narrative structures and other techniques in fiction and memoir. Students will be asked to do readings and some writing before the residency begins.

    Reyna Grande is the author of the bestselling memoir, The Distance Between Us, (2012) and the sequel, A Dream Called Home (2018). Reyna has received an American Book award, the El Premio Aztlán Literary Award, and the International Latino Book Award. She was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Awards and honored with a Luis Leal Award for Distinction in Chicano/Latino Literature. Reyna has two forthcoming books in 2022: A Ballad of Love and Glory (March 15), her first historical fiction set during the Mexican-American War, and Somewhere We Are Human: Authentic Voices on Migration, Survival, and New Beginnings (June 7), an anthology of essays, poems, and artwork by and about undocumented Americans.

  • Narrative Journalism/Memoir with Roberto Lovato - This workshop is designed to explore the form and techniques of a genre whose fluid, malleable boundaries, its dynamism, and, especially, its focus on truth conditions and identity make it an ideal instrument for exploration in times of such astonishing uncertainty and confusion: narrative journalism. The filter through which we’ll study the choices made by narrative journalists are some of the defining elements of creative nonfiction, including bodily writing; scene and summary, voice, structure, and character. We will pay close attention to the choices made by writers engaged in the struggle to tell truthful stories in an age of epic, technologically-enabled lying.

    Roberto Lovato is the author of Unforgetting (Harper Collins), a “groundbreaking” memoir the New York Times picked as an “Editor’s Choice” Newsweek listed Lovato’s memoir as a “must-read” 2020 book and the Los Angeles Times listed it as one of its 20 Best Books of 2020. Lovato is also an educator, journalist, and writer based at The Writers Grotto in San Francisco, California. A recipient of a reporting grant from the Pulitzer Center, Lovato has reported on numerous issues—violence, terrorism, the drug war, and the refugee crisis—from Mexico, Venezuela, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Haiti, France, and the United States, among other countries.

  • Fiction with Mathangi Subramanian - What are the stories you want to tell that are unlike anything that has been told before? What are your fears about creating and sharing original work with our capitalist, white supremacy culture? How does your inner editor work with existing power structures to stifle your voice? In this workshop, we will explore our choices about perspective, tense, character, and setting, while also developing self-care-based revision techniques that allow us to bring our whole selves to the page. Students will receive feedback from the instructor as well as small critique groups within the class.

    Mathangi Subramanian is an award winning South Asian American author, educator, mother, and musician. Her novel A People's History of Heaven was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Awards and was longlisted for the PEN/Faulkner and the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. Her middle grades book Dear Mrs. Naidu won the South Asia Book Award and was a finalist for The Hindu-Goodbooks Award. Her essays and op-eds have appeared in The Washington Post, Harper's Bazaar, The San Francisco Chronicle, Ms., and Al Jazeer America, among others. A former public school teacher, Assistant Vice President at Sesame Workshop, and senior policy analyst for the New York City Council, she holds a doctorate in education from Columbia University Teachers College.

  • Poetry with Cynthia Dewi Oka - This workshop engages with how displacement as a tactic of conquest alienates the displaced across time, place, language, and modes of identity. What does it mean to recover and to speak to/from/as our Othered selves? In this workshop, we will study, generate, and workshop poems through the lens of exile and errantry (in contrast/opposition to empire), as conceptualized by the poet and philosopher Edouard Glissant. Participants will be provided with and required to read Glissant's essay, “Errantry, Exile” from his book Poetics of Relation in preparation.

    Cynthia Dewi Oka is the author of Fire Is Not a Country (2021) and Salvage (2017) from Northwestern University Press, and Nomad of Salt and Hard Water (2016) from Thread Makes Blanket Press. A recipient of the Amy Clampitt Residency, Tupelo Quarterly Poetry Prize, and the Leeway Transformation Award, her writing has appeared in The Atlantic, POETRY, Academy of American Poets, Poetry Society of America, Hyperallergic, Guernica, The Rumpus, ESPNW, and elsewhere. An alumnus of the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers, she has taught creative writing at Bryn Mawr College and New Mexico State University, and with arts organizations such as Blue Stoop, Asian Arts Initiative, The Speakeasy Project, Kundiman, and the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival. 

  • Comedy Writing with Zahra Noorbakhsh - Whether it’s in storytelling, stand-up, or essay, dialogue, prose, or a performance, we’re all funny some of the time. But, how do we make it happen on purpose, and often? How do we walk the line between comedy and drama? When do we take criticism and when do we tell critics to shove it? What are the tools and techniques that deliver laughs and how do we innovate in the genre? All attendees will leave with the fundamentals and guidance to master humor. Get ready to play and ready to work!

    Zahra Noorbakhsh is a comedian, writer, and performer. Her award-winning podcast, #GoodMuslimBadMuslim was deemed a must-listen by O, the Oprah Magazine, and invited to the Obama Whitehouse to record an episode. She’s a Senior Fellow on Comedy for Social Change with the Pop Culture Collaborative and an Innovations Fellow with The Opportunity Agenda. Her one-woman show, “All Atheists are Muslim” originally directed by W. Kamau Bell, was dubbed a highlight of the International New York City Fringe Theater Festival by the New Yorker. Her comedy special, “On Behalf of All Muslims” debuts this year. Visit ZahraComedy.com.

  • Playwriting with Lisa Marie Rollins - This workshop’s focus is centered on supporting the development of your new play in progress. Part generative, part workshop, we will spend time with focused exercises to explore and articulate the imagined realm of your play, and time will be spent reading and attending to the worlds created inside your individual scripts. We’ll ask questions about worldmaking for the stage, and spend time discussing place, conflict, character, endings and explore the uses of a non-linear /nontraditional structures to support the needs of your play.

    Lisa Marie Rollins is a freelance director, writer and new play developer. She is currently developing her new play LOVE IS ANOTHER COUNTRY. She is a Sundance Institute Theatre Lab Fellow (Directing), a Directors Lab Westmember and an Associate Member of Stage Directors and Choreographers. Lisa Marie recently received the WallaceGerbode Special Award in the Arts commission in which she will be working with Crowded Fire Theater to write and develop a new play to world premiere in Fall 2023. She was an Artistic Associate for Intiman Theater in Seattle (20-21) and is currently a Resident Artist with Crowded Fire Theater.

  • Political Content in Journalism with Teresa Wiltz - This workshop will focus on exploring race and culture as political content in Journalism. You will spend time revising and refining articles infused that elevate racial and cultural issues. Participants will receive faculty and peer feedback as they prepare a piece to pitch major market outlets like The Guardian, Mother Jones, and Essence.

    Teresa Wiltz, is the author of The Real America: The Tangled Roots of Race and Identity. A Senior Editor at POLITICO magazine, Teresa launched The Recast last year, a biweekly newsletter unpacking how race and identity are shaking up politics. As a staff writer on the Chicago Tribune’s metro news desk, she was part of a reporting team that won the Grand Prize, Robert Kennedy Journalism Award for a series on murdered children in Chicago; the team also was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. During a decade at the Post, Teresa wrote for the paper’s acclaimed Style section, with a focus on cultural criticism.

vonavoices.org/summer-2022-workshops-open

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CREATIVE WRITING FELLOWSHIPS: POETRY

National Endowment for the Arts

DEADLINE: March 10, 2022

INFO: The National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowships program offers $25,000 grants in prose (fiction and creative nonfiction) and poetry to published creative writers that enable the recipients to set aside time for writing, research, travel, and general career advancement. 

This program operates on a two-year cycle with fellowships in prose and poetry available in alternating years. In 2022 we are accepting applications in poetry. 

Before submitting an application to the NEA, you must register or renew your registration with Grants.gov. Registration with Grants.gov is a one-time process, which can take several days to complete. To allow time to resolve any issues that may arise, be sure not to wait until the day of the application deadline to register. You will not be able to submit your application if you don’t successfully register with Grants.gov or update/maintain your existing registration.

https://go.usa.gov/xe64W

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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: ‘DIASPORA’ ISSUE

Lampblack Lit

DEADLINE: March 14, 2022

INFO: Lampblack, an organization created by Black writers to support all Black writers, is accepting submissions of previously unpublished poetry, prose, and criticism for their DIASPORA issue.

Submit no more than 5 pages of poetry or 10 pages of prose via email to magazine@lampblacklit.com

lampblacklit.com/submissions

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MoAD Poets-in-Residence 2022

Museum of the African Diaspora

DEADLINE: March 14, 2022

INFO: The Museum of the African Diaspora Poets-in-Residence program was founded in 2018. This program provides writers with opportunities to respond to contemporary art of the African Diaspora and extend the reach of the museum through programming and educational workshops with local high school students.

We host two concurrent writing residencies per year. This year, the four-month residency runs from September 1, 2022 - December 31, 2022.

Residents enjoy flexible, drop-in access to the Museum of the African Diaspora, located in San Francisco, California. For the term of the residency, every resident receives:

  • A monthly stipend of $1500 (for 4 months)

  • No-cost access to the museum exhibitions, on-site programs and events

  • Designated work space

  • A 10% discount on all Museum store purchases

  • Wi-Fi access

  • Publicity for public programs on social media

  • Staff support for programming

  • Access to learning more about the work of the Museum of the African Diaspora from curatorial and education staff

The residency welcomes writers to pursue their own writing projects in addition to responding to the artistic collections. The residency does require that writers implement a school-based writing program in partnership with Ruth Asawa School of the Arts. Residencies last for one academic semester or 4 months. The workshops will include at least 6 site visits and one visit with students at the museum. There are also two culminating public programs that are required: a student reading and a poet-in- residence reading.‍

While the Museum does not retain ownership of any works created as part of the residency, we do require a printed compilation of that work to be preserved within the museum archives and, should work be published by the author in a book form, that the Museum is acknowledged for contributing to the author’s creative process.‍

Residency applications are reviewed by the Director of Programs, the Manager of Public Programs, and the Spoken Arts Director at the partner school. Acceptance to the residency is determined through an evaluation of the written materials and the innovation within the education project.

‍PLEASE NOTE: The residency does not include accommodations or meals, so it may be best suited for Bay Area writers; writers from other communities are welcome to apply but are responsible for arranging their own accommodations. We strongly encourage writers from the African diaspora to apply.

TIMELINE:

  • Notifications will be sent by April 4th

  • Residency Runs from September 1st-December 31st 2022

Selected Poets-in-Residence will be expected to complete a TB test and Livescan background check (at a MoAD-partner vendor) by September 1 and meet with the partner teacher and poet-in-residence coordinator for community building and brainstorming once during the Spring (possibly online) and at least once at the start of the Fall semester.‍

Selected residents, along with all MoAD employees, volunteers, and/or agents providing in-person services at MoAD and partner school sites are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19; or if they cannot receive the COVID-19 vaccine due to disability or a sincerely held religious belief will instead show proof of a negative COVID-19 test administered within 72 hours of the first entrance at MoAD or school site and every week thereafter.

moadsf.org/post/moad-poets-in-residence?fbclid=IwAR2ySB6T21hQu5D--el7QpKMqntM8EKsEBpZUPBPmJMAYIv2GsklH1YEeNg

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WRITERS IN RESIDENCE

Hedgebrook

DEADLINE: March 14, 2022

INFO: Hedgebrook is on Whidbey Island, about thirty-five miles northwest of Seattle. Situated on 48-acres of forest and meadow facing Puget Sound, with a view of Mount Rainier, the retreat hosts writers from all over the world for fully-funded residencies of two to four weeks (travel is not included and is the responsibility of the writer to arrange and pay for). This residency is open to women-identified writers 18 and older.

Central to what we do, our Writer-in-Residence Program supports fully-funded residencies for selected women-identified writers at the retreat each year. Up to 6 writers can be in residence at a time, each housed in a 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.

Hedgebrook’s mission is to support visionary women writers whose stories and ideas shape our culture now and for generations to come. Residents must be willing to adhere to a specific set of health and safety protocols we have implemented to keep writers, staff, and surrounding communities safer. We will be following CDC and local government guidelines and recommendations for travel and in-person gathering restrictions.

Residencies for this application cycle, Cycle 1, will take place February - June 2023.

2023 WiR Genres for Cycle One:

  • Fiction

  • Non-Fiction

  • Playwriting

  • Poetry

  • Screenwriting/TV Writing

  • Songwriting

hedgebrook.org/writers-in-residence

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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: ‘VOZ’ ISSUE

Alebrijes Review

DEADLINE: March 15, 2022

INFO: Alebrijes Review's third issue, VOZ, will be published both online and in print! We're seeking original poetry, flash fiction, creative nonfiction, visual art, photography, and hybrid work created by Latino artists. 

The theme of VOZ primarily serves to emphasize that we are seeking work showcasing unique, impactful, or personal voices. We accept submissions of work on any subject, however please do not submit graphic sexual or violent material, and know that we do not tolerate plagiarism.

We accept pieces in English, Spanish, and Ingléspañol/Spanglish. (If you would like to submit a piece in a different language, please email your submission as an attachment to alebrijesmag@gmail.com.)

We aim to publish the issue April 2022. If accepted, we ask that you credit us as the original publisher if your piece appears elsewhere, but you will retain all rights to your work.

Please reach out to us as alebrijesmag@gmail.com if you have any questions!

alebrijesreview.com/submissions

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Raz-Shumaker Book Prize: SHORT FICTION & POETRY

Prairie Schooner

DEADLINE: March 15, 2022

ENTRY FEE: A $25 processing fee must accompany each submission, payable to Prairie Schooner.

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, which includes self-publication. Writers may enter both contests (poetry and fiction).

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.

HARD COPY SUBMISSIONS: The author’s name should not appear on the manuscript. 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. An acknowledgements page listing the publication history of individual stories or poems may be included, if desired. 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.

ELECTRONIC SUBMISSIONS: The author’s name should not appear anywhere on the manuscript. All entries will be read anonymously. An acknowledgements page listing the publication history of individual stories or poems may be included, if desired. No application forms are necessary.

NOTIFICATION: Winners will be announced on this website on or before July 15, 2022. Results will be emailed or mailed shortly thereafter.

prairieschooner.unl.edu/book-prize

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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: POETRY & PROSE

Hayden’s Ferry Review

DEADLINE: March 15, 2022

READING FEE: $3 (The fee is waived for Black writers).

INFO: Hayden's Ferry Review is the international literary journal out of Arizona State University.

GUIDELINES:

  • Please send one submission per genre at a time, and wait for a response before you submit additional work.

  • Withdraw your submission using Submittable. if you are only withdrawing a section of your work (for example: 2/5 poems), add a note to your submission.

  • Please limit your prose submissions to under 20 pages, and your poetry submissions to 6 or less poems.

  • All prose should be double-spaced.

  • Contributors receive one copy of the issue in which they appear. Additional copies may be purchased for $6 each up to 5 copies.

  • Simultaneous submissions are welcome. If your work is accepted elsewhere, please notify the editors immediately.

  • We do not accept previously published material.

  • We do not consider book-length works.

  • Submitters are strongly encouraged to read the journal before submitting: to subscribe, visit http://hfr.clas.asu.edu/store.

  • We are always open to submissions of visual art.

hfr.submittable.com/submit

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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: Issue 4 “Freedom”!

Spoken Black Girl Magazine

DEADLINE: March 25, 2022

INFO: In Spoken Black Girl Issue 4 “Freedom” we are looking for new poetry, essays, articles, short stories, novel excerpts, hybrid forms, interviews, art, illustrations, and photography around the topic of “Freedom”. 

Submissions are open to Black women, women of color, femme-identifying folks, nonbinary folks LGBTQIA+, and queer writers of color. We are looking for real-life stories, and images that speak for themselves and show a unique perspective on freedom. What do we do when we’re free? How do you express your freedom? Some suggested topics are; reproductive justice, freedom of religion/spirituality, freedom to break barriers, economic freedom, interviews about domestic violence, Black and brown infant mortality rates, freedom from stereotypes and constructs, freedom to express sexuality, sensuality & erotic freedom, sexual orientation, and gender identity. How is our freedom limited? How can we seek true freedom?

All accepted submissions will receive $75 in compensation.

spokenblackgirl.com/submit

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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: BIPOC-ONLY ISSUE

Salt Hill Journal

DEADLINE: March 28, 2022

INFO: For their upcoming edition, Salt Hill Journal is accepting fiction, nonfiction, and poetry only from BIPOC writers.

GUIDELINES:

  • Fiction/Nonfiction: Please do not submit works of more than 30 pages, double-spaced. We accept multiple flash pieces, so long as their combined length does not exceed 30 pages

  • Poetry: Please submit no more than five poems at a time.

https://salthill.submittable.com/submit

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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: ‘UPSPRING’ ISSUE

Yellow Arrow Journal

DEADLINE: March 31, 2022

INFO: Yellow Arrow Journal, a biannual publication of creative nonfiction, poetry, and cover art by writers/artists that identify as women, is excited to announce submissions are now OPEN for the spring 2022 (Vol. VII, No. 1) issue on UpSpring.

Accepted submissions include creative nonfiction, poetry, and cover art by authors/artists that identify as women. Submissions must relate to the theme of UpSpring as interpreted by the author. Find the guidelines at .

COMPENSATION: If selected, you will receive $10.00 USD and a PDF of the journal issue. Note that payments are through PayPal; while we try to accommodate those that do not have a PayPal account, this is not always possible, especially for people outside of the U.S. Thank you for understanding.

yellowarrowpublishing.com/submissions

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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS:BIRTH/MARK: TRANSRACIAL ADOPTEES’ ISSUE

Raising Mothers

DEADLINE: March 31, 2022

INFO: Raising Mothers publishes work that centers parenthood from either a parent, or child-centered perspective from BIPOC people exclusively; women, femmes, disabled, nonbinary and LGBTQIA+ parents.

For their next issue, Raising Mothers is seeking work writers who are also Transracial Adoptees. Share your experience of being a child of color growing up and moving away from the gaze of whiteness. How has it shaped you? How has it informed your parenting? Have you decided against parenting because of it? Have you searched for your birth family?

They invite all forms--essays, poems, interviews, comics, etc.--from diasporic transracial adoptees (Black, Asian, Latine(x), Indigenous, and other persons of color) to add nuance to the collective narrative. Being a parent is not a requirement.

Select featured works will receive honoraria.

raisingmothers.com/submissions/#tab-92941

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The 2022 Pinch Literary Awards in PoetrY

The Pinch

DEADLINE: March 31, 2022

ENTRY FEE: $20

INFO: The 2022 Pinch Literary Awards in poetry is now open. All entries are considered for publication. First, second, and third place winners will be selected from each category. The first place winners will be published in the Spring issue following announcement. Second and third place winners will be given high-priority consideration for publication, but because of space, cannot be guaranteed. Due to the high volume of submissions, any prize winners will be ineligible for contest participation for three years.

PRIZE: $2,000

JUDGE: Phillip B. Williams is the author of Mutiny (Penguin Random House, 2021), and Thief in the Interior (Alice James Books, 2016), winner of the 2017 Kate Tufts Discovery Award and a 2017 Lambda Literary award. He is also the author of the chapbooks Bruised Gospels (Arts in Bloom Inc., 2011) and Burn (YesYes Books, 2013). Williams’s work has appeared or is forthcoming in Boston Review, Callaloo, Kenyon Review, The New Republic, The New Yorker, and others. He is the recipient of a 2020 creative writing grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, a 2017 Whiting Award, and a 2013 Ruth Lilly Fellowship. He serves as a faculty member at Bennington College and Randolph College low-res MFA.

CONTEST RULES: Only unpublished work will be considered. Entries must range from 1-3 poems.  Simultaneous submissions are welcome, but notify us immediately if work is accepted elsewhere. No refunds will be issued. Manuscripts will not be returned. You may submit entries online via the link below or via mail. Emailed entries will not be considered.

INELIGIBLE:

  • No translations will be considered.

  • Current students and faculty of The University of Memphis, as well as volunteer staff members for The Pinch, are not eligible.

ENCLOSE THE FOLLOWING WITH EACH ENTRY: 

1. $20 submission fee for each entry.

2. The following information entered into the cover letter box: name, address, phone number, and email address. The AUTHOR'S CONTACT INFORMATION SHOULD NOT APPEAR ON THE MANUSCRIPT itself. Entries that do not adhere to this policy will be DISCARDED UNREAD. Please notify us if your address or email changes.

3. Please do not title your entries "Poems," "Contest Entry," "Poems for Pinch Contest," or "Pinch Contest". This makes it really hard to go back and find the poem that we absolutely loved and want to sent off as a finalist! Title the entry with either the title of your first poem entry or as all three titles of your poems separated by commas.

pinchjournal.com/2021-pinch-literary-awards

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The Orison Prizes in Poetry & Fiction 

Orison Books

DEADLINE: April 1, 2022

ENTRY FEE: $25

INFO: Each year Orison Books accept submissions of full-length poetry (50-100 pp.) and fiction (30,000 word minimum) manuscripts for The Orison Prizes in Poetry and Fiction, judged by different prominent writers each year in an anonymous judging process.

PRIZE: The winning entry in each genre will be awarded publication and a $1,500 cash prize, in addition to a standard royalties contract. Finalists will be selected by the editorial staff at Orison Books, and the winners will be selected from among the finalist manuscripts by the judges.

In the event that a judge in either genre does not select a winner from among the finalists, the Editor will select a winner. The editors also reserve the right to select no finalists, in which case all entry fees will be refunded to the entrants. All finalist manuscripts will be considered for publication under a standard royalties contract. Contest results will be announced by September 15, 2022. Winners will receive payment by October 15, 2022.

JUDGES:

  • Poetry: Rajiv Mohabir

  • Fiction: Tania James

GUIDELINES:

  • Original English work only; no translations.

  • Do not include your name anywhere in your manuscript file or file name, but only in your Duosuma cover letter.

  • Individual poems and stories or excerpts may have been previously published in periodicals and/or chapbooks, but the manuscript as a whole must not have been published in book form, whether digital or in print. Self-published manuscripts are considered previously published and are not eligible.

  • Please include any publication acknowledgments in your cover letter, listing any periodicals where individual pieces from your manuscript first appeared. Acknowledgments should not appear in the manuscript file.

  • Poetry manuscripts must be 50-100 pages of poems (each poem beginning on a new page). Fiction manuscripts must have a minimum word count of 30,000.

  • Fiction manuscripts may consist of short stories, a novel, a novella, flash/micro fiction, or any combination of forms, as long as the manuscript meets the 30,000 word minimum.

  • Existing Orison Books authors are not eligible for The Orison Prizes.

  • Simultaneous submissions are accepted; please notify us immediately should a manuscript be accepted for publication elsewhere.

  • Multiple manuscripts may be submitted; each manuscript must be accompanied by a separate entry fee.

  • Orison Books is committed to running ethical and transparent contests. Current or former students of the judge or the lead genre editor(s), or anyone with a close personal relationship with that judge or lead editor(s), are not eligible to submit in the category in question. Judges also never see author names until after they have made their selections.

  • Orison Books undertakes never to extend contest deadlines, except in the case of technical problems or other events that would prevent submitters from entering the contest by the original deadline.

  • We only accept electronic submissions, which must be sent through our Duosuma page.

duotrope.com/duosuma/submit/orison-prizes-poetry-fiction-eyhfu

POETRY — FEBRUARY 2022

SEVENTH ANNUAL NARRATIVE HIGH SCHOOL WRITING CONTEST

Narrative

DEADLINE: February 4, 2022 by 5pm PST

INFO: Narrative is inviting poetry submissions from all US and international high school students, grades 9–12, to participate in our Seventh Annual Narrative High School Writing Contest! We are eager to hear from as many voices as possible. We’re eager to hear from YOU!

Contributing students in last year’s Sixth Annual Narrative High School Writing Contest covered the globe: indeed, we received submissions from nineteen countries, including South Africa, India, China, Serbia, Poland, Taiwan. Within the United States, we heard from young poets in 39 states and 174 cities—an amazing outpouring of poetry. This year, we urge new students to add their voices to the chorus.

Poetry has been called “the voice that is great within us,” yet there is no one way to write a poem. Particularly during these times of upheaval and reflection, we’re seeking emerging writers who will offer new perspectives that invite each of us to see the world anew.

CONTEST RULES & GUIDELINES:

Who can enter?

Students from the US and internationally, grades 9–12, are eligible to submit to the contest. Winners and finalists will be asked to provide proof of age.

How do I send my work?

Writers will submit work through their English teacher, who will upload the work through the contest Submission Portal. Each teacher may submit the work of no more than ten students (one poem per student, please). Schools may submit a maximum of thirty submissions in total. The contest is free to enter. Teachers may submit their students’ work via our Submission Portal.

When’s the deadline?

The contest opens January 4, 2022, and the submission deadline is February 4, 2022, at 5:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time. All submissions must be previously unpublished, either in print or online (including on social media and blogs). The contest results, including winners and finalists, will be announced in April.

What is this year’s prompt?

When you hear the phrase “Blind Spots” it conjures the notion of seeing. In our world today, there is much we are asked to see, as humans, that we can’t quite capture. Can you point to a blind spot in your life or in the lives around you? Those obscured places just beyond one’s vision, in the past, present, or future. Blind spots come in all shapes and sizes—and in your poem we look forward to reading how your unique experience and identity sculpt those edges.

Perhaps there’s a memory forgotten or a question left unanswered, a miscommunication with someone you love, a conversation lost in translation. Or, zoom out a bit: what blind spots might you share with your family, your friends, your city, your country, the world?

Can you capture in a poem a moment or story when you or the world around you was blind to something important? What happened that made things a bit more clear? You could turn toward the metaphorical or the literal, the small or the large, the individual or the systemic. Lean into that space of self-questioning and ask others to join you. We each have something to learn, and something to teach. Shine some light on the corners we’ve left in the dark, and tell us what we’re missing.

We invite you to write a poem, 10 to 50 lines long, in response to the prompt: BLIND SPOTS.

How will the winners be chosen, and when will they be announced?

For fairness, all judging of submitted poems will be done with names, grades, and school affiliations removed, and, further, entries will be sorted randomly by Narrative’s team—led by Narrative cofounder/editor and New York Times–bestselling author Carol Edgarian and Narrativepoetry editor and executive editor of Copper Canyon Press Michael Wiegers. Guest judge Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Jericho Brownwill select the ultimate winners and finalists. A first-, second-, and third-place winner, along with several finalists, will be announced in April. Narrativeeditors will mentor winners prior to publication in the magazine. Cash prizes totaling more than $1,000 will be awarded.

What awards will the winners receive?

The winning author will be presented with a $500 award. The second-place winner will receive $200, and the third-place winner will receive $100. Each finalist will receive $50. The schools of winners will also receive special recognition and prizes. The winning works will be published in Narrative, alongside many of today’s great writers. The winners will also have an opportunity to perform their work for our popular Narrative Outloud podcast.

Need help getting inspired?

Check out our Poetry Tutorial Video with Narrative cofounder/editor and bestselling author Carol Edgarian and last year’s guest judge, Salvadoran poet and Narrative Prize winner Javier Zamora. Also be sure to explore our Poetry Guide, made just for you!

narrativemagazine.com/narrative-in-the-schools-program/seventh-annual-contest

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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: ISSUE 9 - ‘GIBBERISH’

Lucky Jefferson

DEADLINE: February 13, 2022

INFO: Did you grow up with a name others found difficult to pronounce? Speak a foreign language? Know a word or a phrase that doesn’t translate well to English?

Celebrate your culture and language! We want to hear about those “gibberish” experiences and words we’ve never seen or heard before. 

Poems, essays, flash fiction, hybrid forms, and art are all welcome. Send us anything that relates to uncommon or foreign words and languages that hold significance to you.

GUIDELINES:

  • Send no more than 3 poems in a submission. Separate poems by page break.

  • No more than 1000 words for flash fiction.     

  • Include a short and sweet cover page highlighting: your name, email address, mailing address, and bio (third-person, 50 words max).      

  • No work that has been previously published in print or online.

*If translation is necessary, please email submissions@luckyjefferson.com.

*We will not tolerate any work that promotes harmful stereotypes and perspectives including: racism, bigotry, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, islamophobia, xenophobia, antisemitism, ableism.

luckyjefferson.submittable.com/submit


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LITERATURE GRANT

Café Royal Cultural Foundation

DEADLINE: February 14, 2022 at 9:00am EST

INFO: Café Royal Cultural Foundation NYC will award a publishing grant to authors of fiction / creative non-fiction, poetry and playwriting. 

GRANT: Up to $10,000.00  

ELIGIBILITY: Authors in fiction / creative non-fiction, poetry and playwriting. The applicant must be the originator of the written material.
Grants awarded in this category may fund costs associated with continuing the composition of work submitted. Such as:

  • Course Reduction (if you're a Teacher/Professor)

  • Salary Replacement

  • Living Expenses

  • Research Expenses

Writers applying must be a current resident of New York City and have lived there for a minimum of one year prior to applying.

Please make sure to submit your application with ample time before the start date of your project. 

Applicants can only apply with the same project twice.

REVIEW PROCEDURES: Funding decisions will be made by the Café Royal Cultural Foundation Selection and Executive Committees. The following criteria will be applied in evaluating grant proposals:

  • Creativity, originality, ideas and concepts, writing style

  • Importance of the Project/Cultural Relevance

  • Promise of future achievements in writing

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS: 

  • Up to and no more than a 15 page PDF of the work, for the Café Royal Cultural Foundation executive committee to download and read.

  • A letter of intent from the publisher with a date of planned publication, if no publisher is assigned, Café Royal Cultural Foundation may work with writer to help find a publisher.

  • A short description of the project.

  • A short author biography of the person(s) involved.

  • List of costs that the grant money be used for - must not exceed the amount of $10,000.00

caferoyalculturalfoundation.org/literature-page

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2022 NEW AMERICAN POETRY PRIZE

New American Press

DEADLINE: February 14, 2022

ENTRY FEE: $20

INFO: Submissions are now open for the 2022 New American Poetry Prize.

The winning manuscript will be published and its author will receive $1,500 and 25 copies. Manuscripts should be at least 48  pages, but there is no maximum length. All forms and styles of poetry are welcome.

We read manuscripts blind, so please exclude identifying information  from the manuscript itself. All necessary contact information is included in your Submittable record.

JUDGE: Final judge this year is EDUARDO C. CORRAL, whose debut poetry collection, Slow Lightning (2012), won the Yale Younger Poets Prize, making him the first Latino recipient of the award. His second collection, Guillotine (2020), was praised for his seamless blending of English and Spanish, tender treatment of  history, and careful exploration of sexuality, Corral has received  numerous honors and awards, including the Discovery/The Nation Award,  the J. Howard and Barbara M.J. Wood Prize, a Whiting Writers’ Award,  and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. A CantoMundo Fellow, he has held the Olive B. O’Connor Fellowship in Creative Writing at Colgate University and was the Philip Roth Resident in Creative Writing at Bucknell University. In 2016, he won the Holmes National Poetry Prize from Princeton University. Corral teaches in the  MFA program at North Carolina State University in Raleigh and is  currently a Hodder Fellow at Princeton University.

https://newamericanpress.submittable.com/submit

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KATHRYN A. MORTON PRIZE IN POETRY

Sarabande Book’s

DEADLINE: February 15, 2022

INFO: The Kathryn A. Morton Prize in Poetry includes a $2,000 cash award, publication of a full-length collection of poetry, and a standard royalty contract. Kathryn A. Morton was a published author and devotee of fine literature, especially poetry. 

The judge for the 2022 Kathryn A. Morton Prize in Poetry is Terrance Hayes!

ELIGIBILITY:

This contest is open to any poet writing in English. Employees and board members of Sarabande Books, Inc. 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.

MANUSCRIPT REQUIREMENTS:

  • Manuscript must be ANONYMOUS—the author’s name or address must not appear anywhere on the manuscript (title page should contain the title only)

  • Must be typed, standard font, 12 pt.

  • Minimum length 48 pages

  • Manuscript must be paginated consecutively with a table of contents and acknowledgements page (a list of publications in which poems in the manuscript have appeared)

  • Must be accompanied by a $29 submission fee

  • Must be submitted electronically through Submittable

Multiple submissions are permitted if submitted separately, each with a submission fee. Once submitted, manuscripts cannot be altered. Winner will be given the opportunity to make changes before publication. Simultaneous submissions to other publishers are permitted, but please withdraw the submission if accepted elsewhere. 

A winner will be selected in September, and all entrants will be notified of the winners and finalists shortly afterward. Sarabande Books considers all finalists for publication.

sarabandebooks.org/morton

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2022 CAAPP Book Prize

Center for African American Poetry and Poetics

DEADLINE: February 15, 2022

INFO: The CAAPP Book Prize is a publishing partnership between the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for African American Poetry and Poetics and Autumn House Press with the goal of publishing and promoting a writer of African descent. The prize is awarded annually to a first or second book by a writer of African descent and is open to the full range of writers embodying African and African diasporic experiences. The book can be of any genre that is, or intersects with, poetry, including poetry, hybrid work, speculative prose, and/or translation.

Please submit a manuscript between 48 and 168 pages.

AWARD: The winning manuscript will be published by Autumn House Press and its author will be awarded $3,000.

FINAL JUDGE: Evie Shockley

Evie Shockley is a poet and scholar. Her most recent poetry collections, the new black (Wesleyan, 2011) and semiautomatic (Wesleyan, 2017), both won the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award; the latter was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the LA Times Book Prize. Her poetry has appeared internationally in print and audio formats, in English and in translation. She has received the Lannan Literary Award for Poetry, the Stephen Henderson Award, the Holmes National Poetry Prize, and fellowships from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study and Cave Canem, among others. Shockley is Professor of English at Rutgers University.

caapp.pitt.edu/opportunities/2020-caapp-book-prize

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PIGEON PAGES POETRY CONTEST

Pigeon Pages

DEADLINE: February 15, 2022

ENTRY FEE: $7

INFO: The Pigeon Pages Poetry Contest will be judged by Melissa Lozada-Oliva, author of Dreaming of You.

AWARD:

  • The winner will receive $250 and publication in Pigeon Pages.

  • Honorable mentions will receive $50 and publication.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

  • Original, previously unpublished poems by a single author are eligible for this contest. 

  • $7 entry fee for one poem of 5 pages or less

  • Only one poem per contest submission, but we welcome writers to submit as many times as they would like. Any entries with more than one poem will not be eligible for contest consideration.

  • We do accept simultaneous submissions, but please let us know if the submitted piece is accepted elsewhere.

  • If submitting work entirely in a language other than English, please also include an English translation.

  • Please do not include personal information on your piece, as submissions will be read blind.

  • All submissions will be considered for publication in the general journal.

pigeonpagesnyc.com/poetry-contest

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2022 J. Michael Samuel Prize

Lambda Literary

DEADLINE: February 15, 2022

INFO: The J. Michael Samuel Prize honors emerging LGBTQ writers over the age of 50. To be eligible, the winner of the prize must be unpublished and meet our minimum age requirement. The award includes a cash prize of $5,000.

ELIGIBILITY:

In order to be considered for the award, the applicant must:

  • be 50 years of age or older as of January 1st of the award year;

  • be unpublished and have no books under contract or forthcoming from a publisher (up to one (1) self-published title is permitted). Writers with bylines for short stories, poetry, and essays are still eligible.;

  • be of demonstrated ability and show promise for continued growth; and

  • show meaningful engagement with LGBTQ literary communities.

lambdaliteraryawards.submittable.com/submit/212919/2022-j-michael-samuel-prize

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2022 Furious Flower Poetry Prize

James Madison University

DEADLINE: February 15, 2022

SUBMISSION FEE: $15

INFO: The Furious Flower Poetry Prize for emerging writers is open for submissions. Poets with no more than one published book are invited to submit up to three poems (no more than a total of 6 pages) for consideration.

PRIZE: The winner and honorable mention receive $1000 and $500 respectively, and will be invited to read (virtually or in-person) as a part of the Furious Flower Reading Series. The winner, honorable mention, and select finalists will also be published in Obsidian. Winners are announced in late March/early April. 

HOW TO SUBMIT:

Visit the submission page and carefully follow all instructions. You will need to:

  • Pay your $15 non-refundable submission fee

  • Register your submission

  • Email an anonymized version of your manuscript to furiousflowerpoetry@gmail.com with contact information in only the body of the message

jmu.edu/furiousflower/poetryprize/index.shtml

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Interdisciplinary Artist Residency Program

Peter Bullough Foundation

DEADLINE: February 22, 2022

INFO: The Peter Bullough Foundation in downtown historic Winchester, Virginia provides residencies to emerging artists and scholars, including those elevating voices and topics relevant to the LGBTQIA2S+ community. Applications are now being accepted for fall 2022 residencies to work in the private studios and enjoy the garden and former homes of Dr. Peter Bullough. The ideal applicant will be self-directed and able to work independently. Each awarded residency period is roughly four weeks and is shared with one to two other artists in residence. Artistic collaborators in groups of two to three may apply in one application. Hosting a community workshop virtually or in-person during the residency is encouraged, but not required.

Disciplines Accepted:
Architecture, literature, film/video arts, interdisciplinary arts, music, music composition, playwriting, screenwriting, poetry, scholars, theatre, and the visual arts.

Fall 2022 Residency Dates:

August 18 - September 13
September 15 - October 11
October 13 - November 8
November 10 - December 6

Selection:
Selection is a multi-step process involving the PBF staff, residency committee, residency alumni, and board. We may request an interview with you to learn more about you and your work. Selections will be announced 30-45 days after the application deadline. The PBF does not discriminate in its programs and activities on the basis of race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, religion, creed, national origin, age, and/or disability.

Accommodations & Support:
The Peter Bullough Foundation is delighted to offer free accommodations for two to three artists at a time in Dr. Bullough’s former home, a renovated 1840’s house with private bedrooms and bathrooms and shared common spaces. Private studios and workspaces are located in an adjacent building that also houses the majority of the late Dr. Bullough’s book and art collections. Private gardens connect the properties and are also available as open-air workspaces.

A $550 stipend is provided to aid in covering supplies, necessities, and food for the month. 

Accessibility:
The PBF is not ADA accessible at this time. For more information on accessibility, please check out our FAQ's

Location: 
Winchester, Virginia is a quintessential American small town, with four locally-owned breweries, many small shops, 10 different historic house museums, a kids science museum, and a large regional art museum. 

Application Requirements:

  • Application Form

  • Resume, CV, or Statement of Qualifications

  • Two Personal References

  • Personal Statement and Proposal

  • Portfolio

peterbulloughfoundation.org/residency?fbclid=IwAR1MRyNsx3HGw1Vimr66ld9RkMwoyFRYvIA6qHHNlUaE8hw2rarYFoUF2wE

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GRANTS FOR ARTISTS & WRITERS WITH CHILDREN

Sustainable Arts Foundation

DEADLINE: February 25, 2022 at 5pm ET

INFO: This year, The Sustainable Arts Foundation will make awards of $5,000 each to twenty artists and writers with children. Additionally, we will name twenty finalists.

Our awards offer unrestricted cash, which recipients can use as they see fit. 

Our selection process is focused almost entirely on the strength of the submitted portfolio. 

ELIGIBILITY:

To be eligible, the applicant must have at least one child under the age of 18. Parents of older children with a disability or special needsmay also be eligible.

WHO SHOULD APPLY:

Artists and writers with at least one child under the age of 18 and a strong portfolio are welcome to apply.

We are inspired by anyone making creative work while raising a family. Given the intense demand for these awards (we typically receive 2,000-3,000 applications), and the fact that the awards are based on demonstrated excellence in your discipline, we don’t recommend that artists or writers just beginning their creative careers apply to this program. 

While we don’t require that applicants have published or exhibited their work, the rigor and critique involved in that process can certainly benefit the portfolio. Portfolios of writing or artwork created in a more personal vein for sharing with friends and family are not suitable.

We invite you to view our list of previous awardees and follow the links to their work to get a feel for their level of craft. 

RACIAL EQUITY:

As of Fall 2016, we make at least half our awards to applicants of color. You can read more about this decision on ourwebsite.

DISCIPLINES:

Writers may apply in one of the following categories:

  • Creative Nonfiction

  • Early and Middle Grade Readers

  • Fiction

  • Graphic Novel/Graphic Memoir

  • Illustrated Children's Books

  • Illustrated Children's Books (Text Only)

  • Poetry

  • Young Adult Fiction

Visual artists may apply in one of the following categories:

  • Book Arts

  • Ceramics

  • Drawing

  • Fiber Arts and Textiles

  • Illustration

  • Installation

  • Jewelry

  • Mixed Media

  • Painting

  • Photography

  • Printmaking

  • Sculpture

  • Wearable Textiles

CRITERIA:

We are looking for excellent work. The portfolio is the primary factor we consider in evaluating each application.

apply.sustainableartsfoundation.org

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2022 Starshine and Clay Fellowship

Cave Canem / EcoTheo Collective

DEADLINE: February 28, 2022 by 11:59pm EST

ENTRY FEE: $0

INFO: Cave Canem and EcoTheo Collective are pleased to announce the 2022 Starshine and Clay Fellowship, an initiative providing financial and development support to emerging Black poets, and fundraising opportunities for Cave Canem. Named in honor of Cave Canem elder Lucille Clifton (“won’t you celebrate with me”), the Starshine and Clay Fellowship was developed to speak to the mentorship Clifton offered Cave Canem fellows during her tenure as faculty at the Cave Canem Retreat.

AWARD: Four recipients will each receive $500, $500 for a LOGOS reading, a $500 travel stipend and free lodging to attend the Wonder in Wyoming conference, a one-on-one consultation with the final judge, and master classes and other opportunities provided by Cave Canem. Poets will also have their work published in the Summer 2022 issue of EcoTheo Review, with proceeds of the sale going to Cave Canem.

JUDGE: Airea D. Matthews

ELIGIBILITY: All adult Black writers who have not had a full-length book published by or currently under contract with a professional press. Authors of chapbooks and self-published books with a maximum print run of 500 may apply.

EXCLUSIONS: Current or former students, colleagues, employees, family members and close friends of the judge; current or former employees and members of the board of Cave Canem Foundation, EcoTheo, or LOGOS Poetry Collective. If any of the selected poets fall under the above exclusions, they will be disqualified and a replacement will be chosen from among the finalists. As the poetry community is small and the contest is judged without knowledge of the submitter’s identity, acquaintance with the judge or participation in a workshop taught by the judge are not disqualifying criteria.

GUIDELINES:

  • 8-12 pages of unpublished poems. A poem may be multiple pages, but no more than one poem per page is permitted.

  • The fellowship welcomes poets writing from a variety of themes and perspectives, and poets writing on ecological, spiritual, and/or theological concerns are particularly encouraged to apply.

  • Submit manuscripts online via Submittable. Hard copy submissions will not be considered. One manuscript per poet allowed.

  • Author’s name should not appear on any pages within the uploaded document.

  • Upload manuscript as a .doc or .pdf document.

  • Manuscripts not adhering to submission guidelines will not be considered.

  • Post-submission revisions or corrections are not permitted.

cavecanem.submittable.com/submit/4bee3c44-9f24-4d08-9976-a86a0d9a34cb/2022-starshine-and-clay-fellowship

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Call For Submissions

DVAN/Texas Tech University Press

DEADLINE: February 28, 2022

INFO: DVAN and Texas Tech University Press’ book series is open for submissions from early career and emerging poets. For this reading cycle, we will be reviewing poetry in English, from the Vietnamese-American and broader Southeast Asian community. Manuscripts will be given full consideration by TTUP and writers and academics from the DVAN network.

REQUIREMENTS:

  • Full book length manuscript (60-90 poems)

  • Manuscript must not yet be published

  • Please include an author bio with your submission

We are looking for any and all kinds of stories and modes of expression. There is no singular story from the Diaspora and Asian-American community. We are looking for originality of voice, acuity of subject, emotional resonance, as well as themes and perspectives that have not often been centered in contemporary literature. As a nonprofit University Press, TTUP is unburdened by the commercial concerns of major publishers.

Please submit your manuscript to wearedvan@gmail.com.

dvan.org/2021/12/dvan-texas-tech-university-press-call-for-submissions/

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MY TIME: A FELLOWSHIP FOR PARENT WRITERS

The Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow

DEADLINE: February 28, 2022

APPLICATION FEE: $35

INFO: The Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow is pleased to announce the 2022 My Time fellowship funded by the Sustainable Arts Foundation. Writers who are also parents of dependent children under the age of 18 are invited to apply. Work may be any literary genre: fiction or nonfiction, poetry or prose, script or screenplay.  The successful application will demonstrate literary merit and the likelihood of publication. Prior publication is not a requirement.

Two fellowship winners will receive a one-week residency to allow the recipient to focus completely on their work. A $400 stipend will be provided to cover childcare and/or travel costs. Each writer’s suite has a bedroom, private bathroom, separate writing space, and wireless internet. We provide uninterrupted writing time, a European-style gourmet dinner prepared five nights a week, and served in our community dining room, the camaraderie of other professional writers when you want it, and a community kitchen stocked with the basics for other meals.

The winner will be announced no later than March 21, 2022. Residencies may be completed at any time during 2022. This may be extended up to twelve months for extenuating circumstances including COVID-19 concerns.

writerscolony.org/fellowships

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CALL FOR POETRY

Digging Through the Fat

DEADLINE: February 28, 2022

SUBMISSION FEE: $3.50

INFO: Digging Press LLC is an independent publisher. We publish the literary and arts journal, Digging Through The Fat, and a chapbook series. We also produce a podcast and host a reading series. As an organization for cultural omnivores, we aim to nurture experimentation in the arts and encourage broad-mindedness and cultural inclusion.

GUIDELINES:

Send up to three poems in a single upload. Multiple submissions are discouraged.

Do not include your name or any identifying information within the attachment. Please do not insert a header or footer containing your name, and do not include your name and contact information at the top of the document. Doing so will disqualify your submission.

Because this is a blind submission process, previously published works are not accepted. This includes work self-published on personal blogs. Simultaneous submissions are accepted as long as they are indicated as such and the submission is withdrawn from Submittable immediately upon acceptance elsewhere.

diggingpress.com/submissions/

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CALL FOR INVITATIONS

Nomadic Press

DEADLINE: February 28, 2022

INVITATION FEE: $10

INFO: For years, we have used the “industry”-standard language—submissions. Any way you cut it, the word “submit” grates against who we are and what we stand for. It feels inauthentic to continue to use this word. We want to instead offer that this is a process of sending us an invitation—an invitation into relationship, an invitation to work together, an invitation to experience your art with you, an invitation into a space most sacred.

This year, we are accepting invitations in the following categories: chapbooks, full-length collections (poetry, fiction, non-fiction), and children's books. Please review category-specific guidelines below. 

Accepted works will be published in 2023–2024. 

Prior to sending us an invitation, please ensure that you are familiar with our organization's vision, mission, and safe space statement/process. We are more than just a publishing house. If you have not gotten a chance to read one of our books, please take a moment to do so. You can also see a list of previously published Nomadic Press authors at this link. 

GENERAL INVITATION GUIDELINES:

We love simple:  

  • attach two file versions of your work: a .pdf and a .doc(x)

  • for fiction, non-fiction, and children's books: double-space your invitations

  • 12 pt. serif font (Garamond, Times New Roman)

WORD-COUNT LIMITS:

  • Chapbook (poetry, fiction, non-fiction): maximum of 70 pages or 21,000 words (@ roughly 300 words per page)

  • Full-length (poetry, fiction, non-fiction): anything above 70 pages or 21,000 words (@ roughly 300 words per page)

  • Children's books: we are interested in BIPOC/LGBTQIA+ children's books that earnestly push boundaries and engage kids in explorations of social and environmental justice issues. No word limit. Please include sample illustrations in your invitation or pictures from illustrators you are considering. We do have illustrators that we work with and we would like to see what type of illustration aesthetic you are leaning toward.

  • Note: photographs and illustrations are welcome in place of (or in addition to) written material, though it will be our final decision as to whether or not to include them should we decide to take on the project.

HOW DO WE READ YOUR INVITATIONS?

We have a team of 3 first-round readers, all of whom are previously published Nomadic Press authors. Our readers change every year. These readers will rate each invitation and we will compile a short list of finalists, out of which final publications will be chosen by our editorial team.

As an independent, small press, we take our reading period very seriously and enlist the help of trusted, highly talented authors who understand who Nomadic Press is and what we stand for. We feel it is important to pay them for their time, which your submission fee of $10 helps to cover. We look forward to reading your work, and thank you again for your interest in our press, and our values.

nomadicpress.submittable.com/submit

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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: POETRY

Anomaly

DEADLINE: March 1, 2022

ENTRY FEE: $3 (Fees will be waived for all Black and Indigenous writers to support those most targeted by state violence. Email editor [at] anomalouspress [dot] org to request a fee waiver.)

INFO: Anomaly is currently seeking impact poetry. We are seeking poems that challenge the history and currents of the English language, poems that unsettle cultural norms, poems that utilize language to contest and remake the world. We seek poems that confront gender formations, white supremacy, class, body, possibility. We are seeking for poetry rooted in the radical imagination. We hope to find you.

Please be aware that we get over 500 submissions per reading period and read each carefully, so if you're work has not been accepted or rejected it's not from oversight-we promise we're working on it!

Attach up to five poems in a single document. Please include a short bio in the "Cover Letter" field.

Translations that foreground the work of the original author are welcome in this category. For translations that foreground the creativity of the translator, please see our Translation section.

anmly.submittable.com/submit

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Spring 2022 Call for Submissions

A Gathering Together Literary Journal

DEADLINE: March 1, 2022

INFO: A Gathering Together is a journal that resists the easy and often unsophisticated attempt to say profound things in the moment, without deep contemplation, or in the heat of discursive battle.

We welcome submissions of previously unpublished essays, short stories, poetry, reviews, visual art, and film for our Spring 2022 issue.

We primarily select works that speak to Mekhet--the Kemetic (Ancient Egyptian) term for resonating across time and space. This term is reserved for works that simultaneously transcend and address the moment they speak from, works that will last beyond the creator's last breath and still be relevant, or works that put the writer and reader in conversation with the intellectual thought of Ancestors of all kinds.

Our writers are primarily descendants of Africa and her Diaspora. All writers whose works resonate with the human experience, and thus the Diasporic African experience, are considered. Our back issues are all available online and serve as a good model for the variety of writers and works we've featured.

Artists who want to be featured in our upcoming issues are invited to send us a letter of interest, a brief bio, and a sample portfolio. Writers who want to conduct artist interviews are welcome to send us pitches letting us know how the interview and artist would be a good fit for our journal. Features are generally published January-March or July-September.

A Gathering Together is unable to compensate writers at this time.

agatheringtogether.com/how-to-submit/