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NewPages Blog

At the NewPages Blog readers and writers can catch up with their favorite literary and alternative magazines, independent and university presses, creative writing programs, and writing and literary events. Find new books, new issue announcements, contest winners, and so much more!

Contest :: River Styx’s International Poetry Contest is Open!

River Styx 2021 International Poetry Contest bannerDeadline: May 31, 2021
River Styx’s International Poetry Competition is open for submissions. Judged by Adrian Matejka, the competition features a grand prize of $1,000 and publication in River Styx. Runner-ups will also be published at our standard rate. For more information and to submit, visit www.riverstyx.org/submit/poetry-contest/.

Into the Void – #19

Issue #19 of Into the Void is by far our biggest issue yet! Containing 12 fiction pieces, 3 creative nonfiction pieces, 15 poems, and 11 beautiful art pieces, Issue #19 is vast, vivid and vibrant. Fiction by Sean Cunningham, Laurel Doud, Mark Foss, Jones Irwin, Chris Neilan, and more.

Hole In The Head Review – May 2021

We’re all masked up and ready to roll out our latest issue! Poetry, videos, music, a dog with a frisbee, Nobel Laureate, art work, photography. Poetry from Anne Pierson Wiese, Tim Suermondt, Samantha DeFlitch, Dawn Potter, Ralph Savarese. See what else is in this issue of Hole In The Head Review.

Contest :: The Puerto del Sol 2021 Prose & Poetry Contest

Puerto del sol 2021 Poetry & Prose Contests bannerDeadline: September 1, 2021
Puerto del Sol will be accepting entries to our annual contest in poetry and prose between May 1 and September 1. Judges are Eileen Pollack in prose and Todd Dillard in poetry. Winners receive $500 and publication. $9 entry fee includes one-year subscription. All manuscripts entered will be considered for publication. See website for complete guidelines—puertodelsol.org.

Creative Nonfiction – No. 75

This milestone issue features some of our favorite prizewinning essays. These curious, beautiful, nuanced stories about everything from surviving lightning strikes to the relief of solving medical mysteries consider the many perils, as well as the tremendous power, of living in a body. See what else the issue has in store for you at the Creative Nonfiction website.

The Adroit Journal – April 2021

With Issue #37 of The Adroit Journal, we celebrate the extraordinary work of our Gregory Djanikian Scholars—six poets with immense talent who have yet to publish a full-length collection (hello, poetry presses!): Jari Bradley, Donte Collins, Jane Huffman, L. A. Johnson, Nastasha Rao and Brandon Thurman.

Unique Upcycled Notebooks Made From Vintage Books

Photograph of upcycled notebooks handcrafted from vintage booksBookMark Books refashions discarded and unwanted vintage books into lovely, sturdy, unique, blank notebooks. Made with upcycled, vintage covers; recycled interior paper; and hand-waxed thread, they are excellent tools for writers, artists, musicians, teachers, or anyone who loves beautiful books and the act of making their mark. A notebook is an essential tool for writers and artists, and having something beautiful, handmade, and environmentally friendly to use when an idea strikes makes creating even more satisfying. Visit me on on Instagram @bookmark_books for pictures of what I’m working on and a link to my Etsy shop.

About Place Journal – May 2021

“Geographies of Justice,” edited by Alexis Lathem with Richard Cambridge and Charles Coe. An extraordinary testament to extraordinary times: includes poetry from Susan Deer Cloud, Tammy Melody Gomez, Richard Hoffmann, Jacqueline Johnson, Petra Kuppers, and Danielle Wolffe; nonfiction from Teow Lim Goh, Andréana Elise Lefton, David Mura, Nicole Walker, and Catherine Young. Find more contributors at the About Place Journal website.

The Necessity of Human Myth

Guest Post by Adrian Thomson.

Jesse Lee Kercheval’s “The Boy Who Drew Cats” speaks both to our current time and to the necessity of human myth. Confined to a house in Uruguay as her children face quarantine in Japan, Kercheval connects to the hero of a Japanese fable, the titular drawer of cats, in an attempt to find solace within herself through her own artistic ventures.

This connection to cultural myth—and Kercheval does cement her own tale very concretely to the modern as well as the mythical—inspires the author in its assertions of safety, balance, and a sense of stability. The myth helps her recapture her own love of art and facilitates a return to  the page where flowers transform into felines. Kercheval does not uphold the myth as a perfect guideline, either—she comments upon it, accepting the good she sees there while acknowledging elements she appears to dislike.

But her inclusion of the fable also speaks to the wider purpose of human myth—as a necessity of the imagination to allow us to “visit” faraway places and to inspire. Kercheval places both within the story to generate trust that the world will get better, as well as trust in her own abilities.


The Boy Who Drew Cats” by Jesse Lee Kercheval. Brevity, January 2021.

Reviewer bio: Adrian Thomson is a graduate student at Utah State University, currently working toward his MS by way of a thesis in poetry.

Contest :: Winter Goose Publishing Announces Inaugural Contests

Winter Goose Publishing 2021 Book Awards banner$500 & Publication for Fiction and Poetry

Deadline: July 31, 2021
Enter your fiction or poetry manuscript for a chance to win $500 and publication by Winter Goose Publishing. Honorable mentions may also receive publication. Submissions are being accepted from 5/1 – 7/31. ENTER TODAY before time runs out!

Contest :: The Conium Review 2021 Innovative Short Fiction Contest

blue cover with sketched open jaws with Animals Eat Each Other written in white capital lettersDeadline: June 1, 2021
The Conium Review 2021 Innovative Short Fiction Contest is open for submissions. The winner receives $500, publication in the next print edition, five copies of the issue, and a copy of the judge’s latest book. This year’s judge is Elle Nash, author of Nudes (SF/LD) and Animals Eat Each Other (Dzanc Books). June 1st deadline. $15 entry fee. Full guidelines here: coniumreview.com/contests/.

Contest :: 2021 Red Wheelbarrow Poetry Prize Still Open for Submissions

Red WheelbarrowDeadline: July 31, 2021
RED WHEELBARROW POETRY PRIZE 2021 will be Judged by Mark Doty. $1,000 for first place and a letterpress broadside printed by Felicia Rice of Moving Parts Press, $500 for second, $250 for third. Top five published in Red Wheelbarrow Literary Magazine. Submit up to 3 original, unpublished poems. $15 entry fee. Deadline: July 31, 2021. For complete guidelines, see redwheelbarrow.submittable.com/submit.

Contest :: May 31 Deadline for Flying South 2021

painting of buildings and mountains with flying south and book pages flyingFlying South 2021 Call for Submissions – $2000 in Prizes

Deadline: May 31, 2021
Don’t forget! $2,000 in prizes. From March 1 to May 31, Flying South 2021, a publication of Winston Salem Writers, will be accepting entries for prizes in Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry. Best in Category winners will be published and receive $500 each. One of the three winners will receive The WSW President’s Favorite award and win an additional $500. All entries will be considered for publication. For full details, please visit our website: www.wswriters.org/flying-south.

Call :: Driftwood Press, A Paying Market

banner with artwork showing mountains, woods, and a woman's headWe Pay Contributors: Driftwood Press Submissions Open

Submissions accepted year-round.
John Updike once said, “Creativity is merely a plus name for regular activity. Any activity becomes creative when the doer cares about doing it right, or better.” At Driftwood Press, we are actively searching for artists who care about doing it right, or better. We are excited to receive your submissions and will diligently work to bring you the best in full poetry collections, novellas, graphic novels, short fiction, poetry, graphic narrative, photography, art, interviews, and contests. We also offer our submitters a premium option to receive an acceptance or rejection letter within one week of submission; many authors are offered editorships and interviews. To polish your fiction, note our editing services and seminars, too. www.driftwoodpress.net

Explorations of Identity

Guest Post by Natalie Hess.

This was a really weird book, but in a good way. It follows a girl named Jenna Fox who was in a car accident and woke up from a coma with no memories at all. She has to build a new life for herself while also trying to find out about her past.

There are some sci-fi elements in the medical parts of this story as well which made for some really shocking plot twists, and the way that Jenna’s new life is shaped because of those things is so much different than normal people’s lives.

This book also brings up identity and what it means to be yourself and have your own personality and I really enjoyed that part of it. I also liked the whimsical way the story was told. There were parts where I felt like I was reading poetry because the writing is so pretty, but it was really easy to understand, even the more scientific parts.

If you really enjoy stories about medical miracles, or utopian stories, this is a great book to pick up.


The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson. Square Fish. 2009.

Reviewer bio: I’m Natalie Hess and I’m simply a high school student who LOVES reading everything from scifi to romance to nonfiction and everything in between. I also love sharing my thoughts and I hope you enjoy!

Buy this book from our affiliate Bookshop.org.

What It Means to Be an Underdog

Guest Post by Gabrielle Thurman.

Dog Boy by Eva Hornung is the harrowing tale of a young boy raised by wild dogs. Based on a true story, the novel follows Romochka, a four-year-old boy abandoned by his family, as he attempts to survive the Russian winters in the aftermath of perestroika. At its heart, this book is a story about what it means to be an underdog, both literally and metaphorically.

Every scene in this book had me gritting my teeth. I laughed. I cried. I walked away from it in horror and disgust, only to return to it again and again. It’s one of those books that even after you finish reading it, you still think about it. I can’t look at dogs the same way I used to. Hornung does a fantastic job of examining what it means to be a “person.”

The book isn’t perfect. There are parts where the plot gets a bit fuzzy and convenient. She stretched my suspension of disbelief a tad bit too far in places. Overall, though, this is one of my new favorites, and I’ll definitely be recommending it to others. If you love books about  dogs, survival, Russia, humanity, violence, family, and hope, then this book is for you.


Dog Boy by Eva Hornung. Viking, March 2010.

Reviewer bio: Gabrielle Thurman is a creative writer, professional editor, queer woman, native Arkansan, and aspiring novelist. Her creative nonfiction can be found in The Elephant Ladder and The Vortex Magazine of Literature and Fine Art.

 

Call :: Able Muse Open to Submissions for Winter 2021/2022

Man in blue suit tangoing with woman in red dress while a crowd looks onSubmit to ABLE MUSE: A Review of Poetry, Prose & Art

Deadline: July 15, 2021
Able Muse is now accepting submissions for our forthcoming issue, Winter 2021/2022. Submit poetry, fiction, essays, book reviews, art, and photography. Submission opens yearly January 1 and closes July 15. Read our guidelines and submit at www.ablemuse.com/submit/.

Contest :: The MacGuffin Poet Hunt 26 Open

Screenshot of The MacGuffin's 26th Annual Poet Hunt
click image to see full-size flier

Poet Hunt 26, Judged by Indigo Moor, is Now Open!!

Deadline: June 15, 2021
Indigo Moor judges the MacGuffin’s 26th Poet Hunt contest, open April 1 through June 15! $500 first prize plus publication; up to two Honorable Mentions will also be published. All entrants receive one copy of this issue. Send no more than five poems per $15 entry fee. Include a cover page that lists your contact info and poem titles. On the following page(s), include your poem(s), beginning each poem on a new page devoid of personally identifiable information to preserve the blind review process. Enter via Submittable, or to enter by email or post, see full rules at schoolcraft.edu/macguffin/contest-rules.

New Letters Volume 87 Numbers 1 & 2

woman looking at a poster for a ballet performanceLiterary magazine New Letters publishes two double issues a year in print. Their Winter/Spring 2021 issue is now available for purchase and features fiction by Blair Hurley, Robert P. Kaye, Kirstin Scott, Anthony Varallo, and Leslie Blanco; essays by Carolina Avarado Molk, Emily Howorth, and Michaela Django Walsh; and poetry by Rebecca Foust, Jennifer Perrine, D.S. Waldman, Ted Kooser, Mihaela Moscaliuc, and Liane Strauss.

Also in this issue find the winners of their annual literary awards!

  • “Indigent” by Elizabeth Robinson, winner of the Editor’s Choice Award
  • Two poems by Mark Wagenaar, winner of the Patricia Clearly Miller Award for Poetry
  • “Lobu Hoteru” by Jacob R. Weber, winner of the Robert Day Award for Fiction
  • “Joan” by Rebecca Young, winner of the Beasley Jr. Award for Nonfiction

Their current awards in fiction, poetry, and nonfiction are open to entries through midnight CST on May 18! Check out the 2020 winners and don’t forget to pick up this issue and support the journal by subscribing!

‘Even the Saints Audition’

Guest Post by Sherrel McLafferty.

When we are asked to carry stories with us, fables and religion and family origins, we carry not just their words but their implications. Opening with a thoughtful exploration of Job, we witness the haunting impacts of “. . . the Devil asking / for permission to torment” and “God saying yes” on a vulnerable persona who ties these poems together. As a reader, the three acts serve as a pathway between childhood, where poems are playful including asking questions about sex in Sunday school, to the self doubt and self-harm of teenagehood, and ending with a young woman’s struggle with addiction.

In the background of this transformation, there is God and this story that haunts the beginning of each act, Job. God let him suffer. God lets our persona suffer. The commitment to the theme is astonishing; Jackson uses erasure of hymns, references to Jonah, and the anticipated language of sin. However, the redemption arc is not quite there. Jackson keeps us hungering for relief that only appears in the occasional rhetorical line or question, “Who am I /to go against God & the saints?”

I arrived at this book in need of fellowship about midway through this hellscape of a year. What a welcome 75 pages of commiseration. An open hand to anyone, regardless of religion, despite its theme because at its heart, it builds a story of abandonment, of melancholy, of needing someone to witness one’s pain.


Even the Saints Audition by Raych Jackson. Button Poetry, September 2019.

Reviewer bio: Sherrel McLafferty is a Pushcart nominated writer residing in Bowling Green, Ohio. For more information, visit her website at sherrelmclafferty.com or her Twitter @AwesomeSherrel.

Buy this book from our affiliate Bookshop.org.

Contest :: 7th North Street Book Prize for Self-Published Books

sketched lion head surrounded by text reading North Street Book PrizeDeadline: June 30, 2021
Now in its seventh year, the North Street Book Prize is sponsored by Winning Writers and co-sponsored by BookBaby and Carolyn Howard-Johnson. Self-published books in seven categories can win up to $5,000 plus additional benefits. Submit online or by mail. Winning Writers is a partner member of the Alliance of Independent Authors, and this contest is recommended by Reedsy. Entry fee: $65/book. Free gifts for everyone who enters. winningwriters.com/northnp21

Magazine Stand :: Wordrunner eChapbooks – 2021

Our theme for this issue is LOVE in all its painful, confusing, passionate, and joyous diversity. Featuring fiction by Louise Blalock, Margaret Emma Brandl, Ed Davis, Stefan Kiesbye, and Nick Sweeney; memoir by Jane Boch, Ruth Askew Brelsford, Laura Foxworthy, and Carmela Delia Lanza; and poetry and prose poems by Leonore Hildebrandt, Robert Murray, and Jacalyn Shelley.

Raleigh Review – Spring 2021

This issue features the winners of the Flash Fiction & Geri Digiorno Contests. New flash fiction from Frank X. Christmas, Andrea Eberly, Amina Gautier, Katherine Hubbard, Alana Reynolds, and Nicholas A. White. New poetry by Julia C. Alter, Melissa Boston, Jessica Dionne, Chelsea Harlan, and more. Find more contributors at the Raleigh Review website.

The MacGuffin – Winter 2021

The MacGuffin’s Vol. 37.1 comes at you with an expanded selection of poetry and expanded coverage of our Poet Hunt contest(s) too! We start with Matthew Olzmann’s selections from Poet Hunt 25: Vivian Shipley’s grand prize winning “No Rehearsal” and honorable mention selections from Rita Schweiss and John Jeffire.

The Bitter Oleander – Spring 2021

Special to this issue of The Bitter Oleander: The Central New York poet Paul B. Roth in dialogue with John Taylor, with a selection of his poetry included. Also in this issue: fiction by William Nuth, Marilee Dahlman, and more; poetry by Andrea Inglese, Patty Pieczka, Lake Angela, Pedro Serrano, Silvia Scheibli, Fabio Pusterla, and more.

Contest :: 2021 Raleigh Review Laux/Millar Poetry Prize open until 01 June 2021!

Raleigh Review 2021 Laux/Millar Poetry Prize bannerA firm deadline of June 1, 2021 at midnight EST.
The 2021 Laux/Millar Raleigh Review Poetry Prize is now underway. Dorianne Laux & Joseph Millar are the judges of the finalists. This contest closes to submissions on 01 June 2021 at midnight Eastern Standard Time. Our deadlines are firm at Raleigh Review. Top prize is $500. There is a $15 entry fee to submit, and all entrants will receive a free copy of the fall 2021 prize issue. raleighreview.submittable.com/submit

Apple Valley Review – Spring 2021

Featuring new fiction by Michael Beadle and Mary Gulino, an essay by Carl Schiffman, and poetry by Linda K. Sienkiewicz, Giovanni Raboni (translated from the Italian by Zack Rogow), Joseph Fasano, James P. Cooper, Katherine Fallon, Barbara Daniels, and Mark Belair. Cover painting by Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer. More info at the Apple Valley Review website.

Call :: Send Your Best Stories in All Genres to Blue Mountain Review

The Blue Mountain Review flierSubmissions accepted year-round.
The Blue Mountain Review launched from Athens, Georgia in 2015 with the mantra, “We’re all south of somewhere.” As a journal of culture the BMR strives to represent life through its stories. Stories are vital to our survival. Songs save the soul. Our goal is to preserve and promote lives told well through prose, poetry, music, and the visual arts. Our editors read year-round with an eye out for work with homespun and international appeal. We’ve published work by and interviews with Jericho Brown, Kelli Russell Agodon, Robert Pinsky, Rising Appalachia, Nahko, Michel Stone, Genesis Greykid, Cassandra King, Melissa Studdard, and A.E. Stallings.

Don’t forget to read their February 2021 issue featuring the winners of the LGBTQ Chapbook Contest.

At the Intersection of Religion & Generational Conflict

Guest Post by Madeline Thomas.

When a combination of a Catholic upbringing and the unforgettable viewing of a commercial for The Exorcist sends a young girl’s mind to the inevitability of a personal demon possession, the first steps are taken on a path to parental disappointment. Jessica Power Braun’s “Black Alpaca” places readers at the intersection of religion, generational conflict, and closet-Jesus nightmares with sharp humor and unflinching honesty.

The essay, published in Hippocampus Magazine, works through the realities of fear and guilt in the Catholic Church, the slow movement away from your family’s religious identity, and the discovery of a poignant black alpaca painting in the context of Braun’s identities as a mother, wife, and daughter. Humor forms the heart of the piece, but the essay makes no attempt to pull away from what is both painful and real—forming a balance that cultivates both emotional impact and investment for readers.

In a time where I feel the need for constant breaks from the mire of news and the world in general, the humor and tone present in “Black Alpaca” provides needed relief. Braun utilizes her power in storytelling to craft something worth connecting with.


Black Alpaca” by Jessica Power Braun. Hippocampus Magazine, January 2021.

Reviewer bio: Madeline Thomas is a graduate student and writer at Utah State University.

Join Poor Yorick for Their Monthly Reading Series

skull on black and pink backgroundPoor Yorick is continuing their monthly reading series with a virtual open mic and fireside chat! This event features a sneak preview of upcoming special issue in honor of National Poetry Month, “The Poet’s Mask.” Several contributors will present their work on the theme of masks and masking on April 29.

Contact Brianna Paris ([email protected]) for a Microsoft Teams invitation.

“The Poet’s Mask” will be published on Friday, April 30 on Poor Yorick‘s website.

This event is brought to you by the editorial team at Poor Yorick: A Journal of Rediscovery, which is the online literary publication of Western Connecticut State University’s M.F.A. Program. The journal publishes poems, stories, essays, photo essays, and other innovative works about rediscovery, the lost and the found—what we bury, and what we dig up. The editor will be on hand at the open mic to talk submissions, too; if this sounds like your kind of publication, contact us!

A Memoir of Two Illnesses

Guest Post by Kylie Smith.

In Every Last Breath: A Memoir of Two Illnesses, scholar and memoirist Joanne Jacobson strings twelve independently stunning essays together to create a lyrically compressed contemplation of the always frail body.

The essays detail Jacobson’s heart-wrenching experience of discovering her own chronic illness even as she was writing about her mother’s. Both memoir and biography, the book rejects the linear trajectory of conventional narrative to call the reader “out of time” and into the lives of two Jewish-American women as their diseases, one of blood and one of breath, force them to confront “end of life” together.

With the precision of a poet, Jacobson gracefully and honestly explores the ephemerality of time and breath and speaks deeply to the shared human experience of incremental loss. Every Last Breath is a hopeful and hurting reminder that the body is both singly inhabited and commonly shared.


Every Last Breath: A Memoir of Two Illnesses by Joanne Jacobson. The University of Utah Press, 2020.

Reviewer bio: Kylie Smith is a writer based out of Logan, Utah.

Buy this book from our affiliate Bookshop.org.

A Departure from the Everyday Love Story

Guest Post by Aramide Salako.

Love it. I reckon this to be the best Romance/Young Adult fiction ever. All love stories, fiction and nonfiction, are each unique manifestations unlike none other. But here, the story of love takes a clear departure from your everyday love story. What makes this book a brilliant read is the simple presentation of the power and shortcoming of love in the face of mortality.

Humans have a life to live, and the love to share wholeheartedly with another is the blessedness of being human. That humans will ultimately die, leaving the one bereaved of such felt assurance and aliveness that only the other half could provide, is the nemesis of being human.

Hazel Grace and Augustus Waters, bound with the affliction of cancer and then again bound by the Cupid arrow, grapple with the reality of their fate stoically, braving the odds stacked against them. They experience, enjoy, and embrace love, but death, that Grim Reaper, of course, has the final say.

The Fault In Our Stars is a fictitious narration of a story of our lives. Life is transient—a mere finite number within infinity.

We shall not have all the time in the world to experience the profundity of companionship, mirth, eros, and all of the fine attributes accompanied by love. But in that brief expanse of time—cancer-ridden, poverty-ridden, crisis-ridden, virus-ridden—love endures and triumphs over all human vagaries and the finitude of time.


The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. Penguin Group, April 2014.

Reviewer bio: My name is Aramide Salako from Nigeria. I enjoy reading classics and bestsellers. I’ve read some classics that linger in memory, both fiction and nonfiction. I self-published my first book this year: Thoughts in Traffic; 243 Quick-fire Notes to Aid Your Outlook on Self, Life and the Afterlife.

Buy this book from our affiliate Bookshop.org.

Sponsor Spotlight :: Neon: A Literary Magazine

black and white photograph looking up at a wind turbineNeon: A Literary Magazine is a tiny biannual journal and chapbook press. It is one of the longest-running independent literary magazines in the UK which focuses on slipstream fiction, poetry, and artwork. They publish work that is fantastical, surreal, and which crosses the boundaries between science fiction, horror, and literary fiction.

Neon publishes in print and a range of digital formats. They allow you to set your own price for a digital copy. When you purchase a print subscription (they ship to anywhere in the world!), you can addon on of their chapbooks, too. Subscribe today!

Plus, if you’re a writer, Neon is currently open to submissions. The theme of the next issue will be “Cities.” They are a paying market.

Drop by their listing on NewPages to learn more.

NewPages Book Stand – April 2021

If you’re always on the look-out for new books, be sure to check out our monthly updated Book Stand. This month, we featured the five titles below.

Christopher Citro in If We Had a Lemon We’d Throw It and Call That the Sun “makes wildly inventive, exciting, vital poems.”

The Last Unkillable Thing by Emily Pittinos is a journey across landscapes of mourning.

In More Enduring for Having Been Broken by Gwendolyn Paradice, readers can expect stories of children abandoned, forgotten, and ignored as they survive the trauma they experience.

Saturation Project by Christine Hume is genre-defying as it “brings memoir and essay to the land of myth.”

The poems in Aaron Caycedo- Kimura’s Ubasute are detailed, elegiac meditations within a particular American family.

You can learn more about each of these New & Noteworthy books at our websiteClick here to see how to place your book in our New & Noteworthy section.

West Trade Review Volume 12 Available for Preorder

West Trade Review Volume 12 cover

West Trade Review, formerly Encore Literary Arts Magazine, is accepting preorders for its 12th print issue due out in May of this year.

This issue features fiction by Sophie Nau, Reshmi Hebbar, Lex Chilson; poetry by Mercury-Marvin Sunderland, Tesa Flores, Hunter Boone, Stephanie Dickinson; plus art, interviews, and reviews. Check out their preview and don’t forget to order a copy today.

Plus, don’t forget to swing by their listing on NewPages to learn more about them.

World Literature Today – Spring 2021

World Literature Today’s spring issue, “Redreaming Dreamland,” gathers the work of 21 writers and artists reflecting on the centennial of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, including Patricia Smith, Joy Harjo, Jewell Parker Rhodes, and Tracy K. Smith. Additional highlights in the issue include a special section on Chinese migrant workers’ literature; an essay on how Giannina Braschi’s work keeps “popping up” in pop culture; fiction from Belarus and Iraq; plus reviews of new books by Najwan Darwish, Cixin Liu, Olga Tokarczuk, and dozens more.

Sky Island Journal – Spring 2021

Sky Island Journal’s stunning 16th issue features poetry, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction from contributors around the globe. Accomplished, well-established authors are published—side by side—with fresh, emerging voices. Readers are provided with a powerful, focused literary experience that transports them: one that challenges them intellectually and moves them emotionally. Always free to access, and always free from advertising, discover what over 80,000 readers in 145 countries already know; the finest new writing is here, at your fingertips.

Chinese Literature Today – Vol 9 No 2

In this issue of Chinese Literature Today: a selection Coronavirus Poems, “On Being Elsewhere” a feature by Lu Min, “Travel with the Wild Wind” by Xue Yiwei, and paintings by Wang Mansheng. Plus, poetry by Haobo Shen, Bai Lin, Zheng Min, and more, and a short story by Zhang Ning.

Chestnut Review – Spring 2021

The springtime brings a sense of renewal: feeling the sun beginning to heat up and shedding the cocoon of cold winter nights. Spring offers the opportunity to get out and discover something new. At Chestnut Review, we are also experiencing a turn, a closing of our second volume and anticipating our third. This issue features work by Cutter Streeby, Gretchen Rockwell, Rebecca Poynor, Zackary Medlin, Lorette C. Luzajic, Satya Dash, Fatima Malik, and more. See what else can be found in this issue at the Chestnut Review website.

Contest :: Carve Magazine Raymond Carver Contest

Screenshot of NewPages April 2021 eLitPak flier for CARVE Magazine
click image to open full-size flier

Deadline: May 15, 2021
Carve Magazine‘s Raymond Carver Short Story Contest is open April 1 – May 15. Accepting submissions from all over the world, but story must be in English. Max 10,000 words. Prizes: $2,000, $500, $250, + 2 Editor’s Choice $125 each. All 5 winners published in Fall 2021 issue and reviewed by lit agencies. Entry fee $17 online. Guest judge Leesa Cross-Smith.

Beloit Fiction Journal – Spring 2021

A new issue of Beloit Fiction Journal is out. Contributors to this issue include Sean Williamson, J. T. Townley, Casey McConahay, Andrew Bertaina, Paige Powell, Kathryn Henion, Maura Stanton, Caryn Cardello, Sara Heise Graybeal, Sam Gridley, and more. Read more at the Beloit Fiction Journal website.

Alaska Quarterly Review – Winter 2021

In this issue, find special Memoir as Drama feature “Dialogue Box” by Debbie Urbanski. Also in this issue: stories by Emily Mitchell, Elizabeth Stix, Cara Blue Adams, JoAnna Novak, and more; essays by Emma Hine, Catalina Bode, Nicole Graev Lipson, and Josh Shoemake; and poetry by Emily Nason, Rose DeMaris, Dorsey Craft, and others. Find more contributors at the Alaska Quarterly Review website.

Contest :: Swan Scythe Press 2021 Chapbook Contest

Swan Scythe Press logoDeadline: June 15, 2021
Swan Scythe Press announces its 2021 poetry chapbook contest. Entry fee: $18. We are accepting submissions from March 1 to June 15 (postmark deadline). Winner receives $200 and 25 perfect-bound chapbooks. The 2020 winner is Lana Issam Ghannam for Evolution of Stone. For full submission guidelines, visit our website and swanscythepress.submittable.com/submit.

The Power of Fiction

Guest Post by Elle Smith.

Michael Keenan Gutierrez explores the meaning of truth and the power of fiction in his essay “Lies I’ll Tell My Son.” Gutierrez starts the reader grounded in fact. His great grandfather, Red, was a bookie: “This is true.” Then the details of Red’s life grow murkier. The story of Red winning a WWI draft card in a poker game sounds dramatic enough it might have come from a movie. Red’s birth certificates and draft cards have different dates and names. Gutierrez’s uncle proclaims, “They were all a bunch of fucking liars.”

Gutierrez has heard that we aren’t supposed to lie to children “except about Santa Claus and death.” But what is the purpose of the lies that build such fantastic family lore? The tales are in contrast to a more recent generation that lived “the standard formula of work, retirement, and death.” The lore of Red paints the world as “more magical than a paycheck and a mortgage.”

Gutierrez resolves to tell his son the tales of his family and “shade the truth in fiction.” What about the hard truths about life and death? Well, Gutierrez explains: “I’ll let him figure out heaven on his own.”


Lies I’ll Tell My Son” by Michael Keenan Gutierrez. 805 Lit + Art, February 2021.

Reviewer bio: Elle Smith is a graduate student at Utah State University.

When Gaps Become Story

Guest Post by Mark Smeltzer.

“We don’t know much about Mr. Otomatsu Wada of Unit B in Barrack 14 in Block 63 of the Gila River Relocation Center,” Eric L. Muller admits at the start of his essay, “The Desert Was His Home.” This lack of knowledge does not deter Muller from examining the pain and power of absence, as well as how deep research becomes an avenue for creative discovery.

Throughout this essay, Muller lays out the facts about this one Japanese-American, among many, held prisoner in the U.S. during World War II. Muller uses what little is known of this man to sketch out a rough but potent portrait of his life. Most notable was Wada’s “two-year-old mystery” marked by the refrain “We don’t know” that Muller uses until Wada’s fate is revealed.

This essay demonstrates how seamlessly and naturally a story can incorporate the many don’t knows and can’t knows inevitable in research. It is even possible, as “The Desert” shows us, how the gaps in a subject’s life can become the story. This piece can be found in Issue 74 of Creative Nonfiction.


The Desert Was His Home” by Eric L. Muller. Creative Nonfiction, Winter 2021.

Reviewer bio: Mark Smeltzer is a graduate student in Utah State University’s English Department. His area of specialization is in poetry.

April 2021 eLitPak :: Submit to the 2021 Blue Lynx Prize For Poetry

Screenshot of NewPages April 2021 eLitPak flier for Lynx House Press
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Lynx House Press seeks submissions of full-length poetry manuscripts for the annual Blue Lynx Prize for Poetry. The winner will receive $2,000 and publication. Entries must be at least 48 pages in length. The fee for submitting is $28, and includes a copy of a book from our catalog. Previous judges include James Tate, Yusef Komunyakaa, Dorianne Laux, Dara Wier, Melissa Kwasny, and Robert Wrigley.

View the full April 2021 NewPages eLitPak newsletter here. Don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter to get weekly updates on lit mags, presses, writing programs, literary events, and more along with the monthly eLitPak newsletters.