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NewPages Blog :: Calls for Submissions

Discover calls for submissions from literary magazines, independent publishers, literary events, and more.

Call :: The Roadrunner Review Invites Student Writers to Submit

Deadline: May 11, 2020
The Roadrunner Review‘s mission is to provide student writers with a beautiful publishing venue. We publish flash fiction, flash nonfiction, poetry, and cover art. We have an international focus. We also have a particular need for more creative nonfiction and essays. Submissions FREE via Submittable. roadrunner.lasierra.edu/submissions/

Call :: Oyster River Pages Closes to Submissions on May 31

Don’t forget that Oyster River Pages, a literary and artistic collective, is open to submissions of fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and visual arts that stretch creative and social boundaries for its fourth annual issue. They believe in the power of art to connect people to their own and others’ humanity. Because of this, they seek to feature artists whose voices have been historically de-centered and marginalized. Additionally, their Emerging Voices section seeks new voices in fiction from those who have published fewer than two publications and who meet our submission criteria. Please see www.oysterriverpages.com for submission details and send your important work for an urgent time.

Call :: Xi Draconis Seeks Socially Engaged Works for Publication in 2020-21

Deadline: July 31, 2020
Xi Draconis Books seeks socially engaged, book-length works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for its 2020 and 2021 production years. We accept novels, short story and poetry collections, memoirs, essay collections, and cross-genre book-length works. Our mission is to publish works that examine social justice issues of all kinds. Head to xidraconis.org/submission-guidelines/ to submit.

What Are You Reading?

What are you reading?

Last month, we asked all of you what you’ve been reading while sheltering in place. We’re thrilled with the response and thankful for everyone who has shared their recommendations with us.

If you‘re reading anything you’d like to recommend, send it over—we’d be happy to share it here on our blog. We have a little more information on what we’re looking for at this post to help you get started: www.newpages.com/2020/03/25/what-are-you-reading.

We’re looking forward to checking out your recommendations!

Call :: Pensive: A Global Journal of Spirituality and the Arts Issue 1

Submit by May 15 to the inaugural issue of Pensive, an interfaith global journal based at Northeastern University in Boston. Original poetry, prose, visual art, film, music, and translations welcome. Especially interested in work that deepens the inward life; envisions a more just, peaceful, sustainable world; and advances dialogue across differences. Submissions by global and historically underrepresented groups particularly encouraged. Submit up to 5 pieces; simultaneous submissions and previously published works welcome. Send documents in 12 point Times New Roman with a brief (3-5 line) contributor’s bio in third person to [email protected]. Email Alexander Levering Kern, co-editor, with questions.

Call :: Light and Dark Issue 15

Deadline: May 15, 2020
Light and Dark is seeking your best short stories for our fifteenth online issue! We are particularly interested in stories that deal in some way with the dichotomous nature of existence. Please send us nothing longer than 3,000 words. All stories will be published on our website: www.lightanddarkmagazine.com. The author will also receive a token payment of $15. We look forward to reading your best work: lightanddark.submittable.com/submit.

Call :: the tiny journal iii

Deadline: June 1, 2020
Feeling quarantined and alone? Come connect with us! We are an annual online lit mag looking to publish beautiful works of micro-fiction, short poems, and flash nonfiction for issue iii. We are especially interested in works grappling with the challenges of our current times. Navigate to our website, www.thetinyjournal.org, for submission details.

Call :: Jay Lit Review Issue 1

Deadline: Rolling
Jay Lit Review call for critiques, commentary, research, essays, and translations. Fields of interest: African (youth) literature and literacy; African (youth) culture and language studies; African language education; feminist/gender, post/decolonial, reader-response, linguistic, comparative, etc. analysis; translation into/from African languages; related areas of study. Topics: African youths, youth culture and literature; reflections on teaching African languages; multilingualism in Africa, linguistics, related subjects. Educators, academics and translators invited to showcase knowledge and skills in their professional field. Postgrad essays on a variety of African youth concerns will be considered. Double-blind peer review. Visit africanyouthliterature.art.blog/the-jay-lit-review for more info. Email [email protected].

Hypertext Magazine Waives Submissions Fees

Due to the ongoing crisis, literary magazine Hypertext Magazine has decided to waive normal submission fees for the foreseeable future. If you would like to help out their independent magazine during this time, please do consider making a donation. Editorial staff do not know who donates to the journal, so donations do no affect editorial decisions. They are open to submissions through June 1.

Hypertext Magazine has been publishing short stories, essays, poetry, and interviews in print and online since 2010. Earlier this month, they published two interviews. One with Kelly Fordon and another with Sahar Mustafah.

Call :: Journal of African Youth Literature Issue 2

The Journal of African Youth Literature Issue 1Journal of African Youth Literature issue 2 call for submissions of creative writing and artworks open now. Poetry, fiction, visual stories, plays, essays. Artworks of all kinds, including front cover. Criteria: Must be created by, about and/or for African youths (15-35 years). ‘African’ definition is, generally, born-in-Africa and of African heritage. Includes the diaspora, and not related to race or colour. Our mission is ‘Preserving African Youth Identities’ through creative expression. Visit africanyouthliterature.art.blog for more info. Email [email protected]. See issue 1 at bit.ly/2SxiOI8.

Alaska Quarterly Review Moves Temporarily to Online-only Submissions

Due to the necessity of social distancing in this time, Alaska Quarterly Review will no longer be able to review hard copy submissions to the journal. But don’t fear, they are still accepting online submissions through Submittable. Poetry submissions are being accepted through April 16 and nonfiction submissions will be open from April 17 to 30. They do charge a $3 fee.

Also, don’t forget to pick up a copy of their Spring 2020 issue which includes a special feature “Carrying the Fire: Celebrating Indigenous Voices of Canada.”

Call :: The Red Wheelbarrow Wants Work for Summer 2020 Issue

Formerly known as Red Savina Review, The Red Wheelbarrow Review is set to to debut its first issue under the new name this month. Don’t forget that they are still on the hunt for poetry, short fiction, and creative nonfiction where “word meets spirit in a commingling of the sacred and mundane.” Submissions accepted on a rolling basis. $3 fee. They also offer an expedited response option. Learn more…

Call :: Gold Man Review Seeks West Coast Work

Deadline: June 1, 2020
Gold Man Review, a West Coast Journal, is currently looking for submissions in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction for Issue 10. We are open to all topics and themes and love writing that pushes boundaries. If your work is on the unusual side, then we’re probably the journal for you. If you’re interested in submitting to Gold Man Review, please see our website for full submission guidelines. Please also note that we only accept submissions from writers in Oregon, Alaska, Hawaii, California, and Washington. www.goldmanpublishing.com

Call :: Transference Closes to Submissions on April 30

Don’t forget that literary magazine Transference officially closes to translations of poetry from (or inspired by) works originally written in Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, French, German, Latin, and Classical Greek on April 30. Submissions must be accompanied by commentary. They especially would like poetry on the themes of vision/seeing. They also would love to see essays on the translation of poetry. scholarworks.wmich.edu/transference/. Transference is peer-edited in a blind submission process. Published by the Department of World Languages and Literatures at Western Michigan University. Write to the editors at [email protected].

Call :: Storm Cellar Seeks Secrets, Treasures, Evidence, & Evocations

Storm Cellar, a journal of safety and danger since 2011, seeks amazing new writing and art for its summer issue. We especially encourage BIPOC, lgbtqia+, women and gender nonbinary, poor, neurodivergent, border-straddling, and other under-represented authors. Send secrets, treasures, evidence, and evocations: surprise us! Submission form at stormcellar.submittable.com.

Call :: Fleas on the Dog is Still Open for Issue 6

Reaching out takes many forms. We seek short fiction, poetry, plays, screenplays, and nonfiction for our upcoming Issue 6. You might be isolated but the world is at your keyboard—let’s connect. No, this isn’t a cheeky call like our previous ones. We don’t think that’s appropriate given the pandemic. But our enthusiasm and love of GOOD WRITING is unchanged and yes, we are still the crazy Dude Sextet. We want your junk and we want it now. See fleasonthedog.com for guidelines. Runs April 2-30.

Call :: BALLOONS Lit. Journal Seeks Work to Bring Warmth to Young Readers

Deadline: April 11, 2020
Many parts of the world have shut down under the threats of COVID-19. Schools are suspended, gatherings are discouraged. In this difficult period of time, BALLOONS Lit. Journal is seeking poetry, short stories, and artwork that brings warmth to our young readers. Works may praise the medical officers, mourn for the deceased, encourage the infected, cheer up the children staying home, show support to educators, reflect love and humanity or anything that brings out positive energy, the energy everybody needs now. Visit www.balloons-lit-journal.com for submission details. Stay healthy, stay happy!

Call :: The Revolution (Relaunch) Wants Your Creative Activism

Deadline: Rolling
Founded in July of 2019, The Revolution (Relaunch) is a creative resurgence of Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s 1868 publication, The Revolution, which was the official newspaper of the National Women’s Suffrage Association. Like any good 19th century newspaper (or any good 21st century zine), we publish a range of styles—memoir, poetry, cultural criticism, interviews, and profiles featuring activists and grassroots organizations. Our focus is feminism in the broadest sense—in other words, we’re interested in “creative activism” that voices the marginalized and/or criticizes corrupt authority. Submit one piece of prose under 750 words, three poems, or 5 images to [email protected].

Call :: True Stories about Winter Holidays

Christmas in the Air CoverDeadline: April 30, 2020
It may be April, but Christmas is already in the air at Chicken Soup for the Soul. Share your winter holiday memories and traditions with our readers, from the heartwarming to the hilarious. Everything from Thanksgiving, to Hanukkah, to Christmas, to New Year’s. Be sure the stories are “Santa safe” so we don’t spoil the magic for precocious readers! If we publish your piece, you will be paid $200 plus 10 free copies of the book. Writing guidelines and more info at www.chickensoup.com/story-submissions/possible-book-topics.

What Are You Reading?

What are you reading?

We’d love to hear about what you’ve been reading. Whether it’s a new issue of your favorite literary magazine, the book you’ve just added to your shelf, or one piece of poetry or prose that really spoke to you, we’re looking forward to your recommendations.

Share the love

What have you connected with recently? Who said those words that kept you going through another day? How have you re-read a favorite?

Send us an email with a brief, previously unpublished review (200 words maximum) and we’ll share it with our users on our blog and across our social media accounts.

NewPages seeks reviews of contemporary literary books from small presses and new magazine issues or work. Contemporary = within the past year. Literary = no ‘popular genre’ works (fantasy, thriller, sci fi, murder mystery, etc., unless it is from a publisher we list on our site).

Click here to find example posts.

NewPages practices these ethical boundaries: 

  • No reviews from publishers promoting their own titles. 
  • No gratuitous promotion of friends, family, current/past teachers, publishers you are waiting to hear back from, etc. 
  • If you know the author, editor, and/or publisher but believe your review is a fair critique, please disclose that relationship. 
  • We will Google names, and if they show up together, you’ve got some ‘splaining to do. 
  • We do not support publishers requiring authors to provide “cross promotion” of other’s works published with them. 

If your submission is accepted, we will clean up minor errors, and it will appear on the NewPages blog within the next two weeks and shared via our social media. 

There is no payment at this time, just the standard fame and glory.

Have questions?

Contact our editors — [email protected]

Where to send your review

Send your guest blog post review to [email protected] with “Review” included in the subject line.

Identify your relationship to the author, editor, and/or publisher. If there is no relationship, say, “No relationship.” If you can’t say this, see the note above. 

Include the title of the publication, author, publisher, and publication date.

Include a short bio (under 50 words) written in the third person with any relevant personal links including your social media tags.

We notify final publication via Twitter handle, so include that if you have one. 

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NewPages retains the rights to the review, so please do not republish it elsewhere. You are encouraged to give the review a shout-out with a link via your own networks and be sure to tag NewPages:

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Call :: The Voices Project Poetry & Short Prose in Response

Deadline: May 15, 2020
The Voices Project is taking submissions of poetry or prose in response to the current global health crisis. We believe self expression can be therapeutic for many people and promote empathy during uncertain times. We are interested in hearing your perspective, your reality, and also writings of hope. What did people do to help you or others? What acts of compassion have you witnessed? Prose, no longer than 350 words. Include a short thoughtful bio (160 words or less) with your submission. Multiple submissions welcome, no more than 2. We do not take anonymous submissions. Submit through our website:
www.thevoicesproject.org/submit.html.

Call :: This is What America Looks Like Anthology

This is What America Looks Like coverCalling poets & fiction writers from D.C., Maryland, and Virginia (and all those who have links to these areas), The Washington Writers’ Publishing House’s first anthology in 25 years is open for submissions—This is What America Looks Like—and we want your poetry and short fiction. We are a 47-year old nonprofit, cooperative, all-volunteer press. We are looking for new and established writers, a cross-section of diverse voices, to write on America today. Be provocative, be personal or political (or both), we are looking for writing that helps us see and reflect on this moment we are living in. More information at www.washingtonwriters.org. Submit at wwph.submittable.com/submit. Deadline: June 1.

Call :: Adanna Literary Journal Seeks Work on Mothering in Times of Crisis

Deadline: Friday, May 15
Adanna Literary Journal is a women focused print publication. We are seeking essay, poetry, and creative nonfiction that speaks towards the experience of mothering in a time of crisis—caring for children, especially those with children in college returning from affected areas, those with younger children exposed to media and the anxiety of school shut-downs, as well as women who are caring for elderly relatives or those in the medical profession. To submit, please go to adannajournal.blogspot.com/p/submission-guidelines.html. The subject line should read “Special Issue” to distinguish this from our annual issue.

Call :: The Compassion Anthology Seeks Work on Hope & the Human Spirit

Deadline: April 15, 2020
What is this thing, hope, the tenacious part of us that makes us rise not only to the occasion, but out of bed? Dickinson acknowledges its perseverance (“never stops at all”), but sees it as a separate entity (“Yet, never, in extremity/ it asked a crumb of me”) exempt from the human element, perhaps divine. For the spring edition of The Compassion Anthology, we are looking for work that inspires this universal and at the same time intensely personal attribute without being sentimental or cliché. Hope and the Human Spirit Deadline: April 15. Details at www.compassionanthology.com/submission-guidelines.html.

Call :: Brush Talks Summer 2020 Issue

Deadline: Rolling
Brush Talks is a journal of creative nonfiction, photography, and poetry related to China. We are currently seeking submissions for our next issue, to be published in the summer of 2020. This can take many forms: general essays, travel essays, profiles, memoir, and narrative nonfiction. We seek submissions about places, people, history, culture, the arts, science and technology—anything related to China that is well written, creative, and true (we do not publish fiction). No submission fee. Please visit our website for more information and read the guidelines before submitting. brushtalks.com

Call :: Hamilton Arts & Letters Issue 14.2

Deadline: November 15, 2020
Science is among the most creative of human endeavors. From ancient depictions of scientists and scientific phenomena to contemporary graphic novel formats, from Frankenstein to recent best-selling novels dealing with such themes as pharmacology and climate change, and from memoirs on scientific discovery to essays on “life in the lab,” the people and ideas of science continue to capture our imaginations. We seek work that incorporates ideas, language, characters, main or sub-themes, images, and artwork related to STEM expansively imagined and rendered. Full call: halmagazine.wordpress.com/submit/submit-to-hal-magazine. Send submissions or queries to [email protected].

Call :: The Absurdist Fiction Magazine Relaunch

Deadline: Tuesday, March 31st
The Absurdist Fiction Magazine is an online publication of strange and surreal fiction, featuring a new story every week. We are looking for short fiction (750-1,250 words) that is as engaging as it is bizarre. It can be farcical, unsettling, or just a little off-center—check out previously published work to get a sense of what fits. If you are interested in submitting, please review the guidelines at absurdistmag.com/submissions and show us what goes on in there.

Call :: The Voices Project

Submissions accepted year-round.
The Voices Project (www.thevoicesproject.org), a literary journal, mainly for women and girls, is taking submissions of poetry or prose. We are currently looking to publish the work of poets who
have not yet been published on this site. Prose, no longer than 250 words. Include a short thoughtful bio (160 words or less) with your submission. Multiple submissions welcome, no more than 2. We no longer take anonymous submissions. Check our site and see what we may be missing and submit something to that accord, if inclined. Submit through our website: 
www.thevoicesproject.org/submit.html.

THEMA’s 2020-21 Upcoming Themes

THEMA Spring 2020 issue coverSince 1990, literary magazine THEMA has been publishing issues focusing on unique themes. Their latest issue is themed “Six Before Eighty” and features work by Matthew J. Spireng, J. J. Steinfeld, Cherie Bowers, H.B. Salzer, James “Jack” Penha, Margo Peterson, Alison Arntz, Lisa Timpf, Lynda Fox, Yuan Changming, Georgia A. Hubley, Annie Percik, Robert Wooten, and Larry Lefkowitz.

Interested in trying your hand at writing short stories, short-shorts, and poems on a theme? Check out the upcoming themes and deadlines.

  • The Tiny Red Suitcase (July 1, 2020)
  • The Other Virginia (November 1, 2020)
  • A Postcard from the Past (March 1, 2021)

Call :: Blink-Ink Road Trip Issue

Those same old four walls getting you down? Nothing going on, and not likely to? A road trip is the only cure. Time to get out of Dodge! So where to go, or does it matter? The time to pack up and go is now. Tell us your tails of the trails, your songs of the highway, be they real, imagined, or seemingly impossible in stories approximately 50 words in length. Send your submissions in the body of an email to: [email protected]. No poetry, attachments, or bios please. Submissions are open now through April 15th, 2020. www.blink-ink.org

Call :: The Red Wheelbarrow Review Summer 2020 Issue

The Red Wheelbarrow Review, formerly Red Savina Review (est. 2013), is open for submissions. The editors have a fresh focus in line with poet Rich Murphy’s concern that literature is in need of “prophetic voices now.” We seek poetry, short fiction, and creative nonfiction where word meets spirit in a commingling of the sacred and mundane. We have published writers such as Sharman Apt Russell, winner of the John Burroughs Medal; Rich Murphy, winner of the Gival Press Poetry Prize; Khanh Ha, winner of the Robert Watson Literary Prize; bestselling memoirist Gleah Powers; and many others. Submission guidelines at theredwheelbarrowreview.com/submissions/.

Call :: Nzuri Spring 2020 Issue

Nzuri logo

The objective of Nzuri (meaning Beautiful/Fine in Swahili) is to promote the artistic, aesthetic, creative, and scholarly work consistent with the values and ideals of Umoja community. Additionally, we accept work responsive to the experience of the African and African-American diaspora. African American and other writers, digital media content creators, photographers, and artists are urged to submit their best work for consideration. Check out our current call for submissions for Nzuri‘s Spring 2020 issue at nzuriumojacommunity.submittable.com. See our current issue online at Nzurijournal.com.

Call :: Transference 2020 Reading Period

Transference is now accepting submissions of poems translated from—or inspired by—poetry originally written in Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, French, German, Latin and Classical Greek, with accompanying commentary. Submissions relating to the theme of vision/seeing are especially welcome. For this issue we also welcome essays on the translation of poetry. Deadline: April 30. Read current and past issues online and submit at scholarworks.wmich.edu/transference/. Transference is peer-edited in a blind submission process. Published by the Department of World Languages and Literatures at Western Michigan University. Write to the editors at [email protected].

Call :: Fleas on the Dog Issue 6

We’re the site your teacher warned you about! The no frills brown bag in your face thumb your nose online psychotropolis for the literarily insane. Get committed today! The infamous dude sextet is bustlin’, hustlin’, itchin’, and twitchin’ for QUALITY short fiction, nonfiction, poetry, plays, and screenplays that smell ripe and kick ass for our hopefully offensive upcoming Issue 6. If we like what you submit we’ll be all over you; if we don’t we promise to be gentle, especially if it’s your first time. See our Guidelines for details: fleasonthedog.com. Submissions open March 1-April 30.

Call :: Flexible Press 22 Under 22 Anthology

Deadline: April 30, 2020
This anthology seeks to offer a channel for people under 22 to talk to older people about their experiences and concerns. We are looking for short stories, poetry, essay, memoir, from people under 22 discussing what worries you? What angers you, or delights you? In other words: what’s on your mind? Submit up to three poems, or one short story, essay, or memoir up to 5000-words. Art and graphic stories are more than welcome, but the book will in black and white. Everyone under 22 is welcome. We are especially interested in voices from undeserved communities too often left out of the discussion. www.flexiblepub.com/22_under_22

Call :: Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop Anthology

The Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop is accepting essays taking a “contemporary look at silences around class and caste systems that divide us.” The anthology will be co-edited by a collective of award-winning incarcerated writers.

Submissions for the anthology are open through April 3, 2020. There is no fee to submit. The anthology will be published by Coffee House Press. Learn more…

Call :: Tolsun Books 2020 Open Reading Period

Independent publisher Tolsun Books is open to unsolicited manuscripts made from parts through May 31. These can be either full-length or chapbook-length. Poetry, short stories, essays, hybrids, translations, and more. $15 fee. Free submissions accepted on the 15th of every month. Learn more…

Call :: Fictional Cafe

The Fictional Cafe logoFictional Café is a highly regarded online ‘zine, seven years old with 800 Coffee Club members in 47 countries. Fiction only, please, that titillates the readers’ senses and provokes their minds. Your short story or novel excerpt should be extremely well written with engaging characters and a unique, avant-garde, or unconventional plot. Visit our site and read some recent works on the pictorial slider. Join our Coffee Club, then review our submissions guidelines. If you’re exploring fiction’s boundaries, we’re interested in reading your work. www.fictionalcafe.com