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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!

Call :: The Fourth (and Final) Reading Period for “Nobody’s Home”

Nobody's Home boarded up doorDeadline: August 16, 2021
Founded in 2020, Nobody’s Home: Modern Southern Folklore is a work-in-progress online anthology of creative nonfiction works about the prevailing beliefs, myths, and narratives that have driven Southern culture over the last fifty years, in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The anthology is collecting personal essays, memoirs, short articles, opinion pieces, and contemplative works about the ideas, experiences, and assumptions that have shaped life below the old Mason-Dixon Line since 1970. www.modernsouthernfolklore.com

Contest :: Under 1 Month Left to Enter Swan Scythe Press’ 2021 Poetry Chapbook Contest

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

New Site for Creative Nonfiction

Have you heard the news? The Creative Nonfiction Foundation, home of literary magazine Creative Nonfiction, has a newly designed website! This is the first redesign in ten years. Now on the site, almost everything from the journal’s 27-year archive is now available to subscribers. If you’re not already a subscriber, you can sign up now to ensure you’ll receive the 76th issue which will explain how the genre of creative nonfiction was established, how it’s changed over the years, and where it may go next.

Take some time this weekend to familiarize yourself with the new website!

May 2021 eLitPak :: Enter the 2021 Marguerite McGlinn Prize for Fiction Contest!

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Our annual national short fiction contest features a first place $2,500 cash award; a second place cash prize of $750; and a third place cash prize of $500. The winners’ stories will be published in the Fall issue of Philadelphia Stories. We accept unpublished works of fiction up to 8,000 words. The deadline to submit is June 15, 2021.

View the full NewPages May 2021 eLitPak Newsletter. Don’t forget to subscribe today to get it delivered to your inbox every month along with weekly updates on calls, contests, lit mag news, book news, and more.

May 2021 eLitPak :: Upcoming Gival Press Contests

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Gival Press has the following contests for authors and poets which carry a cash prize and for which a reading fee is required: Oscar Wilde Award (deadline June 27); Short Story Award (deadline August 8); Poetry Award (deadline December 15). Visit our website for full details.

View the full NewPages May 2021 eLitPak Newsletter. Don’t forget to subscribe today to get it delivered to your inbox every month along with weekly updates on calls, contests, lit mag news, book news, and more.

May 2021 eLitPak :: Weber—The Contemporary West Call for Submissions

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Weber—The Contemporary West invites submissions in the genres of personal narrative, critical commentary, fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry that offer insight into the environment and culture of the contemporary western United States and beyond. We look for good writing that engages human nature, ecology and the environment.

View the full NewPages May 2021 eLitPak Newsletter. Don’t forget to subscribe today to get it delivered to your inbox every month along with weekly updates on calls, contests, lit mag news, book news, and more.

May 2021 eLitPak :: 2021 Blue Lynx Prize for Poetry Deadline June 15

Screenshot of NewPages April 2021 eLitPak flier for Lynx House PressDeadline: June 15, 2021
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 NewPages May 2021 eLitPak Newsletter. Don’t forget to subscribe today to get it delivered to your inbox every month along with weekly updates on calls, contests, lit mag news, book news, and more.

May 2021 eLitPak :: North Street Book Prize for Self-Published Books

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Deadline: June 30, 2021
Winning Writers will award a grand prize of $5,000 in its seventh annual North Street Book Prize competition, and $13,750 in all. The top eight winners will enjoy additional benefits from our co-sponsors BookBaby and Carolyn Howard-Johnson. Submit self-published books in one of seven categories. All self-publishing platforms are welcome. $65 entry fee. Learn more at our website.

View the full NewPages May 2021 eLitPak Newsletter. Don’t forget to subscribe today to get it delivered to your inbox every month along with weekly updates on calls, contests, lit mag news, book news, and more.

May 2021 eLitPak :: Intensive 6-Week Summer Graduate Program

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Pursue graduate study during an intensive six-week summer session. Programs are available in: Children’s Book Writing & Illustrating; Children’s Literature (MA or MFA); Playwriting (MFA); Screenwriting & Film Studies (MA); Screenwriting (MFA). This summer courses will be offered virtually from June 21 – July 30. For more information, visit our website or call (540) 362-6575.

View the full NewPages May 2021 eLitPak Newsletter. Don’t forget to subscribe today to get it delivered to your inbox every month along with weekly updates on calls, contests, lit mag news, book news, and more.

May 2021 eLitPak :: Save 15% off Your First Class in May or June!

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Exclusive for NewPages fans: Get 15% off your first class at WritingWorkshops.com. Our classes are inclusive and intentionally small, offered on a rolling basis throughout the year, and taught by award-winning authors, agents, and editors. Use code NEWPAGES at checkout—but hurry, our upcoming classes are almost full! Discount expires 5/31/2021. Visit our website.

View the full NewPages May 2021 eLitPak Newsletter. Don’t forget to subscribe today to get it delivered to your inbox every month along with weekly updates on calls, contests, lit mag news, book news, and more.

May 2021 eLitPak :: CARVE Critiques and Editorial Services

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Carve offers critiques for prose on a per-word and for poetry on a per-page basis. Get a candid assessment of what’s working, what isn’t, and push your writing one step closer to publication. We also offer in-depth editorial services via Limpede Ink.

View the full NewPages May 2021 eLitPak Newsletter. Don’t forget to subscribe today to get it delivered to your inbox every month along with weekly updates on calls, contests, lit mag news, book news, and more.

May 2021 eLitPak :: 2021 Virtual Taos Writers Conference

screenshot of Taos Writers Conference March, April, May 2021 eLitPak flier
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Join your fellow writers at the virtual 5th Annual Taos, New Mexico, Writers Conference on Zoom taking place Friday, July 23 through Sunday, July 25. Panel presentation on “Writing about Race, Class, Culture & Gender” plus over 20 workshops in all genres. Faculty include: Frank X Walker, CMarie Fuhrman, Levi Romero, Ari Honarvar, Stephanie Han, Jeremy Paden, Margaret Garcia and many more. Go to our website, call 575-758-0081, or email us.

View the full NewPages May 2021 eLitPak Newsletter. Don’t forget to subscribe today to get it delivered to your inbox every month along with weekly updates on calls, contests, lit mag news, book news, and more.

Call :: NOMADartx Review Seeks Fresh Voices Addressing Creativity & the Creative Process

NOMADartx logoDeadline: Rolling
NOMADartx is an emerging global creative network dedicated to sharing and amplifying creative potential across genres. Our NOMADartx Review curates fresh voices that address creativity and creative process via visual art, fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, interviews, critiques, and reviews. Our “Industry Specials” column also provides a place for contemporary creatives to share wisdom about building success in any field of creative practice, and we especially seek work from artists and writers of traditionally underrepresented backgrounds. More information can be found here: nomadartx.submittable.com/submit.

An Unquiet Mind

Guest Post by Diana De Jesus.

“I doubt sometimes whether
a quiet & unagitated life
would have suited me – yet I
sometimes long for it.” — Byron

This statement by Byron quoted in the text illustrates what life can be like for someone with mental illness.  An Unquiet Mind is a memoir by Kay Redfield Jamison, a Professor of Psychiatry, in which she candidly discusses her struggles with living with bipolar disorder (formally known as manic depression) from a variety of perspectives rather than just one lens.

Jamison references her journey from her adolescent to college years in which her manic depression illness slowly makes an appearance, altering her moods and performance unbeknownst to her at the time. However, as time progresses, so does the state of her illness. Jamison provides in vivid detail the many highs and lows she experiences because of her mental illness, and many incidences occur as a result; for example, extreme spending sprees, mood changes, violent episodes, engaging in uncharacteristic behavior towards her colleagues, and lastly a suicide attempt.

Soon after, she begins to see a psychiatrist at the age of 27, thus, eventually, learning her manic depression is hereditary since her father was dealing with the same affliction when she was a young adult. Moreover, her therapy sessions did not go without problems of course, as she confesses her reluctance to take medication more specifically Lithium.  In reality, she learns the hard way eventually realizing medication is a necessity rather than a hinderance; thereby, making peace with herself and her mental illness as she embraces her disease.

Through her writing, Jamison displays much resilience, and courage in spite of her illness. Her honesty and efforts in making sure people with depression and other psychiatric disorders do not feel ashamed nor stigmatized is quite commendable. In my view, she is a warrior and not a victim of her own mind. I recommend An Unquiet Mind to anyone; whereby, hopefully changing any preconceived notions regarding those who struggle with mental health issues.


An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness by Kay Redfield Jamison. Vintage, January 1997.

Reviewer bio: Diana De Jesus is an adjunct professor from Queens, NY, she is a fan of books, 80’s music to rock out too and old television shows. Additionally, she has a blog she is still very slowly and surely updating.

Buy this book from our affiliate Bookshop.org.

Contest :: Autumn House Press Prizes in Poetry, Fiction, and Nonfiction

Autumn House Press logoDeadline: June 15, 2021
Autumn House Full-Length Prizes (PoetryFiction, and Nonfiction): Winners of each prize receive publication of their full-length manuscripts. Each winner also receives $2,500 ($1,000 honorarium and a $1,500 travel/publicity grant to promote the book). The submission period closes June 15 (Eastern Time). To submit online, please visit our online submission manager. The judges for the 2021 full-length prizes are Eileen Myles (poetry), Deesha Philyaw (fiction), and Steve Almond (nonfiction).

Call :: Deadline to Submit to Oyster River Pages Annual Issue is May 31!

Oyster River Pages logoDeadline: May 31, 2021
Oyster River Pages is a literary and artistic collective seeking fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and visual arts that stretch creative and social boundaries. We believe in the power of art to connect people to their own and others’ humanity, something we see as especially important during these tumultuous times. Because of this, we seek to feature artists whose voices have been historically decentered or marginalized. Please see www.oysterriverpages.com for submission details.

The Ways We Get By

Book Review by Katy Haas.

The characters in The Ways We Get By by Joe Dornich are doing their best, even if the things they’re doing aren’t necessarily good. Each one is struggling in their own way, many of them placed in interesting jobs like a professional cuddler working to care for his grandfather with dementia, a knock-off Aquaman struggling to connect with his father, an actor in a Bible-themed park, a man with a terminal illness manufacturing organs for fake dead bodies, and the list goes on.

These characters are far from perfect. They mess up, they have big egos, they abandon and hurt the people around them. But they’re utterly human with each of their flaws, and they all have heart. They seek companionship, aim to please their loved ones, and want to make friends and find love. The settings and situations they find themselves in aren’t quite ordinary, but they still feel real thanks to the raw humanness of the characters. Even characters one might normally deem unlikable still have a sympathetic light shown on them.

Dornich has created an enjoyable read that gives the reminder that plenty of us are out here trying our best as we do whatever we need to get by.


The Ways We Get By by Joe Dornich. Black Lawrence Press, January 2021.

Buy this book from our affiliate Bookshop.org.

Event :: the daphne review online mentorship for high school students

The Daphne Online Summer Mentorship 2021 bannerRegistration Deadline: May 31, 2021
Event Dates: June 14 – July 2, 2021
Event Location: Virtual
Love writing but need professional guidance to help you develop your voice? Apply to the 2021 Daphne Online Mentorship Program! We will be selecting 5-7 dedicated students to work with caring, accomplished professional writers on a one-on-one basis. Recent Daphne mentees have been accepted to Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Stanford, Columbia, and top creative writing programs, e.g., Iowa!

Session I: June 14 – July 2. Currently seeking online MENTORS! Please send resume to [email protected].

Students/program applicants, applications NOW OPEN. DEADLINE IS MAY 31, 2021. Any question, feel free to email us at [email protected].

The Main Street Rag – Spring 2021

The Spring 2021 issue features Postscript to a Postscript: an interview with Bill Glose, Winner of the 2020 Main Street Rag Poetry Book Award, interviewed by M. Scott Douglass. Fiction by Abe Aamidor, Allison Daniel, Tony Hozeny, Michele Lovell, Bob Moskowitz, Robert Stone and poetry by Bill Glose, Joan Bauer, Frederick W. Bassett, Joan Bernard, Burt Beckmann, Ace Boggess, Marion Starling Boyer, and more.

Carve Magazine – Spring 2021

The Spring 2021 issue features short stories by and interviews with Sydney Rende, Sam White, Kimm Brockett Stammen, and Caroline Kim. New poetry by Michael Quinn, Ruth Baumann, Will Thomas, and Mureall Hebert and nonfiction by Jory Pomeranz and Christie Tate. Prose & Poetry Contest winners: Mona’a Malik, Ryan Little, and Alisha Acquaye. Read more at the Carve website.

Call :: Chestnut Review, for Stubborn Artists, Reading for Fall 2021 Issue

Deadline: Year-round
Chestnut Review (“for stubborn artists”) invites submissions year round of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, art, and photography. We offer free submissions for poetry (3 poems), flash fiction (<1000 words), and art/photography (20 images); $5 submissions for fiction/nonfiction (<5k words), or 4-6 poems. Published artists receive $100 and a copy of the annual anthology of four issues (released each summer). Notification in <30 days or submission fee refunded. We appreciate stories in every genre we publish. All issues free online which illustrates what we have liked, but we are always ready to be surprised by the new! Currently reading for our Autumn 2021 issue to be published in October. chestnutreview.com

New Lit Mags added to the NewPages Guide to Literary Magazines in April 2021

Back from hiatus, Agave Magazine is a print publication showcasing contemporary art, literature, and photography for a modern readership. Ideal submissions develop subjects thoroughly giving us all the essentials—no more, no less. From editorial pieces to mixed genre, their contributors share insights on their creative processes alongside published pieces.

Founded in 2020, Coastal Shelf is a quarterly online literary magazine. Contemporary and eclectic, they crave close attention paid to language and a ‘larger takeaway’/analysis given to the events/themes. They love pieces with wittiness (but not light verse), quirkiness and layers. They also dig interesting uses of history and science.

The Lascaux Review, pronounced Las-coe, features fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction of literary quality. Lascaux has published work by Philip Appleman, Hélène Cardona, Joseph Fasano, Tony Hoagland, Lee Martin, Maggie Smith, Robley Wilson, and many other poets and writers. Annual contests are conducted in poetry, flash fiction, creative nonfiction, and short fiction.

Founded in 2017, MoonPark Review is a quarterly online journal publishing compelling, imaginative short prose, including flash (fiction/nonfiction) and prose poetry. Thirteen prose pieces (or thirteen writers) are featured each quarter, accompanied with original illustrations.

Nixes Mate is unafraid of punctuation; semicolons don’t frighten them. Not even a little bit. Since 2016, they have been featuring small-batch artisanal literature, created by writers who use all 26 letters of the alphabet, and then some. There are many paths to poetry. Walk with them one line at a time.

Okay Donkey likes the odd, the off-kilter, and the just plain weird. They also like the surreal, experimental, and the genre-bending. They strive to uplift and amplify underrepresented voices and always strongly encourage BIPOC and LGBT+ folks to submit their work.

Also added are print literary magazine Bacopa Literary Review, Blue Collar Review, Deep Wild: Writing from the Backcountry, Walloon Writers Review, and Workers Write! and online journals Decolonial Passage, Flare Journal, and WhimsicalPoet/WhimsicalArt.

Don’t forget to stop by our Guide to Literary Magazines to see the newly updated listings and remember we also have our Big List with even more journals!

New Letters Award Winners

woman looking at a poster for a ballet performance

In the Winter/Spring 2021 issue of New Letters, there is a whole section dedicated to award winners.

Editor’s Choice Award
“Indigent” by Elizabeth Robinson

Patricia Cleary Miller Award for Poetry
“Late Song: Time” and “The Art of the Deal” by Mark Wagenaar

Robert Day Award for Fiction
“Lobu Hoteru” by Jacob R. Weber

Conger Beasley Jr. Award for Nonfiction
“Joan” by Rebecca Young

Visit New Letters‘ website to grab a copy of this issue and learn about each of these contests.

A Mystery that Only the Dead Can Solve

Guest Post by Heather McCardell.

Elatsoe (pronounced el-at-so-ay) by Darcie Little Badger follows Ellie Bride, a Lipan Apache teenager, as she, her ghost dog Kirby, mom, and best friend Jay seek to uncover the truth about the night her cousin was found in a single car crash. This hunt takes them to the little town of Willowbee, where Ellie discovers a town secret that haunts her more than the dead she can wake. In this riveting debut novel, Little Badger crafts a world where magic is the norm and passed down through family lines – Ellie can wake the dead, passed down through her Great-Six Grandmother, and Jay is a direct descendent from the fairy king Oberon – and weaves a tale about family, allies and advocacy, and the ongoing colonization of Indigenous peoples. Little Badger handles the topic of colonization with delicacy, approaching it through character dialogue and entwining it with the ending revelation.

One thing I adored about this book was the oral storytelling culture that appears throughout, especially in the tales of Great-Six. These act as teaching moments for both Ellie and the reader, and provide readers a deeper look into Ellie’s family history and relations. At the heart of this novel is a story about a young girl who will do what she can to get justice, and allies who believe and support her and her family when they rightfully claim that her cousin’s death was no accident. In between the detective work, Ellie continues to work on her skill of waking the dead, much to the concern of her mom, but there is one rule passed down with this magic that Ellie plans to abide by: never wake a human ghost. With Dr. Abe Allerton as a suspect, Ellie senses a conspiracy that involves her cousin’s murder, and this is one secret she won’t let stay buried.


Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger. Levine Querido, August 2020.

Reviewer bio: Heather McCardell is a graduate student at the University of Windsor, studying English Literature and Creative Writing. When not writing essays, she enjoys writing poetry and hiking.

Buy this book from our affiliate Bookshop.org.

Contest :: 2021 Francine Ringold Award for New Writers

Screenshot of Nimrod's flier for the 2021 Francine Ringold Awards for New Writers
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Deadline: July 15, 2021
Submissions are open for Nimrod’s Francine Ringold Awards for New Writers. The Ringold Awards offer prizes of $500 and publication for fiction and poetry. They are open only to writers with no more than two previous publication credits in their genre. For poetry, submit up to five pages; for fiction, one short story, 5,000 words maximum. The contest is open internationally. All finalists will also be published and paid at our normal rates. Manuscripts may be mailed or submitted online: nimrodjournal.submittable.com/submit. Each entry must be accompanied by a $12 entry fee. Email [email protected] or visit artsandsciences.utulsa.edu/nimrod/ for complete rules.

Event :: The Constellation, A Place for Writers Workshops Start This Week

yellow start with blue text on a white background saying The Constellation A Place for WritersDeadline: Year-round
Location: Virtual
The Constellation, A Place for Writers provides innovative, online creative writing workshops that inspire, instruct, nurture, and challenge. Our acclaimed instructors offer classes in short fiction, novel, essay, memoir, poetry, children and young adult, literary translation, publishing, and hybrid forms. We host sessions for writers at all levels. The brainchild of award-winning and bestselling author Connie May Fowler, The Constellation is a global community of writers who support and elevate each other as they engage in the important work of honing their art and craft. In addition to workshops, The Constellation mentors weekly free prompts, write-ins, and more.

An Everyday Cult

Guest Post by C. Jane Taylor.

An Everyday Cult invites the reader to ride the spiritual rapids of the Center for Transformational Learning, a cult whose leader hopes you will drown. Working under the guise of a trusted therapist, the cult’s aloof, captivating, even sexy leader—referred to only as ‘Doug’—gives weekly ‘homework’ assignments that use pathologies, psychological archetypes, and dream interpretation as the foundations for self-annihilation.

The author’s elegant use of language makes An Everyday Cult read like a literary work of fiction and yet her treatment of the subject matter makes the tale race like a horror film. We watch from behind reluctantly parted fingers as the dark reality of the cult unfolds.

The reader travels with Buglion as she falls—simultaneously in love with the cult’s charismatic leader and asleep to her own identity—drifts, sleeps, and then snaps awake to the eighteen-year nightmare she has endured. The narrative reminds us to open our own eyes and stay awake to the dangers of authoritarian leaders claiming to know us better than we know ourselves.


An Everyday Cult by Gerette Buglion. Rootstock Publishing, May 2021.

Reviewer bio: C. Jane Taylor is the author of Spirit Traffic, a woman’s motorcycle journey of family, fear, and fledging. She lives, writes, and rides in Hinesburg, Vermont.

Buy this book from our affiliate Bookshop.org.

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/.

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.

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 :: 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.