NewPages Guide to Calls for Submissions
In the NewPages Guide to Submission Opportunities, find announcements of current and upcoming calls for submissions from literary magazines, independent and university presses, anthologies, and more. Looking for writing and book contests? You can find them here.
Would you like to advertise a call for submissions with NewPages? Learn more and submit your call here.
Note: Descriptions provided by advertisers. NewPages does our best to vet all opportunities. If there is an issue, please contact us.
About Place Journal Call for Submissions: On Freedom
Deadline: August 1, 2025
Each issue of About Place Journal, the arts publication of the Black Earth Institute, focuses on a specific theme. From June 1st to August 1st we’ll be accepting submissions for our Fall 2025 issue On Freedom. Our mission: to have art address the causes of spirit, earth, and society; to protect the earth; and to build a more just and interconnected world. We publish prose, poetry, visual art, photography, video, and music which fit the current theme. More about this issue’s theme and our submission guidelines: aboutplacejournal.org/submissions/.
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Wordrunner eChapbooks Seeks Prose Collections
Deadline: July 31, 2025
Wordrunner eChapbooks will select one fiction and one nonfiction collection for our 2025 eChapbook series, to be published in September and December, respectively, online and as kindles. Maximum word count: 20,000. Prose pieces may be flash or longer, from 500 up to 5,000 words each. We’d like four to six stories or essays or, if the pieces are flash, a maximum of 15. We prefer emotional complexity and nuanced characters in our fiction and memoir collections. See www.echapbook.com/submissions.html for detailed guidelines and submission link. Authors are paid $125 plus royalties for kindles. Submission fee: $8.
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The Big Book of Quantum Fiction
Deadline: September 30, 2025
We want to re-establish and define quantum fiction as a recognized genre—just as Harlan Ellison did with “new wave” through Dangerous Visions. Come be a part of history! We’re seeking quantum fiction submissions for 2025: surreal and twisted short stories in any genre, poetry that explores quantum perception (as you define it), and black-and-white artwork in abstract expressionist or surrealist styles. (We especially welcome cartoons in the spirit of Gahan Wilson.) No AI-generated work, please. A mood board is available for artists. Reprints are welcome. Contributors retain full rights. New and established authors all welcome. www.tracyshew.com/blog/the-big-book-of-quantum-fiction
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Fiction on the Web Critique Service
Looking for detailed, personalized feedback on your short story? Fiction on the Web now offers a critique service led by our editorial team. Whether you’re revising or preparing to submit, we’re here to help strong ideas become stronger on the page. Each critique includes strengths and areas for improvement, sentence-level notes, and a scorecard evaluating major craft elements. Our editors are experienced in the litmag scene and know what makes a story stand out. Learn more or request a critique at: www.fictionontheweb.co.uk/p/critique-service.html.
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Open Call for Novella-length Fiction and Nonfiction
Deadline: July 31, 2025
Since January of 2019, Sunspot Lit has broken boundaries that exclude meaningful and important works by accepting long-form fiction, nonfiction and graphic novel manuscripts as well as epic poetry. Single works of fiction or nonfiction from 29,001 to 49,000 words are being accepted now. Graphic novels should run between 51 and 120 pages (no restrictions for the number of panels on a page). A single poem between 86 and 105 single-spaced pages is also accepted. Please note that collections of any kind do not qualify for this open call. Open July 1 closes July 31. Submit here.
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Blueline Magazine Seeks Quality Nature Writing
Deadline: November 30, 2025
BLUELINE: A Literary Magazine Dedicated to the Spirit of the Adirondacks seeks poems, stories, and essays about the Adirondacks and regions similar in geography and spirit, focusing on nature’s shaping influence. Submissions window July 1 to November 30. Decisions mid-February. Payment in copies. Simultaneous submissions accepted if identified as such. Please notify if your submission is placed elsewhere. Electronic submissions encouraged, as Word files, via email. Please identify the genre in the subject line. Further information at bluelineadkmagazine.org.
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The Branches Fall 2025 Call for Submissions – VOICE
Deadline: September 13, 2025
The Branches is seeking submissions of previously unpublished written and visual work for our fall 2025 theme VOICE. We are especially interested in cultural criticism, personal essays, and book/movie discussions and also publish poetry, short fiction, art, and photography on the theme of VOICE. We recommend reading some of our previous issues (click issues on our website) to get a feel for what we publish. Give us your big ideas and small thoughts, the ways you’re interacting with and understanding the world. We love Joan Didion, C. S. Lewis, Ada Limón, Susan Sontag, Flannery O’Connor, Patti Smith, and (hopefully) you! Off-theme submissions welcome. www.thebranchesjournal.com
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The New Verse News Seeks Current Events Poetry
Deadline: Year-round
Since 2005, The New Verse News has covered the news of the day with poems on issues, large and small, international and local. It relies on the submission of poems (especially those of a politically progressive bent) by writers from all over the world. The editors update the website every day with a poetic take on a current and specific headline. See the website for guidelines and examples. Then paste your non-simultaneous submission and a brief bio in the text of an email (no attachments, please) to nvneditor(at)gmail.com. Write “Verse News Submission” in the subject line of your email.
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Palooka Seeks Chapbooks, Prose, Poetry, Artwork, Photography
Deadline: Year-round
Palooka is an international literary magazine. For over a decade we’ve featured new, up-and-coming, and established writers, artists, and photographers from around the world. We’re open to diverse forms and styles and are always seeking unique chapbooks, fiction, poetry, nonfiction, artwork, photography, and graphic narratives. Submissions open year-round. palookamag.com
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Plant-Human Quarterly Seeks Poems and Essays for Upcoming Issues
Deadline: Year-round
Plant-Human Quarterly reads year-round. We seek unpublished or published poetry and essays that explore the myriad ways writers manifest their relationship to the botanical world—whether through heavily researched pieces, keen observation, or more intuitive ways of knowing—that attempt to communicate across boundaries and approach a plant’s-eye-view of the world. Send no more than 5 poems or an essay of no more than 1500 words (flash essay or essay excerpt) in a single word document. Past contributors include Ellen Bass, Forrest Gander, Kimiko Hahn, Brenda Hillman, Jane Hirshfield, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Pattiann Rogers, Scott Russell Sanders, Arthur Sze. Submission guidelines: otherwisecollective.com/phq-submissions.
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Kings River Review Call for 2-Year College Student Submissions
Deadline: Rolling
The Kings River Review publishes artwork, creative nonfiction, short fiction, and poetry of current 2-year community college students. Submission Deadlines: March 15 for the spring issue and October 15 for the fall issue. Submission requirements: up to 5 pieces of artwork and photography sent as .JPEG files; creative nonfiction and fiction of up to 3,000 words; and up to 5 poems. Go to kingsriverreview.com for full submission guidelines.
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Speckled Trout Review: A Call For Submissions!
Deadline: August 20, 2025
Speckled Trout Review is an independent literary magazine publishing an online issue every summer and winter. In our short time, we have published former poet laureates, Pushcart Prize nominees, Best of the Net recipients, contributors whose work has landed in Ploughshares, Prairie Schooner, POETRY, Tar River Poetry, ThreePenny Review, and numerous anthologies. The submission window for Summer 2025 (6.1) is now open. Please read specific submissions guidelines, which can be found at www.speckledtroutreview.com.
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NOMAD Review Seeks Your Work on the Theme of “Fragility”
Deadline: August 1, 2025
The NOMAD Review (formerly NOMADartx Review) curates fresh voices in creative arts and literatures. We especially love to support emerging/underrepresented creators, and to see how different forms of creation intersect in potentially unexpected ways. June 1-August 1 of 2025, we will read submissions on any theme, but our current contest seeks submissions on the theme of “fragility.” One winner in each of these six categories will be selected for a $75 prize: poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, visual arts, industry specials, and criticism/reviews/interviews. Please see our website for more detail about these categories and how to submit: www.nomadreview.org.
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Our Doors are Open
Deadline: 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 all life through its stories. Stories are vital to our survival. What we sing saves the soul. Our goal is to preserve and promote lives told well through prose, poetry, music, and the visual arts. We’ve published work from and interviews with Jericho Brown, Kelli Russell Agodon, Robert Pinsky, Rising Appalachia, Turkuaz, Michel Stone, Michael Flohr, Lee Herrick, Chen Chen, Michael Cudlitz, Pat Metheny, Melissa Studdard, Lyrics Born, Terry Kay, and Christopher Moore. bluemountainreview.submittable.com/submit