Have you read the first two issues of online literary magazine Club Plum Literary Journal yet? Check those out and consider submitting your own flash fiction, prose poetry, and art for their next issue. There is no fee to submit. Fiction should be under 800 words. They want the lyrical and the unusual. They accept images of pen-and-ink line art, pencil drawings, watercolor, experimental, impressionistic, or abstract pieces. These can be black and white or in color. They do not currently accept photography at this time.
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.
Cumberland River Review – April 2020
In the new issue of Cumberland River Review, find fiction by Rebecca Reynolds; art by Brooke Shaden; and poetry by Corinna McClanahan Shroeder, E. B. Schnepp, Elisabeth Murawski, David Landon, Alice Friman, Julie L. Moore, and more.
Sponsor Spotlight: New Online Lit Mag Hole In The Head Review
Hole In The Head Review is a new online literary magazine founded in 2020 “on the perilous coast of Maine” where the “sun rises on the United States and darkness falls first.” Their debut issue, published earlier this year, features new works from Michael Hettich, Larkin Warren, Frankie Soto, Andrew Periale, Amy Young, Julia Wagner, Richard Heckler, Mawi Sonna, and Nancy Jean Hill.
They are enthusiastic about publishing both new and established poets together on a quarterly basis. In fact, their next issue is slated for release on May Day. They listen for a strong voice and look for a clarity of vision.
“You need another literary journal like you need a hole in the head.” Yes, yes we do.
petrichor Moves Deadline to May 1
petrichor is extending its submission deadline to May 1st. Send us your vispo, your twists, concrete distractions, code tomes, and sound signs. Now accepting apocalypse writings. Get weird with it. petrichormag.com
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 :: 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 :: Journal of African Youth Literature Issue 2
Journal 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.
Contest :: KAKALAK 2020
Deadline: May 18, 2020
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES apply to both poetry and art. Anyone can enter. Goal: We’re looking for work that evokes the SPIRIT of the Carolinas from the Outer Banks and Low Country to the Piedmont and Appalachia. Submission Period: March 1—May 18, 2020. Entry fee: $12 for 1-3 poems or 1-3 images. All entries considered for publication. All contributors will receive one copy for each item selected for publication. Prize money ranges from $300 to $20. Details can be found on the Kakalak contest page of the www.MainStreetRag.com website.
Contest :: Storm Cellar’s 2020 FORCE MAJEURE Contest Ends on April 30
That’s right, writers of flash fiction! Storm Cellar‘s annual FORCE MAJEURE Flash Contest closes to entries on April 30. $5 fee for one story or $12 for three. Pieces must be under 1,000 words and can be a combination of nonfiction, fiction, marks, or images. First place winner receives $300 and publication. Learn more…
Cleaver Magazine
The newest issue of Cleaver features a visual narrative by Emily Steinberg; short stories by Catherine Parnell, Andrea Ellis-Perez, and others; flash by Uma Dwivedi, Kim Magowan, and more; and poetry by Marc Harshman, Jackie Craven, and more. Additional art by Serge Lecomte.
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 :: 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].
Black Warrior Review – Spring 2020
The Spring 2020 issue of Black Warrior Review is out. In this issue: Aliza Ali Khan, Sébastien Bernard, Agata Izabela Brewer, Naomi Day, Meg E. Griffitts, Katherine Indermaur, Sara Kachelman, Jasmine Khaliq, Jessica Lanay, M.L. Martin, Cherise Morris, Mónica Ramón Ríos (translated by Robin Myers), Monica Rico, Angie Sijun Lou, Molli Spalter, Qianqian Ye, and more. Chapbook by Seo-Young Chu. Cover art by Dominic Chambers.
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 :: 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].
Blood Orange Review Vol. 11.2
Online literary magazine Blood Orange Review released Volume 11.2 in January 2020. This issue was delayed a bit as they worked hard on relaunching their site with a new design.
The majority of artwork featured in this issue was gathered from visual art MFA students at Washington University: Siri Margaret Stensberg, Stephanie Broussard, and Kelsey Baker. Also featured in this issue is art from Sarah Hussein who hales from Egypt.
Besides art, find poetry by Hussain Ahmed, Benjamin Bartu, John Byrne, Isiah Fish, Joseph Gunho Jang, Maya Marshall, and Kim Young; nonfiction by Sarah Rose Cadorette, Kelly Hill, and Austin Maas; and fiction by Wandeka Gayle, Arielle Jones, Sakae Manning, Lois Melina, and Joel Streicker.
Blood Orange Review is currently open to general and contest submissions.
Call :: Nzuri Spring 2020 Issue
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.
The Gettsyburg Review – Autumn 2019
The Autumn 2019 issue of The Gettysburg Review offers readers a great selection of poetry and prose as usual, from Alice Friman’s “Hygiene,” which utilizes breasts as a way to measure time and maturity in a sort of tongue-in-cheek way, to the 55-part essay “A Brief Account of Certain Left-Leaning Tendencies” by Valerie Sayers which highlights her father by using the word “left,” to digestible words of wisdom in three poems by Joyce Sutphen.
But what really left me enamored was the art feature. Nine paintings by Anne Siems grace the pages and cover of this issue. The portraits are whimsical and magical, using creative patterns and images of nature to create portraits that draw viewers in. More little details pop out the longer one looks. People become one with nature—mushrooms cloud around a body in “We Are All Connected,” animal heads sprout from hands like puppets in “Beasts,” antlers grow from the head of an animal-surrounded girl in “Eve Dreams of a Wolf.” These works are gorgeous and give readers a good reason to stick around within the pages of this issue long after they’ve gotten their share of words.
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 :: Palooka
International literary magazine Palooka has been publishing featured, up-and-coming, established, and new writers, artists, and photographers for a decade. They are open to submissions for its journal and chapbook press year-round. They do charge a fee. Learn more…
Call :: Club Plum Literary Journal
Submissions open for flash fiction of no more than 800 words and prose poems. Send unusual or lyrical pieces. Club Plum also seeks art: Please send one image only of pen-and-ink line art, pencil drawings, watercolor, experimental, impressionistic or abstract pieces, black-and-white or color. The editor will pass on photography. See clubplumliteraryjournal.com for details.
Call :: Tin Can Literary Review & From the Depths 18
Haunted Waters Press is accepting submissions of fiction to the inaugural edition of Tin Can Literary Review. It is also accepting submissions of poetry, fiction, and flash to literary magazine From the Depths 18. They do charge a fee and are a paying market. Deadline is August 31. Learn more…
Mudfish – No. 21
The newest issue of Mudfish features the winner of the 14th Mudfish Poetry Prize, judged by John Yau: Mark Wagenaar with “Fluencies.” Honorable mentions G. Hanlon and Stokes Howell are also included. Other contributors this issue: Dell Lemmon, Michael Lyle, Aillie McKeever, Beth Suter, Claire Scott, Vincent Bell, Marjorie Power, Angela Dribben, Yuyutsu Sharma, Holly Day, Jason Koo, James Trask, Jake Bauer, Francis Klein, Neal Zirn, Bob Coles, A. Kaiser, Kristin Entler, Tim Nolan, Kirk Wilson, Toni Hanner, and many more.
Call :: Hole In The Head Review May 2020 Issue
Fledgling online literary magazine Hole In The Head Review is open to submissions for its May 2020 issue. $4 fee. Poetry and visual art accepted. Learn more…
Call :: The Awakenings Review
The Awakenings Review is a literary magazine devoted to publishing works from writers who have some connection with mental illness. The connection can be their own, friends, or family members. Work does not need to be related to mental illness. Submissions accepted year-round. There is no fee. Learn more…
Call :: High Desert Journal Spring 2020
Online literary magazine High Desert Journal is open to submissions. They are a “forum for literary, visual and journalistic artists to contribute a deeper understanding of the landscape and people of the interior West.”
Deadline to submit to their Spring 2020 issue is March 15. Learn more…
Call :: The Helix Spring 2020 Issue
The Helix Literary and Art Magazine, an undergraduate publication based in Central Connecticut, seeks compelling poetry, prose, and art for its Spring 2020 issue (online and in print). Any and all subject matters considered, but bonus points for topics that might be of interest to a college audience. Submit at helixmagazine.org/submission-guidelines/. Deadline: May 1.
Call :: Chestnut Review Summer 2020 Issue
Literary magazine Chestnut Review is open to submissions of poetry, nonfiction, art, and photography for its Summer 2020 issue. Learn more…
Call :: Anomaly Open Reading Period
The online literary magazine from Anomalous Press, Anomaly is open to general submissions through March 1. They charge a $3 fee and offer a modest honorarium.
Plus, they have announced their new issue will launch on April 11. Featured folios include a CantoMundo tribute and Performance Poetry. They will also be doing an event at AWP 2020 with Waxwing and Newfound. Learn more…
Call :: Tiger Moth Review Issue 4
The Tiger Moth Review is open to submissions on the themes of nature, culture, the environment, and ecology for Issue 4. Deadline to submit is May 2020. They do not charge a submission fee. Learn more…
Call :: S/tick Angry/Mad Issue
Online literary magazine S/tick provides a place for women, women-identified, and feminists of all stripes to share their grief, anger, and joy. S/tick is open to submissions of feminist writing and art for its “Angry/Mad” issue. There is no fee. Deadline is March 31. Learn more…
Call :: Oyster River Pages 2020 Reading Period
Literary and artistic collective Oyster River Pages is open to submissions for their next annual issue! They believe in the power of art to connect people to their own and others’ humanity. ORP likes to feature artists and writers whose voices have been historically de-centered and marginalized.
Submissions open through May 31, 2020. There is no fee to submit.
Call :: The Blue Mountain Review
Literary magazine The Blue Mountain Review launched in 2015 with the mantra “we’re all south of somewhere.” They are open to submissions with “homespun and international appeal” year-round and seek to preserve and promote “lives told well.” They do charge a $5 submission fee. Learn more…
Gris-Gris – No. 10
Issue 10 of Gris-Gris features fiction by Peter Grandbois, James Hartman, Marlene Olin, and Betty Martin; poetry by Stephanie Brooks, Jonathan Riccio, Sarah Sousa, Hannah Warren, Maria Zoccola, and Daphne Simeon; nonfiction by Robert Vivian; and artwork by Desire’ Johnson.
“Dream Logic: The Art of Ten Contemporary Surrealists” by Kristine Somerville
Magazine Review by Katy Haas
The Fall 2019 issue of the Missouri Review invites readers to wander away from the ordinary into a world that’s a little bit “off” in its feature. In “Dream Logic: The Art of Ten Contemporary Surrealists,”Kristine Somerville offers a brief history of the surrealist art movement.
While we learn the history, we also see full-color images of surreal artwork, including embroidered mixed media images by Robin McCarthy, clay sculptures by Ronit Baranga, collages by Rodriguez Calero, and more. Indeed, these all carry dreamlike qualities as they challenge our expectations. Each piece grabs the eye and forces it to take in new, creative perspectives. Baranga’s work features grotesque human features emerging from delicate teacups. Gensis Belanger’s work seems to showcase the ordinary until you blink and realize a stool is supported by four large cigarettes instead of regular legs, and the foot inside the sandal that rests on the stool is actually a hot dog. Whimsy and dream logic reign in this feature. The provided history grounds us, though, giving a clear lens through which we can examine the art.
Somerville closes with the reminder, “surrealism provides an outlet for creativity and spontaneity and an escape from the tyranny of the real.” Allow yourself to escape for a moment and wander into the dreams of the surreal artists found in the Fall 2019 issue.