CALLING BLACK WRITERS – Submit to Graydon House and HQN Books by September 8, 2020!

Attention black writers: Submissions are now open! HQN and Graydon House are accepting unagented submissions.

Graydon House and HQN Books, imprints of Harlequin Publishers, are accepting unagented submissions from Black authors now through until September 8, 2020.  

Graydon House seeks high-concept commercial and book club women’s fiction for its hardcover and trade paperback imprint. Accepted genres include (but are not limited to): historical fiction, family dramas, thrillers/suspense, etc. Send a query letter and the first 30 pages of your manuscript to GHSubmissions@harpercollins.com.

HQN Books seeks commercial romance and romantic women’s novels of all sub-genres. Send a query letter and the first 30 pages of your manuscript to HQNSubmissions@harpercollins.com.

More info here.

The Offing—Call for Submissions

White text reading "The Offing" on a green background.

The Offing, an online literary magazine, is open for submissions in several categories, including fiction, science writing, humor, culture essays, and more. Fiction closes July 16, 2020. There is currently no fee to submit. The magazine “actively seeks out and supports work by and about those often marginalized in literary spaces, including Black and Indigenous people, and people of color; trans people, cis women, agender, gender non-conforming, genderqueer, two-spirit, and non-binary people; intersex people; LGBQA (lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, asexual/aromantic) people; people with disabilities; and especially people living at the intersections of these identities.”

Brevity: Experiences of Disability

Brevity – Experiences of Disability

Submissions are now being accepted for Brevity’s upcoming special issue, “Experiences of Disability,” to be published in September 2020.

For this issue, we invite brief nonfiction submissions (750 words or fewer) that consider all aspects of illness and disability: what it is, what it means, how our understanding of disability is changing. We want essays that explore how disability is learned during childhood, lived over the entire course of a life, and how our changing understanding of disability shapes the way we experience ourselves and others. We are looking for flash essays that explore the lived experience of illness and disability, as well as encounters with ableism, and that show readers a new way to understand the familiar or give voice to underrepresented experiences.

Deadline: March 1, 2020

Entry: via Submittable*; $3 entry fee

Guest Editors: Sonya Huber, Keah Brown, and Sarah Fawn Montgomery

*Those for whom Submittable is not accessible or for whom the reading fee of $3 would be prohibitive can email their submissions to brevitydislit@gmail.com with the subject formatted as SUBMISSION: (Title) by (Name).

Ploughshares – Reading Period Opening Soon

Reading Period: June 1 – January 15, 2019

Entry: via online submission manager or by mail; $3 fee

Guidelines:

Simultaneous vs. Multiple Submissions

  • Ploughshares does not consider multiple submissions. Do not send a second submission until you have heard about the first. Simultaneous submissions to other journals are fine as long as they are identified as such and they are withdrawn immediately upon acceptance elsewhere.
  • If you are working on submissions with an agent, or are an agent submitting work on behalf of an author, please read the note on simultaneous submissions with an agent.

Cover Letters

  • You are encouraged to include a short cover letter with your submission. It should reference:
    • Major publications and awards
    • Any association or past correspondence with a guest or staff editor
    • Past publication in Ploughshares
  • Please note that cover letters are to be included as the first page of your submission document. There are no additional comment boxes for adding a cover letter.

Manuscripts

  • Typed, double-spaced (poetry may be single-spaced) pages.
  • Numbered pages.
  • If in hard copy, submit with text on one side of the page.
  • Fiction and nonfiction: Less than 6,000 words. Excerpts of longer works are welcome if self-contained. Significantly longer work (7,500–20,000 words) can be submitted to the Ploughshares Solos series.
  • Poetry: Submit 1-5 pages at a time with each poem beginning on a new page.
  • Translations are welcome if permission has been granted.
  • Unsolicited book reviews and criticism are not considered.
  • Queries to the Look2 Critical Essay series are welcome (see guidelines here).

Atlanta Review – General Poetry Submissions

Atlanta Review logo

Deadline: June 1, 2019

Entry: via Submittable; $3 fee

Guidelines:

  • No more than five unpublished poems (7 pages max) per submission, each poem on its own page, contained in a single .doc or .docx file.
  • No identifying information on any poem or file name. The Atlanta Review reads work anonymously: we publish poems, not poets.  
  • Only one submission per submission period.
  • Please Note: We will try to accommodate poems with special formatting needs (specific margins, long lines, etc.), but we can’t guarantee that your poems will appear on our pages exactly as you submitted them. We encourage poets to follow standard formatting guidelines: Times New Roman 12, with 1″ margins. This will help minimize appearance shifts as we import your poems into our publishing software.
  • Also, please use the withdraw function only if you need to withdraw the ENTIRE submission. Otherwise, just send us a note on the “Activity and Messages” tab and let us know which one/s is/are no longer available. Thanks!


Rattle – Call for Submissions – African Poets

Rattle

Deadline: April 15, 2019

Enter: via Submittable; no fee

Guidelines:

The Fall 2019 issue of Rattle will be dedicated to African poets. The poems may be written on any subject, in any style or length, but the poet must have been born in, or be a permanent resident of, an African country. The poems must be written in (or translated into) English. We’ve been receiving an increasing number of submissions from African poets over the last few years, and we’d like to honor the poetry that’s being written on the continent. Please include a brief note about your personal background and why you write poetry.

Feel free to submit up to four previously unpublished poems (or four pages of very short poems), but these must be sent as a single submission in ONE document, or pasted into the single field provided. Do not submit more work to this category until we’ve replied.

Black Warrior Review: General Submissions

Black Warrior Review

Deadline: March 1, 2019

Entry: via Submittable; $3 fee

Submission Guidelines:

Fiction:

  • 5,000-7,000 words
  • One piece at a time

Flash Fiction:

  • <1,000 words
  • Up to three pieces in a single document

Nonfiction:

  • <7,000 words
  • No academic articles

Poetry:

  • Up to five poems in a single document
  • No more than 10 pages total
  • Write the title or abbreviated title of each poem, separated by commas, in the “Submissions Title” field

Graphic Writing:

  • Submit in .jpg, .tiff, or .pdf format
  • Published in grayscale

Translation:

  • Completed, self-sufficient works only
  • Max 10 pages
  • Work that has already been published in its original language is highly preferred

Interlochen Review Call for Submissions

The Interlochen Review

Deadline: March 1, 2019

Entry: via Submittable

Eligibility: High school students and recent graduates (<1 year).

Guidelines:

Submit up to 6 pieces total. All submissions must be accompanied by a brief author bio. Please DO NOT INCLUDE YOUR NAME anywhere on the submission EXCEPT for in the bio statement. We do accept work recognized by Scholastic Art & Writing Awards and YoungARTS. We DO NOT accept previously published work from other journals, online or in print.

Continue reading “Interlochen Review Call for Submissions”

Interlochen Review Call for Submissions

The Interlochen Review

An online literary journal edited by creative writing students of Interlochen Arts Academy

Deadline: March 1, 2018
Eligibility: Grades 9-12 or high school postgraduate year.
Judges: Students of the Interlochen Arts Academy
Guidelines: 
Submit up to 6 pieces total. See full guidelines here: interlochenreview.org/submit/
Website: interlochenreview.org/

  • Fiction— 5,000 word max
  • Poetry— Long form poems are welcome
  • Nonfiction— 5,000 word max
  • Hybrid Genre— Flash fiction, prose poetry, lyric essay, film essay/poem, photo essay, new media writing, performance documentation, mixed-media experiments, singer-songwriter compositions or any other hybrid work.
  • Scripts/Screenplays— 40 page max. Standard format.

BIO: All submissions must be accompanied by a brief author bio. DO NOT INCLUDE YOUR NAME anywhere on the submission EXCEPT for in the bio statement.
 The Interlochen Review accepts work recognized by Scholastic Art & Writing Awards and YoungARTS. They DO NOT accept previously published work from other journals, online or in print.