Sorry We're Prosed: 20+ opportunities for a springtime submissions spree
More magazines and prizes to send your work
Hello again, the weather where I am is getting better every day, and it makes me feel like it’s time for a spring clean: get those stories and essays out and dust them off, because there are plenty of places to submit this month.
If you’re feeling uninspired, perhaps one of the many themed callouts could help reignite that spark. From storms and swimming to fables and myths, there’s a lot here to get you started.
Closing soon
There are a few days left to send work to Mslexia for the next themed writing callout on the topic of ‘eyes’. You don’t have to be a subscriber to the magazine, but you do need to be a woman writer. I’ve sent something in for this one.
A new anthology from Sans Press is seeking short stories that reflect the title ‘The Last Five Minutes of a Storm’ until 7 March. Accepted writers get $150. Send submissions via the online form at the bottom of the page.
Lighthouse is open for prose submissions until 14 March. This journal was once recommended to me by a published author, who said it was great for showcasing early-career writers.
The beautifully-produced Capsule Stories is taking submissions for its summer theme of ‘swimming’ until 20 March. No pay but they nominate for prizes.
Ready to make that long-shot submission? The Paris Review is open for online submissions during March.
Fiction, memoir, and essay are all welcome at new-ish journal Pareidolia Literary, as long as it’s on the theme of their next issue, ‘Catalyst’. The current submissions period closes 31 March.
Ligeia Magazine, which looks for ‘modern gothic’ work, is open for fiction and creative non-fiction until 31 March. No mention of pay.
Up until 1 April, Milwaukee-based Cream City Review is accepting submissions of new fiction and creative non-fiction. Contributors get a free two-issue subscription.
This interesting fable competition challenges writers to come up with a modern fable in the style of Robert Louis Stevenson. It’s free to enter, and closes on 1 April.
If you are sitting on an unpublished horror novella, dust it off in time to send it to Cemetery Gates Media’s My Dark Library series. Submissions are being accepted until 1 April.
Open now
A special issue of The Stinging Fly will come out later this year, solely featuring writers they have not published before. This is primarily for those who consider the island of Ireland to be their home, in one way or another. Submissions are open now until mid-April.
Literary work which addresses “the human consequences and realities of war or geopolitical violence” are welcome at Consequences Forum, which publishes both in print and online. The current reading period ends on 15 April. They pay and nominate for prizes.
Sword & Kettle Press is taking submissions of stories on the theme of ‘modern myths’, to be published as part of a series of chapbooks. Authors get an honorarium payment of $40 and the opportunity closes 31 March.
I’ve mentioned the Bridport Prize and its 31 May deadline before, but another date for your diary is 30 April. That’s when applications close for bursaries, which give under-represented writers free entry to the contest. No proof of income is required.
Opening soon
Keep an eye out for Shoreline of Infinity, a science fiction publication which should be re-opening for submissions on 11 March.
The 2022 Aurora Prize for Writing, run by Writing East Midlands, will reopen for submissions at the end of March.
Stories for the next issue of The Interpreter’s House can be sent in from 1 April. This online magazine has a focus on poetry but also reads fiction, and the team is interested in “work that destabilises cultural or stylistic classification and boundaries”.
It’s a big one: Electric Literature’s much sought-after ‘Recommended Reading’ slot is open from Monday for one week only. They pay $300 per piece and the stories reach an audience of thousands.
Always open
Everyone is talking about The Drift right now, especially after The New York Times profiled its editors. I’m a fan of the magazine’s fiction and spot-on cultural criticism, not to mention its easy-on-the-eyes website. If you’re also into their vibe, you might like to have a look at the handy breakdown at the bottom of this page regarding what they want, what they don’t want, and what they’re bored by. Then go ahead and pitch them an essay, or send them a story.
For the flash writers (do you guys have a snappy group name? surely it’s not ‘flashers’), SmokeLong Quarterly has fast responses and pays $50 a story. It’s open to flash “narratives”, which includes fiction, non-fiction, and things in-between.
Neon Magazine is a long-running and well-respected UK literary magazine, specialising work that blurs the boundaries between literary and speculative fiction. Unthemed submissions are always welcome, but they also have two themes coming up: ‘cuisine’ and ‘machines’. They pay.