2 ELIZABETHS, A Literary Magazine with a Heart for Community publishes flash fiction and poetry. Submission fee. Paying market. Details HERE.
FLORIDA REVIEW, University of Central Florida, accepts submissions of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, graphic narrative, book reviews and interviews year-round . Details HERE.
INTERIM: A JOURNAL OF POETRY & POETICS is open for submissions of poetry, hybrid, translations, essays and book reviews to be considered for its next issue. Deadline March 1. Nominal submission fees. Details HERE.
THE BeZINE, Be Inspired, Be Creative, Be Peace, Be. Submissions for the March issue – themed Peace – closes on February 10 at 11:59 p.m. PST .
New rules: Please send text in the body of the email not as an attachment. Send photographs or illustrations as attachments. No google docs or dropbox or other such. No rich text. Send submissions to bardogroup@gmail.com.
Publication is March 15th. Poetry, essays, fiction and creative nonfiction, art and photography, music (videos or essays), and whatever lends itself to online presentation is welcome for consideration. No demographic restrictions.
Please read at least one issue and the Intro/Mission Statement and Submission Guidelines. We DO NOT publish anything that promotes hate, divisiveness or violence or that is scornful or in any way dismissive of “other” peoples.
The BeZine will be published on quarterly schedule in 2018 and for the foreseeable future:
March 2018 issue, Deadline February 10th. Theme: Peace.
June 2018 issue, Deadline May 10th. Theme: Sustainability
September 2018 issue, Deadline August 10th, Theme: Human Rights/Social Justice
December 2018 issue, Deadline November 10th, Theme: A Life of the Spirit
Suggestions for sub-themes are still being reviewed. Send yours to thebardogroup@gmail.com. (Current suggestions include: domestic abuse, eckphrastic poetry, the meaning/importance of poetry, and restorative justice.)
The BeZine is an entirely volunteer effort, a mission. It is not a paying market but neither does it charge submission or subscription fees.
Previously published work may be submitted if you hold the copyright. Submissions from beginning and emerging artists as well as pro are encouraged and we have a special interest in getting more submissions of short stores, feature articles, music videos and art.
THE MATADOR REVIEW, alternative art and literature, is now accepting submissions for the Spring 2018 publication. They publish poetry, fiction, flash fiction, and creative non-fiction, inviting all unpublished literature written in the English language (and translations that are accompanied by the original text) as well as many forms of visual art. The call for submissions will end February 28.Submission information can be found at: www.matadorreview.com/submissions ; Submissions can be sent to editors@matadorreview.com ; Questions and concerns can be sent to contact@matadorreview.com ; Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/matadorreview ; Twitter: https://twitter.com/matadorreview
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SATURDAY EVENING POST seeks nonfiction, fiction,
‘lighter side”, cartoons and post-it jokes. Details HERE.
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SESHAT, a Homeschool Literary Magazine named for the Egyptian Goddess of Writing, has an open call for submissions of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art, photography, and drama. Adult writers and children over 13 are invited to submit. Deadline for the second issue is February 15. Details HERE.
WEST TEXAS REVIEW is open year-round for submissions to its quarterly journal and is interested in poetry, essays, flash fiction and photography. Details HERE.
WORDRUNNER eCHAPBOOKS is open through January 31 for its spring 2018 themed chapbook anthology. This press reports that it has published 32 online chapbooks – fiction, memoir and poetry. Nominal payment if accepted. Nominal submission fees. Details HERE.
OPPORTUNITY FOR YOUTH
BRIDGE: THE BLUFFTON UNIVERSITY LITERARY JOURNAL extends an invitation to writers aged 14-24 to submit work that “demonstrates virtuosity an wonder, original writing that delights and challenges us.” Review details for submission.
CONTESTS
2 ELIZABETHS SPECIAL WRITING CONTEST ends on January 31, 2018 for short fiction (up to 6,000 words) and poetry collection. Submission fee. Cash award. Details HERE.
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BROKENPENCIL, The Magazine of Zine Culture and Independent Arts announced that it has extended the deadline for Indie Writer’s Deathmatch 2018 through January 15. “The Deathmatch Short Story Contest, the world’s only and most dangerous interactive short story competition. . . What exactly is the Indie Writer’s Deathmatch? It’s an online battle. The top 16 stories battle it out online complete with reader voting, author trash talk and lots of comments. It’s fun and crazy and all about finding and promoting new voices!” Entry fee. Cash award. Details HERE.
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THE [2019] SEVENTH ANNUAL GREAT AMERICAN FICTION CONTEST is hosted by the Saturday Evening Post. The winning story (between 1,500 – 5,000) words will be published in the January/February 2019 issue. Winner and five runner-ups will receive cash awards. Submission fees. Deadline: July 1, 2018. Details HERE.
VITA BREVIS LITERATURE / MONTHLY COMPETITION: There is no paywall or reading free. The editors simply ask that poets send in only one piece of their best work. First place winners will be paid $15 and will be published on the site. Second and third place winners will get an honorable mention and will also be published on the site. Details HERE.
WELLS COLLEGE PRESS, 2018 Chapbook Competition invites submissions of Poetry Chapbooks through January 15, 2018. Entry fee. Cash award and publication. Details HERE.
WEST VIRGINIA WRITERS, INC. hosts writing contests for adults and children living in West Virginia. Online submissions from Jan. 2-Mar. 15, 2018, with a late submissions period between Mar. 16 and Mar. 31, 2018.Contests are open for student writing (Grades 6-8 and 9-12) and adults: short and long poetry, short stories, nonfiction, humor, mystery, and emerging writers prose. Details HERE.
U.S. KIDS COVER ART CONTEST
Residents of the U.S. between the ages of 2 and 12
Artists ages 2-6 years old should enter Humpty Dumpty Magazine‘s contest.
Artists ages 6-12 years old should enter Jack and Jill Magazine’s contest.
A free poetry workshop sponsored by The Reader Berlin and The British Council and hosted by Sharehaus Reguio will be tutored by award-winning UK poet Nick Makoha on 28 January. The workshop is free but places are limited. Registration is obligatory. Sign up here: https://www.surveymonkey.de/r/BritLitWS2018For all enquiries regarding the workshop, please send an email to Lucy Curzon at lucinda.curzon@britishcouncil.de
Registration is now open for the 33rd British Council Literature Seminar. We are delighted that the renowned writer Professor Bernardine Evaristo MBE has agreed to chair the event once again. The seminar will take place at the Werkstatt der Kulturen, Wissmannstr. 32, 12049 Berlin, from Thursday, 25 January, to Saturday, 27 January 2018. The focus will be on gender diversity in contemporary UK writing. Details and registration HERE.
The Annikki Poetry Festival, 9 June 2018, Tempere, Finland “has grown to be one of Finland’s foremost poetry events … Annikki Poetry Festival aims to vitalize contemporary poetics and to put together surprising combinations of performers, as well as redefine the very boundaries of what poetry events can be.” Details HERE.
2018 Palm Beach Poetry Festival will be held for the 14th year at Old School Square in Delray Beach Florida, January 15-20, 2018, a week of poetry, poets, and poetry events. Details HERE.
Cheltenham 2018 Poetry Festival themed “Powerhouse” is scheduled for Wednesday 18 – Monday 30 April 2018 at Venues throughout the town and promises “a rich and electrifying programme of spoken word, poetry, comedy, music, slam, workshops, film, hip hop and dance.” Details HERE.
Cork International Poetry Festival 13-17 February 2018. Details HERE.
Accessible anytime from anywhere in the world:
The Poet by Day always available online with poems, poets and writers, news and information.
The Poet by Day, Wednesday Writing Prompt, online every week (except for vacation) and all are invited to take part no matter the stage of career (emerging or established) or status (amateur or professional). Poems related to the challenge of the week (always theme based not form based) will be published here on the following Tuesday.
The Poet by Day, Sunday Announcements. Every week (except for vacation) opportunity knocks for poets and writers.
THE BeZINE, Be Inspired, Be Creative, Be Peace, Be – always online HERE.
Beguine Again, daily inspiration and spiritual practice – always online HERE. Beguine Again is the sister site to The BeZine.
Rev. Terri Stewart
Terri Stewart (Beguine Again) shares a post-Christmas poem.
The Work of Christmas
by Howard Thurman (1899-1981), African-American poet, theologian, and civil rights leader
When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among people,
To make music in the heart.
Vita Brevis Literature (Vita Brevis, The New Poetry Magazine) editors for a successful and tasteful launch this past November and for garnering enough donations to be able to award a small cash prize to the winners of their monthly contest.
YOUR SUNDAY ANNOUNCEMENTS may be emailed to thepoetbyday@gmail.com. Please do so at least a week in advance.
If you would like me to consider reviewing your book, chapbook, magazine or film, here are some general guidelines:
send PDF to jamiededes@gmail.com (Note: I have a backlog of six or seven months, so at this writing I suggest you wait until June 2018 to forward anything. Thank you!)
nothing that foments hate or misunderstanding
nothing violent or encouraging of violence
English only, though Spanish is okay if accompanied by translation
your book or other product should be easy for readers to find through your site or other venues.
TO CONTACT ME WITH ANNOUNCEMENTS AND OTHER INFORMATION FOR THE POET BY DAY: thepoetbyday@gmail.com
TO CONTACT ME REGARDING SUBMISSIONS FOR THE BeZINE: bardogroup@gmail.com
PLEASE do not mix the communications between the two.
Often information is just that–information – and not necessarily recommendation. I haven’t worked with all the publications or other organizations featured in my regular Sunday Announcements or other announcements shared on this site. Awards and contests are often (generally) a means to generate income, publicity and marketing mailing lists for the host organizations, some of which are more reputable than others. I rarely attend events anymore. Caveat Emptor: Please be sure to verify information for yourself before submitting work, buying products, paying fees or attending events et al.
“The Bookshop has a thousand books,
All colors, hues, and tinges,
And every cover is a door
That turns on magic hinges.”
American poet, Nancy Byrd Turner (1880-1971)
One of the great fun things in life is popping into a used-book store and exploring the shelves, finding old friends and making new ones. Our local is B Street Books, a brave little independent that’s managed to keep its doors open when so many others are forced to close down. If you live in San Mateo, California and haven’t been there, do go. Wherever you live in this world, be sure to support independent bookstores, whether they sell new and/or used books. They are as necessary to the spirit of democracy as schools and libraries.
B Street Books’ owner and staff put together a reading challenge for 2018. It’s the bookish equivalent of Dr. Terry Wahl‘s functional-medicine challenge to eat two-hundred different fruits and veggies over the course of the year, something to force explorations beyond the easy, obvious and/or habitual.
“Read a book,” the B Street team encourage …
published in the year you were born;
published more than 200 years ago;
written by someone with the same initials as yours;
longer than 500 pages;
shorter than 100 pages;
in a genre you don’t usually read;
based on the cover art;
that challenges your views;
that you were supposed to finish in high school;
recommended by a friend;
recommended by a child;
on which a movie is based;
with a one-word title;
that you loved as a youngster;
that is set in or near your home town;
that has won a Pulitzer Prize; and,
that you bought a B Street Books.
The books I started out with this year are the ones I got for Christmas from my son:
I’ve linked you to Amazon for these books but that doesn’t mean you can’t scope them out at your local independent or check with Steve (below) to see if he has copies available.
Speaking of independents:
Check Out
Scholar and Poet Books
Steve Wiencek helped out with the September 2016 issue of The BeZine, which addressed environmental issues. You can read his feature article, Nature … Place … Community HERE. Steve says of his independent online store: “We are experienced book, music and video sellers. Our extensive and varied inventory includes a large collection of classical music CDs, LPs and sheet music; colorful and hard-to-find vintage GGA pulp fiction paperbacks; vintage children’s books and more! Find us and like us on Facebook, please!”
In response to reports that a lawyer representing President Trump attempted to halt publication of Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, PEN America Executive Director Suzanne Nossel released the following statement yesterday.
“PEN America is deeply alarmed by reports that a lawyer representing President Trump is attempting to halt publication of Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, which purports to provide a behind-the-scenes look at the Trump White House. The President’s attempt to halt publication of a book because of its content is flagrantly unconstitutional. President Trump’s threats represent a brazen attempt at imposing unlawful prior restraint, a form of censorship repeatedly rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court. For the President of the United States criticism comes with the territory. The President should immediately withdraw and repudiate this outrageous demand, allowing the American people to render their own judgement of the book.”
Note: The book came out today and is available for purchase online and at brick and board stores should you care to read it. Before its release today, the book and e-book both reached number one on Amazon.com and the Apple iBooks Store. Michael Wolff is an Internet entrepreneur, a journalist and news commentator.
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PEN America stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect open expression in the United States and worldwide. It champions the freedom to write, recognizing the power of the word to transform the world. PEN’s mission is to unite writers and their allies to celebrate creative expression and defend the liberties that make it possible.
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