Submission Sunday 6.8.25
Reed Magazine, New Orleans Review, Jean Salad, 42 Miles Press, Pleiades: Literature in Context, How I Learned, American Zoetrope, and Howland Literary
Happy Sunday, writers! Thank you for subscribing. Every other Sunday, you’ll receive eight literary submission opportunities, varying in audience and genre, that have been selected for quality and relevance.
Submission Sunday relies on the support of paying subscribers. If you enjoy this newsletter, please consider an upgrade! Paid subscribers receive an invitation to the Submission Sunday private chat, craft essays by writers, interviews with published authors about their submission process, interviews with editors about what they’re looking for, round-ups of articles about submitting and writing in general, and full access to the archives.
This edition of Submission Sunday has calls and contests from Reed Magazine, New Orleans Review, Jean Salad, 42 Miles Press, Pleiades: Literature in Context, How I Learned, American Zoetrope, and Howland Literary. More details below.
☆☆☆ This week, we’re celebrating our latest (reported) submission success with Melissa Haley, whose essay “The Residence Hotel for Introverts, 1989” was published in Slag Glass City’s special issue, “The Archival City.” The call for submissions was listed here in April 2024. Nice work, Melissa! ☆☆☆
The Reed Magazine Contests (Deadline October 1)
Awarding one of the richest purses among literary magazines—$1,000 for the winning story—the John Steinbeck Award for Fiction recognizes exceptional works of fiction.
The Gabriele Rico Challenge for Nonfiction recognizes outstanding works of nonfiction, awarding $1,333 to the author of the winning entry. We are looking for creative nonfiction, such as personal essays or narratives, not scholarly papers or book reviews.
With an award of $1,000 for the winning poem, the Edwin Markham Prize honors outstanding works of poetry. Our taste is eclectic and celebrates the wonderful diversity of forms, styles, and levels of diction available to the contemporary poet.
The Mary Blair Award for Art honors exceptional artists’ work across various media. With a prize of $1,000, this award is constantly seeking new and fresh artist perspectives to create a dialogue with our audience.
Reed Magazine is California’s oldest literary journal. General submissions are also open.
New Orleans Review Call for Submissions
A journal of contemporary literature and culture, New Orleans Review is a publication of the Department of English at Loyola University New Orleans, and is partially funded by the Kendall Michelle Daigle Memorial Endowment for English.
Since its founding in 1968, the journal has published an eclectic variety of work by established and emerging writers. Work published in NOR has been reprinted in the Pushcart Prize, Best American Nonrequired Reading, New Stories From the South, Utne Reader, Poetry Daily, Verse Daily, O. Henry Prize Stories, and other anthologies. We accept submissions in fiction, nonfiction and poetry year round from writers around the world. In celebration of Pride, there are no submission fees for LGBTQIA2+ writers in June. We are especially interested in trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming voices.
Jean Salad Call for Submissions
So, who are we? We’re JEAN SALAD, of course! Perhaps you mean what? Like, what are we? Because what we are is a primarily Substack-based, salad-adjacent cult cosplaying a lit. mag whose mission is to take over the dare I say it, rather boring and sterile world of lit-magification (not all, mainly the paris review) one bad poem at a time! We aim to be a space where young, underrepresented writers (or old and cool) from all over the world are given a voice, a community, and a platform to showcase their talents. So, if that sounds like you, get those jeans on, sharpen your pencils and send us your best work!
42 Miles Press Poetry Award (Deadline June 15)
The 42 Miles Press Poetry Award was created in an effort to bring urgent and original voices to the poetry reading public. The prize is offered annually to any poet writing in English, including international poets, poets who have never published a full-length book, as well as poets who have published several. New and selected collections of poems are also welcome. We’re especially eager to hear from writers who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, as well as LGBTQ writers, disabled poets, neurodivergent poets, young poets, and anyone whose work has been overlooked or pushed to the margins.
The winning poet will receive $1,000, publication of their book, 50 author copies, and will be invited to give a reading at Indiana University South Bend as part of the release of the book.
$25 Online Screenwriting Class – Refresh the Basics!
Saturday, June 14th at 9 am PT/12 pm ET
Introducing the debut event from DEATH or STORY, a new editorial & coaching company co-founded by award-winning screenwriter Paula Tiberius and Prague-based editor Dominique Buda. We’re offering a 90-minute workshop that breaks down loglines, structure, and character—because even seasoned screenwriters can unlock breakthroughs by refreshing the fundamentals! One hour of teaching, 30 minutes of Q&A. Start gathering questions and sign up today!
Let's Finish Your Novel with Chris L. Terry
Experienced author, editor, and creative writing professor Chris L. Terry is seeking clients for developmental edits and book coaching this summer. References available. Email Chris for more info.
📚 Every other week, I’ll be making space for up to three online writing classes or programs (and the occasional retreat or conference) to advertise their upcoming offerings here. Learn more about getting your own classified ad. 📚
Pleiades: Literature in Context Call for Submissions (Deadline June 30)
Pleiades: Literature in Context is a literary biannual featuring poetry, fiction, essays, and reviews by authors from around the world. Past contributors include winners of the Nobel, Ruth Lilly, Pulitzer, Bollingen, Prix de la Liberté, and Neustadt Prizes, recipients of Guggenheim, Whiting, National Book Critics Circle, and National Book Awards, and many writers seeing their work in print for the first time. Pleiades is open for regular submissions of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and translations during the months of June and December.
How I Learned Call for Submissions (Deadline June 20)
The How I Learned Series was a live reading/storytelling/comedy show created by Blaise Allysen Kearsley in 2009. The monthly series ran for a little over a decade with events in the Lower East Side, Brooklyn, and New Orleans, and included benefits for Emily's List and Housing Works.
In the nightlife spirit of the eclectic series, we are seeking sharp personal nonfiction stories from diverse perspectives, sensibilities, and voices that offer an evocotive spin on existential-leaning themes . The horror and the hilarity of living. The profound and the preposterous. The details that conflict with the old narrative, the little things that challenge a longheld belief. How something is changed, how we get shook; ways of seeing and moving in the world. Heavy stories, humor, stories, what lives in between — whatever the tone or the mood, your How I Learned story does not resolve neatly with a bow. Make meaning out of chaos, but leave us wondering where the story takes you after it ends.
American Zoetrope Screeplay Competition (Deadline September 3)
The mission of the American Zoetrope Screenplay Competition is to find and promote new and innovative voices in cinema. The competition considers feature-length film scripts, as well as pilot scripts for television/streaming services. Every script is read closely by a select handful of professional readers, and the American Zoetrope staff and Francis Ford Coppola choose a winner from among the ten finalists.
The winner receives a grand prize of $5,000. The winner and nine finalists are considered for representation by agencies, and their scripts will be considered for option and development by production companies.
Howland Literary Open for Queries
We represent award-winning writers of literary fiction, non-fiction, young adult fiction, and children's books. Howland titles include Whiting Award Winners, Dzanc Nonfiction and Fiction Prize Winners, Young Lion Award Winners, and both New York Public Library and Chicago Public Library Best Books of the Year. Industry veteran, Carrie Howland, has over twenty years of experience as a literary agent. She founded Howland Literary, LLC in 2018. In 2025, Zoe Howard and Rebecca Angus will open their query inboxes on the 1st of every month, and close on the 14th, or when they reach 200 queries.
Here’s a reminder of the deadlines coming up from previous posts. Hot tips:
If you go into the archives and revisit posts from this time of year during previous years, you’ll find additional calls that are open annually.
If you submit to any of the Submission Sunday calls and publish or win, let me know and I’ll broadcast your success in a future post.
Poetry Call for Submissions (Deadline June 14)
Uncharted Magazine Novel Excerpt Prize (Deadline June 15)
2025 Tusculum Review Fiction Chapbook Prize (Deadline June 15)
The Black List 2025 Unpublished Novel Award (Deadline June 27)
The Novelry: The Next Big Story (Deadline July 31)
Taco Bell Quarterly Call for Submissions (Deadline July 31)
F(r)iction Call for Submissions (“Censored” and “Fame” – Deadline August 30)
*This newsletter does not guarantee the unimpeachable behavior of all venues shared here but the odds are good.
