Deadlines: June & July 2024
Every middle of the month: new deadlines, new contests, and new opportunities for your work to find its audience. Here is a roundup of ten submission opportunities with deadlines in June or July, including The Maine Review, Variant Literature, Bellevue Literary Review, and more.
DEADLINE: 6/15
For this issue, we invite Palestinian writers to submit any work that celebrates Palestinian culture and identity. While we will exercise editorial judgment in selecting pieces to publish in this issue, all topics, styles, and themes are welcome.
In accordance with the goal of this issue, which is to platform work from writers of Palestine or the Palestinian diaspora, we ask that all submitters to Issue 53.3 include a brief description of their connection to Palestine in their cover letter. Submissions that do not include this description will be in violation of these guidelines, and as such they will be rejected.
As poets, we love to see poems that are aware of themselves in relation to the world around them. Specifically, we like to read poems with an awareness of self and place, and how language, image, and form amplify both. We love poems that make smart use of lines. Send us poems that you are proud to have written, send us poems that tell a narrative, send us poems that leave the reader stunned. We look forward to reading your submissions.
Reading Fee: none
DEADLINE: 6/16
Theme: Humor
Levity. Irony. Highbrow. Lowbrow. Satire. Hijinks. Jinkies. There are many categories of humor in literature, yet shockingly few short stories, poems, and essays feature as much as a joke. Let’s change that. In short, we’re expecting stories and poetry which make us laugh, think, and smile. How you deliver your sense of humor makes little difference. We’re just excited to laugh. As always, wow us. Thrill us. Never bore us. We’re eager to read your best.
Theme: Desire
If writing is all about tension, desire is the fuel. Desire doesn’t pause to contemplate etiquette or question what’s possible. Desire complicates, evolves, produces triumphs and tragedies. Desire moves forward. And that’s the sort of writing we’re after. We want complex, ambitious writing with tension and innovation to spare.
Reading Fee: $6.35
DEADLINE: 6/19
In recognition of Juneteenth, The Maine Review is offering free submissions from June 13 to June 19, or until we reach our allowed free submission maximum.
- “Juneteenth commemorates African American freedom and emphasizes education and achievement, while [also] encouraging continuous self-development and respect for all cultures.” ~ www.juneteenth.com
The Maine Review is dedicated to making contemporary literature accessible and to supporting representation, innovation, and literary artistry. We seek outstanding contemporary fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, including works in translation and hybrid forms, and are pleased to publish new, emerging, and established writers.
All writers are invited to make use of this free submission window. If you’re able to donate, we offer $3 or $5 Community Supported Literature donation options, of which we receive $1.86 or $3.76 respectively. All donations are tax-deductible and are used to pay writers and support our programs. Direct donations are also welcome at http://mainereview.com/donate.
Reading Fee: none
DEADLINE: 6/30
The Poetry London Prize is a major, internationally renowned award for a single outstanding poem. Previous winners include Liz Berry, Niall Campbell, Romalyn Ante, Richard Scott and Nick Makoha.
First Prize is £5,000, Second Prize is £2,000 and Third Prize is £1,000.
The judge of the 2024 Prize is Hannah Sullivan. Hannah Sullivan is the author of Three Poems, which won the T. S. Eliot prize for 2018, as well as The Work of Revision (Harvard, 2013) and Was It for This (Faber, 2023). A lifelong Londoner, she now lives in Oxford with her husband and sons and is a fellow at New College.
Entries are welcome from poets based anywhere in the world and there are no restrictions on themes, subjects or styles.
There are a limited number of free entries for students / unwaged. Please select the correct fee option when you enter. To get the subscriber price, you do not need to be an existing subscriber. You can subscribe using this form, select the ‘subscriber’ poem fees, and check out at the same time as you pay for your entry.
Reading fee: £10 per poem, or £5 per poem for subscribers.
DEADLINE: 6/30
Variant Literature: Poetry
Thanks for submitting poems to Variant Lit!
Our asks:
- Submit once per submission period, unless otherwise invited.
- Submit up to to 5 poems totaling no more than 10 pages.
- All work must be submitted through Submittable.
- Please send all work in one file. When submitting multiple poems, please start each poem on a new page.
- Please include a brief 3rd person bio with your submission.
- Please withdraw individual poems accepted elsewhere by means of a submittable message. (Simultaneous submissions are fine.)
- Do not send previously published work unless we put out a particular call stating otherwise.
We intend to provide:
- Responses within 2-3 months. (Most poetry submissions receive responses within one month.)
- Pay of $10 per accepted poem or set.
- Publication of accepted poems in the subsequent issue. (We do not hold work for consideration for later issues.)
- Upon publication, all rights revert to the author or artist.
- Nomination of exceptional work for awards.
Reading Fee: none
DEADLINE: 7/1
In our pursuit to celebrate the outstanding poets of our present times, Frontier Poetry annually hosts a prize for all poets, regardless of publication history. We invite you to send your best work to the Frontier OPEN, our biggest prize of the year! The winning poem will be awarded $5,000 and publication.
In addition to the winner, nine finalists will also receive an award of $100 each with publication. The Frontier Poetry editorial team will work together to select winners and finalists for this contest.
While we primarily serve as a platform for new and emerging writers, the OPEN is meant to support and elevate the poetry community as a whole. Every year, we look forward to this prize, for which emerging and established poets are considered in equal measure and as a result are often published side by side in Frontier Poetry. We’re excited to read your work!
Reading Fee: $20
DEADLINE: 7/1
The BLR Prizes award outstanding writing related to themes of health, healing, illness, the mind, and the body.
2025 John & Eileen Allman Prize for Poetry
Judged by Leila Mottley
Leila Mottley is the author of the novel Nightcrawling, an Oprah’s Book Club pick and New York Times bestseller. She was also the 2018 Oakland Youth Poet Laureate. She was born and raised in Oakland, where she continues to live. Her debut poetry collection woke up no light will be published on April 16, 2024.
Guidelines:
- Deadline: July 1, 2024
- First prize is $1,000 (in each genre) and publication in the Spring 2025 issue of BLR. Honorable mention winners will receive $300 and publication in the Spring 2025 issue of BLR.
- Poetry: We encourage poems that are accessible to a wide audience. Characteristics we look for are vivid writing, strong narrative, and rendering the familiar new. We encourage you to peruse back issues in our archive to get a sense of our ethos. You may submit up to three poems per submission (include all three in one file).
Reading fee: $20
DEADLINE: 7/2
Arc Poetry Magazine: Poems “At Home”
It is too common over the past few months and years to hear about homes destroyed by bombing campaigns, devastating wildfires, or ideological differences between family members. For the Fall 2024 issue, Arc Poetry is looking for submissions around the theme of “Home” and all of the relationships we can have with our physical or metaphorical homes.
Arc especially encourages submissions from Indigenous poets, immigrants and refugees, and 2SLGBTQ+ poets, but this call is open to all Canadians, along with anyone, from any county, who feels they have something to say about who gets to feel “at home” in the world today.
Guest Editor: Laila Malik
For this issue, Arc will be accepting unsolicited submissions on any subject and in any form, of previously unpublished poetry in English or translations of poetry into English.
Arc‘s rate for poetry of $50 per page. Payment is issued upon publication along with one free copy of the issue in which the work appears.
Reading Fee: none
DEADLINE: 7/15
We’re looking for poems of any length (including sequences and long poems). Once again, please familiarize yourself with our last two issues. Send up to four poems at a time. We are especially interested in work by LGBTQ2S+ writers, BIPOC writers, and writing from other marginalized folks, along with poetry in translation.
Please Note: All Austin Clarke Prize for Literary Excellence entries must be accompanied by a payment of $20; however, this category is free of charge! You also have the option of giving The Ex-Puritan a tip of $3, should you wish to contribute to the overall costs of running the magazine. But thanks for your submission regardless!
Reading fee: none
DEADLINE: 7/19
Fatal Flaw Literary Magazine: Poetry Contest (General)
Contest Details:
Theme: No theme!
Winners will be awarded the following prizes: $100 for first place, $50 for second place. (Payments may be issued by Paypal, Venmo, or CashApp.) Each winner will receive publication in Fatal Flaw’s upcoming issue and will be featured in an interview on our website. They will also receive special promotion across all social media channels and receive the chance to share their work at one of our upcoming showcases.
All submissions will be considered for publication in the next issue of Fatal Flaw, regardless of their outcome in the Poetry Contest.
Reading fee: $15