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! I’m planning some additional online events available to paid subscribers as well as the usual benefits: 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 Air/Light, Doric Literary, The Iowa Review, Episodes, The Arkansas International, Sundress Publications, The London Magazine, and Folio Literary Management. More details below.
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☆☆☆ This week, we’re celebrating our latest (reported) success with Emilie Pascale Beck, whose flash fiction “Ruins” received an honorable mention in the 2026 CRAFT Awards for Excellence. Nice work, Emilie! ☆☆☆
Air/Light Call for Submissions (Deadline August 21 or at submission cap)
Air/Light is an online literary journal published by the English Department at the University of Southern California. We showcase both traditional and innovative works. We are firmly of the West Coast, but also national, international. We mean to look out expansively from this place rather than to gaze narrowly back at it, to express a West Coast aesthetic, a West Coast sensibility, and direct that lens onto the world.
Our intention is to be an artist’s journal—a place where poets and essayists and fiction writers and multimedia creators can all bring work that doesn’t fit inside boxes, that pushes boundaries, that speaks directly to some essential question or concern. A place where artists can experiment, or choose, willfully, not to experiment. A place where they can publish defining work alongside other artists pursuing the same.
We seek to be responsive to the moment. We seek to be activist and engaged. Most of all, we seek to join the vibrant, ongoing conversation—both on the West Coast and across the planet—about writing and reading and expression: the human dialogue, in other words, which has never seemed more urgent and necessary.
Doric Literary Call for Submissions
We publish classically inspired short stories on a monthly basis. Doric Literary is a bare-bones fiction site that takes its name from the oldest order of Greek architecture. Known for simple and unadorned but highly functional and enduring forms, a Doric temple is an apt metaphor to describe what we look for in a short story: a solid foundation or beginning, soaring columns or plotlines that lead directly to a satisfying and beautiful conclusion that still has impact and relevance in the modern world.
By “classically inspired” we mean that the more it reads like something from Flannery O’Connor or Katherine Mansfield, the better. …We have no submission fees, we pay a tiny honourarium, and we submit nominations for the Pushcart Prize, the O. Henry Prize, Best American Short Stories, & Best of the Net.
The Iowa Review Call for Submissions (Deadline October 1)
The Iowa Review’s mission is to provide an expertly curated, carefully edited, and beautifully designed print and online space for the voices of writers of every kind of diversity to move and enlighten us; to use the experience gained from fifty-plus years of continuous publication and our connection to the University of Iowa as a home for creative writing to validate, amplify, and encourage those voices; and to serve the reading public by presenting the best contemporary writing in short fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction.
The Iowa Review looks for the best poetry, fiction, and nonfiction being written today and is often pleased to introduce new writers. Once published in TIR, work has recently been selected for Best American Poetry, Best American Essays, Best American Nonrequired Reading, the Pushcart Prize, and the Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize. The Iowa Review publishes three issues per year.
Episodes publishes smart longform writing about the moments that make pop culture. We’re a cultural criticism and culture journalism website, and all pieces pitched should reflect that. Generally, we’re looking for more thinkpiece-y or essayistic writing rather than straight reviews. Pieces in the 1,500–2,000 word range are ideal for our readership.
We’re especially interested in pieces that…focus on a specific moment from a piece of pop culture that reveals something fundamental about the whole — think Emily’s piece on Blue Heron or Lily’s on Widow’s Bay for an example. Other areas in which we’d like to publish more work include interviews and pieces about books, music, video games, and the theater.
While we will occasionally publish an “I saw myself in this piece of pop culture” article, the bar for accepting these is very high. Pitch them at your own risk. However, we love to write about more obscure corners of pop culture, so that piece you think is too esoteric for anywhere else? Pitch it to us!
Kill Your Darlings: The Art of Revision and Preparing Your Manuscript for Submission with Betsy Lerner (Mondays, November 2-23)
In my experience, most writers have their work rejected for one reason: it wasn't ready to be submitted. The goal is to make your project as bullet-proof as possible. That means: a great title, a great opening chapter, a solid pitch, an effective query letter, building your profile, and of course most important polishing your prose. We will workshop twenty pages of each participant's work with an eye toward honing every aspect. I find a lot of rookie mistakes can be dealt with quickly. We'll try to get the deeper questions of revision and how to submit the best possible draft. $500 (one full scholarship available).
Creative Writing: Peace of Mind with Jeff Locker (Saturdays, August 15–September 19)
If you’ve ever felt the urge to write, but found yourself stopped cold by a blank page, perfectionism, or the day-to-day busyness of life—you are in the right place. This class is designed as a joyful, welcoming sanctuary to help you step away from everyday stressors, get out of your head, and reconnect with your creative spark. Over six weeks, this low-stakes environment is yours to play, experiment, and find a little levity. Whether you haven’t written a creative sentence since middle school or you write every single day, this space offers a refreshing break—a chance to free your mind, open your heart, and just enjoy the process. $249.
📚 Every other week, I’ll be making space for up to three online writing classes or programs (and the occasional retreat or conference). Learn more about getting your own classified ad. 📚
The Arkansas International Call for Submissions (Deadline October 15)
Founded in Fayetteville, Arkansas in 2016, the Arkansas International publishes transnational literature, bringing writers around the world into conversation with each other. Our magazine features work from over 70 countries, from Egypt to Brazil, South Korea to Russia, as well as U.S. writers working out of regions not centered by the literary marketplace. We support fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and graphic storytelling, in translation and source English alike.
The term international not only represents geographical points on a map, but also the wide spectrum of human experience. We value work that challenges limiting ideas of what defines “world” vs “regional” literature, and we support marginalized writers whose work complicates assumptions. We believe that art has a vital role in global culture, transcending borders and upending all forms of discrimination.
Sundress Publications Call for Poetry Collections (Deadline August 31)
Sundress Publications is open for submissions of full-length poetry manuscripts. All authors are welcome to submit qualifying manuscripts during our reading period, but we especially welcome authors from marginalized and underrepresented communities.
We are looking for manuscripts of forty-eight to eighty (48-80) single-spaced pages; front matter is excluded from the page count. Individual pieces or selections may have been previously published in anthologies, chapbooks, print journals, online journals, etc., but cannot have appeared in any full-length collections, including self-published collections.
The London Magazine Short Story Prize 2026 (Deadline October 18)
Since 1732, The London Magazine has published short stories by some of the most well-regarded writers in English, from Jean Rhys and Raymond Carver to Virginia Woolf and V. S. Pritchett. Our annual Short Story Prize seeks out new voices to join this distinguished literary history.
Established to support and celebrate emerging literary talent, the prize offers writers from around the world an opportunity for publication and recognition. We are looking for previously unpublished stories of no more than 4,000 words. We are delighted to announce that The London Magazine Short Story Prize 2026 will be judged by Camilla Grudova, Tim MacGabhann and Ayşegül Savaş.
The winning stories will be published in future issues of The London Magazine. Winners will also receive cash prizes and be celebrated at a prize-giving ceremony at the end of the year.
Folio Literary Management Open to Queries
We are a leading full-service, independent literary agency focused on the future of storytelling. Folio Literary Management places both fiction and non-fiction with major publishers throughout the U.S. and around the world. We represent many first-time authors, many of whom have gone on to become bestsellers and major award-winners. We also represent many well-established authors, and work closely with them to take their careers to new heights.
We are aggressively seeking literary fiction; upmarket adult fiction that’s appropriate for book club discussion; and commercial fiction that features fresh voices and/or memorable characters. From narrative nonfiction and memoir writers to authors, experts, scholars, and journalists with well-researched, compelling and new ideas, we love authors who are ready and able to promote their work and expertise in all forms of media.
In case you’re really in need of a deadline, 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.
The Masters Review 2026 Summer Short Story Award for New Writers (Deadline August 30)
3Elements Literary Review Call for Submissions (”Concrete, Stage, and Bark” – Deadline August 31)
Storyknife Writers Retreat Residencies for Women Writers (Homer, Alaska – Deadline August 31)
The Publishing Laboratory at the University of New Orleans Call for Manuscripts (Deadline August 31)
Campfire Stories: Tales from America’s National Parks Call for Anthology Submissions (“Volume 3” – Deadline August 31)
Split/Lip Press Call for Novel/Novella Manuscripts (Deadline September 2)
Salt Hill Call for Submissions (Deadline September 6)
Reed Magazine Call for Submissions (General + Contests – Deadline October 1)
Copper Nickel Jake Adam York Prize (Deadline October 15)
Potomac Review Call for Submissions (Deadline October 15)
Ploughshares Call for Submissions (Deadline November 15)
Writer’s Digest Short Story Competition (Deadline November 16)
LitMag Annual Contests: Emily Dickinson Award for Poetry (Deadline November 16), Anton Chekhov Award for Flash Fiction (Deadline December 1), and Virginia Woolf Award for Fiction (Deadline January 1)
Harvard Review Call for Submissions (Deadline December 1)
*This newsletter does not guarantee the unimpeachable behavior of all venues shared here but the odds are good.
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