March 2023 Deadlines: 11 Contests and Magazines With Deadlines This Month
New month, new courage: submit your work to these fellowships, magazines, awards and internships. Remember, too, acceptances and rejections are by-products of this journey—crafting your authentic art is the goal. And as always, submit poetry for free to our New Voices. This list is powered by the deadline service Literistic!
Gulf Coast is committed to supporting the authors who publish in our journal. This support takes many forms, including offering editorial guidance, exposing new work to the widest possible audience, and providing competitive honorariums for that work. Gulf Coast is now able to pay $50 per page for poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. Stories and essays should be less than 7,000 words. Please submit no more than 5 poems per submission.
Deadline: March 1 // Fee
Applications open in January for the WICW Poetry and Fiction Fellowships, awarding stipends of around $40,000 and generous health benefits. To be eligible, applicants must have completed or be scheduled to complete an MFA or PhD in Creative Writing by August 15 of the fellowship year. Eligible applicants may have published no more than one full-length collection or book of poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction as of the March 1 deadline. Individuals who have never published a full-length collection or book remain eligible, of course. Successful applicants must commit to reside in the Madison area for the full duration of the Fellowship from mid-August to mid-May (holiday and other travel are of course permitted); to teach one section of undergraduate mixed-genre or single-genre creative writing each semester; to hold no other teaching, graduate study or fellowship obligations; to assist in the selection of the Brittingham and Felix Pollak Prizes in Poetry, the University of Wisconsin’s undergraduate writing prizes, and the following year’s Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing Fellowships; and in general to participate fully in the life of the Madison writing community during the fellowship period. For more details regarding the responsibilities and privileges of our fellows, please see the main fellowships page.
Deadline: March 1 // Fee
Cream City Review is devoted to publishing memorable and energetic fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and artwork which represent a broad range of creators with diverse, unique backgrounds. Both beginning and well-known writers are welcome. Submissions are considered for issues one year in advance. Please only upload one submission per genre.
Deadline: March 2 // No Fee
Lit Fest is a two-week celebration of the art and craft of writing, taking place annually in Denver, Colorado. The Lit Fest Fellowship for Emerging Writers covers the full cost of tuition for an advanced week-long or weekend workshop at Lit Fest. Lighthouse will be awarding three fellowships for Lit Fest 2022 to advanced writers of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction who haven’t yet published a book-length work and who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford a weeklong or weekend workshop.
Deadline: March 11 // Fee
When Southern Humanities Review first began, our founding editors called for work which was “thoughtfully conceived to enrich the mind and stir the heart.” While we are located in the American South, we are interested in work from all human communities and variety of perspectives, geographic and otherwise. Please submit up to three poems at a time. Fiction should be no longer than 8,000 words
Deadline: March 14 // Fee
Sewanee Writers’ Conference
Offering workshops in fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and playwriting, the Conference invites talented writers to come to Sewanee each summer to learn from each other in a welcoming and supportive environment. Fiction and nonfiction application manuscripts should be 20-40 pages. Poetry application manuscripts should be 10-15 pages. Contributors receive assistance covering two-thirds of the actual cost to attend
Deadline: March 15 // Fee
The National Poetry Series seeks book-length manuscripts of poetry written by American residents or American citizens living abroad. All manuscripts must be previously unpublished in their complete form, although some or all of the individual poems may have appeared in periodicals. Translations, chapbooks, small groups of poems, and self-published books are not eligible. A length of 48-64 pages is suggested. Finalists will be notified by approximately May 31 of the calendar year. The finalists’ manuscripts will then be submitted to five separate judges for consideration. The five winning authors are notified by approximately August 31 of the calendar year. All finalists will be notified of their status at that time.
Deadline: March 15 // Fee
American Chordata is a literary and arts magazine based out of Brooklyn, NY. Our annual print magazine is published in the Fall. Submissions in Poetry, Fiction, Nonfiction, and Translation are accepted from January 15th to March 15th. Simultaneous submissions are permitted, as long as we are notified immediately if the manuscript is accepted elsewhere. Writers will be notified of a decision by May 1. American Chordata is committed to paying the writers whose work we publish. For this reason, we charge a reading fee of $3 per submission, all of which goes toward the payment of honorariums. We are pleased to be able to pay $30 for works of 3 pages or fewer, and $50 for works longer than 3 pages. Please submit original work of 6,000 words max as a single document for prose (PDF or Word Doc). For poetry, please submit between 3-5 poems as a single document (PDF or Word Doc).
Deadline: March 15 // Fee
The 20.35 Africa anthology series is dedicated to pushing the limit of how contemporary African poetry has been perceived, and also to bridging the publishing gap set by this perception for young African poets. Across its five volumes, the anthology has sought to ask important questions, most importantly: What is contemporary African poetry? Can African poetry be read beyond its thematic inclination? In his Introduction to the fourth volume, editor-in-chief, Ebenezer Agu, states that 20.35 Africa anthologies “afford the opportunity to illustrate a reading of African poetry along language aesthetics,” putting out poems that will be read “foremost for their literary qualities.”
In accordance with our annual publications, 20.35 Africa is happy to announce this call for submissions to the sixth Volume of our anthology. This year’s guest editors are Safia Jama and Nick Makoha, who will be working with the organization’s editors – Ebenezer Agu, I.S. Jones, and Precious Okpechi.
We are looking for pieces that deserve a broader audience, that excite and inspire, that honor cultural heritage and move in the liminal space between borders sketched on maps with shaky hands; pieces that encourage a reader to question and engage with the world around them. We are especially interested in contemporary work from living authors, though it’s by no means a requirement. Poetry and prose from any language translated to English will be considered. We are also interested in book reviews and essays relevant to the art of literary translation. Please include a brief translator’s note if you would like to provide context, artist bio, or other information important to the submitted piece. Before submitting, please ensure that your piece is thoroughly proofread and revised the way you’d like to see it published.
Deadline: March 31 // No Fee
Established in 2001, The Robert Phillips Poetry Chapbook Prize highlights one book a year that excels in the chapbook format. Since 2019 the Prize comes with a $500 advance, a standard royalty contract, and 20 copies of the published book. Simultaneous submissions are acceptable. 2023 Judge: Alison Pelegrin.
Deadline: March 31 // Fee
