Good evening, everyone! We hope everyone is hanging in there as we head into the final stretch of the quarter.
We’d like to start out with a reminder that SQ2025 teaching evaluations for LAS courses will be due this Friday, June 6.
We have lots of things to share with you today, from a call for Editors-In-Chief for Crook & Folly, to a call for academic papers to the Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association, to calls for submissions to creative writing journals. Scroll down for details on each of these!
Crook & Folly: Call for Editors-In-Chief
Application deadline: June 12, 2025
Crook & Folly, DePaul’s own student-run literary journal, is accepting applications for 2025-2026 Editors-In-Chief! Two volunteer positions are available. You must be a DePaul undergraduate or graduate student majoring or minoring in English to apply. If possible, C&F would like to have one undergraduate and one graduate student as Editors-in-Chief.
At this time, C&F is only accepting Editor-In-Chief positions. All other editor roles will have their separate application process during Autumn Quarter—so keep an eye out for another call for submissions in a few months!
Candidates for Editor-in-Chief should write a one-page application letter (around 250 words) describing relevant experience and commitment as well as their vision for the magazine and any possible conflicts. Please email this letter and your resume as an attachment to Professor Dan Stolar (dstolar@depaul.edu) AND crookandfolly@gmail.com on or before June 12, 2025.
The new editors will connect with the current editors sometime during Summer 2025. Editors-In-Chief must be enrolled and available during all regular quarters of the entire 2025-2026 academic year.
All applications are considered, but current Crook& Folly staff members will receive priority consideration for head editor slots. (Newcomers are encouraged to wait to apply to editorial staff and section editor positions in the fall).
If you have questions about what the work of the Editors-in-Chief entails, please email current editors Mars Robinson mrobin87@depaul.edu, Jane Hynes jyhnes6@depaul.edu, or Mackenzie Soto mcox37@depaul.edu.
MMLA: Call for Academic Work
(The information below has been copied from the MMLA website.)
Deadline: September 15, 2025
About:
Founded in 1959, incorporated in 1971, and based at Loyola University Chicago, the Midwest Modern Language Association (MMLA) is a non-profit organization of teachers and scholars of literature, language, and culture. One of six regional affiliates of the Modern Language Association, the MMLA provides a forum for disseminating scholarship and improving teaching in the fields of literary and cultural criticism. The members of the MMLA hail from many different departments, including Comparative Literature, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Linguistics.
The MMLA’s annual November meeting builds a sense of community among many specialized fields with over 200 sessions. Some sessions coalesce around an informal convention theme, while others focus on widely-ranging topics that represent the varied interests of the association’s fields. Annual meetings also feature professionalizing workshops and a book exhibit that foregrounds the recent publications of its members.
The Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association (JMMLA) publishes members’ work in two issues. The Spring issue features essays on an issue chosen by a guest editor. The Fall issue features essays on the theme of the previous year’s conference or developed from papers prepared for that conference.
Submission Guidelines:
The Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association invites submissions for the Fall 2025 issue on the theme of “Health in/of the Humanities.”
“We are healthy only to the extent that our ideas are humane.” So reads an inscription on the tomb of the fictional author Kilgore Trout in Kurt Vonnegut’s 1973 novel Breakfast of Champions. While darkly serio-comic, the novel’s exploration of how “ideas or the lack of them can cause disease” raises genuine questions about the relationship between the humanities and health that inform the theme of the fall 2025 issue of the peer-reviewed Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association.
Long before the COVID-19 pandemic publicly surfaced the social, cultural, and political dimensions of the health sciences, researchers were exploring ties between the humanities and health in interdisciplinary clusters like the medical humanities, health humanities, and narrative medicine. And even earlier—stretching back centuries to humourism and beyond—contacts between the humanities and health sciences provided reliable frameworks for interpretations of individual works, genres, and practices of reading, writing, and speaking that directly impacted the lived, bodily experiences of particular persons and communities.
For the fall 2025 issue of the JMMLA, we invite submissions that contribute new insights into the evolving relationship between health and the humanities, and what this relationship might tell us about the health of the humanities both now and in the future. To this end, we seek submissions that address the following topics:
- Narratives of health, sickness and/or recovery
- Health subcultures
- Disability studies
- Food studies
- Religion and health
- Women’s studies and health
- Medical Humanities, Narrative Medicine, Health Humanities
- Health Science Writing
- Representations of Public, Private, and Global Health
- Environmental Health
- Mental/psychological health
- Psychoanalysis
- Digital Humanities/modeling approaches to health
- Privacy and confidentiality
- Medical technologies
- Health professions/institutions/workplaces
Articles should be between 7,000 and 10,000 words (including notes). Prior to submission, please review the JMMLA‘s Style Guide and Manuscript Manager Instructions. Please direct all questions to the MMLA at mmla@luc.edu or to the editor of this issue, Nathan Jung (najung@wisc.edu).
[For general questions about the MMLA, including infromation about the annual MMLA conference, DePaul students may choose to contact Prof. Jonathan Gross (jgross@depaul.edu), member of the MMLA Executive Committee.]
Submission info:
Eligibility and submission procedures for the Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association can be found on the MMLA’s member portal. Membership for graduate students comes at a discounted rate of $25 and includes the following benefits:
- Access to the Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association (JMMLA)
- Publishing Opportunities
- Presentation Opportunities
- Professional Networking
- Professionalizing Workshops
- A Discounted Hotel Rate for Conference Attendees
- Publicity for Book-Length Scholarship
- Advertising for your Next Book
For details on each of these benefits, click here.
To register for MMLA membership, click here.
Creative Writing Calls for Submissions:
(The information below has been copied from each journal’s website.)
1. SmokeLong Quarterly
Deadline: June 30, 2025 (for free submissions window); August 14 (for paid submissions)
About:
SmokeLong Quarterly is dedicated to bringing the best flash narratives to the web quarterly, whether written by widely published authors or those new to the craft. We are also dedicated to serving the literary community.
The term “smoke-long” comes anecdotally from the Chinese, who noted that reading a piece of flash takes about the same length of time as smoking a cigarette. SmokeLong Quarterly does not encourage smoking.
- We publish flash narratives that are 1000 words or fewer, excluding the title. Our word limit is firm.
- General submissions are open 365 days a year, except during some competitions.
- We always have a free submission period each quarter. We consider multiple submissions for a small fee. Simultaneous submissions are always fine, but please take into consideration that we respond quickly.
- SmokeLong stories have been recognized by the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Web, Best of the Net, The Best Small Fictions and the wigleaf Top50. They have also been anthologized in places such as W.W. Norton’s Flash Fiction America, Flash Fiction International and Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader: Flush Fiction.
- We offer a variety of mentorships, workshops, and webinars including SmokeLong Fitness, the year-round community workshop of SmokeLong. If you would like to be on our mailing list to receive workshop information, please send an email to editor@smokelong.com.
- Occasionally, we invite creative writing classes to read our submissions queue for one week.
- We support worthy causes when we see them. Please have a look at our We Support page. These organizations do good things. When you donate to SmokeLong, you’re indirectly donating to these causes. We encourage you to donate directly to them as well.
- We run the following competitions: The SmokeLong Quarterly Award for Flash Fiction (The Smokey), The SmokeLong Grand Micro Contest (The Mikey), The SmokeLong Quarterly Prize for Comedy, The SmokeLong Workshop Prize, and coming soon The SmokeLong Dark Fantastic Contest.
Guidelines:
SmokeLong publishes flash narratives up to 1000 words. We consider reviews of flash collections, essays on craft, and articles on teaching flash for the blog. Include a print-ready, third-person bio with your cover letter. Please include no identifying information on your document, the filename, or the title on Submittable. Our editors read submissions anonymously and have no access to the cover letter or the messaging feature on Submittable.
You can send one previously unpublished piece at a time and wait until you hear our decision before sending another, or you can send up to three submissions in the same document for a small fee. The multiple-submission option includes a discount code to be used in the SmokeLong Shop and a promise to respond within 3 days. If your submission is being considered for publication, we’ll let you know that we’ll need a few more days to discuss your work.
For free submissions, please allow us up to two weeks to inform you if we have accepted your work for publication. You will usually hear from us much sooner.
We consider simultaneous submissions, but please take into consideration response times when submitting to multiple journals. Please inform us immediately if your work has been accepted somewhere else for publication.
We pay $100/$150 with audio, upon publication in the quarterly issue. Payment will be issued via PayPal or Zelle, and the writer may be responsible for any associated fees if applicable.
Submission page: https://smokelong.submittable.com/Submit
2. The Orange & Bee
Deadline: July 13, 2025 at 8:00 AM (submission window opens June 30 at 8:00 AM)
About:
The Orange & Bee publishes original and contemporary short stories, poems, and essays that explore, expand on, and subvert the rich traditions of international folklore, with a strong focus on fairy tales (though we also sometimes dabble in other forms of folklore, such as fables, myths, and legends). We also publish traditional tales accompanied by annotations, discussion questions, and writing prompts.
But our real and not-so-secret mission is to build a community—a virtual salon—around our shared passion for fairy tales.
Guidelines:
We do not accept multiple submissions (one piece per submission window, please!), simultaneous submissions, or previously published work (reprints).
The Orange & Bee accepts submissions via Duosuma only: please do not send us work via email or private message. Any submissions received via email, post, or anything other than Duosuma will be ignored/deleted.
Word/line limits:
- Poetry: up to 50 lines (but we’re a little bit flexible!)
- Flash fiction/non-fiction: up to 1000 words
- Short fiction/non-fiction: up to 4000 words
Payment:
- Poetry: flat rate $US50.00 per poem
- Flash fiction/non-fiction: flat rate $US80.00 per story (max 1000 words)
- Short fiction/non-fiction: $US0.08 per word (max 4000 words)
We typically pay via PayPal, and in your native currency, but we will do our best to accommodate your preferred payment method. Please note, however, that we cannot pay by cheque.
Flash & Short Fiction/Non-fiction
The Orange and Bee celebrates all styles and genres when it comes to fairy tale narratives. We are seeking works that stretch between the shadows, and are as likely to accept a radical reimagining of a familiar fairy tale as a unique creation waiting to be added to the rich tradition of the continually evolving literary canon.
Poetry
The Orange and Bee welcomes all styles of poetry including form, free verse, and experimental. There are no hard limits on length or presentation (barring our technical skills/the formatting capacity of Substack!), however, our sweet spot is 50 lines or fewer.
Other
We’re excited about the possibility of experimentation, and so also invite submissions of hybrid or experimental works, including but certainly not limited to works that combine life writing and fiction or poetry.
Formatting and cover letter guidelines
All submissions should follow Proper Manuscript Format (Shunn’s).
To submit, send your story via Duosuma at https://duotrope.com/magazine/the-orange-and-bee-37221.
In your cover letter, please include a bio and a short statement about your submission, including the fairy tale/s or fairy-tale traditions, motifs, or practices that influenced your piece. We also require you to make a clear affirmation that your work was not written by a robot/AI.
No simultaneous or multiple submissions allowed.
What we’re looking for:
We are seeking original works of fiction, poetry, and non-fiction that engage in a significant way with the long history of fairy tales. We are interested in works that stretch, expand, test, subvert, and challenge the fairy-tale tradition.
We are interested in works that are entertaining, but also in works that matter: that is, in works that are both pleasurable to read and thought-provoking.
We are interested in works in which the relationship between your writing and the fairy-tale tradition is complex and thoughtful. Works that—ideally, though this is a Big Ask—open up our hearts and minds, offering us a new way to think or feel about the fairy-tale tradition as well as broader themes and issues.
We are especially interested in work from or about diverse perspectives and traditionally under-represented groups, settings, and cultures, written from a non-exoticising and well-researched position. We are committed to supporting #OwnVoices work.
Please read the FULL guidelines below for the type of submission you are sending us, and our preferences in terms of format and cover letters. We only accept original, unpublished work. We have a swift turnaround time on submissions (about two weeks), and so ask that you do not submit your work to other markets while it is under consideration for The Orange & Bee.
Things we don’t publish:
- Reprints of previously published work.
- We are not seeking faithful or near-faithful retellings of traditional fairy tales or other folklore, from your own cultural tradition, or from any other.
- We are not seeking ‘fakelore’ (works that are presented as if they are traditional tales when in fact they are newly created).
- Works written by, or with, AI.
- Works written for very young readers (children!).
- Works that include gratuitous (and it’s nearly always gratuitous!) non-consensual sexual activity.
- Anything that’s racist, sexist, queerphobic, ageist, etc etc. (This doesn’t mean we aren’t interested in works that thoughtfully engage with these issues. What we don’t want is work that participates in unhelpful and outdated stereotypes).
After processing more than 800 submissions for our second issue, we wrote more about the kind of creative work we are seeking in the Editorial for Issue Two.
Submission page: https://duotrope.com/duosuma/submit/the-orange-and-bee-cISB9
3. Ink In Thirds
Deadline: July 31, 2025
About:
Established in 2016, Ink In Thirds is a boutique literary magazine that publishes Poetry, Prose, and Photography/Art. The focus is on the emotive, visceral layers of the human condition, bringing artists and writers together in cohesive fluidity.
Guidelines:
Prose — submit up to 600 words max (1 per form).
This includes 3 word stories, 100 word stories, drabbles, microfiction, flash fiction, and whatever your imagination can conjure.
In reality, our only absolute requirement is to make us feel something! Sad, fine. Tormented, better. Angst, gah. Happy, meh—we’ll take it. Most importantly, move us with your words.
Poetry — submit up to 3 poems (in one form).
We’ll consider anything from free verse to haiku to haibun to you-name-it. But, of course, we love Three Line Poetry. ::insert wink:: Invented and experimental forms are always welcome. S0, show us something new. But we especially like mental floss, unforgettable imagery that clings to your marrow.
Be different, unique, or weird. In truth, give us something to chew on for months, even years to come.
Photography/visual art — submit up to 6 photos/artwork selections (in one form).
We are looking for high-resolution photos of all art forms in addition to traditional photography. Specifically, we want acrylics, oils, watercolors, charcoals, pen and ink, mixed media, hybrid art, and any additional experimental forms you can conjure. If it is art and speaks to us, we undoubtedly want to publish it!
Regardless, if you’re unsure or need additional information, drop us a line, and we will try to help.
Some Basic Guidelines for Print:
- all photos/images MUST be a minimum of 300 dpi
- minimum requirements for a cover photo or interior page 2250×2775 pixels (300 dpi) = 7.5 x 9.25 print
- minimum requirements for full-page magazine spread 4500×2775 pixels (300 dpi) = 15 x 9.25 print
We want vivid imagery, even in photos. In general, transport us with your visual art form.
Submission page: https://inkinthirds.org/submit-form/
4. The Hippocampus Anthology (Temporal Lobe Literary)
Deadline: July 31, 2025
About:
The TEMPORAL LOBE LITERARY JOURNAL is a quarterly journal that celebrates the richness of the creative nonfiction genre. Send us your poetry, familiar essays, memoirs, interviews, hybrid, and everything in between on the creative nonfiction spectrum. We are particularly excited by writing that explores the complexities of being human with sincerity, vividity, and unabashed candor.
temporal lobe | noun : a large lobe of each cerebral hemisphere situated in front
of the occipital lobe. it stores and retrieves memories, understands language, and processes emotions and auditory input.
hippocampus | noun : a curved elongated ridge that extends over the floor of the descending horn of each lateral ventricle of the brain, that consists of gray matter covered on the ventricular surface with white matter, and that is involved in forming, storing, and processing memory.
Guidelines:
THEME | Personal Histories
Write, capture, or draw a memoir, a flashback, a feeling. Maybe interview someone close to you; sit them down and let them speak. Tell us or show us how yours or someone else’s existence, stories, and moments have been history—something that deserves to be preserved, written down, and remembered.
How has yours or another’s story been part of something larger in a lifetime? Beyond a lifetime? In the course of many lifetimes? How has this particular piece of the past crept into the present?
We accept original, unpublished writing, art, and photography. We will not consider previously published work. Simultaneous submissions are allowed; however, please let us know immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere.
- Any work with the use of AI will not be considered.
- You may submit to multiple genres
- Written work should be double spaced, 12 point, in a legible font, and attached as a PDF or Word Document.
- We welcome hybrid works. they should follow the same guidelines as prose.
- Please email your submission to temporal.lobe.literary@gmail.com with the subject line: Hippocampus Anthology-(Name)-(Title). Please include a short cover letter (under 100 words) and a short third-person author bio.
Temporal Lobe Literary will pay accepted authors and artists $15/piece for contribution.
GUIDELINES FOR PROSE
Each piece of prose must be less than 15 pages.
- You may submit up to two pieces of prose.
- Your work must be nonfiction or creative nonfiction prose, and must follow the theme of the anthology.
GUIDELINES FOR POETRY
Each poem must be less than 100 lines.
- You may submit up to five works of poetry.
- Your work must be a form of creative nonfiction poetry, and must follow the theme of the anthology.
- To learn more about creative nonfiction poetry, feel free to check out these links:
GUIDELINES FOR ART/PHOTOGRAPHY
- You may submit up to three pieces of art or photography.
- We accept all art mediums.
- Your work must follow the theme of the anthology, up to your interpretation.
- In your email, please give a small explanation under 150 words how your art/photography piece follows the theme of this anthology.
Submission details: https://www.temporallobeliterary.com/the-hippocampus-anthology
5. The Acentos Review
Deadline: August 1, 2025
About:
The Acentos Review shoots from the spring that is the Acentos Bronx Poetry Showcase and The Acentos Foundation in supporting the work of Latinx writers.
The Acentos Review publishes poetry, fiction, memoir, interviews, translations, and artwork by emerging and established Latinx writers and artists four times a year. The LatinX community is international and so, too, do we pledge to represent that international community. We welcome submissions in English, Spanish, Portuguese, a combination of two languages, as well as the use of indigenous languages.
The debate may rage forever as to who or what constitutes Latinx art. Here, there is no such identity crisis. We are already here, writing the histories of our neighborhoods, following the traditions of our ancestors, as well as the poetic traditions that came before us. To paraphrase Baldwin, the poet’s task as historian is to keep the story new, even when the telling is costly. This is the aesthetic we foster at Acentos. It is always about the word, the work, and it all begins here.
Guidelines:
Fiction
- Submit 1 piece of fiction of 500 – 7500 words and cover letter. All forms, themes, and styles are accepted.
- Include a brief bio (100 words) in your cover letter.
- In addition, please write a one line response to the following prompt: To me, being Latinx means … Responses can be up to 100 words
Poetry
- Submit 3-5 Poems with a cover letter. All styles, themes and forms are accepted.
- Include a brief bio (100 words) in your cover letter.
- In addition, please write a one line response to the following prompt: To me, being Latinx means … Responses can be up to 100 words.
Translation
- We encourage translations of contemporary and traditional work from or into Spanish or indigenous languages, from or of Latinx authors.
- Please include a bio of 100 words with your cover letter.
- Please make sure, in your cover letter, to also indicate that you have permission from the author, copyright holder, and/or previous publisher to do this translation.
Cross-Genre
This category would include poetic transcription, reader’s theater, excerpts from verse novels, web graphics, musical collaborations or compositions, etc. We ask that submissions include a cover letter, a short artist statement explaining the origin or framework for the work, a brief bio (100 words) in your cover letter and a one line response to the following prompt: To me, being Latinx means … Responses can be up to 100 words.
Nonfiction, Reviews, & Interviews
Submit 1 nonfiction piece of 500 – 2000 words with a cover letter. The Acentos Review is open to the submission of all categories of nonfiction including creative and memoir.
Include a brief bio (100 words) in your cover letter.
In addition, please write a one line response to the following prompt: To me, being Latinx means … Responses can be up to 100 words
REVIEWS
We love reviews and always need more of them. They can be approached as academic tangos with the text or intimate exchanges of anecdotes over candlelight. Reviews of 1000 – 1500 words are preferred about books by Latin@ authors or about issues concerning the Latin@ community.
INTERVIEWS
We encourage interviews with Latin@ writers from across the globe. Interviews may be conducted in English or Spanish. Authors chosen to be interviewed should have published at least one book and/or contributed to the community of Latin@ writers in some way. We encourage authors to query first at acentosreview@gmail.com. 1000-1500 words preferred.
Art
Submit 3-5 photographs or examples of art and a cover letter.
Include a brief bio (100 words) in your cover letter.
In addition, please write a one line response to the following prompt: To me, being Latinx means … Responses can be up to 100 words.
Written responses should be included in the Message box. Accepted formats for art submissions are JPEG and GIF. If another format is required, please query acentosreview@gmail.com before submitting.
Submission page: https://acentosreview.submittable.com/submit
