Creative Writing | Ex Libris

by Ex Libris on February 19, 2026

Submit to Crook & Folly by February 22!

The deadline for submitting your work to Crook & Folly is this Sunday, February 22! Check out the submission form here. Guidelines: Submissions are open from January 12th – February 22nd, with incentive period running from January 12th – February 1st. This is a great opportunity to have staff take a look at your pieces before the final deadline. What can you submit? Poetry – 1 to 3 poems Fiction – no more than 3500 words Creative Nonfiction – no more than 3500 words Flash Fiction – no more than 800 words Dramatic Lit – no more than 15 pages When… Read Article →

by Ex Libris on January 27, 2026

Updated Submission Deadlines!

The Ghost Story – The Screw Turn Flash Fiction Competition – January 31, 2026 Interested in flash fiction pieces of between 250 and 1,000 words Entry fee: $15 Brink Literary Journal No. 12 – February 1, 2026 Poetry Fiction Creative Nonfiction Video Essay & Cinepoetry The Masters Review Winter Short Story Award for New Writers– February 1, 2026 PEN Emerging Voices Fellowship – February 2, 2026 The Emerging Voices Fellowship provides a virtual five-month immersive mentorship program for early-career writers from communities that are traditionally underrepresented in the publishing world. The Journal Call for Submissions – February 15, 2026 Fiction Nonfiction Poetry Photo essays Author interviews Book reviews 2026 Harper’s Bazaar Short Story Competition – February 22, 2026 Submit an… Read Article →

by Ex Libris on January 15, 2026

2026 NOR Literary Prizes are Open for Submissions

Submit your best work to New Ohio Review’s 2026 contests in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction! Three prizes of $1,500 each and publication in New Ohio Review will be awarded for a poem or group of poems, a short story, and an essay. Submit a story or essay of up to 20 pages or a poem or group of poems of up to 6 pages with a $22 entry fee between now and April 15th. For the cost of your entry, you will also receive two complimentary issues of NOR (37 and 38). See the full guidelines on the submissions page… Read Article →

by Ex Libris on January 13, 2026

Submit to These Writing Contests!

Check out these writing contests for January through September 2026: One Room, One Hour Contest – Open submissions One essay on what you encounter. $1,000 for no more than 1,000 words will be awarded to winning entries posted to Substack. Essays accepted through the end of the year. Give it a whirl and see what you see. New Millennium Writing Awards – January 31, 2026 $1,000 EACH for Best poetry, fiction, nonfiction, flash fiction. All winners published in our anthology and online. Kentucky Visions Short Story Contest – January 31, 2026 Enter your fiction (up to 7,500 words) for a chance to… Read Article →

by Ex Libris on January 12, 2026

Crook & Folly Submissions Are Open!

Submit your writing for consider in the 46th issue of Crook & Folly! Check out the submission form here. Guidelines: Submissions are open from January 12th – February 22nd, with incentive period running from January 12th – February 1st. This is a great opportunity to have staff take a look at your pieces before the final deadline. What can you submit? Poetry – 1 to 3 poems Fiction – no more than 3500 words Creative Nonfiction – no more than 3500 words Flash Fiction – no more than 800 words Dramatic Lit – no more… Read Article →

by Ex Libris on November 18, 2025

Winter Submissions and Contest Deadlines

I hope everyone a great last week of the Fall Quarter! Here is a list of literary magazines and contests to submit to over the holiday break: Intrepid Voices Fund – November 24, 2025 Short Story Contest for Speculative Fiction Tendrils Literary Journal – November 30, 2025 Theme: The second edition of Tendrils will explore the profound relationships between trauma and the natural and built environment; how processes of growth, decay, and change, mirrors and shapes our individual and collective experiences. Art Prose (short-form literature – 1,000 words) Poetry Baltimore review – November 30, 2025 Poetry Fiction Creative Nonfiction LitMag… Read Article →

by Ex Libris on October 23, 2025

Submit Your Work!

As the month quickly comes to a close, check out these upcoming submission deadlines for fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry and more: Tahoma Literary Review – Oct. 31, 2025 Fiction Nonfiction Poetry Indiana Review – October 31, 2025 Fiction Nonfiction Poetry The Hopkins Review – October 31, 2025 Creative Nonfiction/Personal Essay Fiction Poetry Critical Writing FICTION – October 31, 2025 Literary and Experimental Fiction Translations The Hope Prize – October 31, 2025 Global Writer’s Prize – Short Story Competition Michigan Quarterly Review – November 1, 2025 General Submissions in Prose and Poetry 2025 Jesmyn Ward Fiction Prize… Read Article →

by Ex Libris on October 9, 2025

Narrative Magazine Fall 2025 Story Contest

The contest is open to all fiction and nonfiction writers. Narrative is looking for short shorts, short stories, essays, memoirs, photo essays, graphic stories, all forms of literary nonfiction, and excerpts from longer works of both fiction and nonfiction. Entries must be previously unpublished, no longer than 15,000 words, and must not have been previously chosen as a winner, finalist, or honorable mention in another contest. Narrative winners and finalists have gone on to win Whiting Awards, the Pulitzer Prize, the Pushcart Prize, and the Atlantic prize, and have appeared in collections such as Best American Short Stories, Best American Nonrequired Reading, and many others. View the recent… Read Article →

by Ex Libris on October 8, 2025

Submissions: Book Awards, Contests and Prizes

Here are some upcoming deadlines for chapbook, book or literary awards, contests and prizes. All deadlines are at the end of this month! Persea Books Lexi Rudnitsky First Book Prize A prize of $1,000 and publication by Persea Books is given annually for a debut poetry collection by a writer who identifies as a woman. The winner also receives an optional six-week, all-expenses-paid residency at the Civitella Ranieri Center in Umbria, Italy. Writers who are either U.S. citizens or who currently reside in the United States are eligible. Entry fee: $30 Deadline: October 31, 2025 Northwestern University Press Drinking… Read Article →

by Ex Libris on June 12, 2025

Summer Deadlines + Newberry Library Spotlight + Textbooks Due Tomorrow

Good afternoon, everyone! We have a few announcements today, including info about the Newberry Library’s upcoming conference for graduate student scholarship and their list of summer courses, an extended call for Crook & Folly Editor-in-Chief applications, and a reminder about those rental books that you may or may not have forgotten are due this week. To help you plan your schedule, we also put together a list of deadlines for the remainder of this week, the entire summer, and the first couple weeks of Autumn Quarter! (Scroll down for info on each of these!) This… Read Article →

by Ex Libris on June 6, 2025

Internship Opportunity: Brink Literacy Project + Looking Ahead: Week 11

Happy Friday, everyone! Our first announcement: this is your reminder that teaching evaluations for SQ2025 classes are due tonight. Below is an online, paid internship opportunity with Brink Literacy Project, as well as the reminders list for Week 11—our final week! (Don’t forget about those textbook rentals!) Scroll down for details on each of these. Brink Internship (The information below has been copied from the Brink Literacy Project website.) Application deadlines: July 1, 2025 (for Aug/Sept – Nov/Dec) and December 1, 2025 (Jan/Feb – Apr/May) About Brink: Brink’s publishing internship program seeks to bring underrepresented… Read Article →

by Ex Libris on June 4, 2025

MMLA Academic Writing Publication Opportunity + 5 Creative Writing Calls for Submissions + Crook & Folly: Call for Editors-in-Chief! + LAS Course Evaluations Reminder

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… Read Article →

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