22 markets (most of them pay) and one contest for your essays and also for other nonfiction, poetry and short fiction

Note: Don't ever miss a post on Quick Brown Fox. Fill in your email in the box to the right under my bio, and get each post delivered to your Inbox, and if you’re not yet on my newsletter list, send me an email, including your locale to brianhenry@sympatico.ca ~Brian

Alaska Quarterly Review is a literary journal devoted to contemporary literary art, publishing fiction, short plays, poetry, photo essays, and literary nonfiction in traditional and experimental styles. It is published by the University of Alaska Anchorage in partnership with the Center for the Narrative and Lyric Arts. The editors encourage new and emerging writers, while continuing to publish award winning and established writers. Pays $50-$200 for prose; $10-$50 for poetry. 

The reading period for unsolicited submissions is Aug 15 – May 15. Guidelines here.

Agni online literary journal (an extension of the Agni print journal – all submissions are considered for both). Publishes short fiction, poetry, and essays. “We see literature and the arts as part of a broad, ongoing cultural conversation that every society needs to remain vibrant and alive. We look for the honest voice, the idiosyncratic signature, experimental where necessary but not willfully so. Writing that grows from a vision, a perspective, and a passion will interest us, regardless of structure or approach.”

Pays $10 per page for prose and $20 per page for poetry, with a $300 maximum, plus a year’s subscription, for both the print and online editions.

Submission period: Sept 1 – May 31. Full guidelines here.

Bennington Review is published twice a year in print form, Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter. The review aims “to stake out a distinctive space for innovative, intelligent, and moving fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, film writing, and cross-genre work. In the spirit of poet Dean Young’s dictum that poets should be ‘making birds, not birdcages,’ we are particularly taken with writing that is simultaneously graceful and reckless.

Pays $100–$200 for prose, $20 per poem. 

Next submission period: Nov 1, 2018 – May 15, 2019. Guidelines here.

Confrontation Magazine seeks fiction, poetry and nonfiction, including personal, cultural and political essays and self-contained sections of memoirs. Pays $175-$250 for fiction, $75-$100 per work for poetry, $100-$150 for nonfiction, more for commissioned work. 

Guidelines here.

The Feminine Collective welcomes articles, interviews, creative nonfiction (personal essays), poetry, flash fiction and short stories for our online magazine. Here’s what they have to say:

Feminine Collective Aesthetic: Raw and unfiltered is what we publish. We want you to write like you talk; your submission should reach out and grab us by the throat. Language is important. Whether your work is dark or light, blunt or subtle, serious or humorous, it should be in the deep voice. Make us care. Make us feel. Make us laugh. Make us cry. Make us angry. Make us want to stand up and fight for you. Give us something to sink our teeth into.

Poetry: Please send up to 6 poems, and load them into our Submittable system as one entry. Poems submitted separately will be rejected unread. We should only see your name in our system once, one document with all poems, one submission. Thank you. Poems should be single-spaced and no longer than two pages each. We adore prose poems without complicated formatting as this complicates things for our volunteer editors. We love narrative poems. Edgy for the sake of being edgy is not our thing.

Flash Fiction: We accept flash fiction up to 1,000 words in length. Must have a beginning, middle and an end. The idea: Tell a rich, complex story is as little words as possible. Flash fiction can be on any subject but we prefer stories on women, families, and relationships. Keep in mind relationships is a broad category. We accept up to three flash pieces at one time. Please load them into our Submittable system as ONE ENTRY.

Short Stories: Submit one short story up to 5,000 words in length. No novel excerpts, please.

Creative Nonfiction: Submit one personal essay up to 5,000 words in length. Please read Feminine Collective Aesthetic before submitting. All work should be written in deep voice, first person.

Articles, Interviews, Op/Eds: Feminine Collective accepts articles, interviews, and opinion pieces. Articles and Interviews should be completed works. Articles should be well-researched, journalistic style. Op/Eds should be a strong opinion on a current topic. Articles, Interviews and Op/Eds should be 1,000 – 2,500 words. For Time Sensitive Op/Ed works please select appropriate category in our Submittable system.

Pitch a Column: If you are a successful blogger, essayist or journalist able to produce 2 – 3 articles per month, we’d love to hear from you. Send a 1,500–2,000 word sample along with a one-page pitch.

Full submission guidelines here.

The Globe and Mail wants your first person essays

Illustration for "Life Support"
by Barbara Baker

We want you to write for us! The daily First Person essay (formerly called Facts & Arguments) is a great forum for you to share your own experiences, viewpoints and writing flair with other Globe readers. Whether you are young or old, female or male, newly arrived in Canada or deeply rooted here, we want to be inspired by your unique perspective.

A few things we look for are an original voice; an unexpected view; an unfamiliar perspective; humour; vivid details that show us rather than tell us; anecdotes that illuminate a wider theme.

A successful First Person essay may be funny, surprising, touching or enlightening – or all of these. It may present a slice of life or a powerful experience that changed you in some way. It may be a meditation on something that matters to you. It goes beyond a rant, and it is deft in moving from the particular to the universal.

Above all, an essay should be personal rather than political. It must be true, not fictional.

Here are some recent essays we thought were very successful:

·                     My Bionic dog: We had made a pact: 'You take care of me, I'll take care of you' (here)

·                     Before my ADHD diagnosis I was alive, but not living (here)

·                     My bad neighbor made being a jerk into an art form (here)

E-mail your essay to firstperson@globeandmail.com

 In the subject line, be sure to put "essay submission" and the topic (in 2 or 3 words). The topic is especially important if your piece is tied to an event or season.

Please submit your essay in 2 forms – as a Word.doc attachment, and copied and pasted into the body of the e-mail.

Include a contact number where you can be reached during the day.

Essays should be 900 – 1,200 words.

Please don't send a piece that's appeared in any other print or online publication, but feel free to submit an essay on a topic you have blogged about.

Seasonal essays should be submitted a month or more before the event.

There is no payment if your essay is published. The Globe assumes first-print rights and electronic rights for unsolicited submissions; writers retain copyright.

Guidelines here.

Helios Quarterly Magazine publishes fiction (100–1,500 words),poetry (up to 100 lines), essays, narratives and articles that deal with science fiction, fantasy or horror (1,500–5,000 words), reviews of adult science fiction, fantasy or horror – books, TV or films (1,500 words max), and “art that illuminates the darkness.” Pays 3¢ per word (U.S.) for the first 1,500 words then 1¢/word for short stories, 25¢ a line for poetry, $15 for reviews, and $35 for other nonfiction.

Reading period: July 1–15, 2018. Next reading period: Oct 1–15. Guidelines here.

Hippocampus Magazine’s mission is to “entertain, educate, and engage readers and writers of creative nonfiction. Our Books Division is an extension of that goal. Books by Hippocampus seeks to publish compelling, thought-provoking works of creative nonfiction for all types of readers. We want to take a chance on books — memoirs, essay collections, or other personal narratives — that may not yet have found a home because they don’t conform to “traditional” publishing standards, whether in topic, format, voice, or style. We want to publish, as we do in our magazine, memorable creative nonfiction.”

See the guidelines for their book division here. See guidelines for submitting to Hippocampus magazine here. (Note submissions to Hippocampus magazine are closed until March 2018.)

The New Quarterly publishes poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction, including personal essays. TNQ pays $250 for a short story or nonfiction entry, and $40 per poem or postscript story. They add: “Writing for our blog is another way to introduce yourself to readers. Check out these outstanding posts by emerging writers in our Back Story series. If you have an idea for a blog post, tell us about it.)

Guidelines here.

Ninth Letter Publishes fiction and essays (to 3,500 words) and poetry (up to 3 poems). They want “prose and poetry that experiment with form, narrative, and non-traditional subject matter, as well as more traditional literary work.

 Pays $25 per page. 

Will announce theme for next issue and re-open for submissions on Sept 1, 2018. Guidelines here.

For details of weekly creative writing classes, one-day workshops, and weekend writing retreats, see here.

The Ocotillo Review publishes short Fiction (1,000 – 4,200 words) pays $50U.S., Flash Fiction (500 words or less) pays $25; Poetry (submit up to 5 poems) pays $25, Creative and Narrative Nonfiction, including personal essays, biographies, op-eds, and investigative journalism (800 – 4,000 words). Pays $25.

Guidelines here.

The Penmen Review accepts original poetry, essays, book and script excerpts, and short stories. (Poetry – no more than 3 poems per submission cycle, each submitted as a separate document. All other Review submissions – up to 2,500 words).

Penman also accepts Writing Resources pieces – tips, advice and first-person articles (300-1,500 words) from industry professionals.

Submissions here.

Prairie Fire is a literary quarterly published out of Winnipeg that’s been around for 30 years. It accepts poetry (submit a maximum of six), fiction and creative nonfiction, including editorials, essays and memoir (prose pieces 10,000 words maximum. Pays 10 cents / word for prose to a maximum of $250 and $40 for poems. Full details of payments here.

Guidelines here.

The Puritan is one of Canada's premier literary journals. Based in Toronto, it publishes fiction, poetry, essays, reviews and interviews. Pays $100 Canadian per interviews, $100 per essay, $100 per review, $75per work of fiction, and $20 per poem (or page, capped at $60 for poems running four pages or more). 

Submission guidelines here.

Quick Brown Fox welcomes short essays about reading and writing, about your favourite book(s). I’m also always glad to publish your reviews of books, movies, plays, gallery showings, your favourite bus route, baristas, or whatever else catches your eye.  More here. Read how to write a book review (or any kind of review) here.

Southern Indiana Review publishes plays, short stories, film scripts novellas, novel excerpts, poetry and creative nonfiction. Creative essays may be personal, critical, historical, nostalgic. They may be reviews, profiles, interviews, or discussions regarding social or intellectual history or ideas. For more information about nonfiction submissions, see our nonfiction editor's statement. Pays: $50 – $100 per piece.

Guidelines here.

Sowing Creek Press currently seeks personal essays, 1,200–2,000 words for an anthology titled Nature’s Healing Spirit: Real Life Stories to Nurture the Soul. Deadline Aug 30, 2018. Regularly publishes new anthologies. 

Pays $50 for essays (U.S.); $25 for poems. Deadline: July 15, 2018.

Sowing Creek also publishes books that fit its “intent to plant literary light – to inform, help, and uplift. Nonfiction works may tackle tough topics to help the hurting or take the form of emotionally driven work that’s presented via lighter subject matter. Fiction is soon to come.”

Submission guidelines here.

subTerrain publishes original fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, essays, and commentary three times a year.  Pays: $50 per poem; and $50 per page for prose. 

Guidelines here.

The first issue of Tin House magazine arrived in the spring of 1999. Publisher Win McCormack said of the effort, “I wanted to create a literary magazine for the many passionate readers who are not necessarily literary academics or publishing professionals.”

Tin House offers an artful and irreverent array of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and interviews as well as columns on food and drink, out-of-print and under- appreciated books, and Spring and Fall issues built around idiosyncratic themes like sex, evil, and candy. Perhaps most indicative of the magazine’s mission to stake out new territory and showcase not only established, prize-winning authors is its commitment to including work by undiscovered writers.

In 2002, Tin House ventured into the world of book publishing as an imprint with Bloomsbury. In 2005, the independent press Tin House Books was launched. Tin House

Books publishes roughly a dozen titles a year, but accepts submissions only from literary agents.

Tin House Online is a daily blog featuring previously unpublished fiction, nonfiction, poetry, interviews, comics, and more. When Tin House Magazine's current issue is themed, Please submit only one complete story or essay (word count dependent on category), or up to three poems at a time. Please do not submit the same work to Tin House Magazine and to Tin House Online. 

For details of the various categories of submissions Tin House Online accepts and other submission guidelines, see here.

Tin House magazine accepts submissions in the months of September and March. 

Reading period: September 1 – 30, then March 1 – 31. Guidelines here.

Upstreet literary magazine invites submissions of fiction and creative nonfiction for its thirteenth issue. Pieces must be 5,000 words or less. Pays $50 to $250 USD. Each author will also receive one complimentary copy, and may purchase more copies at a reduced rate.

Submission period: Sept 1 – March 1. Guidelines here.  

West Branch, a thrice yearly magazine of poetry, fiction, essays and reviews. Pays $50 per poem, 5 cents per word for prose. 

Reads submissions Aug 1 – April 1. Guidelines here.

The Writers' Union of Canada’s Annual Short Prose Competition for Emerging Writers
The winning entry will be the best Canadian work of up to 2,500 words in the English language, fiction or nonfiction, written by an author who has published no more than one book (traditionally or self-published.

Prize: $2,500 for the winning entry, and winner and finalists will be submitted to three Canadian magazines. Entry fee: $29

In previous years, the deadline has been Feb 1. Full guidelines here.

See also this list of 32 Canadian markets that pay. In addition to short stories and poetry, most of them accept nonfiction, including personal essays … here.

See Brian Henry’s schedule here, including writing workshops, weekly writing classes, and weekend retreats in Algonquin Park, Alliston, Bolton, Barrie, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Collingwood, Georgetown, Georgina, Guelph, Hamilton, Jackson’s Point, Kitchener-Waterloo, London, Midland, Mississauga, New Tecumseth, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Sudbury, Toronto, Windsor, Woodstock, Halton, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York Region, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.