Welcome to ‘Nonfiction Nonsense’! This is likely the first of a monthly update on submission calls I’ve noticed floating around my literary circles — some of them I’m also submitting to. More content is coming soon from this Substack — including book reviews and author interviews and my thoughts on the writing life. So, without further ado…
If you’ve been working hard on your creative writing but aren’t sure yet where to send your work, here are some venues with deadlines approaching as fast as a GST hike:
Home-brewed poetry journal Kopi Break (which I co-edit with Kendrick Loo and Topaz Winters) has recently taken a short hiatus from publishing new poems — because we’re eagerly waiting for new and exciting poems to slide into our DMs (inbox)! To give potential submitters a bit of a push (I know us Singaporeans ‘prefer’ being motivated by KPIs), Kopi Break has now shifted from a rolling submissions model to one with a deadline for every quarter. Send us your 3 best poems with a short bio at kopibreakpoetry@gmail.com. For more information on our editorial taste, check out this interview I did recently with Poets & Writers magazine. Accepted poems will undergo an editorial process, be published on the Kopi Break website and on the Kopi Break newsletter, be remunerated $10SGD (have a few kopis on us!) and be promoted on Kopi Break’s social media channels. The upcoming deadline, for poems to be published in July-September is June 15.
Singapore Unbound’s SUSPECT Journal is always on the lookout for “poetry, literary fiction, essays, and any kind of writings that do not fall into these categories, written or translated into English by authors who identify as Asian.” They pay $100USD for each accepted contribution, and (from my sensing) is keen especially on publishing marginalized voices globally. They’re open for submissions year-round, but I heard from their very adorable poetry editor that they’d love to see more submissions in the queue. Find out more on their submissions page.
Youth-led Singaporean literary magazine Sploosh has recently announced a short extension on their open call for the upcoming issue, themed “HAUNT” with guest editor and fabulous speculative fiction writer Wen-yi Lee. They’re looking for texts of any genre that responds to this theme, and pay $10 per poem and $20 per prose piece. From their open call page: “Write about the forces that disturb you in the day or keep you up at night. Aim a torchlight squarely at the recesses of the mind or what’s lurking in the corner of your eyes. We want works that linger, fixate, possess.” They are especially inviting to new and emerging writers — like those who’ve never had their work published before. Their initial deadline was 31 May, but they’ve since extended the deadline to June 5 (though their web page has yet to be updated). Read more on their submissions page.
Indie publishing collective Atelier Arcadia has an open call for their upcoming “what we burn for” anthology. They’re looking for short form prose and microfiction pieces (up to 3,500 words) responding to this hot theme. From their open call website: “You can write about a lost home, an unrequited love, climate anxiety — everything's fair game. But we do ask that the submitted work not include explicit sex/nudity, violence, or content that violates any Singaporean laws.” After walking in the sun in search for lunch today, I might write something about my sunburnt skin and my expired Krave Beauty sunscreen. The submission deadline for this anthology is June 22. More details on their website.
Singaporean publisher Landmark Books has an active open call for “Laughing Matters”, an anthology of humor writing in celebration of Adrian Tan. They’re looking for prose (short stories or nonfiction works) of 3,500 to 4,000 words from writers with a connection to Singapore. Their criteria for what is considered humorous, it seems, is what “make readers at least smile, or better chuckle, even laugh out loud”. So, if your writing is at least somewhat entertaining, consider sending it their way. The guidelines especially encourage submissions from writers who aren’t previously published. The submission deadline for this anthology is June 30. More details on their website.
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International Submission Opportunities for Short-Form Creative Writing
Honey Literary, founded by two amazing Asian-American poets and committed to publishing BIPOC and LGBTQ+ voices, is open for submissions. I’ve been published there before (with a poem they nominated for Best New Poets) and I can’t recommend them enough, especially because they seem to really love unapologetically queer and powerful writing. I also love how this publication has divided its genres by content and not by form; the categories in their journal include “Animals”, “Sex+”, “Food & Beverage”, and “Valentines”, in addition to the usual “Poetry”, “Essays”, and “Interviews”. Their call for Issue 8 ends on June 15, and you can read their submission guidelines here.
Underblong, run by superstar poets and best friends Chen Chen and Sam Herschel Wein is currently open for poetry submissions. I’ve been following Underblong for a while now and love their overall playful approach to poetry and the language that comes along with it. I mean… even the submission guidelines say: “Underblongis the coatroom of your secret’s secrets, a boiling pot ofkit-kats becoming your favorite soup. Send us a poem that cuts through the crap. Send us your dinner chicken. Poems made by a soul.” They pay a modest $20. Their submission period also ends on June 15 (so you could send similar poetry packets to both Honey Literary and Underblong), and you can learn more on their submission guidelines page.
Sweet Lit was co-founded by Thai-American writer Ira Sukrungruang (whose memoir This Jade World I absolutely loved). They’re currently open for submissions of poetry and short creative nonfiction of up to 1,500 words. Their commitment to diversity in literature, I think, is what draws me to this publication. From their About Us page: “We observed too many magazines that cultivated elitism by running ads of the names of famous writers they rejected or claiming to publish “the best” of American letters. … Sweet Litstrives to curate a journal that opens the doors wide.Sweet Litlooks forward to the possibilities of the word and the community the word can create for all of us.” Their submissions close June 30, and you can read their guidelines here.
The Asian-American Writers’ Workshop has opened poetry submissions for their digital magazine The Margins. They’re looking for original or translated poetry by Asian American and diasporic poets. This is a pretty prestigious journal, and I’ve been quite impressed with their poetry selection, especially this Anetra Aubade poem (about Anetra from Season 15 of Drag Race). They pay $50-90 USD. Submissions close June 6. More on their Submittable page here.
The 2024 Gaudy Boy Poetry Book Prize by Singapore Unbound is currently open for submission. The Book Prize is awarded annually to an unpublished manuscript of original Anglophone poetry by an author of Asian heritage residing anywhere in the world. The award is $1,500USD and publication in both the US and Singapore. This year’s contest is judged by Singaporean poet Hamid Roslan, whose collection parsetreeforestfire defies language and categorisation. Manuscripts must be 70-120 pages (whew!). They recently extended the deadline to June 3, so definitely send in a poetry manuscript if you have one! More details here.
Diode Editions’ Poetry Chapbook and Full-Length Poetry Contests are open for submissions. Folks might know of this contest because Singaporean poet Shawn Hoo won this contest a few years ago and his chapbook Of the Florids (with an adorable tapir on the cover) was published by Diode. If you have a chapbook (25-55 pages) or a full-length collection (56-100 pages), consider submitting; their turnaround for the prize also seems to be super fast. The guidelines say results will be announced in August. Winners receive $750 and publication of their chapbook or $1,500 and publication of their full-length poetry collection. The prize closes on July 15. More details on their contest guidelines page.
The annual Epigram Fiction Book Prize is open after a year-long hiatus for works of fiction of 40,000 words or more. The prize is open to all citizens and permanent residents of “Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor (Timor-Leste), Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, ages 18 years old and above.” The prize is $25,000SGD and publication by Singaporean publisher Epigram Books. Finalists are also offered a publishing contract. This contest has been running since 2020, and published some exciting novels and short story collections in Singaporean literature, which you can browse on Epigram Books’ shop, including my friend Ally Chua’s eco-mystery novel and Jon Gresham’s novel about the Raffles’ banded langur. The deadline for the prize is August 1, but it’s good to send work in earlier as 5 hardcopy manuscripts are required with each submission. More details on their guidelines page.
Know submission opportunities with later deadlines?
Submission opportunities often spread through word-of-mouth, and I’m likely to miss out on opportunities if not for my friends, colleagues, hook-ups, and other members of the global literary community. Contribute to a future edition of this “Where to Submit” newsletter by sending details of a submission opportunity you know about via this contact me form. (So I don’t have to wade through the internet like a clownfish to verify the opportunity, please include at least a submission guidelines link to the website/journal/magazine/press you’re sharing about!)
Regardless of your submission’s outcome, you dared let your voice be heard. Be proud, and congratulations. If your work is published because this newsletter directed you to an opportunity, I’d love to read and profile your piece in a future post of ‘Nonfiction Nonsense’. Let me know:
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