Phoebe Journal

Phoebe Journal We're GMU's general interest literary journal and we're looking for your submissions! http://phoebe.submittable.com/ Phoebe prides itself on supporting up-and-coming writers, whose style, form, voice, and subject matter demonstrate a vigorous appeal to the senses, intellect, and emotions of our readers.

We choose our writers because we believe their work succeeds at its goals, whether its goals are to uphold or challenge literary tradition. We insist on openness, which means we welcome both experimental and conventional prose and poetry, and we insist on being entertained, which means the work must capture and hold our attention, whether it be the potent language of a poem or the narrative mechanics of a short story. Phoebe: Journal of Literature and Art, publishing original work since 1971.

Operating as usual

Submissions are open for issue 51.2! We are excited to announce Laura Kasischke, Emily Wilson, and Jami Attenberg as our...
01/22/2022
Submissions - phoebe

Submissions are open for issue 51.2! We are excited to announce Laura Kasischke, Emily Wilson, and Jami Attenberg as our 2022 Spring contest judges! Submit at http://phoebejournal.com/submissions/

phoebe publishes poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and visual art. Above all, we seek to publish quality work. Please review our website, especially our latest online issue, for an idea of the caliber of writing we publish. We produce a print issue in fall/winter and an online issue in spring/summer. We'...

Join us for the first-ever phoebe/So To Speak collaborative reading on November 12th!
11/03/2021

Join us for the first-ever phoebe/So To Speak collaborative reading on November 12th!

Join us for the first-ever phoebe/So To Speak collaborative reading on November 12th!

We are proud to announce that phoebe is collaborating with So To Speak for our first-ever partner reading! Join us in-pe...
10/26/2021

We are proud to announce that phoebe is collaborating with So To Speak for our first-ever partner reading! Join us in-person or virtually to hear some amazing readers (and maybe win a prize).

We are proud to announce that phoebe is collaborating with So To Speak for our first-ever partner reading! Join us in-person or virtually to hear some amazing readers (and maybe win a prize).

Send us your art! Phoebe is accepting art submissions for our winter issue. Check out submission guidelines here: http:/...
09/20/2021
Submissions

Send us your art! Phoebe is accepting art submissions for our winter issue. Check out submission guidelines here: http://phoebejournal.com/submissions/

phoebe publishes poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and visual art. Above all, we seek to publish quality work. Please review our website, especially our latest online issue, for an idea of the caliber o…

We are excited to announce that nonfiction and poetry submissions are FREE today! Head over to our website and submit yo...
09/15/2021

We are excited to announce that nonfiction and poetry submissions are FREE today! Head over to our website and submit your work by midnight to skip the submission fee!

We are excited to announce that nonfiction and poetry submissions are FREE today! Head over to our website and submit your work by midnight to skip the submission fee!

We are open for #submissions starting today! Send us your #poetry, #fiction, #nonfiction, and #art at phoebejournal.com....
08/15/2021
Phoebe Journal Submission Manager

We are open for #submissions starting today!

Send us your #poetry, #fiction, #nonfiction, and #art at phoebejournal.com.

https://phoebe.submittable.com/submit

phoebe prides itself on supporting up-and-coming writers, whose style, form, voice, and subject matter demonstrate a vigorous appeal to the senses, intellect, and emotions of our readers. We choose our writers because we believe their work succeeds at its goals, whether its goals are to uphold or ch...

"When I translate, my two languages are on equal footing. They don’t need to fight each other for dominance. Instead, th...
05/25/2021
Traversing Languages, Genres, Cultures: An Interview with Ye Chun

"When I translate, my two languages are on equal footing. They don’t need to fight each other for dominance. Instead, they are invited to harmonize with each other. "

Be sure to check out Ana Putgach's interview with Ye Chun on the site today!

And don't miss Ye Chun's new short story collection Hao-- coming soon from Catapult!

http://phoebejournal.com/interview-with-ye-chun/

Ana Pugatch Ye Chun is a bilingual Chinese American author and translator. Her stunning poetry and prose meditate on the power of language, the dichotomy of othering/loneliness, and navigating two …

Issue 50.2 is LIVE!We are so so proud to share our fiftieth contest issue with you and so grateful to our contributors w...
05/14/2021
50.2

Issue 50.2 is LIVE!

We are so so proud to share our fiftieth contest issue with you and so grateful to our contributors who have made this amazing issue possible. We love you all. Happy reading 💕

http://phoebejournal.com/50-2/

2021 Spring Fiction Contest Winner The Light. Breathing by Gregg Maxwell Parker   2021 Spring Nonfiction Contest Winner Welcome to Bad Mom Club by Marne Litfin   2021 Greg Grummer Poetry …

"I started writing these thinking I wanted to talk with those people I cannot be or am not in conversation with—but they...
04/22/2021
playing with boxes: an interview with Irene Cooper about spare change

"I started writing these thinking I wanted to talk with those people I cannot be or am not in conversation with—but they couldn’t take the form of a letter, which has too much agency, is too heavy with intent. Other poems outside that sequence didn’t survive or refused to put up with the sonnet form, even broken. But they carry traces of having been in that box."

Don't miss Poetry Ed Millie Tullis' interview with Irene Cooper about her new collection spare change (Finishing Line Press) on the blog today 💚

http://phoebejournal.com/irene-cooper-spare-change/

Millie Tullis Irene Cooper’s spare change (Finishing Line Press)  is a collection composed of small poems that constantly surprise through line, image, and charged, simple language. The poems …

Drum roll please...Announcing the winners of our 50th anniversary issue! (And even a sneak peak of the new phoebe cover....
04/20/2021

Drum roll please...

Announcing the winners of our 50th anniversary issue! (And even a sneak peak of the new phoebe cover...) Congratulations to all of our winners, finalists, and a huge thank you to everyone who has read and submitted to phoebe.

POETRY:

Sabrina Orah Mark on Rock's winning poem, "Tire Chains":

"This small gigantic poem is one of the most beautiful descriptions I've ever read of how we carry our mothers around like the heaviest stones, and like the lightest feathers."

And on the runner up:

"'The Twins' by Benjamin Niespodziany feels like it bloomed out of the seeds of 100 fairytales. It is as much poem as it is a heartbreaking thicket that tells a story about the endlessness of hunger."

NONFICTION:

Lilly Dancyger on Litfin's winning essay, "Welcome to Bad Mom Club":

"The complexity of the situation and all of Marne's conflicting feelings were so well rendered—I could feel the love and the anger and the desire and the guilt all at once."

Runners Up:

Jessica Rapisarda "Another Word for Gone"

Megan Falley "Memories of Ace, in Reverse Chronological Order"

We can't wait to share this amazing work with you next month!

FICTION:

Danielle Evans on Gregg Maxwell Parker's "The Light. Breathing":

"The drama of this story is quiet, but I found myself riveted by it, equally compelled by the anxious sense that anything was possible and the heartbreaking sense that maybe nothing was possible. The author paints a full picture of the interior and exterior world, and just when I thought I had caught up to the story and was seeing this world clearly, the ending came along, honest and surprising and delightful, and made me look again."

Today we’re rereading Carolyn Oliver’s poem, “April 18, five inches of snow”What is the weather like where you are today...
04/18/2021
April 18, five inches of snow

Today we’re rereading Carolyn Oliver’s poem, “April 18, five inches of snow”

What is the weather like where you are today?

http://phoebejournal.com/april-18-five-inches-of-snow/

Carolyn Oliver And the world’s the same, lessa few smashed tulips.The melting comes beforethe hyacinths I cut yesterdaybell open.The fleshiness of the flowers!As if they relish the endthe stems spi…

"Kaneko’s latest, 'This is How the Bone Sings,' still confronts the past that surrounds him, but does so through the myt...
04/15/2021
Correlatives: A Review of W. Todd Kaneko’s This is How the Bone Sings

"Kaneko’s latest, 'This is How the Bone Sings,' still confronts the past that surrounds him, but does so through the myth of America and the generational trauma that comes with it. These poems gesture at once, in past and present, to the speaker, his loved ones, and to the lives they’re entangled with. They are memories embodied and show us what a shared history is by way of their music."

Don't miss Poetry Assistant Editor Christian Stanzione's review of W Todd Kaneko's 'This is How the Bone Sings' out from Black Lawrence Press:

http://phoebejournal.com/correlatives-a-review-of-w-todd-kanekos-this-is-how-the-bone-sings/

Christian Stanzione I was a natural reader for W. Todd Kaneko’s The Dead Wrestler Elegies, a book that examines the pageantries of professional wrestling to access and discuss his relationship with…

"Bradley Bazzle describes his new fiction collection, 'Fathers of Cambodian Time-Travel Science,' as an 'alchemical mixt...
04/08/2021
Bradley Bazzle Writes Unique Fiction With Familiar Skin in New Collection

"Bradley Bazzle describes his new fiction collection, 'Fathers of Cambodian Time-Travel Science,' as an 'alchemical mixture of realism and complete bu****it.' As I read it, I decided I wouldn’t be able to come up with a more apt description than that.

Don't miss managing editor Tim Johnson's review of Bazzle's new short story collection on the blog!

http://phoebejournal.com/bradley-bazzle-new-collection/

Tim Johnson Bradley Bazzle describes his new fiction collection, Fathers of Cambodian Time-Travel Science, as an “alchemical mixture of realism and complete bu****it.” As I read it, I decided I wou…

"In the very earliest of days, I made it a goal to write 1,000 new words every day, and at the beginning of April, I act...
03/23/2021
On-Call

"In the very earliest of days, I made it a goal to write 1,000 new words every day, and at the beginning of April, I actually accomplished this. As a slow writer, it felt good to be productive again. Lani, my partner, whose prescience I ought to have heeded, warned me that the lockdown was more likely to be a marathon than a sprint, and that if I was treating it as the latter, I was likely to throw up on my shoes."

Don't miss Fiction Ed Zachary Barnes' new blog post on writing during the pandemic:

http://phoebejournal.com/on-call/

Zachary Barnes When COVID-19 hit and the world shuddered to a standstill, a lot of folks like me found a new pocket of time on their hands. I hadn’t realized just how much time I spent commut…

"I along with many writers from marginalized backgrounds and living in marginalized bodies are used to wielding language...
03/17/2021
Writing from the Body: Felicia Rose Chavez’s’ The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop

"I along with many writers from marginalized backgrounds and living in marginalized bodies are used to wielding language in negotiation and for survival. There is no privileged permeability between our inner worlds of experience and the outer world we aspire to. We have often assumed that if our language is not enough, it is because we are not enough."

Don't miss Shabrayle Setliff's review of Felicia Rose Chavez's "The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop: How to Decolonize the Creative Classroom" on the blog today:

http://phoebejournal.com/felicia-rose-chavezs-the-anti-racist-writing-workshop/

Shabrayle Setliff The statement that everyone writes from the body could serve as a litmus test: if such a statement seems untrue or if it is, perhaps, unfelt, it may very well indicate a person’s …

Today's the day! 🎉Our 50th anniversary #contest #submissions close at midnight EST tonight.#Submit your story, essay, an...
03/15/2021
Contests

Today's the day! 🎉

Our 50th anniversary #contest #submissions close at midnight EST tonight.

#Submit your story, essay, and poetry for the chance to win $500 and publication in issue 50.2!

http://phoebejournal.com/contests/

Submit to Our 2021 Contest Issue Every spring, phoebe hosts contests in Poetry, Fiction, and Nonfiction, each with a $500 prize. Submissions are now open on Submittable. Find more information on ou…

Only FIVE DAYS LEFT to submit your #poetry #cnf #fiction and #art to our fiftieth anniversary contest! 🎂http://phoebejou...
03/10/2021
Submissions

Only FIVE DAYS LEFT to submit your #poetry #cnf #fiction and #art to our fiftieth anniversary contest! 🎂

http://phoebejournal.com/submissions/

phoebe publishes poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and visual art. Above all, we seek to publish quality work. Please review our website, especially our latest online issue, for an idea of the caliber o…

Good morning! We're at virtual #AWP21 & we've slashed our #submission prices to celebrate.Submit to your #essays and #po...
03/03/2021
Phoebe Journal Submission Manager

Good morning! We're at virtual #AWP21 & we've slashed our #submission prices to celebrate.

Submit to your #essays and #poetry to our annual #contest issue for only 5 dollars ONLY during #AWP!

https://phoebe.submittable.com/submit

phoebe prides itself on supporting up-and-coming writers, whose style, form, voice, and subject matter demonstrate a vigorous appeal to the senses, intellect, and emotions of our readers. We choose our writers because we believe their work succeeds at its goals, whether its goals are to uphold or ch...

#AWP21 has gone virtual, and phoebe has teamed up with Watershed Lit at the Virtual Bookfair! Stop by online and meet up...
03/02/2021

#AWP21 has gone virtual, and phoebe has teamed up with Watershed Lit at the Virtual Bookfair!

Stop by online and meet up with some of our editors to chat about the journal and some exciting special topics. Here is the line-up:

March 4 2:30-3:30pm CT: Meet with Nonfiction Editor Sarah Wilson - Special Topic = The Space & Privilege of the Narrator

March 5 2:30-3:30pm CT: Meet with Assistant Fiction Editor Kevin Binder - Special Topic = Writing with Humor

March 6 2:30-3:30pm CT: Meet with Managing Editor Tim Johnson - Special Topic = Emotional Investment & Movement in Storytelling

March 6 3:30-4:30pm CT: Meet with Editor-in-Chief Melissa Wade - Special Topic = Revision from Feedback

#AWP21 has gone virtual, and phoebe has teamed up with Watershed Lit at the Virtual Bookfair!

Stop by online and meet up with some of our editors to chat about the journal and some exciting special topics. Here is the line-up:

March 4 2:30-3:30pm CT: Meet with Nonfiction Editor Sarah Wilson - Special Topic = The Space & Privilege of the Narrator

March 5 2:30-3:30pm CT: Meet with Assistant Fiction Editor Kevin Binder - Special Topic = Writing with Humor

March 6 2:30-3:30pm CT: Meet with Managing Editor Tim Johnson - Special Topic = Emotional Investment & Movement in Storytelling

March 6 3:30-4:30pm CT: Meet with Editor-in-Chief Melissa Wade - Special Topic = Revision from Feedback

"A fairy tale is this plot that has worked for a lot of people for a long time, and I can use it as plot training wheels...
03/02/2021
A Story Worth Sharing: Betsy Cornwell on Fairy Tales, Writing, and The Old Knitting Factory

"A fairy tale is this plot that has worked for a lot of people for a long time, and I can use it as plot training wheels."

- Betsy Cornwell talks fairy tales with @franniedove today on the blog!

Check it out:
http://phoebejournal.com/betsy-cornwell/

Frannie Dove YA Novelist Betsy Cornwell has always loved fairy tales. As a child, they read Lang’s Fairy Books, which includes stories from Hans Christian Anderson and Brothers Grimm. The selkie br…

🚨Only two weeks left to submit to our spring #contest! Our readers are looking for your favorite #poetry, your beloved #...
03/01/2021
Phoebe Journal Submission Manager

🚨Only two weeks left to submit to our spring #contest! Our readers are looking for your favorite #poetry, your beloved #story, your scrumptious #essay (it doesn't really need to be scrumptious, we're flexible)🚨

Submit here 👇
https://phoebe.submittable.com/submit

phoebe prides itself on supporting up-and-coming writers, whose style, form, voice, and subject matter demonstrate a vigorous appeal to the senses, intellect, and emotions of our readers. We choose our writers because we believe their work succeeds at its goals, whether its goals are to uphold or ch...

"Because Mark writes prose poems/poemstories, the sentence, rather than the line, is the driving force and unit used to ...
02/24/2021
Sabrina Orah Mark’s Everexpanding Poemstories

"Because Mark writes prose poems/poemstories, the sentence, rather than the line, is the driving force and unit used to deliver surprise. Her sentences remind me a little of those little dinosaurs that came out of coin machines to grow in your bathtub. But her work is really much better than those dinosaurs, as I find her images and narratives do not reach a certain set size and stall."

- Poetry Ed Millie Tullis discusses the rare delight of reading one of Mark's Poemstories

http://phoebejournal.com/sabrina-orah-mark-poemstories/

Millie Tullis If you haven’t already fallen in love with the work of Sabrina Orah Mark, I scarcely know how to tell you where to start. Everywhere, I know, would hardly be a helpful answer. Mark’s …

Calling all visual artists! #Submit your #art by March 15th be considered for our 50th anniversary contest issue. We can...
02/17/2021

Calling all visual artists!

#Submit your #art by March 15th be considered for our 50th anniversary contest issue. We can't wait to see your work:

https://phoebe.submittable.com/submit/186020/visual-art-submissions-for-online-cover-publication-with-50-2

Calling all visual artists!

#Submit your #art by March 15th be considered for our 50th anniversary contest issue. We can't wait to see your work:

https://phoebe.submittable.com/submit/186020/visual-art-submissions-for-online-cover-publication-with-50-2

"Dancyger plunges us into a grief so heavy that words crack beneath it. As she grows into 'a fatherless woman after year...
02/16/2021
Imagination as Inheritance in Lilly Dancyger’s Memoir Negative Space

"Dancyger plunges us into a grief so heavy that words crack beneath it. As she grows into 'a fatherless woman after years as a fatherless girl,' she fears becoming unmoored from their shared past, and thus embarks on a project to discover 'a new way to grieve for him.'"

Don't miss our assistant nonfiction editor Lena Crown's review of Lilly Dancyger's memoir, "Negative Space," coming out from the Santa Fe Writer's Project in May:

http://phoebejournal.com/lilly-dancyger-negative-space/

Lena Crown In the dedication to Lilly Dancyger’s debut memoir, Negative Space, out from the Santa Fe Writers Project this May, she writes, “For my father, Joe Schactman. And for everyone living wi…

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‪There are still six hours left to #submit to #phoebe’s spring #contest for freeeee! ‬ ‪Send us your best #fiction, #nonfiction, and #poetry. ‬ ‪We are leaping (GET IT) out of our chairs to read your work!‬

TODAY ONLY #submit to our spring #contest issue for free! Happy leap day #writers!!

The staff at Phoebe and @SoToSpeakJrnl are talented in more ways than one. Stop by our booth 2051 at #AWP19 for more where this came from

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Congratulations to our nonfiction editor, Harrison Cook, whose essay "Atlas," first published in Phoebe Journal, was a "notable essay of 2020" per Best American Essays 2021! 🌺 A huge accomplishment!
Issue 26 of Ginosko Literary Journal now online, GinoskoLiteraryJournal.com. Accepting submissions for issue 27.
Sponsored > Poet Megan Falley is kicking free of stanzas and running wild in the meadows of prose. Her first nonfiction piece was the runner-up for Phoebe Journal's 50th Anniversary Prize. It's a story written backwards, and you can read it here. https://phoebejournal.com/memories-of-ace-in-reverse-chronological-order/
here’s the link to my first published creative nonfiction/memoir excerpt (and a runner up for Phoebe Journal’s 50th anniversary prize!)
A wonderful review of Bradley Bazzle's story collection "Fathers of Cambodian Time-Travel Science," up at Phoebe Journal! Thanks to the author of the review and the editors for publishing. Come on over to the C&R Press site to grab a copy! https://www.crpress.org/shop/fathers-of-cambodian-time-travel-science/
Nonfiction writers! Polish up that piece you've been working on because Phoebe Journal's nonfiction contest is open, and it's being judged by Lilly Dancyger who's upcoming memoir NEGATIVE SPACE will be released this May! Contests: https://buff.ly/3cptfJj Negative Space: https://buff.ly/2GMb43a
Looking to submit your nonfiction piece? The Phoebe Journal is currently accepting submissions for their nonfiction contest, and Lilly Dancyger, author of the upcoming memoir Negative Space, is this year's judge! Click here for more information: Pre-order Negative Space: https://buff.ly/34Aojfj
Beyond impressive that Phoebe Journal is 50 years old. It's a real honor to be included in their 50th anniversary issue with a non-fiction piece, The Lost Coast (which doesn't concern the geographic Lost Coast--the nearly roadless k**b up north, King Range etc.--as you might expect, but losses a little farther south). Congratulations and happy birthday Phoebe Journal! https://phoebejournal.com/50-1/
"In a good year, the winter solstice is as much about celebrating new life as it is honoring death." Leah Sumrall (MFA '22) discusses winter and grief, via Phoebe Journal: http://phoebejournal.com/what-it-means-to-write-through-grief/ #MasonCreativeWriting
Issue 25 of Ginosko Literary Journal now online, GinoskoLiteraryJournal.com.
Thank you to Phoebe Journal for sharing this interview with Free Minds Co-Founder Kelli Taylor! http://phoebejournal.com/conversation-with-kelli-taylor/
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