It’s been a minute since I made a post about places to submit. If I’m being completely honest, it’s been a while since I’ve done any blog posts, period. Like everyone, I’m fumbling through this crisis, feeling good one day, despondent the next, but doing what I can moment by moment. A Plumester who has been coming to our weekly drop-in Plume Zoom women writers support group asked about places to submit work that deals with trauma, and I thought that was a really important reason to get off my butt and write this blog. So if you have any pieces that may fall under that category of trauma or difficult life events, here are a few places that might be a good fit (CW: Please note that some of the descriptions for the kinds of work these publications are seeking do contain brief language about abuse, assault, and sexual violence).
Bloodletters Literary Magazine
“Bloodletters is here to offer you solace, to give you space to breathe, and space to process. We hope you find comfort and peace in the writing shared by authors who have had similar experiences. Share in their pain, learn from their mistakes, and know first and foremost that you are not alone.”
Seeking: nonfiction and poetry
Submission period: rolling
“ENOUGH is a Rumpus series devoted to creating a dedicated space for work by women and non-binary people that engages with rape culture, sexual assault, and domestic violence. We believe that while this subject matter is especially timely now, it also timeless. We want to make sure that this conversation doesn’t stop—not until our laws and societal norms reflect real change.”
Seeking: personal essays, critical essays, poetry, comics, and hybrid work
Submission period: May 1-31 & 11/1-11/30
“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.”
Seeking: fiction, poetry, and nonfiction
Submission period: late summer to late fall
“Carve, named in honor of Raymond Carver, publishes fiction, poetry, and nonfiction that respects the power of language and craft and elicits genuine emotional truths. We also strive to foster a sense of camaraderie among all writers and readers.”
Seeking: fiction, poetry, and nonfiction
Submission period: rolling
“Barren Magazine is a literary publication that features fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, photography, and mixed media for hard truths, long stares, and gritty lenses. We revel in the shadow-spaces that make up the human condition, and aim to find antitheses to that which defines us: light in darkness; beauty in ugliness; peace in disarray. We invite you to explore it with us.”
Seeking: poetry, flash fiction, fiction, nonfiction, photography
Submission period: Not currently open, but this is one to keep an eye on!
We hope you find this little list helpful. You can always email us at enocuragement@plumeforwriters if you have other themes for places to submit that you’d be interested in.
Stay tuned to Plume! Besides our weekly Plume Zoom check-ins (which are free, drop-in, and very supportive), we’re cooking up some new endeavors, including an online group and a podcast. Follow us on social media for more details: Twitter, Instagram, and/or Facebook.