Feeling competitive?

Poets&Writers Magazine recently published a list of not ten, not twenty, but forty-five writing contests whose deadlines fall between February 15 and March 15 of this year. Entries include many competitions sponsored by literary magazines and journals, as well as grants and other awards, for a range of genres and styles. And if the idea of wading through forty-five possible contests takes you from feeling competitive to just feeling overwhelmed - don’t worry! Poets&Writers has organized the information into a handy submission calendar, with easy links to all of the specific submission and contact information you need.

Good luck!

The Poets&Writers Submission Calendar for February 2010.

This is the mission statement of Scarab, a new literary magazine that bills itself as the First Literary Magazine for Your iPhone. Downloaded as an app and delivered electronically to iPhones and iPods (Touch model only), the journal provides not only the text of new poems and short prose, but a reading of each piece by the author. Published by Old Brick Press, and recently featured in Poets&Writers’ database of journals, Scarab seeks to combine “the thrill of live public readings with the intimacy of a phone call from a friend.”

For more information, and to download the app, visit their website at http://www.scarabmag.com.

If you are interested in sharing your voice as a writer – literally! – Scarab is currently accepting unsolicited submissions of poetry and short prose (< 3500 words). Free sign-up to the website is required for submission, so visit the Submission page for more information.

If you don’t have an iPhone/iPod, or performance just isn’t your cup of tea, you can always search for a different journal in Poets&Writers’ database of literary magazines. There are currently over 400 listings, which can be sorted by genre, first letter, or searched directly by keyword. Happy reading!

Hey, Chicago Authors: Here’s your chance to show the true mettle of our town.

Jacob Knabb, of Another Chicago Magazine (ACM), has put out a call for submissions for the magazine’s 50th issue. Here’s what Jacob has to say:

ACM is at work on an issue called “Another Chicago Issue.” It’s our 50th issue, so we’re celebrating that nice, round number. It’s also a playful jab at Granta, since they didn’t exactly publish a lot of Chicago writers in their recent ‘Chicago Issue’ (flattering as the attention was to us Chicagoans).

I’d love it if any of you living in Chicago would submit something. You have until January 5th to head to the post office and drop your submissions in the mail. Please forward this information to Chicago-based writers and students you dig and let them know about this issue. We really want to try to give a comprehensive overview of what kind of writing is being produced here.

The writer must be currently based in Chicago, but the work needn’t be about Chicago (of course, it’s even lovelier if it is). We make no promises to accept all work that is submitted, of course.

Mail work to me directly:

Another Chicago Magazine
Jacob S. Knabb
2608 W. Diversey
Apt 202
Chicago, IL - 60647