Do you remember a time in childhood when you made friends with a particular tree, perhaps built a tree fort, climbed its branches and found solace, or whittled a piece of wood. Have you ever planted, nurtured, admired and taken delight in a tree, or its fruits? Perhaps you’ve planted a tree in memory of a loved one? Or, you may have found comfort in hugging a tree. And, in this time of ecological crisis, when climate change and deforestation are creating mass die-off for some trees, have you ever protested and fought to preserve them?
Throughout history, trees have served us from cradle to grave. They have been the foundation for our survival providing shelter, safety, cooling shade, tools, transportation, nourishment, medicine, companionship, stress reduction and a deep sense of connection. For writers and artists in particular, trees, forests and wood have served as inspiration.
Indigenous Peoples in Canada (and elsewhere) have a profound spiritual, cultural, and physical connection to trees. We have much to learn from this. Just this past spring, a small town in Quebec adopted a resolution that recognizes trees as living beings with rights. This is the first in Canada.
Prairie Fire invites you to branch out, go out on a limb, and shake the tree for your poems, stories and creative non-fiction that in some way includes and celebrates trees, forests and wood as central or supporting characters or themes.
Announcing Guest Editor: Erna Buffie
We are pleased to have self-professed Tree Hugger, filmmaker, writer and environmental advocate Erna Buffie as our guest editor! Erna Buffie is an awarding-winning writer, science and nature documentary filmmaker and environmental advocate who worked for CBC’s The Nature of Things for more than 20 years. Her short fiction and non-fiction essays have appeared in various publications, including Prairie Fire and The Goose, and her op eds on the environment and politics appear regularly in the Winnipeg Free Press Her first novel Let Us Be True was published in 2015 and nominated for the Margaret Laurence prize for fiction at the Manitoba Book Awards. Her newest book, Out on a Limb: Saving the Urban Tree Canopy has been described as a “practical and passionate guide” to conserving urban forests and nature in the city and garnered advance praise from renowned forest ecologist, Dr. Suzanne Simard. A self-professed tree hugger, Erna and her partner live In Winnipeg under the shade of a towering boulevard Elm with their Shih Tzu Ollie and spend their summers in a small lakeside cabin tucked into the Boreal forest.
Deadline: November 15th, 2026 11:59 p.m.
Submissions for this issue may be emailed or mailed. Emailed submissions still need to follow the submission guidelines.
Emailed submissions should be sent to prfire@prairiefire.ca, Subject: Branching Out
International submissions accepted.
The Cover Letter
The cover letter should be typed. Be sure to include the following:
***Please state in your cover letter that you are submitting to “Branching Out”***
- Your pronouns
- A two or three sentence biographical statement (in third person, if possible);
- Your full mailing address, e-mail address and phone number;
- The title of the piece you are submitting;
- Let us know if you are just starting to send out your work.
The Manuscript
- Please only send on piece of creative non-fiction, fiction or up to 3 poems. We will not be accepting multiple submissions for this call.
- Please do not send updated versions of pieces once you have submitted. The piece you submit is the piece we review.
- Maximum length for creative non-fiction & fiction: 5000 words.
- Prairie Fire does not accept previously published work.
- Prairie Fire does not accept AI generated or AI assisted work. We want to hear your voice, not a computer’s.
- We ask that you let us know if your work is also submitted elsewhere, and, if it is accepted, to notify us right away.
- Your submission should be typed (double-spaced) on one side of the page only (for print submissions).
***Please Note: Due to the high volume of submissions we receive for special calls, we are only able to notify successful applicants. We will post a message on our social media when all successful applicants have been contacted, as well as on the Prairie Fire website. All successful applicants will be contacted by early January 2027 or sooner. If you do not hear from us by then, please assume we were unable to take your work.
***As well, please make sure prfire@prairiefire.ca and lindsey@prairiefire.ca are added as ‘safe senders’ in your email. We would hate to end up in your spam folder! Prairie Fire encourages persons of colour, LGBTQ+ & disabled writers, as well as writers from any other (or more than one) underrepresented community to submit.