Call for submissions is now CLOSED.
This fall, Prairie Fire is taking a deep dive into what haunts us. What keeps you up at night? Is it thoughts of regret about what you did or didn’t do, said or didn’t say, the risks you didn’t take? Or, maybe the pain of the past comes to visit, specters of history we’ve inherited through family or societal trauma? What do these hauntings teach us, and how do we cope with them? Can we finally put the old ghosts to bed, or have we learned to live with them?
Not all hauntings are unwelcome. Sometimes an idea or dream, repeatedly whispered in our ears at night, can lead us to take personal action, give rise to radical change, create new movement in our lives, or inspire acts of great artistic expression. Sometimes, ghosts can be helpful.
Whatever way you’re haunted, we want to hear about it!
Submission Guidelines:
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: Haunted
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 “Haunted”***
- your pronouns
- a two- or three-sentence biographical statement;
- your full mailing address, e-mail address and phone number;
- the title(s) of the piece(s) you are submitting;
- the genre of the piece(s) you are submitting (poetry, fiction, non-fiction).
- Let us know if you are just starting to send out your work.
THE MANUSCRIPT
- Send a maximum of three poems OR one story per submission and send only one submission at a time. Please do not send more than one of each type of submission.
- Please do not send updated versions of pieces once you have submitted. The piece you submit is the piece we review.
- Maximum length for fiction and creative non-fiction: 5000 words.
- Prairie Fire does not accept previously published work.
- 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). Poetry may be single-spaced.
- Margins of at least 1.5 inches should surround all copy.
- Each page of poetry must contain your name and address at the top left.
- For fiction and creative non-fiction, include a word count at the top right corner of the first page and your address at the top left corner. Make sure your pages are numbered.
***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. All successful applicants will be contacted by the end of June 2023 or sooner.
***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 submissions from LGBTQI2S writers, BIPOC writers, disabled writers, and all who are otherwise affected by structural inequality.