submissions

The editors of phoebe are pleased to announce that for Issue 56.1, phoebe will be a paying market! See our guidelines below for pay rates and more details on how to send us your work!

phoebe is a journal of literature and art which publishes twice each year: one print issue each winter, and a contest issue each spring, made up of the winners, runners up, and honorable mentions from submissions to our annual contests in poetry, fiction and nonfiction.

Winter Print Issue: Open for submissions from August 15th to October 15th.

Contest Issue: Open for submissions from January 15th to March 20th.

Submission Guidelines

We only accept submissions via our online submission portal, Submittable.
We do not consider previously published work.
We welcome multiple submissions, but each should follow the guidelines below:
- We do not have a strict word limit for prose; however, work over 4,000 words will need to be extraordinary.
- Regarding flash prose, we are happy to accept up to three pieces of less than 1,000 words each. Please paste these together in a single document and submit them via the standard fiction or nonfiction portal.
- Poetry submissions should contain 3-5 poems, totaling no more than ten pages. Please include all poems in one document.
- Writers, we prefer that you submit your work as a Word Document. Visual Artists may use PDFs to submit multiple works of art, but should be prepared with a high-resolution version of their files upon their work’s acceptance to the journal.
We allow and encourage simultaneous submissions. If your submission is no longer available for publication, please use our online submission portal to withdraw it as soon as possible. If you need to withdraw a single poem or piece of flash prose, please add a note to your submission and email us at phoebeliterature@gmail.com.
We strive to respond to submissions 30 days after the submissions period closes. If you have not heard from us 60 days after the submissions period closes, feel free to inquire about the status of your submission.
If you’ve submitted to phoebe in the past, or if you’ve been published in our journal before, you are welcome to submit your work again.
phoebe does not accept submissions from current or former students of George Mason University’s creative writing program or any other affiliates of George Mason University. If you have a question regarding your eligibility, please send us an email at phoebeliterature@gmail.com.

Payment

phoebe is overjoyed to be able to pay its writers and artists $30 per accepted poem, essay, story or piece of visual art. All contributors to the print issue also receive one copy of the journal upon publication.

The payment of monetary prizes and contributor honorariums are subject to U.S. laws and regulations, including those that prohibit payments to persons from or who reside in countries subject to U.S. sanctions. Questions about these regulations and payment methods can be directed to phoebeliterature@gmail.com.

Publication Rights

phoebe retains First North American serial rights for all work that we publish. All other rights are the authors, and they revert immediately upon the work’s publication. The work may be republished along with an acknowledgement of its original publication in phoebe.

Due to the risk of copyright infringement (and a plethora of other ethical reasons) phoebe does not accept AI-generated writing or visual art at this time. Digital manipulations and digital art are welcome.

Upon publication of your work in phoebe, we ask for the following:

1) First American rights for print publication of the Work in a future issue of Phoebe.

2) Indefinite non-exclusive rights for electronic publication of the Work at www.phoebejournal.com, as well as through Phoebe’s social media websites and newsletters.

3) Possible inclusion of the Work in a future anthology published by Phoebe Press.

All other rights remain the author’s.

See what our contributors have done

2025 Best of the Net Nominees

Fiction

“Two Burials” by Jumaana Abdu, Issue 54.2

“Pruning Practice” by Lydia Kim, Issue 54.2

Nonfiction

“Of These Maypops Blooming” by LaTanya McQueen, Issue 54.2

“Old Gods” by Rose McMackin, Issue 54.1

Poetry

“Shell Game” by Apollo Chastain, Issue 54.2

“Bartending Because Hot People Bartend” by Kate Garcia, Issue 54.2

“A text that read “I love you” and a follow up” by grace (ge) gilbert, Issue 54.2

“Deboning” by Alex Bortell, Issue 54.2

“Dear” by Rasma Haidri, Issue 54.1

“At the Service Academy” by Patrick Kindig, Issue 54.1

Visual Art

“All Eyez on Me” by Amuri Morris, Issue 54.2

“Expression” by Victor Adebayo Meye, Issue 54.2

“Interconnected Sand” by Janelle Cordero, Issue 54.2

2024 Best of the Net Nominees

Fiction

“Wolfpacking” by Nolan Capps, Issue 53.2

“Idaho Wolves” by Kath Richards, Issue 53.2

Nonfiction

“Hanged/drawn/quartered, or, imagining my great-grandmothers’ hands on a Sunday morning, in four parts” by jade guthrie, Issue 53.2

“In Martinsville (2021)” by Chanlee Luu, Issue 53.2

Poetry

“self-portrait with three hands” by p. hodges adams, Issue 53.2

“Here it is” by Jane Feinsod, Issue 53.2

“I’m glad my grandma died before she could see me get fat” by Bleah Patterson, Issue 53.2

“tidying idea” by caroline ganci patterson, Issue 53.2

Visual Art

“Lonesome” by Anne Anthony, Issue 53.2

“Harborside Sunrise” & “Xmas Eve, 1990” by Albert John Belmont, Issue 53.2

“Beatrice Dominguez” by MariaTeresa Ortiz-Naretto, Issue 53.2

2023 Pushcart Prize Nominees

Fiction

“Solve” by Jeremy Griffin, Issue 52.2

“Hidden Truths of Reupholstering” by Wendy Booydegraaff, Issue 52.1

Nonfiction

“The Plague of Flies” by Julie Marie Wade, Issue 52.2

“A River’s Continuum” by Celia Cummiskey, Issue 52.2

Poetry

“Pastoral Fragment” by Rachel Rothenberg, Issue 52.2

“when I think of quentin tarantino i think of revenge” by Elizabeth J. Wenger, Issue 52.2

2022 Pushcart Prize Nominees

Fiction

“The Lost Girls of Lupine Cabin” by Anna Sheffer, Issue 51.2 “The Mother Compact” by Blair Hurley, Issue 51.1

Nonfiction

“Ariel” by Lucien Darjeun Meadows, Issue 51.2 “The Space Between” by Michael Hahn, Issue 51.1

Poetry

“New Theories About (Our Obsession With) the Moon” by Katherine Huang, Issue 51.2 “Stilts” by Aimee Wright Clow, Issue 51.1

2021 Best of the Net Nominees

“Welcome to Bad Mom Club” by Marne Litfin, Nonfiction, Issue 50.2

“Hooverville” by Natalie Casagran Lopez, Fiction, Issue 50.2

“When the Sound of Bleating Calls You Home” by Stephanie Yu, Fiction, Issue 50.2

2020 Best New Poets Nominees

Genevieve DeGuzman, “Close Encounter at Dance Party,” Issue 49.1

Daniel Neff, “Elegy for Camille Monet,” Issue 49.1

2025 Pushcart Prize Nominees

Fiction

“Team Player” by Shanley Kearney, Issue 54.1

“The World’s Tallest Filing Cabinet” by Georgia Lavigne, Issue 54.1

Nonfiction

“Of These Maypops Blooming” by LaTanya McQueen, Issue 54.2

“The Second Handle” by Cila Warncke, Issue 54.1

Poetry

“Shell Game” by Apollo Chastain, Issue 54.2

“Dear” by Rasma Haidri, Issue 54.1

2024 Pushcart Prize Nominees

Fiction

“Wolfpacking” by Nolan Capps, Issue 53.2

“I Don’t Want Me Either” by Carly Alaimo, Issue 53.1

Nonfiction

“Hanged/drawn/quartered, or, imagining my great-grandmothers’ hands on a Sunday morning, in four parts” by jade guthrie, Issue 53.2

“The Lyric Ear” by Megan J. Arlett, Issue 53.2

Poetry

“All You Need Is Love” by Luis Lopez-Maldonado, Issue 53.1

“Little Girl, What Preparations Are You Making for Eternal Life?” by Crystal Cox, Issue 53.1

2024 Best New Poets Nominees

Alex Tretbar, “Date Night,” Issue 53.1 J.C. Rodriguez, “I am Creating a New Drug,” Issue 52.2

2023 Best of the Net Nominees

Fiction

“Parrot” by Maeve Barry, Issue 52.2

“The Boys’ Team” by Nikki Barnhart, Issue 52.1

Nonfiction

“The Plague of Flies” by Julie Marie Wade, Issue 52.2

“A River’s Continuum” by Celia Cummiskey, Issue 52.2

Poetry

“when I think of quentin tarantino i think of revenge” by Elizabeth J. Wenger, Issue 52.2

“The Rowan Berries of Winter” by Phillip Crymble, Issue 52.2

“Thirst Trap for L’Inconnue De La Seine” by RJ Equality Ingram, Issue 52.2

“I am Creating a New Drug” by J.C. Rodriguez, Issue 52.2

“Lullaby for an Adult” by Peter Vertacnik, Issue 52.2

“Windows” by Arnisha Royston, Issue, 52.1

Visual Art

“Liminal” by Peyton Fultz, Issue 52.2

“Amerdad” by Bānbishn, Issue 52.1

“The Other Clouds” by Sarah-Jane Crowson, Issue 52.1

2023 Best New Poets Nominees

Kathryn Bratt-Pfotenhauer, “On Leaving,” Issue 52.1

Laura Meyer, “Scree: Hiking in the Foothills,” Issue 52.1

2021 Pushcart Prize Nominees

Fiction

“Hooverville” by Natalie Casagran Lopez, Issue 50.2
“When the Sound of Bleating Calls You Home” by Stephanie Yu, Issue 50.2
“North of Wilshire” by Isabella Welch, Issue 50.1