About the Journal
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, regardless of whether those 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. Above all, we seek to publish quality writing. Please review our website, especially our latest issue, for an idea of the caliber of writing we publish.
We produce a print issue in fall/winter and an online issue in spring/summer. We’re generally open for submissions from late summer to early fall for the print issue and from mid-winter to early spring for the online issue. The online issue is comprised of the winners (and possibly several honorable mentions) of our annual contests in fiction, poetry, and nonfiction.
phoebe: publishing original work since 1971.
If you have any other questions, please send us an email at phoebeliterature@gmail.com.
phoebe is published by George Mason University’s Office of Student Media, which is dedicated to providing hands-on, experiential learning opportunities for students who aspire to a career in media production or journalism. If you would like to donate to the Mason Student Media Fund, click here to give now.
Masthead
Editor-in-Chief – Kayla Hare
Managing Editor – Sophia Ross
Poetry Editor – Susan Muth
Assistant Poetry Editor – Tori Reynolds
Fiction Editor – Bareerah Ghani
Assistant Fiction Editor – Katy Mullins
Nonfiction Editor – Emilie Knudsen
Assistant Nonfiction Editor – Ashlen Renner
Webmaster – Chelsea Lebron
Blog Editor – Allie Stanich
Layout and Design Editor – Stephanie Runyon
Readers
Marcielo Ampudia, Kathleen Callahan, Ariel Campos, Meaghan Clohessy, Frannie Dove, Jenny Fried, Bareerah Ghani, Shaun Holloway, Julie Iannone, Ben Inks, Alaina Johansson, Kate Keeney, Emilie Knudsen, Chris McGlone, Martin Mitchell, Ivan Moore, Andrew Nosti, Farheen Raparthi, Stephanie Runyon, Erin Snyder, Kate Steagall, Leah Sumrall, Asa Sutton, Grace Taber, Kathy Vinogradoff, Andrew J. White
From the Editors
Poetry
As poets, we want to see poems that are aware of themselves and their material(s). We want to see poems interacting with their status as language on a page. Specifically, we like to read poems with an awareness of self and place, how selfhood and being placed both reinforce each other and prepare the speaker for externality, politically and otherwise, with experience, image, and getting lost in the process of poetry itself as starting points and endpoints. As such, we are currently encouraging more queer and trans poetics as a methodology for dealing with these issues, not as a stopgap but as a throughline.
-Susan Muth and Tori Reynolds, Poetry Editor and Assistant Editor
Fiction
The phoebe fiction team is looking for short stories, flash fiction, and micro fiction that pack an emotional or intellectual punch and deliver an honest, affecting, and human reading experience. We appreciate weirdness and therefore prefer writing that takes risks (such as in form, content, narration, etc.) over that which plays it safe but lacks urgency or soul. While we don’t have a strict word count, pieces upwards of 4,000 words or 13 standard manuscript pages must justify their length to merit inclusion. We look forward to reading your work!
-Bareerah Ghani and Katy Mullins, Fiction Editor and Assistant Editor
Nonfiction
We are excited by nonfiction that faces down risk, embraces complexity, and tests the bounds of form, craft and language. We look for personal, lyric, and/or journalistic essays (and everything in between!) that engage in vibrant exploration and inquiry. Above all, we want nonfiction that wrestles with ideas in order to reveal larger truths about the self and the world through unique lenses, representing diverse identities and voices with intellectual and emotional honesty. Submitted work should be stand-alone. On our pages, we aim for a mixture of brevity and breadth, and we warmly welcome submissions from both emerging and experienced writers.
—Emilie Knudsen and Ashlen Renner, Nonfiction Editor and Assistant Editor