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, whether its 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 website publications, 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 an email to phoebeliterature [at] gmail [dot] com

From the Editors

Poetry

As poets, we are interested in poems which are aware of themselves and their material(s). Broadly, we want to see poems interacting with the materiality and meaning of language on a page, the unit of the line as part and whole, and an awareness of the reader and the larger cultural and historical contexts of themselves. Specifically, we like to read poems with an awareness of place, ecology, the vastness of the interior and exterior (think: Poetics of Space); poems with a focus on experience, image, and economy of language (think: Williams).

-Janice Majewski and Andrew Art, Poetry Editor & Assistant Editor

Fiction

We look for fiction that engages the head and the heart—stories that pack an emotional or intellectual punch. We are open to all ways you choose to reach this punch, from style to structure to word count, so long as you leave us feeling we have experienced something honest and affecting and human. We appreciate weirdness. We’d prefer writing that takes risks and is a bit rough around the edges over writing that is highly polished but lacks urgency or soul. We look forward to reading your work.

Nonfiction

We are excited by nonfiction that faces down risk, embraces complexity, and tests the bounds of form, craft and language in an intentional way. We look for essays, from lyric to journalistic, that engage in vibrant exploration and inquiry; we look for memoir and narrative writing that explores the complications and subtleties of those expansive modes.  We seek a mixture of brevity and breadth on our pages, as well as a range of registers—humorous and heartbreaking, serious and absurd, surprising, delightful; each submitted piece should be stand-alone. Above all, however, we want nonfiction that wrestles with ideas in order to reveal larger truths about life and the world with intellectual and emotional honesty, through unique lenses and voices. We aim for inclusion, welcoming work from writers spread out across the spectra of intersectional identities, and especially from writers in communities often underrepresented in literary publishing.

-Andrew Cartwright and Kyle François, Nonfiction Editor and Assistant Editor