WRITING A NEW WORLD

Sunspot Literary Journal is dedicated to amplifying diverse multinational voices. We offer an Editor’s Prize of $50 for the annual edition. Artwork selected for a cover will be paid $20. Visit SunspotLit.com to download digital editions for free.

All types of prose from flash fiction and poetry to stories and essays, including scripts and screenplays, are welcome. We also accept long-form, novelette, and novella length works up to 49,000 words. Poetry can be up to 1,250 lines. Translations welcome.

One piece per prose submission. Use the correct form according to the length of your prose and poetry. Works longer than allowed by the form used will be declined unread.

Poets can submit one or two items using different forms. 

Artists can submit one or two items using different forms.

The Fast Flux options offer a one-week turnaround for prose and art. Poets receive a two-week turnaround, with most responses being sent within one week.  

All submissions must be unpublished (except on a personal blog). Simultaneous submissions welcome. Submit as many times as you like. 

The judging for the 2020 Culmination contest is complete. Sunspot Literary Journal received hundreds of entries covering every category.

The winner and finalist were selected by implementing a number of judging rounds. Submissions that advanced through the first round were placed on the longlist. Ones that passed through the second round were added to the shortlist (quarter finalist). The third round resulted in the list of semifinalists.

From this batch, the fourth round chose ten finalists. A winner and two runners-up were winnowed from this top tier.

Finalists:

Jasmine Kapadia for “wet pavement,” poetry

Amanda Bermudez for “Lacquer,” short fiction

Leah Dockrill for “Tuckamore,” art

Sarah Louise for “Real Life,” short fiction

Marieken Cochius for “Oumuamua,” art

Roxanne Bodsworth for “Mardungurra,” poetry

Abbigail Rosewood for The Void of Cards, novel

Runners-up:

Barbara Rugg for “Droplets,” art

Dean Gessie for “whitewash,” poetry

The winner is Christina Fishburne for the ending to a piece of flash fiction called “Outlaw.” Fishburne received the cash prize and will be published in the next digital edition. All finalists and runners-up are being considered for publication in the same digital edition. The works will also be included in the 2021 print edition, to be released in the fall.

People like them shape our world.

Order a copy of the 2020 print edition here.  Shipping to US locations is included, and the drop-down menu has options for shipping outside the US.

Also check out Geminga: $500 for Tiny Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry or Art, closing March 31.

Sunspot Literary Journal is seeking articles and essays offering advice and thoughts on the creative life related to any creative form. How-to, features, reports on current trends, commentaries, real experiences, and roundups are some of the areas accepted. Some examples of the kinds of works we’re interested in:

Writing tips for authors

Tool roundups for heritage craft producers

Marketing advice for painters

Thoughtful essays on the lifestyles of creatives

Features on the impact of residency programs or retreats

What to expect from a workshop

No limit on word count, although 1,500 to 3,000 words provides the strongest target range.

Payment for these pieces will be $0.01 per word ($50 US maximum per piece). Please include a third-person bio of 50 to 75 words in your cover letter. Pieces will be published in the final 2021 edition, scheduled for release in December.

One piece per submission.

All submissions must be unpublished. Simultaneous submissions welcome. Submit as many times as you like using Sunspot’s Submittable form. 

Open: January 1, 2021

Close: October 31, 2021

Authors & Artists Eligible

Geminga is a neutron star so small it was difficult to detect. It was named, in part, for a transcription of gh’è minga,meaning “it’s not there.”

For 2021, Sunspot Lit is launching Geminga: $500 for Tiny Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, or Art to honor the power of the small. No restrictions on theme or category. Word limit is 100 for fiction and nonfiction. Micropoetry is limited to 140 characters.

Titles are not included in the word count. Compound words separated by hyphens, numbers, and letters of the alphabet are counted as a single word. In the micropoetry category, characters include spaces, punctuation, numbers, and letters of the alphabet.   

Visual art entries should be paintings, drawings, or sketches no larger than 25 inches square. Sculptural forms should be no larger than 25 inches in any dimension (length, height, or width).

Open: January 1, 2021

Close: March 31, 2021

Entry fee: $6

Prize: $500 cash, publication for the winner, publication offered to runners-up and finalists.

Sunspot asks for first rights only; all rights revert to the contributor after publication. Works, along with the creators’ bylines, are published in the next quarterly digital edition an average of two months after contest completion as well as the annual fall print edition. 

Works should be unpublished except on a personal blog or website. Artists offered publication may display their pieces in galleries, festivals or shows throughout the publication contract period.  

Enter as many times as you like through Submittable, but only one piece per submission. Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but please withdraw your piece if it is published elsewhere before the winner is selected.

Enter through Sunspot’s Submittable form.