Please come back with your best work in the fall, when the submission links will be live!
We accept simultaneous submissions–but NOT previously published work.
During our reading period, please notify us by email if you wish to withdraw a piece for any reason, including acceptance by another journal.
We value human creativity and effort.
We do not accept work generated by AI or assisted by AI beyond basic spellcheck and grammarcheck.
Please read these directions carefully.
You may submit a total of five (5) pieces to Shift across categories.
Each one requires a separate submission.
We do NOT consider groups of poems.
Fill out a form for each submission.
We read blindly during our initial review. Please remove your name and contact info EVERYWHERE in your Word document. We will be able to track your submission through the Google form. Include only the word count, page numbers, and title.
Name the file with the initials of your first and last name and the title (all in one word). For example: SWLiteraryTale
Fiction form (under 4,000 words)
Nonfiction form (under 4,000 words)
Poetry form (under 75 lines)
Art/Photo/Image + Text form (in a JPEG with a resolution of at least 300 dpi)
Answers to additional FAQs
We do not charge a reading fee.
Each contributor to the journal will receive one complimentary print copy of the issue.
Published work may be nominated for Best of the Net, Pushcart, and other awards.
Authors whose work particularly dazzles us might be invited to participate in Ringling’s Visiting Writers Forum, a conversation series with authors and other literary professionals: www.visitingwritersforum.com.
Please direct any journal-related questions to our email.
Again, we do NOT accept AI-generated or AI-assisted work.
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