We're working a bit more slowly than usual. To those of you with outstanding submissions, we appreciate your patience!
The Schooner’s intention is to publish the best and most interesting writing available, both from beginning and established writers. We publish short stories, poems, imaginative essays of general interest, and reviews of current books of poetry and fiction. Scholarly articles requiring footnote references should be submitted to journals of literary scholarship. We particularly welcome work by writers of color and writers who come from disenfranchised or previously disenfranchised backgrounds.
We do not prefer to read simultaneous submissions, except in the case of contest submissions, and submissions must be received between September 1 and May 1. We do not consider work that has been previously published anywhere, including online publications. We read as quickly as we can, but please allow 4 -5 months for a reply. (We know, we're a little behind, and we appreciate your patience!)
In principle, the Schooner has no objections to the use of pseudonyms, but we require disclosure of their use to the editor before publication.
We encourage you to read the Schooner before you submit. Sample copies are available below for just $9.00. There's never a fee to submit to our general reading period, and we're grateful for the support we receive through donations and orders.
Looking for the Prairie Schooner Raz-Shumaker Book Prize contest? For the sake of confidentiality, it's totally separate from normal submissions. Open annually from January 15 to March 15, for collections of short fiction and poetry, the fee to submit is $25, and the prize is $3,000 and publication through the University of Nebraska Press. Read more: https://prairieschoonerbookprizeseries.submittable.com/submit
Looking for the African Poetry Book Fund's Sillerman First Book Prize? It's also entirely separate, and it opens September 15 to submissions of book-length manuscripts by African poets who have not yet published a full-length collection. Read more: https://africanpoetrybookfund.submittable.com/submit
Our annual summer nonfiction contest opens May 15th to all types of creative nonfiction essays up to 5,000 words.
The winner will receive $1,000 and publication in our Spring 2026 issue.
This year's guest judge is Aimee Nezhukumatathil.
Aimee Nezhukumatathil is the author of the New York Times best-selling illustrated collection of nature essays, WORLD OF WONDERS: IN PRAISE OF FIREFLIES, WHALE SHARKS, & OTHER ASTONISHMENTS, which was chosen as Barnes and Noble’s Book of the Year and named a finalist for the Kirkus Prize. She also wrote four previous poetry collections: OCEANIC, LUCKY FISH, AT THE DRIVE-IN VOLCANO, and MIRACLE FRUIT. With the poet Ross Gay, she co-authored the chapbook LACE & PYRITE, a collaboration of epistolary garden poems. Her writing appears twice in the Best American Poetry Series, The New York Times Magazine, ESPN, Ploughshares, American Poetry Review, and The Paris Review.
Entries will consist of three parts: a cover letter, the essay manuscript, and the entry fee.
Cover Letter: In the cover letter, include the submission's title and your contact information, including e-mail address, phone number, and mailing address. Your name and contact info must not appear anywhere within the manuscript itself (double-check headers and footers!).
Essay Manuscript: The contest is open to all types of creative nonfiction essays up to 5,000 words. We're interested in reading imaginative essays of general interest. (Scholarly articles requiring footnote references should be submitted to journals of literary scholarship.) Manuscripts should be double-spaced and use a standard font, and, again, the submitter's name and contact info should not appear within the manuscript itself.
Entry Fee: Each submission must be accompanied by the $20.00 fee, which includes a copy of the Spring 2025 issue of the Schooner in which the winning essay will appear.
Multiple submissions are welcome and encouraged, but a separate entry fee must accompany each submission. Simultaneous submissions are acceptable, provided you withdraw your work promptly should it be accepted for publication elsewhere. We do not consider work that has been previously published anywhere, including online publications.
This contest is administered anonymously. Editorial Assistants, Assistant Nonfiction Editors, the Guest Judge, and the Editor in Chief of the Schooner are not privy to submitters' identifying information.
If you have a problem with your submission, please write to Managing Editor Jessica Poli at prairieschooner@unl.edu.
Now in our 98th year of continuous publication, the Schooner seeks to publish the most interesting work in contemporary poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and reviews.
A one-year subscription includes 4 issues of the journal and will begin with the next issue. Select a two- or three-year subscription for an even better rate!
Volume 98, Issue 2, Summer 2024
Featuring selections from the Digital Schooner Global Fusion Series, this issue features work by writers from Australia, Botswana, Macedonia/The Balkans, India, Singapore, Việt Nam, Uganda, and Palestine.
Guest editors: David Prater, Tjawangwa Dema, Nikola Madžirov, Sudeep Sen, Alvin Pang, Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai, Beverley Nambozo Nsengiyunva, and Lena Khalaf Tuffaha
Contributors: Tom Clark, Brendan Ryan, Margaret Owen Ruckert, Jennifer Compton, Ivy Alvarez, Liam Ferney, M. F. McAuliffe, Benito Di Fonzo, Esther Johnson, Geoff Page, Mandisa Mabuthoe, Drea Chuma, Legodile Seganabeng, Valerie Brown, Katerina Iliopoulou, Zvonko Karanović, Arian Leka, Gökçenur Ç., Luljeta Lleshanaku, Titos Patrikios, Pavle Goranović, Marjo Pogačar, Mile Stojić, Ana Ristović, Ervina Halili, Damir Šodan, Savita Singh, Nabina Das, Himali Singh Soin, Bina Sarkar Ellias, Uddipana Goswami, Sukrita Paul Kumar, Anu Majumdar, Shikha Malaviya, Sharanya Manivannan, Deepti Naval, Sumana Roy, Rati Saxena, Elangovan, Heng Siok Tian, Judith Huang, Madeleine Lee, Ng Yi-Sheng, Jollin Tan, Toh Hsien Min, Jerrold Yam, Cyril Wong, Yeow Kai Chai, Thúy Đinh, Bùi Hoàng Tám, Hà Văn Tỉnh, Hồ Đăng Thanh Ngọc, Hoàng Anh Tuấn, Lê Vĩnh Tài, Lữ Thị Mai, Nguyễn Đức Mậu, Nguyễn Hữu Hà, Nguyễn Hữu Hồng Minh, Nguyễn Quang Hưng, Nguyễn Thánh Ngã, Nguyệt Phạm, Thạch Quỳ, Trần Quang Quý, Võ Quê, Lillian Akampurira Aujo, Mildred Kiconco Barya, Flavia Kabuye, Aganza Kisaka, Derek Lubangakene, Nick Makoha, Solomon Manzi, Rashida Namulondo, Rehema Nanfuka, Pamela Orogot, Susanna Piwang, Iga Zinunula, leena aboutaleb, George Abraham, Ahmad Almallah, Zeina Azzam, Olivia Elias, Summer Farah, Fady Joudah, Emily Khilfeh, A.D. Lauren- Abunassar, Sara Abou Rashed, Deema K. Shehabi, Priscilla Wathington, and Issam Zineh
Now in our 95th year of continuous publication, Prairie Schooner seeks to publish the best in contemporary poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and reviews.
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