44 is a mud slide, a surgeon's needle, a ballerina's last triumphant turn and the effigy of a prior self on fire. The essay reads like a phoenix molting: death, fire, and release. Read it in our summer issue: www.sotospeakjournal.org/dani-putney-44

New FICTION – Victoria Hood’s “you want to feel special” is a meditation, a mantra, a hearty soup for the soul. It plays with form, and the form echoes in our bones. Read it in our Summer Digital Issue → → → www.sotospeakjournal.org/victoria-hoo...

@halfmoonmocha.bsky.social's "Boyfacts" is a random bruise you don't recall getting, the way you sweat in a humid summer, a no longer produced brand of gum you loved as a child. www.sotospeakjournal.org/debmalya-ban...

Finding the right journals for your work. Writing a lit mag cover letter. Submitting to contests. Let's talk about it at Submit-a-Thon! Hosted by us and @phoebejournal.bsky.social, open to the GMU community. Sign up here: cglink.me/2d7/r2287792

@exquisite.bsky.social Exquisite Armantè’s “Stages” reminds us of the baby you find in king cake— it’s an overripe orange, a nipple barbell, an elevator to anywhere🍊 Read here: www.sotospeakjournal.org/exquisite-ar...

Anyone obsessed with the @chillsubs.bsky.social rating feature? 🙋🏾‍♀️ If y’all want to rate us www.chillsubs.com/magazine/so-... we will send you a daily affirmation, such as: your outie always makes sure to eat breakfast

🌀SUBS OPEN🌀 sotospeak.submittable.com/submit

Irina Tall Novikova’s collage series, “Brown,” is lying in wait in the top bunk. It asks you to play tag in the dark woods behind your childhood home and stick your fingers through the holes of a rotting tree🏵️🐦‍⬛ View the series here: www.sotospeakjournal.org/irina-tall-b...

Tracy Sidesinger’s debut literary essay, “Hot Springs,” is a shot of Fireball, a plunge in a cold lake, a rallying cry, a reclamation of your younger self🏵️🏛️⛲️ Read here: www.sotospeakjournal.org/tracy-sidesi... Follow Tracy on Substack: tracysidesinger.substack.com

we’ve been working on an archive project👀 SHOUTOUT your favorite STS editors in the comments!! full list @ www.sotospeakjournal.org/previous-edi...

Making a master doc of past contributors and it’s over 50 single spaced pages That’s like, a lot of you

NEW POETRY by Sarah Giragosian 🪷 “Salvation” is a fish-eye lens, a candle when the power goes out, a gardener in a historical park — Salvation will save you if you let it. Read here: www.sotospeakjournal.org/sarah-girago... 🌸🌱

wish list: ‘90s era dark room photography

WHY ARENT YOU CALLING 911? by Zoé Mahfouz is a quick dip in a hotel pool, an inch of dust on a medical textbook, thick smoke that follows you around a campfire🐁✈️🚑 Read here: www.sotospeakjournal.org/zoe-mahfouz-...

Kale Hensley’s “Blunt Annunciation” is a roach held between your pinky and thumb. It asks you to roll each of its thousand words on your tongue. View it live in chef’s-knife 8k (whatever that means) @ sotospeakjournal.org/kale-hensley-blunt-annunciation & more collages at kalehens.com🔪🩸

“Coin” is the orange glow on the metal coil of a vintage portable heater, rivulets of mountain water trailing down mossy stone, the quiet of waking up before everyone else. 🌅⭐️ Read Sebastian Bronson Boddie’s poems, “Coin” and “280 to Ithaca” here: www.sotospeakjournal.org/sebastian-br...

NEW FICTION🌵🌾 🪩 Katie Field says, “The first image I had of the story was of a queer person, perhaps myself, making a spectacle of themself as they chased a chicken through a sea of macho cis men. Eventually it grew into a love story” 🐓 Read here: www.sotospeakjournal.org/katie-field-...

happy pride🏳️‍🌈just birthed an issue🤰go read it📚here: www.sotospeakjournal.org/online-issue...

NEW on Blog: Gemini Wahhaj’s “The Politics of Invitations” is a nighttime stroll, a mosquito bite, a meditation on intersectionality. 🌸🌿🎈 @geminiwahhaj.bsky.social is the author of *The Children of This Madness* and *Katy Family* Read her piece here: www.sotospeakjournal.org/blog/politic...

Saying GOODBYE to print issue 34! We took one look at “DDD 081” and said, “That’s the cover.” Gabriela Burlamaqui @gabur.art has gifted us a sun tan, a soda, a fresh pedicure, a colorful celebration of the body🥤💅🏼☀️ Grab a print copy @ sotospeak.submittable.com/submit

Nicole Cech’s multi-media essay forces you to take a second look: it’s a 7/11 run, a passport stamp, a kaleidoscope of Sydney’s violent history. @nicolecech.bsky.social Grab a copy of print issue 34 @ sotospeak.submittable.com/submit 🦎

Yo I just got access to our @chillsubs.bsky.social page and it’s UPDATED and looking so beautiful 🧚‍♀️🦄🐉

NEW blog post: Britt Gillman’s “HOWL” guides the reader through a mental health struggle with beautiful, emotional prose. It’s honest, bare, and oh so lovely.💘 Check it out on the So to Speak blog: www.sotospeakjournal.org/blog/howl

Syd Brewster’s photo series “i don’t want to rush this with you (again)” is a whispered secret, a worn leather jacket, the last two minutes of a sunset. Your caption writer returns (again) to suggest consuming Syd’s work on the big screen, aka our print issue: sotospeak.submittable.com/submit

Last day to sub: fee free & we pay $100. We’re watching you

“Liya” is a heavy perfume, a tonic water, a weeping willow. “Liya is a story about fertility,” says Selam Getu. “I wanted to write a story that captures what it feels like to be treated as a womb first and a woman second.” Read Selam’s story in our print issue: sotospeak.submittable.com/submit

Happy to announce the winners of our Spring 2025 Contest for issue 54.2. Jumaana Abdu for Fiction, Esther Ra for Nonfiction, and @sethpeterson.bsky.social for Poetry. Stay tuned for the launch of 54.2 in May, where you can read these lovely pieces and the other finalists.

I keep thinking about this piece by our EIC Jess. Bullet: she’s graduating soon

Amy Kurzawa's "Advice from a Strawberry" feels like freshly laundered sheets, falling asleep in your grandmother's armchair, sipping lemonade on the first day of summer.🍓🍹 To fully appreciate Amy's art on the page, get your copy of our 2025 print issue here: sotospeak.submittable.com/submit

Brenna Womer’s “Child(free)” is a telescope / a microscope / a periscope / a stethoscope — thermal imaging / night vision / rings bases & mounts. @brennawomer.bluesky.social “Child(free)” can be read ONLY in our newest print issue of “So to Speak.” Grab a copy: sotospeak.submittable.com/submit

Fee Free Day for 24 hours — we will go live at midnight 💌 WE KNOW YOU'VE BEEN SITTING ON YOUR GOOD STUFF, SO GET IT IN & as always, we pay $100 per contributor 🌟

Jade Green’s MUSHROOM CLOUDS is a matryoshka doll, a midnight skinny-dip, a recurring memory. “This story was distilled from a much longer piece of memoir writing. I wrote it out of the feeling of being haunted in my dreams by past versions of myself.” - Jade 🫑💚 sotospeak.submittable.com/submit

NEW on the blog: Karla Lamb’s CROWN SONNET IN WHICH THE SPEAKER MOVES TO L.A. is a masterclass in form, repetition, queer sexuality, and key bumps in porta-pottys. It’s a burn book, an oyster buffet, a love letter to chaos.   Read here: www.sotospeakjournal.org/blog/crownso...

I have a new review up today with Phoebe of Corey Van Landingham's "Reader, I" You should maybe read my review, but you should also 100% read this book. (: phoebejournal.com/two-reviews-...

The very talented & very pink Katherine Noble blew us away with "The good that won't come out of a glacier." 🎀 Find Kate on Instagram @katesolnoble, and find the full fiction piece + other goodies in our print issue!

can someone PLEASE feed RFK jr the 5 more brain worms he offered to eat

Your caption writer returns AGAIN with fiction: Deena Helm’s “Again” is a revolving door, a turnstile, a top, a tornado, a Gal Costa CD stuck in your overheating 2004 Honda Civic. @deenahelm.bsky.social Read in our most recent print issue: sotospeak.submittable.com/submit

A picture is worth a thousand words, so I’ll just add six: “Dyke Night,” Josie Levin. Fuck yeah. Check out 3 of his pieces in So to Speak’s print issue sotospeak.submittable.com/submit , which you can either buy online or steal off our managing editor @ A League of Her Own dyke night this Fri🔥

💚 Two poems // Broken Sonnet // and // For Palani, where the moon wanes // by @snehaskanta.bsky.social She says these poems are "in conversation with remembrance and working towards holistic change in a world which appears hostile to imaginative literature(s) and their tradition." 🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑

We’re haunted by the wordplay in Chidera Offor's two poems "the woman at the embassy tells me" and "inside a bipoc body.”@chideraoffor.bsky.social To hold these tender poems: sotospeak.submittable.com/submit

WRITERS: ONE week left to submit your work to our winter prize! (Time is flying!) Send us your best short fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry around the theme “Rise or Ruin” by 3/30/25! Full details on the BFLM site or Submittable page! #callforsubmissions #litmag blackfoxlitmag.com/contests/

Lily Nobel’s “Sims 4 Never Gets Old” is our FAVE batshit fiction ❇️ Marx is waiting for you to read

our subs are open for our summer digital issue until may 1!!!! 🦩 sotospeak.submittable.com/submit

Found copies of @sotospeakjournal.bsky.social 34 in the mailbox today, featuring my essay “Child(free),” about my journey to elective sterilization ✂️✨ I love this mag & the editors I got to work with 🙏🏽 Purchase the $9 hardcopy or $4 digital copy here: sotospeak.submittable.com/submit/25741...

New short story out with @sotospeakjournal.bsky.social! Grab a copy if you want a Palestinian time loop story: sotospeak.submittable.com/submit/25741...

pre-sale for our Winter 2025 Print Issue is now open!!! today until Sunday (2/16), we're selling physical copies for $6 (discounted from our regular $9). after this week, physical copies will be regular price, so take advantage!! Link here 💛💛: sotospeak.submittable.com/submit/32015...

#Booksky: If you haven’t already, export your data from Goodreads (an Amazon company) and import it into StoryGraph, a book-tracking app founded and led by a Black woman.

new on our blog!!! Blog editor Merron interviews Diana Rojas about her debut, LITANY OF SAINTS: A TRIPTYCH, out from Arte Público Press read it now ☀️☀️☀️☀️ ➡️ www.sotospeakjournal.org/blog/diana-r...

where is the literary niche on this site and can somebody induct us

our extremely cool talented inventive pushcart prize noms for 2024 ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥