As we slide out of the old year and into the new, we wish all you readers and writers out there peace and many hours of reading whatever fills you with joy and wonder. Preferably in a warmer place than this guy. In a cozy armchair. Maybe with a mug of hot chocolate.

We'll be there! The Eastern Shore Writers Association Holiday Book Festival is at Cult Classic Brewing on Saturday, Dec. 13, 11:00-4:00. Books? Beer? Sure! www.easternshorewriters.org/event-6370778

I'm doing the annual update of the FISH List of lively independent literary magazines. Manually visiting 1,000+ websites to collect data points. The list ranks thousands of lit mags against 14 criteria to help you find your new favourite indie lit mag. www.fictionontheweb.co.uk/p/fish-list....

We close all our submission doors at midnight and open them again on Feb. 1. Submissions are pouring in. We will have lots of catching up to do!

On the Poems in Causa Sui: An Interview with Dorian Elizabeth Knapp, by Jane Satterfield: baltimorereview.org/blog/post/on...

Just a heads-up that November 30 is the last day of our current submission period. Then we'll be catching up and getting the winter issue together. baltimorereview.org

An interview with Jeannie Vanasco about her book "A Silent Treatment" (Tin House), by Jill Sisson Quinn. @tinhouse.bsky.social

The 2026 lit mag rankings are now available from my website! They include an overall ranking, as well as separate rankings for fiction, flash fiction, non-fiction and poetry. If you find these helpful, please show your support by liking & sharing 🙏

Breathe in creativity, breathe out expression. NewPages Newsletter #207 is live! Inside: fresh reads, 130+ open submission calls, and an inspiration prompt to stir the heart. Whether you’re writing, reading, or creating, this week’s issue is your oxygen.

Thanks, @swwim.bsky.social!

Early-bird registration for the Baltimore Writers' Conference is almost here, but early registration or not, the conference is always worth it. We'll have a table there, too, so stop by and say hi if you're there.

Time to slow down a bit and enjoy some new issues from great lit mags, book reviews, a new mag launching soon, & 100+ submission opportunities. Dive into the weekly NewPages Newsletter now. #writingcommunity #literarycommunity

Our fall 2025 issue is live! Includes a micro section this time along with poems, short stories, and creative nonfiction. baltimorereview.org

Happy to announce that Mandy Moe Pwint Tu will serve as the final judge for our winter contest--prose poem, flash fiction, flash creative nonfiction. Contest deadline: Nov. 30. www.moepwinttu.com

This is the third game of TELEPHONE and consists of 1,395 individual, interconnected, and original works by artists from 930 cities in 65 countries. What an amazing gift! Kudos to everyone who made this huge ekphrastic art project possible. telephonegame.art

Baltimore Writers' Conference is November 15, 2025. Register before October 24 for the early-bird registration rate. Always an excellent conference!

Baltimore Review 2025 is the annual print issue featuring poetry, fiction, and nonfiction from their online quarterly as well as short-form contest winners. #litmags #literarycommunity #readingcommunity @BaltimoreEditor

We'll have a table at the Baltimore Book Festival next weekend. Copies of Baltimore Review 2025 and print compilations from years past, games to play, and friendly BR editors who love to chat with readers and writers. If you're there, stop by and say hello! baltimorebookfest.com

Baltimore Review's special micro category is now open and closes Sept. 14. Responses by Sept. 30. Hope to see some stunners from the micro masters. baltimorereview.submittable.com/submit/33414...

Announcing a special micro category for the Baltimore Review fall issue: 400 words max, one or two micros in one sub, micro submission period (9/1 – 9/14) and response by 9/30. Payment for accepted work at our usual rate. Because we love the short and surprising. baltimorereview.org

A cool resources page. Very generous of Matt Kendrick to share this. www.mattkendrick.co.uk/resources @mattkendrick.bsky.social

More writing opportunities (including the BR):

A party in Brooklyn! August 22 at 8. The Living Gallery. BR's Claire Zhang hosting.🥳

We'll have a table at the Baltimore Book Festival. September 13 and 14. Locals, mark your calendars. baltimorebookfest.com

A lovely recording included with this creative nonfiction piece by Maureen Tai. See the Listen bar at the bottom of the page and click. baltimorereview.org/summer_2025/...

Now open for submissions and reading for our fall issue. Knock our socks off. baltimorereview.org

“This is a story I’ve carried for a long time. It’s about Bertha Murphy, but it’s also about my mother, and about the strange, intuitive pull I’ve always felt toward the supernatural. I’m grateful to finally give it shape on the page.” - Fay Sachpatzidis

"When I began writing ‘Swimmingly,’ I thought I was writing a prose poem. (Who knows? Maybe I was!) I had the idea that I wanted to explore various idioms and tongue-twisters that I grew up hearing and consider what would happen if I literalized them." - Julie Marie Wade

Our summer 2025 issue is live! Thanks to everyone who made this issue possible. baltimorereview.org

Registered and paid for our AWP table for 2026. It's been a while for us, but it will be in Baltimore so—we're in! awpwriter.org/AWP/AWP/Conf...

A reminder—in case you have some stunning work to share—that our current submission period ends May 31. After that, we'll be working on our summer issue (includes contest winners) and our annual print compilation. baltimorereview.org

Happy Independent Bookstore Day! Show your local bookstores some love. Here's a big list of bookstores from @newpages.bsky.social www.newpages.com/independent-...

Today was a 4-poem pub day for me! I have a sestina and two other poems in The Bombay Literary Magazine and another poem in @baltimorereview.bsky.social Here are the links: baltimorereview.org/spring_2025/... bombaylitmag.com/contribution...

"I’ve got a front-row seat at the fish bar at the end of the world, where happy hour is long past and closing time unclear." Tender, funny, horrifying, outlandish, and so human. Buckle up and give a read to Ron Maclean's new story "Apocalypso" about the last cataclysm. @baltimorereview.bsky.social

Had a blast repping @baltimorereview.bsky.social today at @barrelhouse.bsky.social’s Conversations & Connections! Man, some *seriously* talented writers out there. I just loved getting to read all those pieces at editor speed dating. #ccdc25

Let’s show our libraries some love.

A poem and prompt: Read Nancy Takacs’s poem “The Parakeets” with its straightforward and precise language. Present tense, childhood, but with a mature insight. Pick a memory that keeps coming back to you. Write with an understanding you didn’t have at the time. baltimorereview.org/winter_2025/...

Thanks, NewPages!

Happy National Poetry Month! Fun fact: On the Chill Subs site's free database, if you filter by poetry, open for submissions, pays, and no fee, you'll get 187 literary magazines. Including us! (We publish fiction and CNF, too.) www.chillsubs.com/browse/magaz... @chillsubs.bsky.social

Gathering work for our spring 2025 issue. In the meantime, a story from a past spring issue, Courtney Craggett's "Ordinary" (spring 2019): baltimorereview.org/spring_2019/...

Happy first day of spring! We're gathering work for our spring 2025 issue. In the meantime, I thought I'd share a few poems from past spring issues. From spring 2013: "American Typewriter" by Matthew Lippman. baltimorereview.org/spring_2013/...

CityLit is coming soon. April 5, 2025. Baltimore Review will have a table there, so stop by and say Hi if you're there. www.citylitproject.org

Super pleased to announce that Pamela Painter will serve as the final judge for our summer contest (flash fiction, flash creative nonfiction, prose poem categories). www.pamelapainter.com

We open our short-form summer contest categories on March 1. We want to be amazed at how you abracadabra words into magic and maybe feel a little jealous of how you do that. Check out the winners of our winter contest here: baltimorereview.org/winter_2025/...

Let's boost our literary journal neighbors. Plenty in my city! Here's one: The Hopkins Review @hopkinsreview.bsky.social hopkinsreview.com Here's another: Yellow Arrow Publishing @yellowarrowpub.bsky.social www.yellowarrowpublishing.com I know there are more of you on Bluesky. Happy Thursday!

Dear #BookSky can you help us find our lost audience? We left 140,00 people behind on X and we want to reconnect!

A Wednesday read and prompt. And here is the link to "September" baltimorereview.org/winter_2025/... and "Little Granite House": baltimorereview.org/winter_2025/...

A Wednesday read and prompt: The world of algorithms, followers, comments, likes, emoticons . . . Read baltimorereview.org/winter_2025/... Consider your own place in the online world and how you can explore some aspect of that world in your writing.

Our winter 2025 issue is live! Thanks to all the writers who made this issue possible. And thanks to everyone on the BR staff and the winter contest final judge, Francine Witte. baltimorereview.org