Our Winter '26 issue is now live! Check out all the book reviews (25 books!!) plus the amazing creative writing and the first of our Military Writing in North Carolina pieces! issuu.com/eastcarolina...

Are you hanging out by the fire and need something to read on this cold wintry day (at least here in NC)? We suggest you check out the latest issue of NCLR Online! nclr.ecu.edu/issues/nclr-...

Our 2026 Special Feature "Saluting Military Writing" closes on 8/31!! Anyone who is 1) an #NCwriter and 2) active duty/veteran/family member writing about #military service can submit! #Fiction goes through the upcoming Betts Prize contest. All the details: nclr.submittable.com/submit

2026 Feature Call for Submission CLOSES 8/31! Accepting interviews and literary criticism by and about North Carolina writers who have served or are in the military or who write about their experiences related to loved ones' military service. More details at nclr.submittable.com/submit

New Editors' Blogpost, this month by our 2026 Guest Feature Editor Anna Froula! "All veterans are humanists in one way or another, having lived, if also not lost the extremes of human experience." Read: nclr.ecu.edu/2025/06/16/v...

Working on this week's Friday from the Archives and wishing I could go back in time to Black Mountain College's heydey. What's a literary time travel location for you?

As someone who once featured Cats of North Carolina Writers in an issue, we are fur-scinated by this.

We love Daniel Wallace interviews.

issuu.com/eastcarolina... I’m thrilled to announce my poem, “Nadiya Becomes a Sonnet” is in the current Spring 2025 issue of the North Carolina Literary Review. @nclitreview.bsky.social

NCLR Online Spring 2025 is NOW AVAILABLE! ⬇⬇⬇ nclr.ecu.edu/issues/nclr-... Tell us your favorite piece (and it can totally be your own!), since we're partial to every single page. Help us celebrate releasing our second Spring issue ever!

Congrats to former NCLR intern @inacarino.bsky.social on winning the 2025 Lucille Medwick Memorial Award from @poetrysociety.org !

CALLING ALL POETS! If you hail from NC, we'd love to hear from you for either or both of our POETRY PRIZE competitions! Winners get automatic publication AND a cash prize! Check out all the details: nclr.ecu.edu/submissions/ (and please share!)

"Asked to speak on “the renaissance of North Carolina literature,” my reaction had been: what renaissance? How can you have a renaissance when there has never been a waning?" -- Our dear Editor Margaret Bauer, in our 2013 issue. 😍

Happy Pub Day to UNCG Creative Writing faculty member Xhenet Aliu! EVERYBODY SAYS IT'S EVERYTHING launches today from Random House buff.ly/LoI1HuF #UNCGEnglish #UNCG #UNCGWay #FindYourWayHere @mfagreensboro.bsky.social

Happy Pub Day to UNCG Creative Writing alum Carole Boston Weatherford! RAP IT UP! launches today from Henry Holt & Co. buff.ly/vFCEd7o #UNCGAlumni #UNCGEnglish #UNCG #UNCGWay #FindYourWayHere @mfagreensboro.bsky.social

🎉🏆 BIG NEWS! 🏆🎉 Rock is Lit, the first podcast devoted to rock novels, has been named the 2025 American Writing Awards Podcast of the Year in Music! 🎸📖 We’re also honored to be finalists in the Arts and Fiction categories! #AmericanWritingAwards @pantheonpodcasts.bsky.social #rocknovels

UPDATE!! Joining winner Ashlen will be UNC Professor of Creative Nonfiction Stephanie Elizondo Griest (who also happens to be Ashlen's former professor!). We are so excited to listen to these two read and have a lively Q&A about their creative work. (and hope Ashley Harris gets well quickly!)

Creative Nonfiction Writers!! Come hear a couple of last year's Albright winners and finalists and get all your questions answered about our contest, this Saturday 2/22 in Southern Pines! Details: ticketmesandhills.com/events/alex-...

ICYMI: EVERYBODY SAYS IT'S EVERYTHING, the latest novel from UNCG Creative Writing faculty member Xhenet Aliu is now available for pre-order from Random House https://buff.ly/4eFjWld @mfagreensboro.bsky.social #UNCGEnglish #UNCG #UNCGWay #FindYourWayHere

ICYMI - YOU BETWEEN THE LINES, the debut novel by UNCG Creative Writing alum Katie Naymon is now available for pre-order from Hatchette Book Group https://buff.ly/4iHh3U6 @mfagreensboro.bsky.social #UNCGAlumni #UNCGEnglish #UNCG #UNCGWay #FindYourWayHere

Spoken Word Artists!! Mark your calendars for April! The Jaki Shelton Green Performance Poetry Contest is for you! Details: nclr.ecu.edu/submissions/...

THIS JUST IN: Albright Creative Nonfiction Contest Winners/Finalists reading will be Saturday Feb 22nd at 2pm at The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines! More details soon!

@thehometownholler.bsky.social podcast welcomes authors Belle Boggs & Sylvester Allen Jr. to discuss the life and legacy of Wyatt Outlaw, the first African American to serve as Town Commissioner and Constable of Graham, NC. ➡️ Watch for their Ferris and Ferris Book, coming Fall '25 from UNC Press ⬅️

Happy Pub Day to UNCG Creative Writing alum Carole Boston Weatherford! If Kamala Can: . . . You Can Too! launches today from Sourcebooks https://buff.ly/3P2uNvc @mfagreensboro.bsky.social #UNCGAlumni #UNCGEnglish #UNCG #UNCGWay #FindYourWayHere

Apropos of nothing much: nclr.ecu.edu/2023/10/17/c...

Take a break from *gestures at everything* and read the first of our 2025 issues! Now Available! Free! issuu.com/eastcarolina...

Hey, we resemble that remark!! Thank you for all you do for us!

sooooooooooon

Due South-WUNC's most anticipated books of winter/spring 2025, including THE ANTHOLOGY OF BLACK MOUNTAIN COLLEGE POETRY (on sale 2/18/25)—thanks for the callout Flyleaf Books! www.wunc.org/show/due-sou...

A reminder - don't use Amazon, but go to bookshops, which play a far more vital role in promoting literacy just by simply making books more visible, and allow you to find things by chance rather than by what the algorithm decides.

Calling all Southern poets! Apply for the Southern Prize and State Fellowships for Literary Arts by February 12. Visit southarts.org/grants-opportunities for more info. Here's the 2024 anthology we published in partnership that contains 9 stories chosen last year.

If you want to be inspired to write for our current Albright Creative Nonfiction Contest (now through March 1!), check out what judge @paulcrenstorm.bsky.social is writing.

Ever wonder which university presses publish in a particular field? Check out the updated AUPresses Subject Area Grid, one of our most popular resources. It offers an accessible overview of 130 subject areas published by more than 140 members worldwide. https://bit.ly/3C7ASUc

Spread the word, Bluesky! Our #CreativeNonfiction contest is now open, through March 1! Check out all the details here: nclr.ecu.edu/submissions/...

The Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize closes Jan 30! Winner receives $1,000 and publication in The Thomas Wolfe Review. Open to all writers regardless of geographical location or prior publication. Don't miss your chance. www.ncwriters.org/programs/com... #writingcompetitions #amwriting #writingcontest

The Randall Jarrell Poetry Competition, sponsored by the North Carolina Writers’ Network, opens today! Submit your single poems for a chance to win $200 and publication in @storysouth.bsky.social. Deadline is March 1. For details and entry, visit: www.ncwriters.org/programs/com...

Congratulations to USMC First Lieutenant Hunter Mendenhall, winner of NCWN’s first Barrax/Bayes Poetry Contest for his poem “The Salty Son.” Mendenhall will receive $250 and his poem will be considered for publication in the NC Literary Review. Read more here: www.ncwriters.org/news/network...

The mountains are calling. ⛰️ Registration is now open for the Network’s Spring Conference taking place in Asheville, May 2-4, 2025. Open to members and non-members with plenty of registration options! Register now to reserve your spot. www.ncwriters.org/programs/con...

Happy News! Congrats to Evan Fackler, this year's Doris Betts Fiction Prize Winner! And to all our finalists.

While we're looking forward to getting to know folks here, a reminder that to be assured of seeing all NCLR updates and CONTEST SUBMISSION info, the best is to sign up for monthly newsletter: nclr.ecu.edu

We're here to promote NC's rich literary culture. If you're an NC author or teaching/researching/writing about NC authors, we want to follow your work.