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Submissions to Solstice Literary Magazine.

When you submit your piece, we require that you fill in our form and include a short bio. Your name, telephone number and email address should be typed at the top of the first page of your piece.  Also, in order to file your submission, we must ask you to copy and paste your bio onto the first page of your piece.   We cannot process your piece without the bio copied at the top of the first page.

We do not accept multiple submissions, so please send us only one piece at a time. We do accept simultaneous submissions, but please let us know right away if your piece has been accepted elsewhere by sending an email with the title of your piece to submissions@solsticelitmag.org.

We only accept unpublished work, unless solicited. One we have published your work, you are free to send it elsewhere. We hold first-and one-time rights only, although we reserve the right to post your work in our Archives. We might request selected pieces for future anthologies. You reserve the right to decline our offer.While we do not pay for individual pieces, we do promote selected work on our social media pages and elsewhere, and we also sponsor an annual contest which offers cash prizes.

We make every attempt to respond to submissions within four to six months or sooner.

We’ve kept our submission guidelines to a minimum because we want to encourage you to submit your best work. We are looking for established and also new voices. Out of the collision of diverse voices can come dialogue, and maybe a hint of unity, and maybe even peace, a solstice of the mind

Ends on $20.00
$20.00
Submit to ANNUAL LITERARY CONTEST

ANNUAL LITERARY CONTEST

Solstice’s 2026 Annual Literary Contest is now open!

  • $1,000 Fiction Prize, judge: Jessica Treadway
  • $500 Stephen Dunn Poetry Prize, judge: Porsha Olayiwola
  • $500 Michael Steinberg Nonfiction Prize, judge: Sven Birkerts
  • $500 Graphic Lit Prize, judge: John Vasquez Mejias

     Winners, finalists, and Editors' Choice in each genre will be published in our Summer Awards Issue due out in August. All winners, finalists, and editors' choice will be cited in future advertisements and announcements.

 

         FEE: $20.00/entry

CONTEST PERIOD: April 1 to June 1, 2026

 

CONTEST RULES AND GUIDELINES

  1. Cover sheet required with name, address, telephone number and email. Email and/or phone MUST be included to be considered. Please include the cover sheet in the same file as the actual submission. Do not put your name on the manuscript itself. Final judges will be choosing on the basis of the quality of your work. Please indicate the genre of your piece next to the title.

  1. Each entry: Fiction or Nonfiction: 25-page maximum, double-spaced, 12-point font, .DOC or .DOCX attachment; free-standing excerpts from books also accepted. Poetry: 3-poem maximum, 12-point font, .DOC or .DOCX attachment. Graphic Lit: Original artwork, multiple panels (no single image pieces), 1-6 pages preferred, maximum 8-10 pages, in JPG/PDF format.
  2. You may submit more than once during the contest period but must pay a separate fee for each entry.
  3. You may submit simultaneously elsewhere, but please contact  us immediately if accepted by another journal.
  4. We will not accept previously published work. Solstice has first publication rights, but copyright reverts to you upon publication. After the piece is published in our Summer Awards Issue, we will publish the piece in our Archives. All winners, finalists, and editors' choice will be cited in future advertisements and announcements.
  5. Solstice has a zero tolerance policy for AI generated submissions of any genre. Any individuals found to be submitting AI generated work will have that work rejected. Any reading fees sent to Solstice will not be refunded on the basis of rejection.
  6. If you won last year’s contest, you must skip a year before resubmitting to the contest, but we encourage you to submit work to Solstice for general publication.
  7. We will announce the winners, finalists, and editors' choice approximately 6-8 weeks after the contest deadline.
  8. After announcing the winners, finalists, and editors' choice, all contest submissions will be automatically considered for standard publication unless you indicate otherwise.
  9. The $20.00 entry fee must be paid online at the time of entry.
  10. We accept online submissions only through Submittable. No emails please.
Solstice Literary Magazine