LitPDX seeks to amplify marginalized voices, and welcomes all, their ideas, their events, and their words.

For details regarding specific events please contact the organizers or venues. If you are an organizer or venue and would like to reach out to us please feel free to contact us or submit an event using our submission form. We’d love to hear from you!

Submission Deadline: The Gravity of the Thing: Spring 2020

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Our Spring 2020 reading period is open until April 30th. The Gravity of the Thing accepts defamiliarized works in the following general categories: Short: tell us a story in 3,000 words or less; we are interested in fiction, creative nonfiction, self-contained excerpts, and genre-bending forms. Flash: a fiction, creative nonfiction, or genre-bending story under 500 words. Poetry: share up to three poems, prose poems, or multimedia works for a combined count of 500 words or less. Six Words: a story in six words; you may share up to five stories per submission, but only one will be chosen. Baring the Device: brief essays for our Baring the Device column; click here to learn more.

Free

Submission Deadline: Grits: Summer Issue

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

What is Grits? Grits is a forthcoming independent publication that will be distributed on the internet. The goal of this publication is to unite reading/writing with design/art to share weird truths that make us feel human. It was founded in May 2020 with the belief that there are can never be too many small press publications. I hope this publication feels like a win-win when the bigger things lately have been feeling like loss after loss. Why is it called Grits? This publication is called “grits” because the word manages to balances all its disparate personalities in one syllable. It’s the dirt under your fingernails and it's your badass tenacity. It’s scum and resolve, firm courage with a rough edge. It’s also a hearty wholesome…

Free

Portland Art Museum: Journal On!

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

How we journey through this moment, one page at a time. What’s it like being you right now? How has your life been changed? How will you look back on this moment? We want to hear from you! The Portland Art Museum, Portland Public Schools, and Create More, Fear Less are assembling one enduring art journal, made up of many, to capture our shared story of this unique moment in history. How to participate Respond to our prompts below or follow along on Instagram @journal_on_everyone. Then, upload an image of your work to the gallery. Share your drawings, words, or photos. Use any creative expression you want. If you’re a musician, dancer, or other kind of artist that doesn’t fit on a page, we’d love…

Free

Submission Deadline: Grits Quarterly: Issue #3: Revive

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Revived, reborn, restored, rejuvenated. Stories of coming back to life. Reviving your body, your spirit, your hope. Healing, rescuing, or breathing new life into something old. Maybe something came close to the edge and was saved. Maybe something that had shriveled was reanimated. As we ride this winter into 2021, we are looking deep into the renaissance within us. This theme is open to your interpretation! Issue #3 submission deadline : January 11, 2021 Issue #3 release : February 2021 What kind of work are we looking for? We want to read your truest weirds. Words that smack you in the stomach. Words that gnaw your bones. Little grits stuck in your teeth that remind us of our humanity. Written works: poetry, prose, short story,…

Free

Buckman Journal Poetry Prize

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

The award-winning Buckman Journal is pleased to open submissions for the Buckman Journal Poetry Award, February 14 - 27, 2022. One poet will receive $300.00, and their work featured in Buckman Journal. The prize is open to Oregon and SW Washington residents only. There is no entry fee. Please send no more than five pages of unpublished poems. Simultaneous submissions are fine if noted in the cover letter. All styles are welcome, however Buckmxn favors the brave. Poets who use a word in an unexpected manner, lyrical without heavy handed and multiple adjectives, employ a joy working the sound and rhythm of words, strike Buckmxn most. Buckmxn also notes that there a lot of poems written solidly, squarely in the 1st person. Consider this if…

Free

Submissions Open: Portland Review

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

A new season is upon us! We open for submissions on September 18th. For over sixty years, Portland Review has published the works of emerging writers and artists alongside the works of well-established authors. We warmly encourage previously unpublished writers and artists to submit, and we aim to support work by those often marginalized in the artistic conversation, including (though certainly not limited to) people of color, women, disabled people, LGBTQIA people, and people with intersectional identities. Please note Portland Review does not accept previously published material. Portland Review accepts simultaneous submissions, but please immediately withdraw your work via Submittable if it is accepted elsewhere. If one work out of a collection of poems or images needs to be withdrawn but the other works in the collection are still available, message us via…

Free

Submission Deadline: Pile Press 2022 Fall Submissions

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Submissions for our Fall Issue close on the first official day of Fall. Have you submitted yet? Pile Press accepts poetry, short fiction, CNF, art, photography, comics, and more. Pile Press is an alternative publishing collective for women, non-binary, and gender fluid creatives. You can find more information on their website here. Submission guidelines can be found here.

Free

Open Submissions: Old Pal – Issue 6

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

📣 We're open to submissions for Old Pal Issue 6! Visit the link below for more details, and feel free to send any questions our way. We can't wait to see your work! Happy equinox! 🍂🖤 https://www.oldpalmag.com/submissions Old Pal is open for submissions until November 15th, 2022! Read the guidelines below, then send your submission to submissions@oldpalmag.com. Please use a .docx file type for writing, and high resolution images if you're submitting visual art. We publish poetry, fiction, critical non-fiction, excerpts, audio, mixed-media, and various mediums of art. We encourage artists from all experience levels and communities to submit. Contributors are compensated $50 upon publication. We ask that submissions are limited to 15 pages of written work or 6 pieces of other media. Simultaneous submissions…

Free

Submission Deadline: Old Pal – Issue 6

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

📣 We're open to submissions for Old Pal Issue 6! Visit the link below for more details, and feel free to send any questions our way. We can't wait to see your work! Happy equinox! 🍂🖤 https://www.oldpalmag.com/submissions Old Pal is open for submissions until November 15th, 2022! Read the guidelines below, then send your submission to submissions@oldpalmag.com. Please use a .docx file type for writing, and high resolution images if you're submitting visual art. We publish poetry, fiction, critical non-fiction, excerpts, audio, mixed-media, and various mediums of art. We encourage artists from all experience levels and communities to submit. Contributors are compensated $50 upon publication. We ask that submissions are limited to 15 pages of written work or 6 pieces of other media. Simultaneous submissions…

Free

Submission Deadline: Deep Overstock: Issue 19: Hacking

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Submissions for Issue 19: Hacking are now open. Submit your piece(s) by November 30, 2022. The color of the cover will be Gray. General Guidelines We publish fiction, poetry, comics, art, images, medical reports, plays, essays, philosophies, sculptures, sounds, mushroom dataset analyses, magic spells, fairy tales, folklore, riddles, jokes, horoscopes, death-predictions, and more. Surprise us! We have open submissions on a rolling basis. *Winter Issue: Open September 1st through November 30th. Release: January. Spring Issue: Open December 1st through February 28th. Release: April. Summer Issue: Open March 1st through May 31st. Release: July. Fall Issue: Open June 1st through August 31st. Release: October. Simultaneous submissions are fine, but let us know if the piece gets accepted elsewhere. We do not accept previously published works. Include…

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