Regular Reading Period: June 1 – January 15

Ploughshares welcomes unsolicited submissions of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction during our regular reading period, open from June 1 to January 15 at noon EST. To submit to the journal, including the Fall Longform Issue, please review our guidelines.

Our Look2 essay series seeks to publish essays about under-appreciated or overlooked writers. The Look2 essay should take stock of a writer’s entire oeuvre with the goal of bringing critical attention to the neglected writer and his or her relevance to a contemporary audience. To submit a Look2 essay query to the journal, please review our guidelines.

Emerging Writer’s Contest: March 1 – May 15

In the spirit of the journal’s founding mission, the Ploughshares Emerging Writer’s Contest recognizes work by an emerging writer in each of three genres: fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. One winner in each genre per year will receive $2,000 and publication in the literary journal. We consider authors “emerging” if they haven’t published or self-published a book. The 2024 contest—judged by Dantiel W. Moniz in fiction, Porsha Olayiwola in poetry, and Augusten Burroughs in nonfiction—has closed. The winners will be announced this fall.