Established in 2017 as a literary magazine for fiction, CRAFT expanded in 2020 to publish creative nonfiction as well. We explore how writing works, reading pieces with a focus on the elements of craft, on the art of prose. We feature previously unpublished creative work, with occasional reprints, as well as critical pieces including craft essays and interviews. All published creative pieces include an author’s note and an editorial introduction that both discuss stylistics in the work.

We do not charge fees for our fiction or creative nonfiction submissions, or for our craft categories, and we are a paying market. Our general submissions are open year-round with no capacity limits. We value accessibility—keeping CRAFT free to read and free to submit to is our priority. We work with all writers, established as well as emerging. All creative work published in CRAFT comes through submission; we do not solicit fiction or creative nonfiction.

We offer editorial feedback on short prose, as well as fast-response categories whenever possible.

So that our notifications to you are not filtered as spam/junk, please whitelist/add to contacts: notifications@email.submittable.com.

By submitting to CRAFT, submitters agree to receive correspondence about future published works and submission opportunities from CRAFT. You can unsubscribe at any time.

**If you haven't already, please verify your email address with Submittable for more consistent communication.**

Unless specifically requested, we do not accept AI-generated work.

Ends on $20.00
$20.00
Submit to CRAFT 2024 Short Fiction Prize — Guest Judge Deesha Philyaw

CRAFT 2024 Short Fiction Prize

Guest Judge: Deesha Philyaw

$2,800 Awarded + Tech Bonus

March 18 – May 19, 2024

Welcome to the CRAFT 2024 Short Fiction Prize! Since our launch in 2017, CRAFT has been a premier online home for the contemporary short story. We admire self-assured style and unabashed ingenuity, a willingness to explore and expand the form.

For this year’s contest, Guest Judge Deesha Philyaw dares writers to indulge, to be bold and defiant:

For me, a short story succeeds when I see, on the page, the writer indulging their own desires, interests, quirks, and demons; when I see the writer daring to write like themselves, eschewing mimicry and playing it safe. Not being daring for the sake of being daring or performative, but daring because they’re defying the person or rule that told them, “You can’t write about that,” or “You can’t write like that,” or “You can’t write.” I’m looking for fearlessness and audacity. I’m looking for characters making a mess of it all, then putting the pieces of themselves back together (or not). I’m a Virgo, so naturally I want the writer to mind the details—physical, emotional, and spiritual.

The first-place winner will receive a $2,000 award, online publication, a subscription to Journal of the Month, and—new this year—a writerly Tech Bonus worth up to $500! The second- and third-place finalists will receive $500 and $300, respectively, along with online publication. The 2024 Short Fiction Prize opens on March 18 and closes on May 19, 2024. Send us your most audacious short stories!

Guidelines:

  • CRAFT submissions are open to all writers.
  • International submissions are allowed.
  • Please submit work primarily written in English, but some code-switching/meshing is warmly welcomed.
  • We seek short fiction only for this contest: 1,000 to 5,000 words in length.
  • We review literary fiction but are open to a variety of genres and styles—our only requirement is that you show excellence in your craft.
  • Submit previously unpublished work only—we do NOT review reprints for contests (including work posted on blogs, personal websites, social media, etc.). Reprints will be automatically disqualified.
  • We allow simultaneous submissions—writers, please notify us and withdraw your piece if your work is accepted for publication elsewhere.
  • We allow multiple submissions—please submit each piece as a separate submission accompanied by an entry fee.
  • This contest requires a $20 entry fee per submission.
  • All entries will also be considered for publication in CRAFT.
  • Please double-space your submission and use Times New Roman 12.
  • Include a brief cover letter with your publication history (if applicable).
  • We do not require anonymous submissions. However, we do anonymize the fifteen shortlisted stories before sending them to the guest judge.
  • Writers from historically marginalized groups will be able to submit for free until we reach fifty free submissions. (This free category is now closed. No additional fee waivers will be granted for this contest.)
  • AI-generated work will be automatically disqualified.
  • Entries that do not adhere to these guidelines will be automatically disqualified.
  • We do not discriminate on the basis of age, ancestry, disability, family status, gender identity or expression, national origin, race, religion, sex or sexual orientation, or for any other reason.
  • Additionally, we do not tolerate discrimination in the writing we consider for publication: work we find discriminatory on any of the bases stated here will be declined without complete review.

Awards:

  • Winner receives a $2,000 cash award, a free four-issue subscription from Journal of the Month, and our Tech Bonus: their choice of an iPAD 10th Generation, reMarkable 2, or a Freewrite Traveler (up to $500 value).
  • Second- and third-place finalists receive $500 and $300, respectively.
  • The top three stories will be published in CRAFT, each with an introduction by the guest judge.
  • Each publication will also include an author's note (craft essay) by the writer.

Fine Print:

  • Friends, family, and associates of the guest judge are not eligible for consideration for the award.
  • Our collaboration with editorial professionals in the judging of our contests and the awarding of our prizes does not imply an endorsement or recognition from their agencies, houses, presses, universities, etc.
  • Read our 2023 contest winners for examples of work chosen in the past.
  • As we only consider unpublished writing and will publish the winning pieces in October 2024, anything under contract to publish prior to January 2025 should not be entered.

Our Guest Judge:

DEESHA PHILYAW is the author of the debut short story collection, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, which won the 2021 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, the 2020/2021 Story Prize, the 2020 Los Angeles Times Book Prize: The Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, and was a finalist for the 2020 National Book Award for Fiction. The Secret Lives of Church Ladies focuses on Black women, sex, and the Black church, and is being adapted for television by HBO Max with Tessa Thompson executive producing. Deesha is also a Kimbilio Fiction Fellow and a Baldwin for the Arts Fellow. Her debut novel, The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman, is forthcoming from Mariner Books, an imprint of HarperCollins, in 2025. Find her on Twitter @DeeshaPhilyaw.

Our Contest Partner:

JOURNAL OF THE MONTH sends a new print literary magazine to your mailbox on a regular basis. Which one? What you receive changes month to month, but every participating magazine is a highly regarded actor in the contemporary literary scene that publishes exciting fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry from new and established voices.

Optional Editorial Feedback:

You may choose to receive editorial feedback on your piece directly through the contest submission form. We will provide line-level marginal notes, as well as a two-page global letter discussing the strengths of the writing and the recommended focus for revision. While editorial feedback is inherently subjective, our suggestions are always actionable and encouraging. We aim to have feedback completed within twelve weeks from the close of the contest. Should your story win, no feedback will be offered and your fee will be refunded. Please note that work we critique is not eligible for future CRAFT contests.

Submit to CRAFT Editorial Feedback Platform (ONE Letter)

Editorial Feedback Platform

Need new eyes on your short prose?

Our team would love to work with you! 

CRAFT offers editorial feedback on creative prose up to 6,000 words. We've carefully chosen a team of qualified editors to provide thoughtful critique. For each piece sent, you'll receive line-level marginal notes, as well as a two-page global letter discussing the strengths of the writing and the recommended focus for revision. While editorial feedback is inherently subjective, our suggestions will always be actionable and encouraging. Please allow up to twelve weeks to receive your feedback materials.

For your convenience and savings, we offer two options—single letters and triple letters. Rates are detailed below. Triple letter packages offer an 8% discount. This form is for single letters, but you can find the triple-letter option here, if desired.

All work sent through this event will also be considered for publication in CRAFT. Should we accept your work, the feedback fee will be refunded.

If you have questions about submissions, please send an email to: contact (at) craftliterary (dot) com.

Testimonials from Previous Recipients of CRAFT Editorial Feedback:

As a published author of 75+ academic and professional articles, reports, and two (academic) books, I have to say that David K. Slay's feedback on my fledgling short story "John Huff" was the most thorough, perceptive, and helpful feedback and writing coaching I have ever received. I am very grateful for their attention to detail, voice, and flow—something I craved as I continue my journey into this daunting genre.  —Marjorie S.
I was so pleased with the feedback I received from Kyle Cochrun. His comments demonstrated that he understood what I was trying to accomplish with the essay and that he was 'thinking with me' as he closely read my draft. He didn't make a single comment that left me scratching my head—in fact, just the opposite. His feedback was like a private class in essay writing, and helped me see how to look at my drafts for unplumbed opportunities and to apply the strengths he identified to develop those opportunities. I've already completed the revisions and believe the piece is much stronger for his guidance.  —Aggie S.

Rates for Single Letters:

  • Flash fiction / flash creative nonfiction up to 1,000 words (one flash piece or up to three micro* pieces totaling fewer than 1,000 words): $59
  • Short story / creative nonfiction essay from 1,000 to 3,500 words (one piece): $79 
  • Short story / creative nonfiction essay from 3,500 to 6,000 words (one piece): $99

*For our purposes, micros should be about 333 words maximum apiece, please. Include all three micros in ONE document.

How you can help us when sending work for our review:

  • Please send only .doc or .docx files  if possible, so that we can use MS Word's Track Changes for our marginal notes.
  • Kindly double-space and use Times New Roman 12.

Guidelines:

  • CRAFT Editorial Feedback is open to all prose writers.
  • Please send fiction or creative nonfiction only.
  • International submissions are welcome.
  • Please submit work primarily written in English, but conceptually or stylistically necessary codeswitching is warmly welcomed.
  • Please adhere to the 6,000-word-count maximum.
  • If sending up to three micros, include all pieces in ONE document.
  • Work that has received editorial feedback is not eligible for submission to CRAFT contests.
  • We do not accept, review, or consider AI-generated work.
  • We strongly discourage simultaneous submissions in conjunction with editorial feedback. If your piece is already under review by our team and you withdraw it, we will not be able to offer a refund. If you withdraw your piece before we have begun feedback, we will be happy to let you substitute another piece of equal length.
  • We do not discriminate on the basis of age, ancestry, disability, family status, gender identity or expression, national origin, race, religion, sex or sexual orientation, or for any other reason.
  • Additionally, we do not tolerate discrimination in the writing we consider for publication. Work we find discriminatory on any of the bases stated here will be declined without complete review (you will be refunded, less fees).

Editorial Feedback Team:

JOANNA ACEVEDO (she/they) is the Pushcart-nominated author of the poetry collection The Pathophysiology of Longing (Black Centipede Press, 2020) and the short story collection Unsaid Things (Flexible Press, 2021). Her work has been seen across the web and in print, including or forthcoming in Hobart Pulp, The Rumpus, and The Masters Review. She received her MFA in Fiction from New York University in 2021 and is supported by Creatives Rebuild New York: Guaranteed Income for Artists. Find her on Twitter at @jo_avocado.

YAEL VALENCIA ALDANA (she/her/hers) is a writer and editor living in South Florida. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Florida International University. She is a Best of the Net nominee, and her work has appeared or is upcoming in Chapter House Journal, Typehouse, Slag Glass City, and elsewhere. She is currently working on a memoir. Find her on Twitter @Yaelwrites71.

MELISSA BENTON BARKER is the flash fiction section editor at CRAFT. A graduate of the MFA program at Antioch University Los Angeles, her writing appears in Longleaf Review, Moon City Review, Wigleaf, SmokeLong Quarterly, and Best Small Fictions 2021. She has received Pushcart and Best of the Net nominations. She lives in Yellow Springs, Ohio.

ALYSE BURNSIDE is a writer and editor living in Brooklyn. She holds an MFA from University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, The Nation, The Believer, and elsewhere. She's working on a book.

KYLE COCHRUN (he/him) is a writer living in Seattle, Washington. He is a contributing writer for PopMatters, where he writes features, interviews, and album reviews. His essays and creative nonfiction have appeared in The Akron Anthology, Watershed Review, Echo, and CRAFT. He received an MFA in creative writing from the Northeast Ohio Master of Fine Arts graduate program.

ALEXA DORAN recently completed her PhD in poetry at Florida State University. Her full-length collection DM Me, Mother Darling won the 2020 May Sarton New Hampshire Poetry Prize and was published in April 2021 (Bauhan). She is also the author of the chapbook Nightsink, Faucet Me a Lullaby (Bottlecap Press 2019). Look for work from Doran in recent or upcoming issues of Pleiades, Witness, Salt Hill Journal, and Gigantic Sequins, among others.

BRANDON DUDLEY is the  author of Hazards of Nature: Stories, selected by Sigrid Nunez as the winner of the 2020 Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance Chapbook Contest. His writing, interviews, and criticism have appeared in New South, The Millions, The Forge, Fiction Writers Review, North by Northeast 2, and others. He holds an MFA from the University of Nevada, Reno at Lake Tahoe. He lives in Maine with his wife and two sons. Find him on Twitter @brandondudley8.

ROSS FEELER’s fiction has appeared in Electric Literature's "Recommended Reading," The Common, New South, Potomac Review, Story | Houston, Hypertext, and others. His novel-in-progress received the Marianne Russo Award from the Key West Literary Seminar and was a finalist for James Jones First Novel Award. He teaches English at Texas State University.

B. B. GARIN is a writer living in Buffalo, New York. Her echapbook, New Songs for Old Radios, is available from Wordrunner Press. Her work has appeared in Hawaii Pacific Review, Luna Station Quarterly, Palooka, 3rd Wednesday, Crack the Spine, and more. She is currently a prose reader and blog contributor for The Masters Review. She continues to improve her craft at GrubStreet Writing Center, where she has developed several short fiction pieces, as well as two novels. Connect with her online @bb_garin.

COURTNEY HARLER (she/her) is a queer writer, editor, and educator based in Las Vegas, Nevada. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing (Fiction) from the University of Nevada, Reno at Lake Tahoe (2017) and an MA in English (Literature) from Eastern Washington University (2013). Courtney is currently editor in chief of CRAFT and editorial director for Discover New Art, and has read and written for UNT's Katherine Anne Porter Prize, The Masters Review, Funicular Magazine, Reflex Fiction, and Chicago Literati in recent years. She also hosts the literary podcast PWN's Debut Review, as well as teaches and edits for Project Write Now, a nonprofit writing studio in New Jersey. For her creative work, Courtney has been honored by support from Key West Literary Seminar, Writing By Writers, Community of Writers, Napa Valley Writers' Conference, and Nevada Arts Council. Courtney's work has been published in multiple genres in literary magazines around the world. Find her on Instagram @CourtneyHarler.

KATELYN KEATING (she/her) was the editor in chief of CRAFT from 2018 to 2021 and now serves as editor at large. She was a 2017 fellow of the LA Review of Books Publishing Workshop and has been on their faculty since 2018, overseeing PubLab, leading the magazine track as a program manager, and serving as the publisher coordinator for LITLIT: The Little Literary Fair. She is a production manager with Berrett-Koehler Publishers, and was the production and operations manager at Prospect Park Books until it left California in 2021. Her essays appear in Crab Orchard Review, Flyway, Lunch Ticket, Tahoma Literary Review, and elsewhere. Katelyn has an MFA from Antioch University Los Angeles, where she worked for two years on Lunch Ticket, serving as editor in chief for issues 11 and 12. Find her on Twitter @katelyn_keating.

JILL KOLONGOWSKI writes the Substack Tiny True Stories and is also the author of the essay collection Life Lessons Harry Potter Taught Me (Ulysses Press, 2017). Her work also appears in Electric Lit, Insider, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Brevity, River Teeth, and elsewhere. Her essays have won Sundog Lit’s First Annual Contest series and the Diana Woods Memorial Prize in Creative Nonfiction at Lunch Ticket, and she earned her MFA from St. Mary's College of California. Jill teaches writing at the College of San Mateo, and lives in Northern California with her husband and daughter. Find her on Twitter @jillkolongowski.

VAL M. MATHEWS is a big-hearted, fun-loving editor who teaches courses in developmental editing for the University of California Berkeley Extension, Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada, and the Editorial Freelancers Association in New York City. Val also freelances on the side and works as an editorial consultant for CRAFT and The Masters Review. Previously, she was an editor for The Wild Rose Press, a small traditional publishing house in New York. She earned an MA in Professional Writing from Kennesaw State University and a BFA from the University of Georgia. Fun fact about Val: She’s been an FAA-certified flight instructor for over twenty-five years, and in the past, she flew Lear jets for a living.

GABRIEL MOSELEY is a writer and editor from Seattle, Washington. His work has appeared in The Masters Review, Nordic Kultur, Stratus, and Alaska Airlines’ Alaska Beyond Magazine. He received an MFA from the University of North Carolina Wilmington and certificates in both editing and literary fiction from the University of Washington. He has been a finalist for the Made at Hugo House Writing Fellowship, LitMag’s Virginia Woolf Award for Short Fiction, and the Haleakalā National Park Residency. He is a guest editor for The Masters Review. 

GAGE SAYLOR is the assistant director of creative writing at Oklahoma State University. His fiction and poetry have appeared in Passages North, Tampa Review, Crab Creek Review, Iron Horse, and elsewhere. He has won the Katherine Anne Porter Prize at Nimrod and is a previous semifinalist for the Kurt Vonnegut Speculative Fiction Prize at North American Review. He received his MFA at McNeese State University, where he was awarded the Robert Olen Butler Prize for Fiction.

After retiring from full-time work, DAVID K. SLAY completed a two-year program of short fiction writing workshops in the University of California, Los Angeles, Writers’ Program. His short stories, flash fiction, and microfiction can be found in a group of diverse literary journals, including Door Is A Jar, Gold Man Review, ImageOutWrite, The Magnolia Review, Random Sample Review, Ginosko Literary Journal, American Writers Review, and others. Nonfiction craft articles are in CRAFT and Submittable’s “Content for Creatives,” and he has served as a guest editor for Vestal Review. He has been a submissions reader for CRAFT since 2019, and is currently an associate editor for the short fiction section.

Submit to CRAFT Editorial Feedback Platform (THREE Letters)

Editorial Feedback Platform

Need new eyes on your short prose?

Our team would love to work with you!

CRAFT offers editorial feedback on creative prose up to 6,000 words. We've carefully chosen a team of qualified editors to provide thoughtful critique. For each piece sent, you'll receive line-level marginal notes, as well as a two-page global letter discussing the strengths of the writing and the recommended focus for revision. While editorial feedback is inherently subjective, our suggestions will always be actionable and encouraging. Please allow up to twelve weeks to receive your feedback materials.

For your convenience and savings, we offer two options—single letters and triple letters. Rates are detailed below. Triple letter packages offer an 8% discount. This form is for triple letters only.

All work sent through this event will also be considered for publication in CRAFT. Should we accept your work, the feedback fee will be refunded.

If you have questions about submissions, please send an email to: contact (at) craftliterary (dot) com.
 

Testimonials from Previous Recipients of CRAFT Editorial Feedback:

As a published author of 75+ academic and professional articles, reports, and two (academic) books, I have to say that David K. Slay's feedback on my fledgling short story "John Huff" was the most thorough, perceptive, and helpful feedback and writing coaching I have ever received. I am very grateful for their attention to detail, voice, and flow—something I craved as I continue my journey into this daunting genre.  —Marjorie S.
I was so pleased with the feedback I received from Kyle Cochrun. His comments demonstrated that he understood what I was trying to accomplish with the essay and that he was 'thinking with me' as he closely read my draft. He didn't make a single comment that left me scratching my head—in fact, just the opposite. His feedback was like a private class in essay writing, and helped me see how to look at my drafts for unplumbed opportunities and to apply the strengths he identified to develop those opportunities. I've already completed the revisions and believe the piece is much stronger for his guidance.  —Aggie S.

Rates for Triple Letters:

  • Flash fiction / flash creative nonfiction up to 1,000 words (one flash piece or up to three micro* pieces totaling fewer than 1,000 words): $149
  • Short story / creative nonfiction essay from 1,000 to 3,500 words (one piece): $199 
  • Short story / creative nonfiction essay from 3,500 to 6,000 words (one piece): $249

*For our purposes, micros should be about 333 words maximum apiece, please. Include all three micros in ONE document.

How you can help us when sending work for our review:

  • Please send only .doc or .docx files  if possible, so that we can use MS Word's Track Changes for our marginal notes.
  • Kindly double-space and use Times New Roman 12.

Guidelines:

  • CRAFT Editorial Feedback is open to all prose writers.
  • Please send fiction or creative nonfiction only.
  • International submissions are welcome.
  • Please submit work primarily written in English, but conceptually or stylistically necessary codeswitching is warmly welcomed.
  • Please adhere to the 6,000-word-count maximum.
  • If sending up to three micros, include all pieces in ONE document.
  • Work that has received editorial feedback is not eligible for submission to CRAFT contests.
  • We do not accept, review, or consider AI-generated work.
  • We strongly discourage simultaneous submissions in conjunction with editorial feedback. If your piece is already under review by our team and you withdraw it, we will not be able to offer a refund. If you withdraw your piece before we have begun feedback, we will be happy to let you substitute another piece of equal length.
  • We do not discriminate on the basis of age, ancestry, disability, family status, gender identity or expression, national origin, race, religion, sex or sexual orientation, or for any other reason.
  • Additionally, we do not tolerate discrimination in the writing we consider for publication. Work we find discriminatory on any of the bases stated here will be declined without complete review (you will be refunded, less fees).

Editorial Feedback Team:

JOANNA ACEVEDO (she/they) is the Pushcart-nominated author of the poetry collection The Pathophysiology of Longing (Black Centipede Press, 2020) and the short story collection Unsaid Things (Flexible Press, 2021). Her work has been seen across the web and in print, including or forthcoming in Hobart Pulp, The Rumpus, and The Masters Review. She received her MFA in Fiction from New York University in 2021 and is supported by Creatives Rebuild New York: Guaranteed Income for Artists. Find her on Twitter at @jo_avocado.

YAEL VALENCIA ALDANA (she/her/hers) is a writer and editor living in South Florida. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Florida International University. She is a Best of the Net nominee, and her work has appeared or is upcoming in Chapter House Journal, Typehouse, Slag Glass City, and elsewhere. She is currently working on a memoir. Find her on Twitter @Yaelwrites71.

MELISSA BENTON BARKER is the flash fiction section editor at CRAFT. A graduate of the MFA program at Antioch University Los Angeles, her writing appears in Longleaf Review, Moon City Review, Wigleaf, SmokeLong Quarterly, and Best Small Fictions 2021. She has received Pushcart and Best of the Net nominations. She lives in Yellow Springs, Ohio.

ALYSE BURNSIDE is a writer and editor living in Brooklyn. She holds an MFA from University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, The Nation, The Believer, and elsewhere. She's working on a book.

KYLE COCHRUN (he/him) is a writer living in Seattle, Washington. He is a contributing writer for PopMatters, where he writes features, interviews, and album reviews. His essays and creative nonfiction have appeared in The Akron Anthology, Watershed Review, Echo, and CRAFT. He received an MFA in creative writing from the Northeast Ohio Master of Fine Arts graduate program.

ALEXA DORAN recently completed her PhD in poetry at Florida State University. Her full-length collection DM Me, Mother Darling won the 2020 May Sarton New Hampshire Poetry Prize and was published in April 2021 (Bauhan). She is also the author of the chapbook Nightsink, Faucet Me a Lullaby (Bottlecap Press 2019). Look for work from Doran in recent or upcoming issues of Pleiades, Witness, Salt Hill Journal, and Gigantic Sequins, among others.

BRANDON DUDLEY is the  author of Hazards of Nature: Stories, selected by Sigrid Nunez as the winner of the 2020 Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance Chapbook Contest. His writing, interviews, and criticism have appeared in New South, The Millions, The Forge, Fiction Writers Review, North by Northeast 2, and others. He holds an MFA from the University of Nevada, Reno at Lake Tahoe. He lives in Maine with his wife and two sons. Find him on Twitter @brandondudley8.

ROSS FEELER’s fiction has appeared in Electric Literature's "Recommended Reading," The Common, New South, Potomac Review, Story | Houston, Hypertext, and others. His novel-in-progress received the Marianne Russo Award from the Key West Literary Seminar and was a finalist for James Jones First Novel Award. He teaches English at Texas State University.

B. B. GARIN is a writer living in Buffalo, New York. Her echapbook, New Songs for Old Radios, is available from Wordrunner Press. Her work has appeared in Hawaii Pacific Review, Luna Station Quarterly, Palooka, 3rd Wednesday, Crack the Spine, and more. She is currently a prose reader and blog contributor for The Masters Review. She continues to improve her craft at GrubStreet Writing Center, where she has developed several short fiction pieces, as well as two novels. Connect with her online @bb_garin.

COURTNEY HARLER (she/her) is a queer writer, editor, and educator based in Las Vegas, Nevada. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing (Fiction) from the University of Nevada, Reno at Lake Tahoe (2017) and an MA in English (Literature) from Eastern Washington University (2013). Courtney is currently editor in chief of CRAFT and editorial director for Discover New Art, and has read and written for UNT's Katherine Anne Porter Prize, The Masters Review, Funicular Magazine, Reflex Fiction, and Chicago Literati in recent years. She also hosts the literary podcast PWN's Debut Review, as well as teaches and edits for Project Write Now, a nonprofit writing studio in New Jersey. For her creative work, Courtney has been honored by support from Key West Literary Seminar, Writing By Writers, Community of Writers, Napa Valley Writers' Conference, and Nevada Arts Council. Courtney's work has been published in multiple genres in literary magazines around the world. Find her on Instagram @CourtneyHarler.

KATELYN KEATING (she/her) was the editor in chief of CRAFT from 2018 to 2021 and now serves as editor at large. She was a 2017 fellow of the LA Review of Books Publishing Workshop and has been on their faculty since 2018, overseeing PubLab, leading the magazine track as a program manager, and serving as the publisher coordinator for LITLIT: The Little Literary Fair. She is a production manager with Berrett-Koehler Publishers, and was the production and operations manager at Prospect Park Books until it left California in 2021. Her essays appear in Crab Orchard Review, Flyway, Lunch Ticket, Tahoma Literary Review, and elsewhere. Katelyn has an MFA from Antioch University Los Angeles, where she worked for two years on Lunch Ticket, serving as editor in chief for issues 11 and 12. Find her on Twitter @katelyn_keating.

JILL KOLONGOWSKI writes the Substack Tiny True Stories and is also the author of the essay collection Life Lessons Harry Potter Taught Me (Ulysses Press, 2017). Her work also appears in Electric Lit, Insider, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Brevity, River Teeth, and elsewhere. Her essays have won Sundog Lit’s First Annual Contest series and the Diana Woods Memorial Prize in Creative Nonfiction at Lunch Ticket, and she earned her MFA from St. Mary's College of California. Jill teaches writing at the College of San Mateo, and lives in Northern California with her husband and daughter. Find her on Twitter @jillkolongowski.

VAL M. MATHEWS is a big-hearted, fun-loving editor who teaches courses in developmental editing for the University of California Berkeley Extension, Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada, and the Editorial Freelancers Association in New York City. Val also freelances on the side and works as an editorial consultant for CRAFT and The Masters Review. Previously, she was an editor for The Wild Rose Press, a small traditional publishing house in New York. She earned an MA in Professional Writing from Kennesaw State University and a BFA from the University of Georgia. Fun fact about Val: She’s been an FAA-certified flight instructor for over twenty-five years, and in the past, she flew Lear jets for a living.

GABRIEL MOSELEY is a writer and editor from Seattle, Washington. His work has appeared in The Masters Review, Nordic Kultur, Stratus, and Alaska Airlines’ Alaska Beyond Magazine. He received an MFA from the University of North Carolina Wilmington and certificates in both editing and literary fiction from the University of Washington. He has been a finalist for the Made at Hugo House Writing Fellowship, LitMag’s Virginia Woolf Award for Short Fiction, and the Haleakalā National Park Residency. He is a guest editor for The Masters Review. 

GAGE SAYLOR is the assistant director of creative writing at Oklahoma State University. His fiction and poetry have appeared in Passages North, Tampa Review, Crab Creek Review, Iron Horse, and elsewhere. He has won the Katherine Anne Porter Prize at Nimrod and is a previous semifinalist for the Kurt Vonnegut Speculative Fiction Prize at North American Review. He received his MFA at McNeese State University, where he was awarded the Robert Olen Butler Prize for Fiction.

After retiring from full-time work, DAVID K. SLAY completed a two-year program of short fiction writing workshops in the University of California, Los Angeles, Writers’ Program. His short stories, flash fiction, and microfiction can be found in a group of diverse literary journals, including Door Is A Jar, Gold Man Review, ImageOutWrite, The Magnolia Review, Random Sample Review, Ginosko Literary Journal, American Writers Review, and others. Nonfiction craft articles are in CRAFT and Submittable’s “Content for Creatives,” and he has served as a guest editor for Vestal Review. He has been a submissions reader for CRAFT since 2019, and is currently an associate editor for the short fiction section.

Submit to Creative Nonfiction 1K–6K Words

Welcome to CRAFT.


Submissions for CRAFT Creative Nonfiction are open year-round and offer payment of $200 for accepted original work. This category is for essays and standalone excerpts between 1,000 and 6,000 words. See our Flash Creative Nonfiction category for essays of fewer than 1,000 words.  

As we have always done with our fiction as well, each published work of creative nonfiction will include an author’s note and an editorial introduction that both focus on the craft of the piece. We review literary nonfiction, but are open to a variety of styles—our only requirement is that you show excellence in your craft. 

If you have questions about submissions, please send an email to: contact (at) craftliterary (dot) com 

GUIDELINES: 

  • CRAFT Creative Nonfiction submissions are open to all writers.
  • We accept longform creative nonfiction only in this category; please, no academic work (we have a separate category for Critical Writing & Interviews).
  • International submissions are allowed.
  • Please submit work primarily written in English, but conceptually or stylistically necessary codeswitching is warmly welcomed.
  • We adhere to a 6,000 word count maximum (for essays of fewer than 1,000 words, please choose the more appropriate Flash Creative Nonfiction category).
  • We review literary nonfiction, but are open to a variety of genres and styles including memoir, lyric essays, personal essays, narrative nonfiction, speculative creative nonfiction, and experimental prose—our only requirement is that you show excellence in your craft.
  • We do consider reprints, though we are unable to pay for these pieces.
  • We allow simultaneous submissions—writers please notify us and withdraw your piece if your work is selected for publication elsewhere. If you withdraw your work, you may submit another piece in the same genre.
  • We no longer allow multiple submissions—please send only one piece of longform creative nonfiction at a time, until you've heard back from us.
  • If your work is declined, we ask that you wait three months before submitting again to the same genre, unless an editor requests more work from you.
  • Please, please, double-space your submission and use Times New Roman 12.
  • Please send your piece as a Word doc.
  • Please include a brief cover letter with your publication history (if applicable).
  • We do not discriminate on the basis of age, ancestry, disability, family status, gender identity or expression, national origin, race, religion, sex or sexual orientation, or for any other reason.
  • Additionally, we do not tolerate discrimination in the writing we consider for publication. Work we find discriminatory on any of the bases stated here will be declined without complete review.
Submit to Flash Creative Nonfiction up to 1K Words

Welcome to CRAFT. 


Submissions for CRAFT  Flash Creative Nonfiction are open year-round and offer payment of $100 for accepted original work. This category is for essays and standalone excerpts fewer than 1,000 words. See our Creative Nonfiction category for essays between 1,000 and 6,000 words.

As we have always done with our fiction, each published work of creative nonfiction will include an author’s note and an editorial introduction that both focus on the craft of the piece. We review literary nonfiction, but are open to a variety of styles—our only requirement is that you show excellence in your craft. 

If you have questions about submissions, please send an email to: contact (at) craftliterary (dot) com 

GUIDELINES: 

  • CRAFT Creative Nonfiction submissions are open to all writers.
  • We accept flash creative nonfiction only in this category; please, no academic work (we have a separate category for Critical Writing & Interviews).
  • International submissions are allowed.
  • Please submit work primarily written in English, but conceptually or stylistically necessary codeswitching is warmly welcomed.
  • We adhere to a 1,000 word count maximum (for essays between 1,000 and 6,000 words, please choose the Creative Nonfiction 1–6K category)—please send only ONE flash creative nonfiction piece between 401 and 1,000 words.
  • OR, up to three micros (400 words or fewer each / fewer than 1,000 words total) may be submitted in a single document—this file counts as ONE submission.
  • We review literary nonfiction, but are open to a variety of genres and styles including memoir, lyric essays, personal essays, narrative nonfiction, speculative creative nonfiction, and experimental prose—our only requirement is that you show excellence in your craft.
  • We do consider reprints, though we are unable to pay for these pieces.
  • We allow simultaneous submissions—writers please notify us and withdraw your piece if your work is selected for publication elsewhere. If you withdraw your work, you may submit another piece in the same genre.
  • We no longer allow multiple submissions—please send only one piece of flash creative nonfiction at a time (unless you're sending three micros, of course), until you've heard back from us.
  • If your work is declined, we ask that you wait three months before submitting again to the same genre, unless an editor requests more work from you.
  • Please, please, double-space your submission and use Times New Roman 12.
  • Please send your piece as a Word doc.
  • Please include a brief cover letter with your publication history (if applicable).
  • We do not discriminate on the basis of age, ancestry, disability, family status, gender identity or expression, national origin, race, religion, sex or sexual orientation, or for any other reason.
  • Additionally, we do not tolerate discrimination in the writing we consider for publication. Work we find discriminatory on any of the bases stated here will be declined without complete review.
Submit to Fiction 1K–6K Words

Welcome to CRAFT.

Submissions for CRAFT fiction are open year-round and offer payment of $200 for accepted original work. This category is for short stories and standalone fiction excerpts between 1,000 and 6,000 words. See our Flash Fiction category for stories of fewer than 1,000 words.

We are thrilled to be able to pay for published stories, but subsequently must be highly selective in our choices.

To serve our aim of exploring the art of fiction, each published story includes an editor’s introduction as well as a craft essay (author’s note) by the writer. This essay will be requested upon acceptance.

If you have questions about submissions, please send an email to: 

contact (at) craftliterary (dot) com


GUIDELINES:

  • CRAFT fiction submissions are open to all writers.
  • We accept short fiction and standalone excerpts only in this category.
  • International submissions are welcome.
  • Please submit work primarily written in English, but conceptually or stylistically necessary codeswitching is warmly welcomed.
  • We adhere to a 6,000 word count maximum (for stories of fewer than 1,000 words, please choose the more appropriate Flash Fiction category).
  • We review literary fiction, but are open to a variety of genres and styles—our only requirement is that you show excellence in your craft.
  • We do consider reprints, though we are unable to pay for these stories.
  • We allow simultaneous submissions—writers please notify us and withdraw your piece if your work is selected for publication elsewhere. If you withdraw your work, you may submit another piece in the same genre.
  • We no longer allow multiple submissions—please send only one piece of short fiction at a time, until you've heard back from us.
  • If your work is declined, we ask that you wait three months before submitting again to the same genre, unless an editor requests more work from you.
  • Please, please, double-space your submission and use Times New Roman 12.
  • Please send your story as a Word doc.
  • Please include a brief cover letter with your publication history (if applicable).
  • We do not discriminate on the basis of age, ancestry, disability, family status, gender identity or expression, national origin, race, religion, sex or sexual orientation, or for any other reason.
  • Additionally, we do not tolerate discrimination in the writing we consider for publication. Work we find discriminatory on any of the bases stated here will be declined without complete review.
Submit to Flash Fiction up to 1K Words

Welcome to CRAFT.


Submissions for CRAFT Flash Fiction are open year-round and offer payment of $100 for original work. This category is for flash fiction up to 1,000 words. See our short fiction category for stories between 1,000 and 6,000 words.

We are thrilled to be able to pay for published stories, but subsequently must be highly selective in our choices.

To serve our aim of exploring the art of fiction, each published story includes an editor’s introduction as well as a craft essay (author’s note) by the writer. This essay will be requested upon acceptance.

If you have questions about submissions, please send an email to: contact (at) craftliterary (dot) com

GUIDELINES:

  • CRAFT Flash Fiction submissions are open to all writers.
  • We accept flash fiction only in this category.
  • International submissions are allowed.
  • Please submit work primarily written in English, but conceptually or stylistically necessary codeswitching is warmly welcomed.
  • We adhere to a 1,000 word count maximum (for stories from 1,000 to 6,000 words, please choose the more appropriate short fiction category)—please send only ONE flash fiction piece between 401 and 1,000 words.
  • OR, up to three micros (400 words or fewer each / fewer than 1,000 words total) may be submitted in a single document—this file counts as ONE submission.
  • We review literary fiction, but are open to a variety of genres and styles—our only requirement is that you show excellence in your craft.
  • We do consider reprints, though we are unable to pay for these stories.
  • We allow simultaneous submissions—writers please notify us and withdraw your piece if your work is selected for publication elsewhere. If you withdraw your work, you may submit another piece in the same genre.
  • We no longer allow multiple submissions—please send only one piece of flash fiction at a time (unless you're sending three micros, of course), until you've heard back from us.
  • If your work is declined, we ask that you wait three months before submitting again to the same genre, unless an editor requests more work from you
  • Please, please, double-space your submission and use Times New Roman 12.
  • Please send your story as a Word doc.
  • Please include a brief cover letter with your publication history (if applicable).
  • We do not discriminate on the basis of age, ancestry, disability, family status, gender identity or expression, national origin, race, religion, sex or sexual orientation, or for any other reason.
  • Additionally, we do not tolerate discrimination in the writing we consider for publication. Work we find discriminatory on any of the bases stated here will be declined without complete review.
Submit to Fast Response: Free for BIPOC and Other Underrepresented Writers (Up to 6K Words)

This form is currently open ONLY to BIPOC and other mis- and underrepresented writers.


While our submissions for short and flash prose are always free and always open, we are currently offering a fast response option for free to BIPOC writers and other historically mis- and underrepresented writers.

This form is for both short fiction and longform creative nonfiction (short stories, standalone excerpts, and creative nonfiction essays) between 1,001 and 6,000 words, and for flash and micros (both fiction and creative nonfiction) up to 1,000 words.

We will respond to your piece within four weeks of submission.

We pay $200 for accepted short stories or longform creative nonfiction, and we pay $100 for accepted flash or micro pieces. To serve our aim of exploring the art of prose, each published piece includes an editor’s introduction as well as a craft essay (author’s note) by the writer. This essay will be requested upon acceptance.

If you have questions about submissions, please send an email to: contact (at) craftliterary (dot) com

GUIDELINES: 

  • This fast-response category is open only to BIPOC writers and other historically mis- and underrepresented writers.
  • International submissions are allowed.
  • Please submit work primarily written in English, but conceptually or stylistically necessary code-switching is warmly welcomed.
  • For this category, we review previously unpublished work only.
  • For short fiction and longform creative nonfiction, we adhere to a 6,000 word count maximum.
  • For flash, we adhere to a 1,000 word count maximum—please send only ONE flash prose piece between 401 and 1,000 words.
  • OR, up to three micros (400 words or fewer each / fewer than 1,000 words total) may be submitted in a single document—this file counts as ONE submission.
  • We review literary prose, but are open to a variety of genres and styles—our only requirement is that you show excellence in your craft.
  • We allow simultaneous submissions—writers please notify us and withdraw your piece if your work is selected for publication elsewhere. If you withdraw your work, you may submit another piece in the same genre.
  • We no longer allow multiple submissions—please send only one piece at a time (unless you're sending three micros, of course), until you've heard back from us.
  • If your story is declined, we ask that you wait three months before submitting again to the same genre, unless an editor requests more work from you.
  • Kindly double-space your submission and use Times New Roman 12.
  • Please send your submission as a Word doc.
  • Include a brief cover letter with your publication history and any relevant content warnings (if applicable).
  • We do not discriminate on the basis of age, ancestry, disability, family status, gender identity or expression, national origin, race, religion, sex or sexual orientation, or for any other reason.
  • Additionally, we do not tolerate discrimination in the writing we consider for publication. Work we find discriminatory on any of the bases stated here will be declined without complete review.
  • Please do not submit work to this category if you do not identify as BIPOC or as a writer from another demographic who has been historically mis- or underrepresented in publishing.
Submit to Critical Writing & Interviews

Interested in writing critically for CRAFT? Please see the guidelines below and select the appropriate dropdown option when you submit your work. We do not consider previously published material (reprints) in this category. 

We review essays on writing craft, critical literary analyses, and interviews. Please visit our Craft Section to see the type of content we publish. 

All work in this section is concerned with fiction or creative nonfiction. Please do not send critical work about poetry, film, or any other genres. Those pieces aren't for us. Please do not send personal essays—send those to our creative nonfiction forms. We pay $50 for craft and critical essays, $50 for most standard interviews, and $100 for hybrid interviews (a critical essay paired with a Q&A).

Craft and critical essays range from 1,500 to 2,500 words concerning the craft of fiction or creative nonfiction. We recommend familiarizing yourself with our archive. Most essays we publish offer a careful examination of craft elements in fiction or creative nonfiction.

We welcome queries, pitches, and completed interviews with fiction or creative nonfiction writers. We will want to know if the interview is already approved as well as which elements of craft will be explored. We often schedule interviews well in advance—please contact us as soon as possible with your proposed interview.

We no longer allow multiple submissions—please send only one piece per genre at a time. If your craft/critical submission is declined, you may submit again to the genre immediately. Overall, you may have one piece of fiction (either short or flash), one piece of creative nonfiction (either flash or creative essay), and one craft piece under consideration at one time.

Details:

Craft and Critical Essays 

Please send completed essays concerning the craft of fiction or creative nonfiction, and include in your cover letter what you're exploring and why it is a good fit for us. Submissions should be 1,500 to 2,500 words and should consist of a careful examination of craft. We only consider completed pieces.

Interviews & Hybrid Interviews

Typically our interviews run around 2,000 to 2,500 words and our hybrid interviews run 3,000 to 4,000 words, 1,000 to 1,500 of which comprise a critical essay about one or more of the interviewee's books. We consider both completed pieces and queries/pitches.

CRAFT