Submissions wanted (craft/art of writing, literature, teaching) | $18 per 100 words

COMPANY/PUBLICATION: THE WRITER'S CHRONICLE 

Deadline: 30 September 2020

AWP presents the best  contemporary writing in its flagship magazine the Writer’s Chronicle, as  well as on our website through Online-Only Exclusives, short blog  pieces on the Writer’s Notebook, and articles giving job advice in our  Career Advice section.

The Editors read submissions for  the Writer’s Chronicle from February 1 through September 30 of each  year. Submissions for the Writer’s Notebook and the Career Advice  section are read throughout the year. Please review our guidelines  below.

ABOUT THE WRITER’S CHRONICLE

Published six times during the academic year, the Writer’s Chronicle strives to

• present the best essays on the craft and art of writing poetry, fiction, and nonfiction;
• help overcome academic overspecialization and balkanization of the  literary arts by presenting a public forum for the appreciation, debate,  and analysis of contemporary literature;
• present the diversity of accomplishments and points of view within contemporary literature;
• provide serious and committed writers and students of writing the best advice on how to manage their professional lives;
• provide writers who teach with new pedagogical approaches for their classrooms;
• provide members and subscribers with a literary community as a respite from devotion to a difficult and lonely art;
• provide members and subscribers with information on publishing opportunities, grants, and awards; and
• promote the good works of AWP, its programs, and its individual members.

In general, the editors look for articles that demonstrate an  excellent working knowledge of literary issues and a generosity of  spirit that esteems the arguments of other writers on similar topics. In  writing essays on craft, writers are often tempted to use their own  work as an example. The editors do not welcome such articles. For our  readers, we provide the model of a writer reading another writer  carefully and productively. Please keep in mind that 18,000 of our  35,000 readers are students or just-emerging writers. They must become  expert readers before they can become accomplished writers, and we  therefore expect essays on craft to show exemplary close readings of a  variety of contemporary and older works. Essays must embody erudition,  generosity, curiosity, and discernment rather than self-involvement.  Writers may refer to their own travails and successes if they do so  modestly, in small proportion to the other examples. Again, we look for a  generosity of spirit—a general love and command of literature as well  as an expert, writerly viewpoint—in the essays we publish.

WHAT WE PAY

We  buy first serial rights and electronic rights for all manuscripts  accepted for publication. We pay $18 per 100 words for accepted  manuscripts. Regretfully, we do not pay kill fees. Authors are paid upon  publication. We reserve the right to publish articles from the Writer’s  Chronicle electronically on AWP’s website and the Chronicle App.

To  propose an essay or interview for consideration for the Writer’s  Chronicle, please email editor Supriya Bhatnagar at supriya  awpwriter.org.

WHAT WE PUBLISH

Submissions to the Writer’s Chronicle may fall into one of the following categories:

Interviews: 4,000 to 7,000 words

The  Writer’s Chronicle features interviews with well-known and  up-and-coming authors of note in the genres of fiction, short fiction,  poetry, creative nonfiction, and other forms of creative writing. In the  past, we have published interviews with such authors as Nikki Finney,  Ernest Gaines, WS Merwin, Sonia Sanchez, George Saunders, Jane Smiley,  Arthur Sze, and many others. We especially appreciate interviews that  include discussions of writing craft, the evolution of the author’s own  work, and literary influences and inspirations. Please query before  submitting an interview. We publish interviews between 4,000 and 7,000  words. Interviews should include a two-paragraph introduction to the  author, including all pertinent biographical information. This  introduction should be mainly factual. We are not interested in an  interview that is faithful to an actual spoken event. We are not  interested in how friendly you are with the subject, or what the subject  was wearing that day, or when and where the interview was conducted,  etc. We prefer interviews that have been revised heavily in the interest  of accuracy, concision, and style. We are interested in an interview  that represents a writer as well as possible in a somewhat personable  and discursive manner. We do not publish interviews unless the subject  has had an opportunity to revise his or her comments, and we encourage  the interviewers and their subjects to revise their transcripts of the  interviews extensively. We only publish interviews that have been  approved in proofs by their subjects.

Sorry, No Lectures, Talks, & Panel Discussions

Transcripts  of lectures, talks, and panel discussions do not appear in our pages,  but we do often publish essays that are adapted from such events. Many  panel discussions, though engaging in person, are disappointing in the  cool medium of print. As with interviews, we are not interested in  transcripts of actual spoken events; we prefer articles that acknowledge  sources and the other writers who have pondered the same topic (which  one may sometimes overlook when one speaks informally); we prefer  articles that are more elegantly organized and concisely written than  the somewhat improvisatory ruminations of a panel discussion. We seldom  publish all the presentations of any given panel discussion, so you  should adapt your discussion to read well as a freestanding essay.

Essays on Pedagogy: 2,500 to 7,000 words

Often,  AWP will publish essays concerning creative writing pedagogy in the  Online-Only Exclusives section of the website. The most successful  pedagogy pieces combine research, interviews, and teaching experience.  Pedagogy pieces are not diatribes about the quality of a writer’s own  education or an argument against a specific teacher’s methodology. The  pedagogy essay is an opportunity to inform and educate your peers about  different methodologies of teaching, and should always be directed  towards the writing community-at-large. Pedagogy pieces are generally  between 2,500 and 7,000 words.

Appreciations: 2,000 to 5,000 words

The  Writer’s Chronicle publishes appreciations of contemporary writers  whose work came into prominence after 1965. Appreciations are not  profiles or memoirs; instead, we seek close readings of an important  author’s work and an analysis of the author’s contributions to our  culture and to the mastery of craft. You may include some personal  anecdotes to portray the author more vividly, but mostly  self-referential or sentimental appreciations, of course, are not  acceptable. The appreciation should answer the questions: What can I as a  writer learn from this writer? What has this writer contributed to our  culture? Appreciations are generally between 2,000 and 5,000 words.

Essays on the Craft of Writing: 2,000 to 6,000 words

All  craft essays must analyze an element of creative writing. Articles  should not overlap with topics covered in recent issues of the  Chronicle. Craft essays should contain concrete examples to illustrate  the writerly advice they offer. Many of our published essays combine  appreciations (as described above) with a study of elements of craft.  Using more than one author to illustrate your analysis is recommended. A  query on a specific topic is always welcome. Craft essays run between  2,000 and 6,000 words, depending on the topic.

GENERAL GUIDELINES

We  currently accept submissions via Submittable as well as through postal  mail. Essays longer than 7,000 words are generally not accepted.  Simultaneous submissions are not encouraged and must be noted as such on  your cover letter. If we do not respond to your submission within three  months, you are free to send your work elsewhere. Electronic queries  are acceptable, but email submissions will not be considered.

Please  follow the Chicago Manual of Style. Acknowledge your sources by using  endnotes. Do not follow MLA style, which is well-designed for  professional readers but annoying to general readers, in whom we still  have great faith. Previously published works are unacceptable. We will,  however, publish an accepted work before or the same month it also  appears in a book.

PERMISSIONS

If you  quote a poem, song, or short-short story in its entirety, it is your  responsibility to secure and pay for that permission. We recommend that  you limit quotes to fair use and avoid quoting whole works, as many  trade publishers charge high fees for permissions.

HOW TO SUBMIT ONLINE

Visit  awp.submittable.com. Choose the appropriate category and enter your  contact information. Please upload your submission as a single file in  .doc, .docx, .rtf, or .pdf formats. Include cover letter and bio  information in the space provided on the submission form.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Submissions: Via Submittable

Website: https://www.awpwriter.org/magazine_media/writers_chronicle_overview