All the info we have about our open submissions periods is on this page. We do NOT ACCEPT UNSOLICITED WORK. We’d love to do more, but our staff and our funds are limited. Subscribe to our newsletter (bottom of the page), and we’ll let you know when we open for submissions of any sort.
White Winged Doves: A Stevie Nicks Poetry Anthology
Contributors Announced
Our magnificent editors for this collection, Collin Kelley and Megan Volpert, have outdone themselves planning, reading, and collecting the poems for this anthology. We had 115 unique submission, and many of those submissions included multiple poems. Without further ado, here are the names of the poets who will be included in the White Winged Doves anthology:
Contributing Poets:
Amanda Killian – Amanda Powell – Amber Dodds – Anne Graue – Antony Lower – Bonnie Kaplan – Caridad Moro-Gronlier – Charles Jensen – Chris Wood – Cody Baggerly – Cody Draco – Collin Kelley – Daniel Barry – Danita Dodson – Devin Ware – Donna Vorreyer – Ed Madden – Eileen Porzuczek – Emily Perkovich – Eric v.d. Luft – Erin Murphy – Gale Thompson – Gerard Wozek – Gregg Shapiro – Hannah Baker-Siroty – Isaiah Vianese – JC Reilly – Jennifer Blackledge – Jennifer Rodrigues – Joe Oswald – Julie E. Bloemeke – Karen Head – Karen Paul Holmes – Karen Weyant – Kari Gunter-Seymour – Kate Marshall Flaherty – Kerry MacNeil – Kersten Christianson – Kristie Daugherty – Linda Sands – Lumina Miller – Maggie Felisberto – Maria Illich – Mattie Frye – Maureen Martinez – Megan Volpert – Melanie Duncan – Michael Montlack – Nikki Lee – nma dhahir – Patricia Caspers – Paul Flowers – Rebecca Titchner – Shannon Edwards – Sheema Kalbasi – Shylah Addante – Steven Reigns – Suzanne Mattaboni – Suzy Thomas – Terri Drake – Tiff Dressen & Alex Mattraw – Trish McEnulty – Valerie Smith – William Walsh – Wren Valentino
Plain Folk: Notes on American Folk Music
DEADLINE April 1, 2025
Madville Publishing is looking for personal essays that touch upon the richness of the American folk music experience, from the perspective of those who, in some way, have helped to create it, perform it, and live it. Although American folk music is difficult to define, we embrace the largeness of this tradition, knowing that it might span any number of categories from traditional Appalachian to contemporary Taylor Swiftian. It may also include elements of jazz, gospel, rock, bluegrass, Indigenous drum circle, blues, reggae and beyond. Whatever instrument you play and whatever genre you’ve traveled through to get there, we are interested in stories that capture a poignant element of what American folk music contributes to our lives. You need not be a full-time folkie, road warrior, or even a well-established performer to submit.
We call for essays that engage with the richness of the American folk music experience—how it has shaped us as individuals, as Americans, and how it continues to give expression and meaning to our lives.
Submission guidelines:
● Submissions are open until April 1, 2025.
● A reading fee of $8 must be paid at the time of submission.
● All submissions must be in English.
● We accept previously published essays as long as the author discloses the publication history of the work in the cover letter accompanying the submission and retains publication rights.
● We accept simultaneous submissions, but please notify Madville immediately if the essay is accepted elsewhere and you wish to withdraw it from consideration. NO REFUNDS of the reading fees.
● Writers may submit more than one essay, but each must be submitted separately.
● Submissions should be blind. The author’s name should not appear anywhere on the submitted document.
● Use 12 point, Times New Roman, double-spaced, with pages numbered.
● 4000 word maximum.
● Cash prizes for the two essays the editors like best. $200 for first prize, and $100 for second.
The Editors
Bob Kunzinger is the author of works, including The Iron Scar: A Father and Son in Siberia (2022), A Third Place: Notes in Nature (2019), Blessed Twilight: The Life of Vincent van Gogh (2018), and Penance (2008), still a popular book in Prague, the subject of the narrative. He has taught American Culture in Russia, Prague, Amsterdam, and Norway, and Creative Writing, Art Appreciation, English, and Humanities in the Hampton Roads, Virginia, area for more than thirty years. While he owns several guitars and made a living playing the folk circuit during and after college, his callouses have retreated.
Drew Lopenzina is Professor of English at Old Dominion University who teaches in the intersections of Early American and Native American literatures. He is the author of Through an Indian’s Looking Glass: A Cultural Biography of William Apess, Pequot (2017), described as a “tour de force” by the journal Native American and Indigenous Studies. His other books include Red Ink: Native Americans Picking up the Pen in the Colonial Period (2012) and The Routledge Introduction to Native American Literature (2020). Lopenzina plays guitar and mandolin and is part of the duo Wine Dark Sea, known in the Tidewater area around Norfolk, VA, for their epic acoustic folk and harmonies.
Other Submissions News and Updates
We have received a long list of selections for the 2024 Arthur Smith Poetry Prize. We are handing off to our final judge for this year, and plan to publish long list, short list, and winners soon! Thank you for your patience!
About the Arthur Smith Poetry Prize
Downloadable .pdf Call for Submissions for White Winged Doves: Stevie Nicks Poetry Anthology
Submitting Manuscript Queries
All manuscripts published by Madville Publishing undergo a rigorous vetting process before they are accepted for publication. We are turning away queries at present. We have more than we can read. We do not accept any work generated using Artificial Intelligence.
WE ARE NOT ACCEPTING QUERIES AT PRESENT.
Formatting
Writers should ensure that their manuscript submitted for editing adheres to the following guidelines.
Prose should be submitted in 12 pt., Times New Roman, double spaced, one inch margins and pages numbered. If it is not a contest submission, make sure your name and contact information is in the header and on the title page.
Poetry should be 12 pt., Times New Roman, single spaced, one inch margins, one poem per page, and pages numbered. Full manuscripts should include credits for previously published poems and a table of contents.
Style Manual: Madville Publishing generally follows the Chicago Manual of Style and the Merriam-Webster Dictionary and defers to American spellings (e.g., gray, not grey). We use Oxford commas, em dashes with no space on either side, and ellipses with the three dots run together as in APA style (which assures that the ellipsis won’t break at the end of a line). Also, the standard is one space after end punctuation.
Titles of books, films, albums, plays, art exhibits, television shows, podcast series, radio programs, periodicals, and newspapers should be italicized. Place quotation marks around the titles of short stories, poems, songs, and individual TV/radio/podcast episodes.
Numbers can be tricky for poems, and we aim for readability and consistency.
Regarding long lines and line breaks, in the first proof after layout the editor and the poet may decide whether to rewrite the line or break it differently. There should be no further changes in line breaks after the first proof.