Unusual Calls for Submission: Arizona Edition

Compiled by Gloria Bonnell.

For our unusual calls for submission, this time, we are keeping our theme right here in the State of Arizona. After all, we know all of you in what we refer to out here as “back east” have been having a little early taste of winter, and whether or not you like that type of weather, we at the editorial desk at Hayden’s Ferry Review are still delightfully wiggling our still sandaled toes. Don’t worry, though, we will soon be as bundled up as you are to go out and scrape the frost off our car windows and wipe down the dew left on our bicycles—at least for a couple of days this year.

To start off (and this is thinking globally), The School of Geography and Development at The University of Arizona is looking for your original poetry, prose, photography, artwork, and commentary to publish in their annual journal that explores, like all of those great global explorers, what constitutes our planet. You Are Here, The Journal of Creative Geography has an interesting take on exploring the concept of space. Their premise is that humans access understanding through multiple senses. Their work involves more than just mapping, or studying an iron core spinning inside its own molten shell and churning rock to the surface. They want to come to understand the idea of place, and how it is created and interpreted. They are also looking to enlarge the scope of their inquiry by seeking out new media forms like, as they suggest, papier-mâché, or interactive programming. Their deadline is February 1, which is a great time to be in Arizona. You might want to consider driving that papier-mâché submission straight to their door. Just kidding – I think you are supposed to send an image. Check out their guidelines for details.

Spork, an online weekly is interested in “short, punchy work, swaggering work, work walking down the street, poems and stories that turn your head and make you say, ‘Hey, who's that over there?’ and cause you to cross the street without checking for oncoming traffic.” The magazine likes shorter works and they are currently reading for poetry and fiction. Their print magazine is project based and their next issue is already full, but their online site is open for business. They are based in Tucson, and started publishing in 2001. On a side note, pedestrians have the right-of-way in Arizona.

We’d also like to point you to Thin Air. This magazine is published through the English department at Northern Arizona University. They are open for submissions. The big shout out to NAU is that they have a new MFA in Creative Writing (2012). (Echo, echo.) You can check out their program here, and find out about submitting to Thin Air here.