Dreamers Creative Writing is dedicated to writing that is from the heart.
– Open to World-Wide Submissions –
General Submissions
We are open year-round for writing submissions, with rolling deadlines. Please check Submittable for current deadlines.
We’re looking for writing submissions of short stories, poems, personal essays or excerpts (that stand alone) from any genre. We’re willing to consider any form of writing that is well-written and from the heart. We especially love writing that has some connection to writing for wellness – narrative medicine, medical memoir, writing the self, healing writing, etc.
All accepted pieces will be published on our website and authors will be paid a one-time honorarium of between $20 and $60. Three times per year, we’ll select the best from among all the submissions received for publication in our tri-yearly magazine. All authors whose work is chosen for this magazine will receive 2 magazine copies.
We ask for limited non-exclusive digital and print rights. Copyright remains with the author.
Contest: Stories of Migration, Sense of Place and Home
Deadline: January 31
Entry Fee: $20 USD (Approx. $25 CAD) – includes 1 year electronic subscription for Dreamers Magazine.
Prize: $250 to the first place winner.
Dreamers as a term has come to represent undocumented immigrants who came to the US as children. Although Dreamers Creative Writing’s name has a different meaning and origin, this contest is intended to honour “Dreamers” as it applies to migration, and our sense of place and home.
Submit your stories of migration and/or your sense of place, of home or lack of, and your empathy to the plight of migrants around the world. Interpret the theme of this contest in any way that is fitting for you, keeping in mind the theme of Dreamers Creative Writing – that of heartfelt stories. You do not need to be a migrant to enter this contest.
Micro Nonfiction Story Contest
Deadline: April 1
Entry Fee: $9 USD (Approx. $12 CAD) – includes an e-copy of the next issue of Dreamers Magazine.
Prize: $120 to the first place winner.
Submit a nonfiction story “from the heart” of between 100 and 500 words.
Haiku Contest
Deadline: May 31
Entry Fee: $10 USD (Approx. $13 CAD) – includes an e-copy of the next issue of Dreamers Magazine.
Prize: $120 to the first place winner.
Submit up to 3 Haiku per entry for your chance to win!
Flash Fiction and Nonfiction Contest
Deadline: Sept. 30
Entry Fee: $12.50 USD (Approx. $15 CAD) – includes an e-copy of the next issue of Dreamers Magazine.
Prize: $150 to the first place winner.
Submit a flash fiction or flash nonfiction story of between 300 and 1000 words for your chance to win!
Book Reviews
In keeping with the theme of the website, we’re accepting reviews of books of any kind—short story collections, novels, memoirs, chapbooks, first-hand accounts from within the linen closet of Dante’s Inferno—but would prefer those that are related in some way to social change, the act of writing, or healing and wellness.
**All Book Reviews submitted must have a Canadian component – authors can be from anywhere in the world, but the book reviewed must either be by a Canadian, or published by a Canadian Publisher, or feature a Canadian main character or setting. Please make sure you describe what aspect(s) of your review are Canadian in your cover letter.
