A chance to reflect: Literary magazines seek pandemic submissions
Many writers have thoughts to share about the pandemic, but not all of them want to write a book or wait a year to publish something. For them, literary magazines have opened their pages.
Quite a few have published calls for pandemic-related stories and essays, including Another Chicago Magazine, ADANNA, and BALLOONS Lit. Journal. One recently launched publication, Capsule Stories, devoted an entire issue to the pandemic.
“Publishing is a notoriously slow industry, but as a two-person operation, we knew we’d be able to quickly collect and publish writing that captures the feeling of this moment, as it’s happening – not how people reflect back on it in two years. And that feels important to do,” says Carolina VonKampen, publisher and editor in chief of Capsule Stories, who worked on the issue with founder and publisher Natasha Lioe.
Published as a free eBook, the special standalone received roughly double the submissions as the previous issue of Capsule Stories. “Many of the writers who submitted to us said in their cover letter that they were grateful to have a place to submit writing on the pandemic and that they planned on reading the edition regardless of whether their writing was accepted,” VonKampen says.
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