Deadline: July 2nd, 2024
Payment: €175
Theme: Any genre story inspired by the title of ‘The Garden’ or the cover image provided.
Note: Apologies on the short window, this one was just e-mailed in by one of your fellow authors!

From June 4 to July 2*, we are reading short story submissions for our new collection, The Garden! We are looking for stories of any genre that respond to our title and/or cover art.
Selected writers will receive a flat rate of €175 for accepted submissions.

“Now through the white orchard my little dog
romps, breaking the new snow
with wild feet.
Running here running there, excited,
hardly able to stop, he leaps, he spins
until the white snow is written upon
in large, exuberant letters,
a long sentence, expressing
the pleasures of the body in this world.
Oh, I could not have said it better myself.”

Mary Oliver, The Storm

In the brightness of snow or in the rich colours of an orchard, the world is blooming with tales to be told and life to be lived. There is deep pleasure, sensual wonder – but also horrors untold, and their roots might’ve grown tangled in the same patch of grass.

For our eighth anthology, we want the stories that pick the fruit and take a daring bite; we want to watch the stains the juice leaves behind as it drips. We want to unpick the weaved tapestry of all that builds a garden – colours, taste, the senses, life, death, regrowth; the flowers and the bugs.

The Garden is an anthology for stories that engage with the living world in all its glory and messiness. From blossom to decay, stories can interpret the premise in any way; be as metaphorical or literal as you wish – just don’t be afraid to get a little dirt under your fingernails.

We are looking for stories inspired by our title – The Garden – and/or the cover artwork below, Veg, by Laura Callaghan. All genres of writing are welcome; more than any specific story or style, we want the emotional response the title and artwork evokes in you.

If you have previously submitted to our calls, we recommend sending us a piece of work we have yet to read! We want to see the whole spectrum of your creativity, so we’d love to see something new from you.

*The call will be open until July 2 or until we hit our 1,000 submission cap. We are currently at 22.7% (17/06).

The Garden

“You cannot think what figs
My teeth have met in,
What melons icy-cold
Piled on a dish of gold
Too huge for me to hold,
What peaches with a velvet nap,
Pellucid grapes without one seed”

―Christina Rossetti,
Goblin Market

If you have any issues or questions, you can contact us here.

Via: Sans Press.