Poetry
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POETRY GUIDELINES
Submit up to 5 poems.
- One poem per page
- Between 500 - 750 words for prose poems
- Please combine all poems into one document.
ABOUT US
Based out of Iowa State University, Flyway: Journal of Writing & Environment is an online journal publishing poetry, fiction, nonfiction, short scripts, and visual art that explores the many complicated facets of the word environment-- whether rural, urban, or suburban; whether built or wild--and all its social and political implications.
In addition to publishing issues of literary writing, Flyway also welcomes submissions from visual artists. We accept submissions according to the following windows of time:
READING PERIODS | 2025 - 2026
- Our Winter/Spring 2026 issue reading period is 9/1/25 - 10/15/25.
- Our Fall 2026 issue reading period is 2/1/26 - 3/17/26.
- We accept visual art and drama submissions year-round.
For our general submissions, we charge a nominal fee of $3 per submission.
Over the years, Flyway has sponsored various writing awards, such as the Iowa Sweet Corn Prize in Fiction and Poetry, and the Notes from the Field Nonfiction Prize. For the 2023-2024 academic year, we do not anticipate sponsoring any literary prizes.
We are interested in work that explores the intersection of human experience and the environment, broadly interpreted: work that focuses on ecology, natural history, science and the environmental imagination, certainly, but also work that focuses on place, on natural and built environments, and on the ways that people interact with their environments. We are looking for work that surprises, moves, haunts, or affects the reader in some significant way.
We encourage and welcome submissions from diverse voices and under-represented populations, including--but not limited to--international authors, people of color, members of the LGBTQ+ community, those with disabilities, and the elderly. Authors of all walks of life should feel encouraged to send us stories, poems, essays, and art celebrating the diverse characters and settings all around us.
We look forward to reading your work!