SUBMISSIONS PERIOD EXTENDED TO JUNE 1ST!

Bacopa Literary Review is an annual international print journal published by the Writers Alliance of Gainesville (WAG).* Our Bacopa Literary Review Editors’ blog shows the quality of writing we seek by highlighting work we respect from previous Bacopa issues as well as other sources.

Submissions for our 2025 contest will be accepted from midnight March 3rd to 11:59pm June 1st. [NOTE: this deadline has been extended! Original closing was May 5th.] 

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Contest Rules

• Submission dates: March 3 - June 1st, 2025 [Submissions period has been extended!]
• $3 Submissions Fee (WAG members are exempt and hardship exemptions may also be requested--see details below)
• $200 Award and $100 Honorable Mention in each of five categories
• One 2025 Best of WAG Award for Writers Alliance members in each category. Awardees will be highlighted in the journal itself, featured in our Editors Blog and social media, and invited to read at our annual journal debut event, as well as being considered for the cash awards in their submissions' categories.
• Authors submit to only ONE category (see below).
• Submissions to more than one category can result in disqualification.
• Bacopa Literary Review does not accept previously published material in any category of submissions.
• Note for recent (2023 & 2024) award winners: Please be aware that if you won an award or received an honorable mention last year, work that you submit this year will not be eligible for either the prize or honorable mention in any of this year’s categories. We love your work, but we’d like to give others a chance to impress us with their best and be rewarded as well.

Category Descriptions

Fiction (up to 2,500 words): Bacopa Literary Review is looking for engaging and original pieces of short fiction capable of capturing and engaging the reader. Unique descriptions, vivid language, and original ideas are appreciated. Use precise language, make sure your work is as polished as possible before submitting, and most of all, enjoy the writing process!

Creative Nonfiction (up to 2,500 words): We publish true stories, written beautifully, and based on the author’s experiences, perceptions, and reflections in the form of personal memoir or literary essay (for example, nature, travel, medical, spiritual, and food writing).

Formal Poetry (1-3 poems): Sonnets, villanelles, pantoums, haiku, and other established forms. We are seeking words that illuminate the human condition, tell us something new, or just entertain. Send us your best. Please note the specific form of each poem you submit. All voices are welcome, and we are interested in reading poems on all themes and subjects.

Free Verse Poetry (1-2 poems): Free verse, visionary poems, the strange and unusual. Absurd, thoughtful, experimental, political, romantic, funny, entertaining. Give us your best work, unfettered, unrestrained, free from forms—or make up your own form. All voices are welcome, and we are interested in reading poems on all themes and subjects.

Visual Poetry (1 poem): We are seeking visual poems. At the moment we can only accept images in black and white that can fit within a 6 x 9-inch page size. Textual imagery, calligraphy, font, concrete, blackout, found, shaped syntactic and non-syntactic, asemic--the visual aspect should be integral to the poem. Surprise us! Please submit only one visual poem.

WAG Member Submissions: 1 piece in any of the above categories, submitted via the fee-free 2025 WAG Member Submissions portal. Members, please be sure to note which of our five genre categories your submission fits in your cover letter.

Editorial Staff

Editor in Chief J.N. Fishhawk is a poet and freelance writer. He is the author of three poetry chapbooks and Postcards from the Darklands, ekphrastic poems accompanying images by artist Jorge Ibanez. The second book in his and illustrator Johnny Rocket Ibanez’s ongoing World of Whim Sea children’s series is out now. Info at fishhawkandrocket.com.

Managing Editor T. Walters is a writer, artist, musician, and cannabis worker living among the orange trees. Their work appears in Nymeria Publishing’s Descendants of Medusa. Tea lives to connect, create, and marvel at nature’s many wonders. 

Creative Nonfiction Editor Stephanie Seguin studied English Literature and French at the University of Florida. She has published humor, short fiction, and personal memoir and spent over 15 years as a freelance editor and teacher of languages.

Fiction Editor Wendy Thornton has been published in Riverteeth, Epiphany, MacGuffin and many other literary journals and books. Her latest books, Arrested Motion and Hanging On, were published in 2023 and 2024 respectively.  She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, has won many literary awards, and started the Writers Alliance (www.writersalliance.org).

Poetry Co-Editor Oliver Keyhani is a visual and performance artist, poet and writer. He is a member of the Gainesville Fine Arts Association and a founding member of the Carousel of Souls Curiosities Circus Troupe (CoSCCT). His short experimental poem-play “Children of Gaia” has been produced at the Tank Theater in NYC. His hybrid visual-poetry works the “dada manuscripts”: thé avec dada and the book of dada dandies have received international acclaim.

Poetry Co-Editor Grayson May is a poet, playwright, writer, artist and actor. Their work has been published in Colorado Review, Cleveland Book Review, Ponder Review and Z Publishing House, among others. Their lyric play Scripture was recently featured in the Actors Studio Drama School's Repertory Season in NYC. They have a MFA in Playwriting from Pace University and a BFA in Creative Writing with poetry concentration from the University of the Arts.

Poetry Co-Editor Susan Ward Mickelberry is a writer, editor, poet, and long-time yoga teacher. Her poetry collection And Blackberries Grew Wild was published by Roadside Press in 2024. She is a 2024 Pushcart nominee. Poems appear in many publications including This is Poetry: Volume IV: Poets of the South. She participates in regional poetry readings and events, most recently at the Lynx Bookstore and at Civic Media Center’s Poetry Jam.

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You do not have to be a member of Writers Alliance of Gainesville (WAG) to submit. To join WAG click here. Membership ($40) includes a copy of the most recent Bacopa Literary Review.

Submissions Fee Hardship Waiver:  If you are excited about submitting to Bacopa 2025 but have a financial hardship that makes our $3 fee a barrier, please email bacopaliteraryreview@gmail.com to request a waiver. NOTE: please put the phrase "Submissions Fee Waiver" in the subject line of your email.