We Welcome Your Submission
Persimmon Tree’s mission is to bring the creativity and talent of women over sixty to a wide audience of readers of all ages. We are looking for work that reveals rich experience and a variety of perspectives. Each issue of the magazine will include several fiction and nonfiction pieces, poetry by one or more poets, and the work of one or more visual artists. The magazine is published quarterly.
Please click on the appropriate header here to read the instructions for submitting Fiction and Nonfiction – Short Takes – Poetry – Art and Illustrations – and Forum Comments.
Persimmon Tree sends a promotional email to its subscribers approximately once a week. By publishing in Persimmon Tree you agree that your work may also appear in Persimmon Tree emails.
© 2024 Persimmon Tree Inc. Persimmon Tree Inc. reserves all rights to everything published in www.persimmontree.org. We support our contributors who succeed in being published elsewhere, and hereby give permission to any contributor to reprint her work in another venue, provided that the reprint, whether on the internet or in hard copy, includes an acknowledgement that the work was originally published in Persimmon Tree.
Please click on the appropriate header here to read the instructions for submitting Fiction and Nonfiction – Short Takes – Poetry – Art and Illustrations – and Forum Comments.
Persimmon Tree sends a promotional email to its subscribers approximately once a week. By publishing in Persimmon Tree you agree that your work may also appear in Persimmon Tree emails.
© 2024 Persimmon Tree Inc. Persimmon Tree Inc. reserves all rights to everything published in www.persimmontree.org. We support our contributors who succeed in being published elsewhere, and hereby give permission to any contributor to reprint her work in another venue, provided that the reprint, whether on the internet or in hard copy, includes an acknowledgement that the work was originally published in Persimmon Tree.
IMPORTANT SUBMISSIONS REQUIREMENT:
For your work to be considered by Persimmon Tree, you must be a subscriber. Subscriptions are free. Sign up for your subscription here.
Fiction and Nonfiction
Please read and follow these instructions carefully. We regret that we cannot accept any submission that does not follow the guidelines as to what should be sent, when it should be sent, and to whom it should be sent.
We welcome previously unpublished pieces under 3,500 words, written by women over sixty. Submissions may be sent to us any time during the year. Multiple submissions are accepted. If you want to send more than one piece, put them in separate emails.
Simultaneous submissions are allowed, but please inform us immediately if any item in your submission is accepted elsewhere.
You must be subscribed to submit; click here to subscribe. Submissions and subscriptions are free.
Submissions should be in Word, double-spaced, with 12-point type and numbered pages. At the top of the first page please enter author’s name, address, telephone number, and email address.
Please send your submission as an attachment to us at: editor@persimmontree.org. Type the title of the piece, labeled fiction or nonfiction, in the subject line. Include a brief biographical statement (less than 50 words) and a headshot in your email.
We welcome previously unpublished pieces under 3,500 words, written by women over sixty. Submissions may be sent to us any time during the year. Multiple submissions are accepted. If you want to send more than one piece, put them in separate emails.
Simultaneous submissions are allowed, but please inform us immediately if any item in your submission is accepted elsewhere.
You must be subscribed to submit; click here to subscribe. Submissions and subscriptions are free.
Submissions should be in Word, double-spaced, with 12-point type and numbered pages. At the top of the first page please enter author’s name, address, telephone number, and email address.
Please send your submission as an attachment to us at: editor@persimmontree.org. Type the title of the piece, labeled fiction or nonfiction, in the subject line. Include a brief biographical statement (less than 50 words) and a headshot in your email.
Short Takes
Short Takes are usually short prose pieces, fiction or non-fiction (250-500 words), but can also be topical poetry, sometimes even drawings or photography. We’re especially interested in hearing about your experiences, but you can include your thoughts, dreams, ideas and opinions. Humor and irony are always appreciated!
Please read and follow these instructions carefully. We regret that we cannot accept any submission that does not follow these guidelines. In particular, make sure that the address on your email is correct.
Issue #74–Spring 2025–Legacies
Please read and follow these instructions carefully. We regret that we cannot accept any submission that does not follow these guidelines. In particular, make sure that the address on your email is correct.
Issue #74–Spring 2025–Legacies
Legacies come in many forms. We think, first, perhaps, of that old Agatha Christie trope of the undeserving nephews and nieces gathered in the lawyer’s office to hear which one of them gets the castle, or, on a different note, of something like a family quilt lovingly crafted and handed down from one generation to the next. And then there are the intangible legacies – the life lessons a person bestows on the lives she touches, or, on the other side of the ledger, the anger and resentment of old enmities. What legacy will you leave for those who come after? What legacies have been left for you or for someone you know – or for all of us? You can write about tangible things or about ideas, feelings, sensibilities, or hopes for a better future.
Projected publication date: March 12, 2025
Submissions will be accepted: February 12 to February 16
(Please do not submit earlier or later than those dates.)
Your submission must be under 500 words. Submit it to us as a Word document; be sure your name, address, phone number, and email address are all in the Word document. Send us the document by an email addressed to publisher@persimmontree.org, and type “Short Take” in the subject line of the email.
Include a headshot and short bio (no more than 50 words) in the email.
You must be subscribed to submit; click here to subscribe. Submissions and subscriptions are free.
Projected publication date: March 12, 2025
Submissions will be accepted: February 12 to February 16
(Please do not submit earlier or later than those dates.)
Your submission must be under 500 words. Submit it to us as a Word document; be sure your name, address, phone number, and email address are all in the Word document. Send us the document by an email addressed to publisher@persimmontree.org, and type “Short Take” in the subject line of the email.
Include a headshot and short bio (no more than 50 words) in the email.
You must be subscribed to submit; click here to subscribe. Submissions and subscriptions are free.
Issue #75–Summer 2025–Mending the Breach–or Not
There are so many ways in which relationships–friendships, marriages, partnerships, loves, families–fall apart. Time itself can do it, or distance. We’ve all had arguments that left us not wanting to be the first to call or text, and sometimes those rifts have lasted for decades. The political divisions of the past few years have also created gulfs we either can’t or prefer not to cross. Write about one such severed relationship. It can be current or far in the past. You can write about why you don’t want to repair it–or why you’d like to but can’t–or, in the best of all possible worlds, how the relationship has been repaired. Try not to be judgmental–of yourself or anyone else.
Projected publication date: Wednesday, June 18, 2025
Submissions will be accepted: May 7 to May 12
(Please do not submit earlier or later than those dates.)
Your submission must be under 500 words. Submit it to us as a Word document; be sure your name, address, phone number, and email address are all in the Word document. Send us the document by an email addressed to publisher@persimmontree.org, and type “Short Take” in the subject line of the email.
Include a headshot and short bio (no more than 50 words) in the email.
You must be subscribed to submit; click here to subscribe. Submissions and subscriptions are free.
Projected publication date: Wednesday, June 18, 2025
Submissions will be accepted: May 7 to May 12
(Please do not submit earlier or later than those dates.)
Your submission must be under 500 words. Submit it to us as a Word document; be sure your name, address, phone number, and email address are all in the Word document. Send us the document by an email addressed to publisher@persimmontree.org, and type “Short Take” in the subject line of the email.
Include a headshot and short bio (no more than 50 words) in the email.
You must be subscribed to submit; click here to subscribe. Submissions and subscriptions are free.
Issue #76–Fall 2025–Putting It All Away
There comes a time when we must put away all the stuff that has grown around us, a time for clearing the decks. Often, that means cleaning out the closet or the so-called “guest” room, or putting away last season’s clothes. It can equally refer to our lives: to freeing ourselves from the overbearing or annoying people who just make us feel bad, or the surfeit of tasks and obligations we’ve taken on (“I’m just a gal who can’t say no”). Or it can refer to our inner selves: it can mean breaking old, bad habits, or silencing the squalling inner child. January is traditionally the moment for grand resolutions promising self-improvement, but fall is a season for new beginnings, too, with summer ending (in the northern hemisphere, at least) and school starting up again. What have you put away? What should you?
Projected publication date: Wednesday, September 17, 2025
Submissions will be accepted: August 11 to August 15
(Please do not submit earlier or later than those dates.)
Your submission must be under 500 words. Submit it to us as a Word document; be sure your name, address, phone number, and email address are all in the Word document. Send us the document by an email addressed to publisher@persimmontree.org, and type “Short Take” in the subject line of the email.
Include a headshot and short bio (no more than 50 words) in the email.
You must be subscribed to submit; click here to subscribe. Submissions and subscriptions are free.
Projected publication date: Wednesday, September 17, 2025
Submissions will be accepted: August 11 to August 15
(Please do not submit earlier or later than those dates.)
Your submission must be under 500 words. Submit it to us as a Word document; be sure your name, address, phone number, and email address are all in the Word document. Send us the document by an email addressed to publisher@persimmontree.org, and type “Short Take” in the subject line of the email.
Include a headshot and short bio (no more than 50 words) in the email.
You must be subscribed to submit; click here to subscribe. Submissions and subscriptions are free.
Issue #77–Winter 2025/2026–Friendship and Other Gifts
This is the season of giving–and receiving. What’s on your wish list–for yourself, for those you love? What is the greatest, or most memorable, or best, or worst gift you have ever been given–or that you ever gave? The gift you’ll write about may be a thing you tie up with a bow; or it could be an intangible: Being a good friend is a gift, as is knowing how to be. Gifts can be two-edged swords: In Old Norse and in some modern Scandinavian languages as well, the word that corresponds to “gift” in English, “gjöf” (pronounced “gyuv”), can, depending on the context, also mean “potion” or “poison.” You may wish to write about the magic potion you once received–or the poison. Finally, gifts often come with strings attached. In many cultures around the globe, a gift creates for its recipient the burden of reciprocity; she must return the favor, sometimes two-fold or more. When has someone given you a something that turned out to be as much obligation as gift?
Projected publication date: Wednesday, December 17, 2025
Submissions will be accepted: November 17 to November 21
(Please do not submit earlier or later than those dates.)
Your submission must be under 500 words. Submit it to us as a Word document; be sure your name, address, phone number, and email address are all in the Word document. Send us the document by an email addressed to publisher@persimmontree.org, and type “Short Take” in the subject line of the email.
Include a headshot and short bio (no more than 50 words) in the email.
You must be subscribed to submit; click here to subscribe. Submissions and subscriptions are free.
Projected publication date: Wednesday, December 17, 2025
Submissions will be accepted: November 17 to November 21
(Please do not submit earlier or later than those dates.)
Your submission must be under 500 words. Submit it to us as a Word document; be sure your name, address, phone number, and email address are all in the Word document. Send us the document by an email addressed to publisher@persimmontree.org, and type “Short Take” in the subject line of the email.
Include a headshot and short bio (no more than 50 words) in the email.
You must be subscribed to submit; click here to subscribe. Submissions and subscriptions are free.
Issue #78–Spring 2026-The Cultures of Childhood
If you are old enough to write for this magazine, then you were a child at least 50 years ago–in a world that embraced very different cultural norms and expectations, values and beliefs, than those today. Write about your memories of that time: who were you then? what do you recall doing and thinking and saying? Write, too, about the ways in which everything and everyone around you then influenced your perception of yourself and your notions of what it means to be a woman, a mother, a worker, a person. What did it feel like to be 10 or 12 then – and do you ever feel like that now?
Publication date: To be announced
Submissions will be accepted: To be announced
(Please do not submit earlier or later than those dates.)
Your submission must be under 500 words. Submit it to us as a Word document; be sure your name, address, phone number, and email address are all in the Word document. Send us the document by an email addressed to publisher@persimmontree.org, and type “Short Take” in the subject line of the email.
Include a headshot and short bio (no more than 50 words) in the email.
You must be subscribed to submit; click here to subscribe. Submissions and subscriptions are free.
Publication date: To be announced
Submissions will be accepted: To be announced
(Please do not submit earlier or later than those dates.)
Your submission must be under 500 words. Submit it to us as a Word document; be sure your name, address, phone number, and email address are all in the Word document. Send us the document by an email addressed to publisher@persimmontree.org, and type “Short Take” in the subject line of the email.
Include a headshot and short bio (no more than 50 words) in the email.
You must be subscribed to submit; click here to subscribe. Submissions and subscriptions are free.
Poetry
Please read and follow these instructions carefully. We regret that we cannot accept any submission that does not follow the guidelines as to what should be sent, when it should be sent, and to whom it should be sent.
Persimmon Tree accepts submissions of poetry only for the Summer and Winter issues. The submissions mailbox, poetry@persimmontree.org, will be open to receive mail only during the submission periods for these issues. Women poets who are 60 or over and live in the geographical region we are featuring in a particular issue are welcome to submit. We will next accept poetry for the Summer 2025 issue. Poets then residing outside the United States may submit.
You must be subscribed to submit; click here to subscribe.
You may submit up to three poems, all of which must be unpublished. Simultaneous submissions are allowed, but please inform us immediately if any poems in your submission are accepted elsewhere.
Submissions should be in a Word document, single-spaced preferred (double-spaced if that is how you wish the poem to appear), in 12-point type. Please include your name, address, telephone number, and email address as Header at the top of each page of the document.
Email your submission as an attachment to poetry@persimmontree.org. The subject line of the email should read “Poetry Submission Winter 2024.” Include a headshot and a short (no more than 50 words) bio in the email. We regret that the volume of entries may make it impossible for us to acknowledge receipt of your email.
Our poetry editor, Cynthia Hogue, appoints Guest Editors for these issues. The Guest Editor is announced when the submission period opens (the window for submissions is usually one month).
The regional rotation is as follows:
Persimmon Tree accepts submissions of poetry only for the Summer and Winter issues. The submissions mailbox, poetry@persimmontree.org, will be open to receive mail only during the submission periods for these issues. Women poets who are 60 or over and live in the geographical region we are featuring in a particular issue are welcome to submit. We will next accept poetry for the Summer 2025 issue. Poets then residing outside the United States may submit.
You must be subscribed to submit; click here to subscribe.
You may submit up to three poems, all of which must be unpublished. Simultaneous submissions are allowed, but please inform us immediately if any poems in your submission are accepted elsewhere.
Submissions should be in a Word document, single-spaced preferred (double-spaced if that is how you wish the poem to appear), in 12-point type. Please include your name, address, telephone number, and email address as Header at the top of each page of the document.
Email your submission as an attachment to poetry@persimmontree.org. The subject line of the email should read “Poetry Submission Winter 2024.” Include a headshot and a short (no more than 50 words) bio in the email. We regret that the volume of entries may make it impossible for us to acknowledge receipt of your email.
Our poetry editor, Cynthia Hogue, appoints Guest Editors for these issues. The Guest Editor is announced when the submission period opens (the window for submissions is usually one month).
The regional rotation is as follows:
- Winter 2024/2025: Central (the Midwest, the Great Plains, Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Missouri),
- Summer 2025: International (for poets living outside the US or in a US Territory),
- Winter 2026: East (the coastal states from Maine to Florida, and also Mississippi, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Alabama),
- Summer 2026: West (the coastal states, and Alaska, Hawaii, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico).
Art and Illustrations
Please read and follow these instructions carefully. We regret that we cannot accept any submission that does not follow the guidelines as to what should be sent, when it should be sent, and to whom it should be sent.
Although the artists who are featured on our dedicated art page are chosen by our art editor, we welcome submissions of work in all media for display and illustration throughout the rest of the magazine. You are invited to send up to five samples of your work (in jpg format, 72 dpi) by email addressed to publisher@persimmontree.org. Include in the email, the title and medium of each work, a headshot, your name, postal address, phone number, email address, and a short biographical statement (less than 50 words). Submissions may be sent at any time during the year.
You must be subscribed to submit; click here to subscribe. Submissions and subscriptions are free.
Although the artists who are featured on our dedicated art page are chosen by our art editor, we welcome submissions of work in all media for display and illustration throughout the rest of the magazine. You are invited to send up to five samples of your work (in jpg format, 72 dpi) by email addressed to publisher@persimmontree.org. Include in the email, the title and medium of each work, a headshot, your name, postal address, phone number, email address, and a short biographical statement (less than 50 words). Submissions may be sent at any time during the year.
You must be subscribed to submit; click here to subscribe. Submissions and subscriptions are free.
Forum
Please read and follow these instructions carefully. We regret that we cannot accept any submission that does not follow the guidelines as to what should be sent, when it should be sent, and to whom it should be sent.
Readers will be asked to contribute to each issue of the magazine their views on questions of moment to the Persimmon Tree community of older women writers and artists. Please do not submit anything at this time. We will let you know when the submissions window opens for the next issue, and what the topic will be.
Readers will be asked to contribute to each issue of the magazine their views on questions of moment to the Persimmon Tree community of older women writers and artists. Please do not submit anything at this time. We will let you know when the submissions window opens for the next issue, and what the topic will be.
Older Wiser Shorter: The Truth and Humor of Life after 65 (Revised)
by Jane Seskin, LCSW
Older Wiser Shorter is an intimate collection of 89 poems from Jane Seskin, a working psychotherapist and author. Seskin, authentic, funny, insightful, quirky and heartfelt, acknowledges the disappointments, physical vulnerability and emotional loss taking place in her senior years. She is able to discover within herself a solid sense of power, resilience and new-found joys through her struggles to acknowledge, accommodate and accept her aging. Seskin's ability to make the very personal universal, will resonate with readers seeking to discover new ways to honor the past, celebrate the present and welcome the future. A Reading Guide to the poems will inspire further reflection and discussion for book and women's groups.
Praise for Older Wiser Shorter:
“Even tho I’m not a fan of poetry, I found Jane Seskin’s poems to be a delight. They hit home.”
— Jane Brody, former Personal Health columnist, New York Times
“I sat down to read one poem last night and I ended up reading half the book. I feel as though I know you. You have definitely captured the experience of aging.”
— Mary Pipher, author of Women Running North and My Life in Light
“Candid, funny, and best of all inspiring, the poems in Jane Seskin’s Older Wiser Shorter throw open a window on aging. Suddenly a breeze of resilience sails through. I learned from Seskin’s poems; they became like mentors for the strange adventure of late-life living. Kindness infuses them. The ‘enormous optimism’ of this intrepid book might prove the greatest wisdom of the ages.”
— Molly Peacock, author of The Analyst
Bio
Judy Ireland’s poems have appeared in Hotel Amerika, Calyx, Saranac Review, Eclipse, Cold Mountain, Coe Review, and other journals, as well as in two anthologies, the Best Indie Lit New England anthology, and the Voices from the Fierce Intangible World anthology. Her book, Cement Shoes, won the 2013 Sinclair Poetry Prize, and was published in 2014 by Evening Street Press. In addition to being a writer, she is also an amateur photographer. She currently serves as Co-Director for the Performance Poets of the Palm Beaches, as Senior Poetry Editor & Reading Series Producer for the South Florida Poetry Journal, and she teaches at Palm Beach State College.