Our Submissions Policies

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.
IMPORTANT SUBMISSIONS REQUIREMENT:
Subscriptions to Persimmon Tree are free, but, for your work to be considered, you must be a subscriber. Sign up for your subscription here:
Fiction and Nonfiction: We welcome previously unpublished pieces under 3,500 words, written by women over sixty.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. Several readers will review your submission, and we will respond to you within six months. Multiple submissions are accepted. If you want to send more than one piece, put them in separate emails.
Please send your submission as an attachment to us at: editor@persimmontree.org. Type the title of the piece, labeled fiction or non-fiction, in the subject line. Include a brief biographical statement (less than 50 words) in your email. The attached document must be saved in MS Word or a compatible program. If we can’t open it, it won’t be read. We will respond to you online.
Submissions should be 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.
Art and Illustrations: 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 no more than five samples of your work (in jpg format), a headshot and a short biographical statement (less than 50 words) for us to put on file. Submissions should be addressed to publisher@persimmontree.org and may be sent any time during the year. Please do not expect a response from us unless we plan to use your work.
Poetry: We accept submissions of poetry two times a year when we hold competitions; we publish the winning poems submitted from poets who live in a specific geographical region. Please no simultaneous submissions for competitions.
Next Competition:
Winter 2022/23 Issue (estimated publication date: December 15, 2022)
Eligibility: Poets from the Central States
Submissions accepted: probably October 1, 2022, to November 15, 2022
Guest judge: TBA
Send submissions to:
poetry@persimmontree.org
Poetry manuscripts must use the following guidelines to be considered:
(1) Previously unpublished poems by women over sixty should be emailed to the judge for that competition at the provided email address, not to Persimmon Tree directly. Poems must be in English.
(2) Include 1-3 poems in a single WORD attachment. No poem may be longer than a page; use 12-point type.
(3) In the subject line of the email message, type PERSIMMON TREE POETRY COMPETITION and your last name. In the body of the message, include your name, phone number, email and postal mailing address.
If your submission does not follow these guidelines, it will be deleted. You will not be notified.
Poets whose work is selected for publication will be asked to send short bios and photos, and will need to be available for proofreading their poems. We will let you know if your poem(s) has been accepted or not.
Regions for Competitions:
East Coast States (ME, VT, NH, CT, MA, RI, NY, NJ, DE, MD, DC, VA, NC, SC, GA, FL)
Western States (WA, OR, CA, AK, HI, NV, ID, AZ, UT, MT, WY, CO, NM)
Central States (TX, OK, KS, NE, SD, ND, MN, IA, MO, AR, LA, MS, AL, TN, KY, IN, MI, WI, IL, OH, WV, PA)
International Poets (not living in the US)
Short Takes: Short Takes are usually short 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!
Persimmon Tree received so many excellent submissions for the summer 2022 issue that it was impossible to publish all of those that merited publication in one issue. The editors have decided to consider half the entries for publication in the summer issue and hold the rest over for consideration for the fall issue. As a result, there will be no new Short Takes contest for the fall issue.
Our Donations Policy

We at Persimmon Tree are dedicated to bringing you creative fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and art from women over sixty.
Our commitment comes from seeing too many excellent older women writers and artists ignored or disregarded. We live in a youth-oriented society that fails to validate, much less venerate, these women’s talent and skill. Yet they have so much to offer. Decades of life experience have prepared them to speak to the largest questions, and they know how to do this in a multiplicity of ways.
Persimmon Tree wants to make older women’s work available to all ages.
The task is huge. Those of us who are doing it are volunteers, except for our web staff. The editor puts in very long hours, as do the contributing editors. Creating a magazine takes a lot of time and money.
We’re deeply committed—but you can help, too.
Consider sending a donation.
No amount is too small; everything will be very much appreciated.
If you wish to, you can designate your donation in honor of or in memory of an individual.
(For information on our privacy policy, click here.)
1. Click here to pay with a credit card
2. If you would prefer to contribute by check, you can do so by making out your check to Persimmon Tree and mailing it to
Persimmon Tree
c/o Jean Zorn, Publisher
One Lincoln Plaza, Apt. 30N
New York, New York 10023-7137
*Persimmon Tree is a tax exempt charitable organization, pursuant to IRC Section 501(c)(3). Persimmon Tree is also a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. All contributions to Persimmon Tree, whether made by check directly to Persimmon Tree or by credit card via Fractured Atlas, are tax-deductible to the fullest extent permitted by law.
However you make your gift, and whatever its size, many thanks in helping to grow this persimmon tree!
OUR GENEROUS DONORS
Here is a list of the donations Persimmon Tree received from you, our very generous readers and supporters, from January 1, 2021, to January 31, 2022 (which marked the end of our winter fundraising drive). That campaign was tremendously successful, and we thank you all for making it such a success – and for the donations you continue to send to us during the rest of the year.
We try to ensure that this list is as complete and accurate as it can be, but if you see any mistakes in it, or if anyone’s name is missing, please let us know, and we’ll make a correction as soon as we can.
Sponsors have contributed $100 or more; sustainers have contributed from $50 to $99, supporters have contributed up to $49; and stalwarts are recurring donors who have arranged to contribute to Persimmon Tree automatically every month. We are grateful to all our donors, no matter the size of your gift. It is only because of your generosity that Persimmon Tree is able to continue to highlight the talent and creativity of older women.
Sustainers ($50 to $99)
Patricia Aakre
Anonymous
Carolyn Lee Arnold
Karen Arnold
Wendy Barker
Julia Ballerini
Greta Berman
Brenda Bellinger
Marsha Blitzer
Patricia Boswell
Paula Boyland
Lyn Brakeman
Nancy Braun
Donna Bridewell
Patricia Brawley
Lisa Braxton-Reid
Susan Love Brown
Kathleen Canrinus
Mary Ellen Capek
Darlene Ceremello
Myriam Chapman
Ann Chase
Elizabeth Chase
Leslie Clark
Catharine Clark-Sayles
Mary Ann Cook
Nyla Dartt
Jim Douglas
Mary Dunn
Susan Dworkin
Elana Dykewomon
Meredith Escudier
Audrey Ferber
Susan Florence
Sandra Fry
Walt Fujii
Barbara Geiger
Bernard Goldschmidt
Eugenia Grohman
Marjorie Hanft
Ronnie Hess
Sally Hess
Maggie Hill
Cynthia Hogue
Joanne Jagoda
Leslee Jepson
Maj-Britt Johnson
Edie Kausch
Antoinette Kennedy
Claire Keyes
Gloria Kirchheimer
Ellen Kirschman
Kathryn Koob
Sarah Kotchian
Jacqueline Kudler
Julie Lakehomer
Anna Lank
Carolyne Larson
Ellen Leary
Rose Levinson
Lori Levy
Ann Lonstein
Catharine Lucas
Marylee MacDonald
Ronna Magy
Julianne McCullagh
Martha Mendelsohn
Heidi Messner
Carol Nadell
Connie Nelson
Alicia Ostriker
Clorisa Phillips
Nancy Piore
Hope Prosky
Sylvia Ramos Cruz
Patricia Rauscher
Kate Ravin
Susan Roche
Phyllis Rozman
Paula Rudnick
Vera Salter
Kathleen Sampson
Mary Savage
Susan Schoch
Harriet Shenkman
Deborah Shepherd
Susanne Singleton
Patricia Sullivan
Anne-Marie Sutton
Eleanor Swent
Mary Thomas
Priscilla Tilley
windflower Townley
Norma Tucker
Mary Waters
Ellen Wiener
Avra Wing
Renee Winter
Eva Yachnes
Supporters (Up to $50)
Anonymous
Liz Abrams-Morley
Frances Payne Adler
Margarita Alvarez
Diana Anhalt
Dori AppelGail Arnoff
Sing Baker
Joan Baranow
Sarah Barnett
Lois Barr
Glenda Beall
Ginger Benlifer
Margo Berdeshevsky
Carol Biederman
Alice Bloch
Ann L. Boaden
Barbara Bolton
Paula Bonnell
Mary J Breen
Susan Broner
Elga Antonsen Brown
Theresa Brown
Judith Carroll
Rosalea Carttar
Elizabeth Clem
Wendy Cleveland
Patty Cogen
Elizabeth Colbert
Carla Cooke
Kathleen Corcoran
Nancy Corlis
Natalia Corres
Pamela (Jody) Cothey
Elaine Cory
Caroline Coyle
Malinda Crispin
Henrietta Dahlstrom
Marie Daniely
Lynne Davis
Beth DellaRocco
LinMarie DiCianni
Rosanne Dingli
Gail Duberchin
Noma Edwards
Rosanne Ehrlich
Cynthia Elder
Jean Ellison
Judith Emilie
Roberta Estar
Rebecca Evans
Nancy Feinstein
Jan M Flynn
Gaye Gambell-Peterson
Claudia Geagan
Suvan Geer
Debra Gilbert
Nicolette Golding
Kathryn Goldman
Anita Gorman
Grace Graupe-Pillard
Janet Harrison
Dolores Hayden
Marylin Hervieux
Elyse Hilton
Judi Hollis
Susan Huebner
Barbara Huntington
Anne Ierardi
Jean Jackman
B. Fulton Jennes
Claire Kahane
Anne Kaier
Marsha Kaminsky
Lorelei Kay
Barbara Kazdan
Ellen Kazimer
Gurupreet Khalsa
Susan Kress
Janet Lande
Ann Lederer
Frances Lench
Lori Lev
Antonia Lewandowski
Judith Lorber
Yvonne Lorvan
Mardith Louisell
Carol Luther
Ericka Lutz
Janet MacFadyen
Marion MacGillivray
Gretchen MacLachlan
Charlotte Mandel
Carol Marsh
Laurie McCray
Sara McAulay
Linda Melick
Lynn C Miller
Angie Minkin
Elaine Mokhtefi
Nancy Montague
Leslie Moor
Judith Moorma
Jane Morgan
Dana Moriarty
Sue Morin
Charlene Neely
Hope Nisly
Alice Nye
Robin Oakman
Mary Beth OConnor
Lucretia Odinak
Pietrina Pensabene
Stephanie Percival
Pit Pinegar
Nancy Poling
Sylvia Pollack
Sarah Powley
Jill Quist
Sheila Rabinowitch
Susan Rice
Martina Reaves
Bethany Reid
Lynne Reitman
Crystal Rogers
Lois Rosen
Eleanor Rubin
Nan Rush
Marcia Rutan
Susan Sailer
JoAnn Sanderson
Carla Schick
Mary Schoen
Patricia Schopp
Susan Schwalb
Elaine G. Schwartz
Margaret Seidenberg-Ellis
Marilyn Seidler
Rochelle Shapiro
Shirley Shatsky
Ursula Shepherd
Ellen Shriner
Lois Silverstein
Sally Simon
Charlene M. Spretnak
Nancy Stark
S.L. Stevens
Carol Sunde
Nina Tassi
Suzanne Tedesko
Seema Tepper
Laura Tohe
Catherine Torigian
Mary Ungerleider
Kresha Warnock
Jamie Lyn Weaver
Judith Wells
Monica Wehrle
Anne White
Margaret Willey
Marty Williams
Nancy Wolitzer
Carolyn Yates
Madelyn Young
Stalwarts (monthly recurring donations)
Louise Dolan
Mary Donaldson-Evans
Ann Humphrey
Sharon Kennedy
Marianne Kranz
Pamela Kress-Dunn
Maureen Lahey
Sue Leonard
Mary Mullen
Kathleen Robinson
Ruth Saxton
Sally Thomason
Jean Zorn
Persimmon Tree is thrilled to announce that three of our stories have won 2016 Write Well Awards, one story won a 2017 and another story won a 2018 Write Well Award.
Our 2018 winner is:
Joyce H. Munro, Be Jubilant My Feet (Winter, 2018)
“Be Jubilant My Feet” is a war story, though it takes place far from the front lines. It is the inner war of a naïve student whose bubble of religiosity is pricked by the injustice and inequality she sees on TV. Given the setting, I could have portrayed her succumbing to the pressure of conforming to rules yet again and thus endeth the lesson. Instead, I wanted to explore how her propensity for guile and her awakening conscience might play out when much more is at stake than childhood or college rules.
Our 2017 winner is:
Joan Newburger for “A Bad Day in the Promised Land” (Winter, 2017)
“A Bad Day in the Promised Land” is one in a series of stories about the Selig and Aaronson families and centered on Eleanor Aaronson. They are in part autobiographical and were inspired by an older relative’s tales of the checkered and colorful history of the author’s Southern Jewish family, the Newburger branch having arrived in the South from Germany before the Civil War.
Click here to read “A Bad Day in the Promised Land”
Our 2016 winners are:
Melody Mansfield for “Fertilizer” (Fall, 2015)
Mansfield conveys subtle details of aging and senility through the tasks of gardening. She begins: “Deadheading is an art. You have to look for the bud, and then make the cut just above it. … What relief it must be, after growing, bursting, blooming, to be cut free, finally, at the end. No dishonor in that.”
Click here to read “Fertilizer”
Gail A. Webber for “Never Waste a Good Hole” (Fall, 2015)
“My father was passionate about holes, and for him, any patch of exposed dirt in the yard was cause for celebration.” See if you can figure out why the teller of this story is digging her own hole in her front yard before Webber explains.
Click here to read “Never Waste a Good Hole”
Ann Tracy for “Quiet Girls” (Winter, 2016)
Tracy, recounting the events of Winter Carnival, evokes the plight of quiet college girls in 1960 (and before). Winter Carnival at Aubrey College is a time for many groups to come together; one of the highlights being “the production … of fraternity and sorority snow sculptures.” The women created a sculpture of Sleeping Beauty, “the ultimate Quiet Girl.” What happened to her will shock you. Or, perhaps not.
Click here to read “Quiet Girls”
Congratulations to our contributors! We are so proud of them and so pleased that they let us share their work in our magazine.
The pieces have been included in the 2016 Write Well Anthology and Newburger’s piece has been included in the 2017 Anthology. You can purchase a copy of the 2016 Anthology here on Amazon.com and/or a copy of the 2017 Anthology also on Amazon.com.
Sadly, Write Well has ended their program. You may still order the 2016 and 2017 Kindle versions from Amazon, but there is no book available for the 2018 winners. It was a wonderful idea and we are sorry to see it go.
Our Advertising Policy

Persimmon Tree accepts ads by women related to literature and the arts, including publications, performances, openings, workshops, groups, and so on.
The page can be accessed from anywhere in the magazine by clicking on ArtsMart, which is at the top of every page.
Size
If you wish us to format your ad, please provide up to 250 words of text; a main head and optional subheads, as well as one hyperlink to the website (e.g., point of sale, personal web site), and
a single image no larger than 130 x 190 pixels, in either JPG or GIF file format.
Display ads (provided as a single image in either JPG or GIF file format) must be no less that 580 pixels wide, and can be no more than 700 pixels in length.
Rates
1x placement (3 months online) |
$110 |
2x placement (6 months online) |
$175 |
3x placement (9 months online) |
$225 |
4x placement (1 year online) |
$255 |
Deadlines
Issue |
Reservations |
Copy |
Summer |
June 1 |
June 15 |
Fall |
August 15 |
September 1 |
Winter |
November 30 |
December 7 |
Spring |
February 21 |
February 28 |
Reservations and Payment
To reserve space, email ads@persimmontree.org. Payment is required to secure your reservation.
Pay by Check
Checks payable to Persimmon Tree can be mailed to
Persimmon Tree
c/o Jean Zorn, Publisher
One Lincoln Plaza, Apt. 30N
New York, New York 10023-7137
Pay by Credit Card
For credit card payments through PayPal, use the form below.
Contact Us
Email ads@persimmontree.org. If you prefer to speak by phone, please include a phone number and times when you can be reached. Our volunteer ad coordinator will contact you.