We Welcome Your Submission
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.
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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
We welcome previously unpublished pieces under 3,500 words, written by women over sixty.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.
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
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.
Pockets of Joy (Issue #71, summer 2024)
A wise woman once said, “We can’t expect to be happy every moment, but we can take pleasure in the pockets of joy that come our way.” What pockets of joy have you experienced?
Publication date: June 15, 2024
Submissions accepted: May 15 to May 20
(Please do not submit earlier or later than those dates.)
Your submission must be under 500 words. Email it to us in a Word document; be sure your name, address, and email address are in the Word document and that the subject line of the email is “Short Takes.” Address it to publisher@persimmontree.org.
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.
Listening (Issue #72, Fall 2024)
One of the reasons why people, parties, and nations are so divided today may be that too many of us talk and too few listen. We’d like to publish your account in poetry or prose of times when you or someone you know (or a character you invent) has listened – or hasn’t – and what the results were.
Publication date: September 15, 2024
Submissions accepted: August 15 to August 20
(Please do not submit earlier or later than those dates.)
Your submission must be under 500 words. Email it to us in a Word document; be sure your name, address, and email address are in the Word document and that the subject line of the email is “Short Takes.” Address it to publisher@persimmontree.org.
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.
The Annual Letter (Issue #73, winter 2024)
This is the season when those Christmas/New Year letters start showing up. We’re sure you’ve had to read lots of bad ones: “Our life is perfect. Our family is doing so well [implied: better than yours].”
You can choose to write a good one for us. Or an honest one. Or one that is even worse than this example. But do make sure that yours is 500 words or less.
Publication date: December 15, 2024
Submissions accepted: November 15 to November 20
(Please do not submit earlier or later than those dates.)
Email your letter to us in a Word document; be sure your name, address, and email address are in the Word document and that the subject line of the email is “Short Takes.” Address it to publisher@persimmontree.org.
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.
Legacy (Issue #74, spring 2025)
What legacy will you leave for those who come after? What legacies have been left for you? You can write about things – or ideas – or even the state of the planet. We’ll be looking for originality and artfulness in this one.
Publication date: March 15, 2025
Submissions accepted: February 15 to February 20
(Please do not submit earlier or later than those dates.)
Your submission must be under 500 words. Email it to us in a Word document; be sure your name, address, and email address are in the Word document and that the subject line of the email is “Short Takes.” Address it to publisher@persimmontree.org.
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
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. We will next accept poetry for the Summer 2024 issue. Poets from the western states (see below for the states included in that definition) may submit. The submission period will open sometime in April. Check back to these pages for the precise dates.
The regional rotation is as follows:
- Summer 2024: West (the coastal states, and Alaska, Hawaii, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico),
- Winter 2024: Central (the Midwest, the Great Plains, Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Missouri), and
- Summer 2025: International (for poets living outside the US or in a US Territory).
- Winter 2025: East (the coastal states from Maine to Florida, and also Mississippi, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Alabama),
You must be subscribed to submit; click here to subscribe.
Women poets who are 60 or over and live in the geographical region we are featuring in a particular issue are welcome to submit.
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, 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.” 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).
Summer 2024 Issue – publication date: On or about June 15, 2024
Region: West
Guest Editor: Andrea Carter Brown [poetry@persimmontree.org]
Submissions accepted: April 8 – May 1, 2024
(Please do not submit earlier or later than those dates.)
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.
You must be subscribed to submit; click here to subscribe. Submissions and subscriptions are free.
Forum
Persimmon Tree invites brief (no more than 200 words) comments from our readers on important topics of the moment. Please frame your Comment in clear, straightforward, thoughtful prose. The Forum is intended as an arena for airing personal experiences and opinions, especially on key political and social issues of the moment. It is not a place for fiction or poetry; that is for other sections of the magazine. And remember to be thoughtful of everyone who will read your entry. We reserve the right to refuse publication to any Comment that is rude, officious, or that engages in ad hominem arguments or attacks on any person or group.
You must be subscribed to submit; click here to subscribe. Submissions and subscriptions are free.
The topic for the Summer 2024 issue will be announced in early June.
Check back here for updates.