Listed below are our current open calls. We are open for our chapbook contests from March to May, our open reading period for full-length poetry manuscripts from June to August, our broadside contest from September to November, and our open reading period for prose manuscripts from December to February. Our residency applications are open year-round. Other calls will be published here as they open.
Sundress Academy for the Arts Open for Fall 2025 Residencies
Deadline: May 1, 2025
Sundress Academy for the Arts (SAFTA) is now accepting applications for short-term writing residencies in all genres—poetry, fiction, nonfiction, playwriting, screenwriting, journalism, academic writing, and more—for their fall residency period which runs from August 17th, 2025 to January 3th, 2026. These residencies are intended to provide writers with the time and space they need to finish their creative ideas in a peaceful and effective environment.
Each farmhouse residency is $350/week, covering a private room as well as access to our shared kitchen, bathroom, office, and living area, plus wireless internet. Writers Coop residencies are $175/week and include your own private dry cabin in addition to access to the farmhouse amenities. Due to the low cost, we rarely are able to provide scholarships for Writers Coop residents.
Residents will stay at the SAFTA farmhouse, located on a working farm on a 45-acre wooded plot in a Tennessee “holler” perfect for hiking, camping, and nature walks. The farmhouse is a half-hour drive from Knoxville, a vibrant city with an engaged literary community. For writers seeking a rural retreat with urban amenities, SAFTA is ideal.
As part of our commitment to anti-racist work, we use a reparations payment model for our farmhouse residencies which consists of the following:
- 3 reparations weeks of equally divided payments for Black and/or Indigenous identifying writers at $150/week
- 3 discounted weeks of equally divided payments for writers of color at $250/week
Black and/or Indigenous identifying writers are also invited to apply for a $350 support grant to help cover the costs of food, travel, childcare, and/or any other needs while they are at the residency. We are currently able to offer two of these grants per residency period (spring/summer/fall). If you would like to donate to expand this funding, you may do so on our website.
For the 2025 Fall Residency Period, SAFTA will be offering the following fellowships:
- Fellowships for Women & Nonbinary Writers: one full and one 50% fellowship for women and nonbinary writers
- Fellowship for Black & Indigenous Writers: one full fellowship for Black and/or Indigenous identifying writers
- Fellowship for Trans Writers: one full fellowship for a trans writer
- Limited partial scholarships are also available to applicants with financial need.
The application deadline for the fall residency period is May 1st, 2025.
The application fee is waived for all writers of color. For all fellowship applications, the application fee will also be waived for those who demonstrate financial need. All application fees will go directly towards travel grants for Black and/or Indigenous writers.
Sundress Publications Open for Chapbook Contest
Deadline: May 31, 2025
Sundress Publications announces its 14th annual e-chapbook contest. Authors of all genres to submit manuscripts during our reading period from March 1st to May 31st, 2025.
We welcome submissions in poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and hybrid work, as well as visual poetry, poetry comics, and visual hybrid works. Manuscripts must be between twelve to twenty-six (12-26) pages in length, with a page break between individual pieces. Previously published individual pieces are allowed as long as they have not appeared in a full-length collection, including self-published books. Both single-author and collaborative dual-author manuscripts will be considered. Submissions must be primarily in English; translations are not eligible.
All of our chapbooks are available for free digital download on our website, ensuring wide accessibility and readership. Sundress e-chapbooks typically average over 1,000 downloads, with authors receiving a full promotional packet and extensive social media coverage. Please note that print publication is not an option.
From March 1-14th, submissions to this contest are free for one manuscript per writer. Beginning March 15th, the entry fee is $10 per manuscript, though this fee will be waived for writers of color and entrants who purchase or pre-order any Sundress title. Authors may submit multiple manuscripts, provided each is accompanied by a separate reading fee or book purchase/pre-order. Fees and purchases may be processed through our store.
The winner will receive $250 and publication as a full-color PDF available exclusively online. The editor’s choice selection will receive $150 and publication, and runners-up may also be considered for publication.
All manuscripts should include a cover page (title only), table of contents, dedication (if applicable), and acknowledgments for previous publications. These pages will not count toward the total page count. Manuscripts must not contain identifying information. Authors with close relationships to the judge (friends, relatives, colleagues, past or present students) are discouraged from entering.
To submit, follow the instructions here.
Simultaneous submissions are allowed, but authors must notify Sundress immediately if a manuscript is accepted elsewhere. No revisions are permitted during the judging period. Winners will be announced in fall 2025.
This year’s contest will be judged by Joshua Nguyen. Nguyen is the author of Come Clean (University of Wisconsin Press, 2021), winner of the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry, the Writers’ League of Texas Discovery Award, and the Mississippi Institute of Arts & Letters Poetry Award. He is also the author of the chapbooks American Lục Bát for My Mother (Bull City Press, 2021) and Hidden Labor & The Naked Body (Sundress Publications, 2023). He is a Vietnamese-American writer, a collegiate national poetry slam champion (CUPSI), and a native Houstonian. He has received fellowships from Kenyon Review, Tin House, Sundress Academy for the Arts, and the Vermont Studio Center. He is a humor editor for The Offing and received his MFA/PhD from The University of Mississippi. He currently teaches at Tufts University.
Sundress Publications Open for Microgrant Applications for Trans Writers
Deadline: July 15, 2025
Sundress Publications is open for submissions for grant applications from trans writers with a chapbook or full-length book in progress. All eligible authors are welcome to submit during our application period which closes on July 15th, 2025. Applicants may apply for any genre.
The Sundress Microgrant for Trans Writers will award $500, a one-week residency at the Sundress Academy for the Arts in Knoxville, TN, and the potential for publication to one trans writer with a chapbook or full-length in progress to support the completion of said project. This grant is made possible by a generous anonymous donation.
All applications will be read by members of our editorial or reader board. One writer will be selected who will then work with Sundress’s residency team and editorial board.
To apply, please send a sample of the work in progress (up to 15 pages) along with a brief (no more than 500 words) artist/personal statement about what this grant would mean to the completion of said work. There is no fee to apply.
Sundress Reads Looking for Recently Published Books to Review
Deadline: Rolling
As part of Sundress’ Publications’ ongoing commitment to service and the importance of highlighting work from other small presses, we are now accepting submissions for consideration for inclusion in our review series, Sundress Reads. We’re looking to feature reviews for any books published or to be published in 2023 or 2024.
We at Sundress champion writers whose work highlights human resilience and challenges misconceptions. We will not consider reviewing any book that promotes actions or includes language that contribute to oppression. Books by authors from LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, neurodivergent, disabled, immigrant, incarcerated, and otherwise marginalized communities are encouraged to submit. Recent titles we’ve reviewed include Alicia Mountain’s Four in Hand (BOA Editions), Teow Lim Goh’s Faraway Places (Diode Editions), and Noreen Ocampo’s Not Flowers (Variant Literature).
Authors or publishers of books published within this date range are invited to submit books, chapbooks, or anthologies in any genre for consideration by our reviewers who are standing by. Books must be published by independent presses, university presses, or small presses; we do not accept submissions from “the Big 5” or self-published collections. Submissions will be considered on a rolling basis.