Our Winter 2020 Issue is Live!
by Barbara Westwood Diehl
Welcome to our winter 2020 issue!
We hope that you enjoy the poems, short stories, and creative nonfiction in this issue as much as we do. Definitely some remarkable and memorable work here.
Congratulations to our winter contest winners, who are included in this issue!
Omer Friedlander, “Jellyfish in Gaza” (Fiction) – 1st Place
Amy L. Clark, “300 Eggs: She’s Difficult” (Creative Nonfiction) – 2nd Place
Stella Reed, “Because I was a lamb” (Poem) – 3rd Place
There were many fine short stories, poems, and creative nonfiction pieces submitted for the contest’s “Rituals” theme, and decisions were often difficult. Thanks to all the writers who wrote on this theme. We hope that you enjoyed considering the role of rituals in our lives.
And a special thanks to our final judge, Karen Skolfield! Support this fine writer by buying her books. Attend her upcoming events if you can. https://karenskolfield.com/
And thanks to BR staff members who devote volunteer time to reading the thousands of submissions we receive each year. This can be an invaluable experience for all writers, by the way. Journals benefit from the opinions, skills, knowledge, talent, and support of the literary community, of course. And the volunteers benefit as well, in many ways. It’s demanding work but worth it.
We open our Submittable door for submissions on February 1. Thinking of submitting? We hope that you will first take some time to read our current and past issues online. Click around. Pause to spend time with a piece. We want the work of all our contributors to be read, of course. These voices deserve to be heard, and we hope that you find something in each issue to nourish you. We also want you to feel confident that this journal would be a good home for your work. If you believe that your work would be a good fit, check our submission guidelines to make sure that it meets our requirements (e.g., word count, how many poems or flash pieces to submit). If you feel confident that it’s a good fit and as polished as it can be, send it to the BR and other journals that feel right to you. We look forward to reading your work!