Stone Canoe, a journal of arts and ideas from Upstate New York, was founded at Syracuse University's University College, and is now published by The YMCA's Downtown Writers Center, at the Arts Branch of the YMCA of Greater Syracuse. The annual publication appears each February.
Stone Canoe showcases the work of a diverse mix of emerging and well-established artists and writers with strong connections to Upstate New York. In doing so, we hope promote a greater awareness of the cultural and intellectual richness that characterizes life in the region. We do not accept work by writers and artists who are not current or former residents of Upstate New York. For the purposes of Stone Canoe, we define this as those portions of the state outside of New York City and Long Island. Your bio note must include information that documents your current or past residency in the region.
Submissions are accepted from April 1 through July each year for publication the following spring. Please note the following deadlines for individual categories:
VISUAL ART: September 15
POETRY: August 18
DRAMA: July 29
FICTION: July 15
NONFICTION: July 22
For all genres, any genre-specific guidelines (length requirements, etc.) are listed with their genre submission guidelines.
Please note that we are not interested in work that has been previously published in another form, including online journals.
Please do not submit work in more than two of the categories listed above in a single year.
As much as possible, we try to respond to submissions no later than mid-November each year. If you have not heard about your submission, and it is later than December 15th, please contact us by email.
If your piece has been simultaneously submitted to other journals, and is accepted for publication elsewhere, PLEASE withdraw it from our submission process immediately.
Finally, when selecting your work for submission, please keep in mind that YMCA is a family-oriented organization. Pieces with excessive profanity, gratuitous violence or sexual content, or work that in other ways works against the Y's goals for our community cannot be seriously considered for publication. We are likewise uninterested in work that displays views in contrast with our hope to be a welcoming, equitable, antiracist organization.
As part of Tiger Bark Press's ongoing commitment to printing quality poetry by a diversity of voices, the press will hold an open reading period throughout the month of March 2025, for full-length book manuscripts by poets who identify as Black, as indigenous, or as people of color. This is not a competition, and there is no guarantee that a manuscript will be selected for publication; however, our hope is to fall in love with, and publish, at least one book as a result of this reading period, and perhaps more. Selected poets will be offered a standard publishing contract, with books scheduled for publication in 2026.
Thanks to our friends at Stone Canoe for hosting this reading period on their Submittable page!
MANUSCRIPT GUIDELINES:
- Manuscripts should include 50-90 pages of original poetry in English, one poem per page.
- Individual poems may have been published in journals or online, but manuscripts as a whole must be previously unpublished.
- Please include a list of acknowledgments for previously published poems included in the collection.
- Collections of poetry in translation are not eligible.
- Please begin your manuscript with a cover page including your name, address, email address, and phone number.
- Manuscripts may be submitted as Word or PDF files.
- Only poets currently residing in the United States are eligible.