SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
How to Submit Work
- There is no fee to submit work.
- Submission period: May 15 through August 15, 2023.
- Submit a manuscript of up to 6 poems (totaling no more than 10 pages, with each poem presented on a separate page) or up to 15 pages for fiction and creative nonfiction.
- All submissions will be considered for online publication.
- Accepted submissions will be chosen by the PWP reading team.
- To submit, please send to the following address:
[Fiction, Poetry, or Nonfiction] Editor
Prison Writing Project
24 Phillips Hall
University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA 52242
The Reading Process
It will take our readers around 6 months to select work and respond to those whose pieces are accepted. After that, it will take another 4 to 6 months to publish the work. While we understand your interest in and commitment to your writing, please do not have friends and family call or contact the PWP regarding work under consideration; administrators within the prison are welcome to contact the PWP if there are questions, or you can send a note by paper mail.
Who Reads & Selects the Writing that Gets Published?
The team of volunteer readers who will consider work include students, staff, and faculty from the University of Iowa’s writing programs and publications.
What Happens if Your Work Is Selected for Publication?
Those whose work is selected for publication will receive notice via paper mail. Selected work will be published and showcased on the University of Iowa’s WritingUniversity.org/prisonwriting webpage and/or the Prison Writing Project’s website. Authors will be sent printed copies of their published work. Some select work may also be published in print anthologies or in the UI Literary Kiosks. Authors will be alerted if their work is selected for publication in an anthology. There is no financial payment for published work.
Eligibility
Anyone who is incarcerated in the state of Iowa is eligible to enter. All submissions should be accompanied by a cover letter with the author’s name, identification number, and complete mailing address. Handwritten submissions are accepted. Authors may not submit more than one entry per reading period. Only unpublished manuscripts will be considered, with the exception of pieces that have appeared in prison-only publications. At the present time, the Prison Writing Project is unable to return manuscripts back to their respective authors. Send in a copy of your work and keep the original. Please include a return address.
The spirit of the PWP has always been collaborative and horizontal. All ideas and voices are welcome. Editors in the PWP have always thought critically about academic notions of creative writing forms and are openminded when considering all submissions, especially those that challenge, interrogate, or ignore normative, popular, or familiar writing styles or structures.
Please contact prison-writing@uiowa.edu with any questions.