Deadline: March 17, 12pm CST
The Windward Review Vol. 23 – Conversations (2025)
"sing her song of life...her infinite beauty
she's half-notes scattered
without rhythm/ no tune
sing her sighs
sing the song of her possibilities"
-For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf
“Different observers may be addressed to different regions of nature, or sensitive to different elements in the same region… each responding to a different constituent of the total event, and not simultaneously,”
-George Santayana, Preface to Realms of Being
Windward Review creative journal invites you to submit to Vol. 23: Conversations and catalyzing connections. We are interested in pieces that work with the concept of connections through spaces and time, including genres that invite conversation, like the epistolary and ekphrastic.
What kinds of writing call for forms of dialogue? Responses and reactions? Wherever we are in the universe, no matter the distance—real or perceived—between us, how can we create spaces for conversation that catalyze connection?
A multiplicity of spaces surround us, from our homes and communities to spaces of public discourse and all the way up to the cosmos. Time flows through these spaces, introducing past to present and ushering early into late. While we are bound to this point in time and space, we can look upon the past. Throughout history, people have consistently stuck together and survived to tell their stories. We all share the innate human desire to be heard—a need that is only magnified by the uncertainty of the state of the world. Wherever we are in the universe, no matter the distance—real or perceived—between us, how can we create spaces for conversation that catalyze connection? What consequences may stem from holding to our truth and simultaneously welcoming others as we brush off any authoritative attempts at objectifying ‘truth’?
What are we looking for?
We see conversation as the need for deep, emotional connection in a world where everyone’s lives are fluctuating and changing, enduring seemingly insurmountable hardships in silence. Some of the first means of communication over long distances began in the written form known as Epistolary, which describes a literary genre or work composed of letters, diary entries, or other forms of correspondence. Additionally, consider the form of ekphrastic poems: descriptions or interpretations of a visual work of art that explore how it impacts us.
Submitters may submit up to 5 pieces of flash-fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, hybrid works, play, or script up to 1,000 words, give or take, with themes touching on conversation, space, and time—all of which are open to varying interpretations. We are especially looking for ekphrastic and epistolary styles.
Deadline is March 17, 2025 by 12:00PM CST (noon).
Submit on this Link: Submission Form
Submission Guidelines
For all submissions: You may submit up to 5 works. We generally read pieces all together, as a collection and consider connections between pieces.- Submit your work via our Windward Google Submission Form
- Work submitted should be previously unpublished in order to prevent copyright concerns. Work can be “published” informally through social media accounts, etc., but please remove the work from the internet while we consider it for publication. (You are permitted to share the work on social media after we publish it, if it is accepted.)
- We accept simultaneous submissions, but please let us know if the work in your submission becomes no longer available.
- To prevent biased viewing, personal information should not appear anywhere on the submitted document(s).
- If you include images in your submission document(s), we assume these are meant to be considered with the rest of the submission, but please let us know if the images are optional.
- Collaborative submissions: We review collaborative pieces (i.e. works with multiple authors or a writer and an artist), but please provide names and email addresses of all artists.