Osterhout Free Library in Wilkes-Barre is seeking writers for 2016 Word Fountain relaunch
From a press release:
After a long hiatus, a new editing staff is working toward a spring relaunch of Word Fountain, the literary magazine of the Osterhout Free Library in Wilkes-Barre, and they’re seeking emerging and established writers to send in fresh stories, poems, flash fiction, essays, brief memoirs, and other short pieces.
The first new issue will be in print by the end of May, so the submission deadline is April 1; the sooner the work is sent in, the better. Submission does not guarantee publication.
From 2009-2014, Word Fountain produced 10 issues, including the commemorative “Flood Issue” of 2012, a collection of creative responses to suffering caused each time the Susquehanna River overflowed its banks, especially in 1972 and more recently in 2011. Copies of that issue and others are still available at the library (71 S. Franklin St., Wilkes-Barre), as well as its three branches.
The guidelines for submission are below:
We want your original, previously unpublished works, whether they be flash fiction, short stories, essays, poems or some genre-bending combination.
You can submit up to five pieces, with each being up to 1,500 words, or three pages, whichever comes first.
Our preferred method of receiving your submissions is via e-mail to wordfountain@luzernelibraries.org. Please use the word “Submission” in the subject of your e-mail.
We require e-mailed submissions to be in a .doc (Word) format.
A cover letter in the body of your is optional, but please include full contact information with submissions.
Feel free to include a short bio, and we’d love to know how you heard about Word Fountain.
If you absolutely must use snail mail, please send it to the following address:
Osterhout Free Library
ATTN: Word Fountain Staff
71 S. Franklin Street
Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701
Legal stuff:
Writers under the age of 18 must include a permission form signed by a parent or legal guardian. Submission grants First North American Serial Rights, which simply means you are granting us the right to be the first to put your work in print.
While all rights and copyrights revert to the author upon publication, we do ask for Non-exclusive Electronic Rights to display and archive the work here on the website.
If your work is later published elsewhere, we ask that you kindly mention that it was published with Word Fountain first.
Submissions may be edited for spelling, grammar, and spacing, so please let us know if your piece requires special formatting or spelling (dialect, slang, etc.).
Remember, we must have your submissions no later than April 1, 2016. We hope you are as excited as we are about the relaunch of Word Fountain. Don’t be shy! We’d love to see your work in Issue 11, the relaunch!
Word Fountain is the production of a public library, and as such, we cannot at this time offer any form of payment for publication.
Call 570-823-0156 or e-mail wordfountain@luzernelibraries.org with any further questions.
