“RUMINATE Magazine is now accepting submissions for Issue 21. For this issue we are looking for essays or short fiction, deadline: May 15, 2011.

 Poets may be interested in entering our annual Janet B. McCabe Poetry Prize. The Janet McCabe Poetry contest deadline is May 1, 2011.

www.ruminatemagazine.org

A good word, in and of itself, can be a spiritual endeavor expressing the beauty, creativity, and ironies of the human experience. Because of this, RUMINATE publishes work with both subtle and overt associations to the Christian faith as well as work that has no direct association.

We look forward to seeing your work! Submissions are accepted year-round. We only accept submissions that are previously unpublished and we do accept simultaneous submissions. We are currently able to pay contributors $5 per page or in contributor copies. If you agree to allow RUMINATE to publish your work, we will receive first serial rights. Before submitting, we strongly recommend ordering a copy of the magazine in order to better understand the type of work we publish and to tailor your submission accordingly. We also ask all artists and writers previously published in RUMINATE to wait two reading periods before submitting again. We ONLY accept online submissions, as our readers are spread out across the country. Any submissions made by postal mail or email will not be considered.

THEMES/DEADLINES
Fall Issue #21, Open Theme: Deadline extended to May 15th, 2011 (please note that we do not accept poetry submissions for this issue, as the poetry published in this issue will come from the poetry prize entries.)
Winter Issue #22, Theme TBD: Deadline August 15th, 2011 

After the reading deadline has passed for an issue, it generally takes us six to eight weeks to respond. If you have questions regarding your submission, please contact us.

Fiction and Nonfiction
We accept fiction, creative nonfiction, and interviews. We only accept pieces that are under 6,000 words. You may submit up to two pieces of shorter prose per reading period (6,000 cumulative words), or one piece of longer prose. The files you submit must be .doc, .rft, .pdf, or .txt format, and make sure there are no apostrophes in the file name. Please include your name within the document that you submit, preferably at the top of the first page. Please title your file(s) being submitted with your last name, first name, and the genre of your work: (Doe_John_Essay.doc). We do not need a bio or cover letter.

Poetry
You may submit up to three poems per reading period, with a maximum of 50 lines per poem. The files you submit must be .doc, .rft, .pdf, or .txt format, and make sure there are no apostrophes in the file name. Include your name within the document that you submit, preferably at the top of each poem. Please title your file(s) being submitted with your last name, first name, and the genre of your work: (Doe_John_Poetry.doc). We do not need a bio or cover letter.

Art
Visual artists may submit images through our online submission form. Alternatively, you may mail a CD to RUMINATE visual arts editor, Stefani Rossi, at 140 N. Roosevelt Ave, Fort Collins, CO 80521. For either option, please submit the following:

  • Professional quality digital images in TIFF or JPG formats (if JPG, saved in “baseline” or “standard” format at the highest quality possible). Images must be Mac and PC compatible. Note: Please do not submit PPT or PPTX presentations.
  • A minimum of 320 dpi
  • Between 1200 and 2400 pixels in the longest dimension
  • Please title image files with your last name and first initial, year of the work, title, medium and dimensions (example: Doe_J_2009_Title_oil on panel_9x12.jpg).
  • Brief biographical/artist statement as either a text file (Word) or as a PDF. Please title the file with your last name, first initial, and the content of the file (example: Doe_J_ArtistStatement.doc or Doe_J_Biography.doc).
  • For CD submissions: SASE if you would like the return of your materials.

Please Note: Due to the volume of submissions we receive, images that are improperly formatted or incorrectly labeled will not be considered. While RUMINATE may not utilize your images, please note that they will be kept on file in our submissions archive (artists will retain all pertinent rights and RUMINATE will not publish archived images without the appropriate permissions and release from the artist).  If you have questions regarding the submitting process for art, please contact Stefani Rossi.

Reviews
We review new and not-so-new books of poetry, short story collections, anthologies, fiction, memoir, and nonfiction. Our short reviews focus on books dealing with the arts and/or faith. The longer review essays tackle several books on a distinct theme–a theme that somehow engages the overall theme for that issue. These essays should be thesis-driven rather than a disconnected string of reviews on the works at hand. 200 words for mini-reviews; 800-2500 for longer reviews. If you would like to query us about a book or list of books that you are interested in reviewing, please contact Brianna Van Dyke.

The Fall Issue #21 deadline for submissions is May 15th, 2011.

To submit please visit http://www.ruminatemagazine.org/submissions/submission-guidelines.html