Ninth Letter will be accepting submissions of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for a special online edition to be published at ninthletter.com in Winter 2024. No fee is required for submissions to this issue.
The theme for this issue is Praise. Robert Hass begins his 1979 book of poetry, Praise, with an epigraph:
We asked the captain what course
of action he proposed to take toward
a beast so large, terrifying, and
unpredictable. He hesitated to
answer, and then said judiciously:
“I think I shall praise it.”
What beasts do you praise? What monsters do you pay tribute to? How sharp are the objects of your veneration? We seek the flashlight pushing its beam through darkness; we seek the grin that bears the weight. Show us the reverence that glows like an ember in the ash. Show us your demons, and share with us the odes and hymns, the lullabies and incantations you sing to earn their peace. Show us your beasts, and give your beasts praise.
You may submit up to three poems, or one piece of short prose (fiction or nonfiction) of up to 3500 words; please also include a cover letter that briefly explains how you see your work connecting to the theme. See more information and guidelines.
Ninth Letter is the award-winning literary arts journal edited and produced by the Creative Writing Program at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. The journal’s mission is to present original literary writing of exceptional quality, illuminated by cutting-edge graphic design.
Work published in Ninth Letter has been selected for many awards anthologies such as Best American Nonrequired Reading, Best American Poetry, The Pushcart Prize, Best American Short Stories, Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, Best Creative Nonfiction, Best New Fantasy, Best New Poets, Best of the Net, and New Stories from the Midwest. During a decade-plus collaboration with the UIUC School of Art + Design, the journal also received many national and international awards for graphic design, and was featured in the design awards annuals of both STEP Inside Design and HOW Magazine. In 2005 Ninth Letter was named Best New Literary Journal by the Council of Learned Journals, an affiliate of the Modern Language Association.