Writes of Spring 2023 – Call for Submissions: CLOSED

SUBMISSIONS CLOSED

JOY is the theme of this year’s Writes of Spring, our annual team-up with the Winnipeg Free Press and poet Ariel Gordon to mark National Poetry Month. If you’re a Manitoba poet, Gordon and co-editor Sally Ito are looking forward to reading your submissions!

• Submit a Maximum of 5 poems, English or French, no more than 30 lines each.
• Short bio (max 30 words) required.
• Submit online at thinairwinnipeg.ca
• Questions? Send us an email at WritesofSpring@thinairwinnipeg.ca

DEADLINE: March 22, 2023

Twelve poems will be selected, and each poet will receive a $75 honorarium as well as publication in the Winnipeg Free Press on Saturday, April 29.

Writes of Spring is committed to a diversity of voices: emerging, PoC, urban, spoken word, Indigenous, established, rural, Black, 2SLGBTQ+, newcomer, and page poets.

joy is. reading by a window with a soft blanket. an old plant with a new bloom. a completed to-do-list. the first big snowfall. banana bread in the oven. the squeak of sand under bare feet. a cat purring on my lap. finding the perfect GIF to send to the groupchat. a hot cup of coffee. filling the page with unplanned words. freshly painted nails. still and quiet moments of solitude, when all there is to do is rest. cold, crisp mornings. the careful turn of an old book’s pages. a fresh bowl of ramen. feeling blessed and loved. setting a personal best. my favourite pair of sneakers. planting vegetables in the garden. sitting on the couch doing nothing, partner on one side, dog on the other. the crack of a home run. a warm cup of milky Earl Grey. a sunset from a plane window.

*

Born in Taber, Alberta, Sally Ito is the author of four books of poetry, Frogs in the Rain Barrel, Season of Mercy, Alert to Glory, and Heart’s Hydrography, the memoir The Emperor’s Orphans, and translator of Are You an Echo?, a collection of poetry by Misuzu Kaneko. Ito teaches creative writing in Winnipeg, where she lives with her husband.

Ariel Gordon (she/her) is a Winnipeg/Treaty 1 territory-based writer, editor, and enthusiast. Her fifth book, Siteseeing: Writing nature & climate change across the prairies, written in collaboration with Saskatchewan poet Brenda Schmidt, will be published by At Bay Press in fall 2023. Gordon’s work has appeared recently in Canadian Notes and Queries, Canthius, periodicities, and The Quarantine Review and is forthcoming in FreeFall and Grain.