Bacopa Literary Review is an annual international print journal published by the Writers Alliance of Gainesville.* Our Bacopa Literary Review Editors’ blog shows the quality of writing we seek by highlighting work we respect from previous Bacopa issues as well as other sources.
Bacopa Literary Review 2024
Submissions are now closed until 2025.
Contest Rules for 2024 were as follows:
- Submission dates: March 4 – May 2, 2024
- No submission fee
- $200 Award and $100 Honorable Mention in each of six categories
- There is no theme for this year’s submissions.
- Authors submit to only ONE category (see below).
- Submissions to more than one category can result in disqualification.
- When the contest opens, entries are to be submitted via Submittable.
- Bacopa Literary Review does not accept previously published material in any category of submissions.
Guidelines for Submissions
Each category listed below (fiction, poetry, etc.) has its own guidelines for formatting. To view the guidelines, go to Submittable, scroll down to your category, and click on the Guidelines.
Category Descriptions (changes from year to year)
Fiction (up to 2,500 words): Bacopa Literary Review is looking for engaging and original pieces of short fiction capable of capturing and engaging the reader. Unique descriptions, vivid language, and original ideas are appreciated. Use precise language, make sure your work is as polished as possible before submitting, and most of all, enjoy the writing process.
Creative Nonfiction (up to 2,500 words): We publish true stories, written beautifully, and based on the author’s experiences, perceptions, and reflections in the form of personal memoirs or literary essays (for example, nature, travel, medical, spiritual, and food writing).
Flash Fiction: Bacopa Literary Review welcomes flash fiction pieces that tell an enthralling story in 1,000 words or less. Unique descriptions, vivid language, and thought-provoking subject matter are appreciated.
Formal Poetry (1-3 poems): Sonnets, villanelles, pantoums, haiku, and other established forms. We are seeking words that illuminate the human condition, tell us something new, or just entertain. Send us your best. Please note the specific form of each poem you submit. All voices are welcome, and we are interested in reading poems on all themes and subjects.
Free Verse Poetry (1-2 poems): Free verse, visionary poems, the strange and unusual. Absurd, thoughtful, experimental, political, romantic, funny, entertaining. Give us your best work, unfettered, unrestrained, free from forms—or make up your own form. All voices are welcome, and we are interested in reading poems on all themes and subjects.
Visual poetry (1 poem): In a new category for us, we are seeking visual poems. At the moment we can only accept images in black and white that can fit within a 6 x 9-inch page. We don’t know what we are looking for—surprise us! Please submit only one visual poem.
Editorial Staff of 2024 issue:
Editor in Chief J.N. Fishhawk is a poet and freelance writer. A founding co-host of the Civic Media Center’s open mic Thursday Night Poetry Jam, he is also the author of three chapbooks and Postcards from the Darklands, ekphrastic poems accompanying artwork by artist Jorge Ibanez. He is co-creating the ongoing World of Whim Sea children’s book series with illustrator Johnny Rocket Ibanez at fishhawkandrocket.com.
Managing Editor T. Walters is a poet, writer, and musician living among the orange trees. Their work appears in Nymeria Publishing’s Descendants of Medusa. Books, baking bread, and pulling needles through thread make up a significant portion of their life. They live to connect, create, and marvel at nature’s many wonders.
Poetry Co-Editor J. Nishida holds a BA, MA, and EdS, as well as a TESOL graduate certificate. She is active in the local poetry community as an organizer, teacher, editor, and performer, and is a co-host of the Thursday Night Poetry Jam at the Civic Media Center. She was Bacopa 2021’s Creative Nonfiction Editor and will lead a poetry workshop for the 2024 Bard & Broadside North Central Florida Poetry Festival.
Fiction and Flash Fiction Editor Alec Kissoondyal is an undergraduate at the University of Florida pursuing a bachelor’s degree in English. His fiction has been published in Zephyr Literary Journal, Bacopa Literary Review, The Bookends Review, Roadrunner Review, Let’s Stab Caesar! Magazine, Retro Press Magazine, Drunk Monkeys Magazine, The Centifictionist, and The Los Angeles Review. He has a forthcoming short story to be released in Cornice Magazine.
Poetry Co-Editor Oliver Keyhani is a visual and performance artist, poet, and writer. He is a member of the Gainesville Fine Arts Association and a founding member of the Carousel of Souls Curiosities Circus Troupe (CoSCCT). His short experimental poem-play “Children of Gaia” has been produced at the Tank Theater in NYC. His hybrid visual-poetry works the “dada manuscripts”: thé avec dada and the book of dada dandies have received international acclaim, with forthcoming releases planned.
Creative Nonfiction Editor Stephanie Seguin studied English Literature and French at the University of Florida. She has published humor, short fiction, and personal memoir and spent over fifteen years as a freelance editor and teacher of languages.
Social Media Manager Mary Ansell, an outreach librarian by day, lives and creates in Gainesville, Florida. Her writing has appeared in The Inflectionist Review, Whale Road Review, and Pithead Chapel. Find her literature recommendations on Instagram @once.and.future.reads.
Editor Emeritus Mary Bast‘s creative nonfiction, poetry, and flash memoir have appeared in a number of print and online journals, and she’s author, co-author, or contributor to eight professional books from her career as a psychologist, leadership consultant, and Enneagram coach. Bast is also a visual artist.
Click on Bacopa Literary Review 2023 to order the latest issue from Amazon.
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*To join the Writers Alliance of Gainesville (WAG), click here for the WAG membership page. The $36 annual membership fee includes a copy of the most recent Bacopa Literary Review.