Soundings East

Soundings East is the annual literary journal of Salem State University, published with support from the Center for Creative and Performing Arts. Founded in 1973, the journal is edited by graduate and upper-level undergraduate creative students under the aegis of an advisory editor from the writing faculty. Soundings East is dedicated to publishing high-quality poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction. The magazine is distributed nationally, with recent press runs of 750 copies.

 

 

 

Editorial Staff

Managing Editor, Miranda Hughes

Assistant Managing Editor, Brooke Delp

Fiction Editor, William Quakenbush

Nonfiction Editor, Brooke Delp

Poetry Editor, Kayma Snook

Social Media Editor, Sophie Parr

 

Submission Guidelines

We accept simultaneous submissions but ask that authors label them as such, and contact us immediately if they are accepted elsewhere. Our reading period is September 1, 2020, to February 15, 2021; we'll do our best to respond within three months. Contributors will receive two copies of Soundings East, volume 44. Upon publication, all rights revert to authors.

For all categories, please only submit once per reading period.

PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR WORK ELECTRONICALLY USING SUBMITTABLE.

If you wish to submit hard-copy please send your work and a self-addressed stamped envelope to:

Soundings East
English Department - MH 249
Salem State University
352 Lafayette Street
Salem, MA 01970

Categories of Submissions Considered

Creative Nonfiction: Previously unpublished creative nonfiction works of up to 5,000 words.
Fiction: Previously unpublished fiction works of up to 5,000 words.
Poetry: Please submit up to five previously unpublished poems in a single file. Poetry submissions are reviewed blindly.

Purchasing Soundings East, volume 43

$10 per copy. Please forward a check made out to Salem State University to:
Center for Creative and Performing Arts
352 Lafayette Street
Salem, MA 01970

 

Kevin Carey, advisory editor
Claire Keyes Poetry Award
Soundings East, English Dept., Salem State University
352 Lafayette Street,
Salem, MA 01970

Claire Keyes Poetry Award

The winner of the 2020 Claire Keyes Poetry Award was Arielle Hebert of Durham, N.C. She was awarded $1000 for a group of poems and was published in Soundings East, volume 43. Erika Meitner judged.

Guidelines for the 2021 Claire Keyes  Poetry Award 

A prize of $1,000 and publication in Soundings East will be given for a group of previously unpublished poems. Submit 8 to 10 pages of poetry (no more than one poem per page) with a $10/$15/$20 entry fee from Dec 1, 2020 to February 15, 2021.  Final Judge: Afaa Michael Weaver 

$10 - entry fee only

$15 - entry fee and copy of the magazine for US addresses

$20 - entry fee and copy of the magazine for international addresses

Online entries only via Submittable.

Past Winners and Judges for the Claire Keyes Award

2020

Arielle Hebert, Durham, NC
Judge, Erika Meitner

2019

Threa Almontaser, Raleigh, NC
Judge, Sean Thomas Dougherty

2018

Jenny Molberg, Central Missouri
Judge, Oliver de la Paz

2017

Faith Shearin, West Virginia
Judge, Andrea Cohen

2016

Mark Wagenaar, Denton, TX 
Judge, Ross Gay

2015

William J Snyder Jr., Moorhead, MN
Judge, Brian Brodeur

2014

Amy Pence, Carrollton, Georgia
Judge, Joan Houlihan