Information about 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 43. 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Creative Nonfiction: Previously unpublished creative nonfiction works of up to 5,000 words.
Fiction: Previously unpublished fiction works of up to 5,000 words.
Poetry: Please submit up to five previously unpublished poems in a single file.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 42
$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
Soundings East, volume 43 will be available in June 2021.
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 2021 Claire Keyes Poetry Award is Chivas Sandage of Easthampton, MA. She was awarded $1000 for a group of poems and will be published in Soundings East, volume 43. Afaa Michael Weaver judged.
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
Guidelines for the 2022 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, 2021 to February 15, 2022. Final Judge: to be announced
$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.