Independence Literary Review: Creative Nonfiction Free

Deadline: Thursday, October 1, 2026 11:59 PM CDT (in 16 days).

Please submit one double-spaced creative nonfiction piece up to 7,500 words. In addition to personal essays, lyric essays, essays on place, and cultural criticism, we welcome graphic essays and speculative memoir. We do not publish academic writing.

We also welcome flash essays of 1,000 words or less. To submit flash essays, please submit up to 3 double-spaced pieces in one document. Please withdraw your whole submission only if all pieces are no longer available. To withdraw a single piece, please add a note to your submission with the title that is no longer available.

We pay between $50 and $200 based on word count.

Category: Nonfiction
File types: .doc, .docx, .odt, .pdf, .rtf, .txt
Number of Pieces: Up to 3 pieces per submission.
Single File: Required. All pieces must be submitted in a single file.

Anonymous submissions are not required.
Simultaneous submissions are allowed.
Reprints are not allowed.
Multiple entries are not allowed.
AI-assisted works are not allowed.

Return to overview / See other calls

You are not logged in. You need to log in before you can submit. Sign up if you haven't already. (A subscription is not required to submit.)