The Manifest-Station

Some writers let us off the hook.

Annie Dillard gave us a way to look at the rawness of the ordinary world without a filter. No tidying up. Only words translated into images that rise into feeling.

The Manifest Station is seeking essays that finish the sentence:

Annie Dillard gave me permission to...

What did Dillard's writing give you permission to leave or begin? What did you finally stop apologizing for? What was the moment in your own life when her work opened a door? All count, even the forbidden ones. Tell us.

We want: personal essay and creative nonfiction, between 500 and 2,500 words. Quote Dillard if you must, but give us your experience alongside her work, not an examination of it.

• Simultaneous submissions: fine. Please withdraw if your piece is accepted elsewhere.
• Multiple submissions: one at a time. Once you've heard back, you're welcome to submit a new piece.
• Previously published work: considered case by case. Mention it in your cover letter.

All rights revert to you. If you republish, kindly credit TMS.

Please include a third-person bio of 100-125 words, with no review quotes. We'll trim anything longer.

On AI: We publish work that comes out of specific human lives. By submitting, you're telling us the writing and structure are yours, not a generative AI tool's. Spelling and grammar checkers are fine. Anything beyond that, tell us in your cover letter. Undisclosed AI use means rejection, or retraction if we've already published.

Permission Slips is an ongoing series. Next: Mary Oliver.

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What we publish:

We are looking for personal essays and creative nonfiction about the hard, strange, and beautiful parts of being alive. Humans are messy, relationships are complicated, life really hurts sometimes. We are not interested in suffering that exists only to be overcome, or epiphanies that arrive too cleanly. We want essays that trust our readers enough to understand all of this, because they do.

Read us before you submit. You'll know within two essays whether you're in the right place.

What we don't publish:

Inspirational content, confessionals, work generated by AI.

The mechanics

• 2,500 words maximum, and yes, this is a real limit.
• One submission at a time. Wait to hear from us before sending another.
• Simultaneous submissions are fine. Withdraw promptly if accepted elsewhere.
• Previously published work is considered only if exceptional; tell us where it ran.
• All rights revert to you. If you republish, please credit TMS.
• Photos of yourself or something that fits the piece are welcome, but not required.
• A third-person bio of 100-125 words, with no review quotes. We'll trim anything longer.
• We read everything and respond to everything. We are two people doing this because we believe in the power of words. Please be patient.

On AI

We publish work that comes out of specific human lives. By submitting, you're telling us the writing and structure are yours, not a generative AI tool's. Spelling and grammar checkers are fine. Anything beyond that, tell us in your cover letter. Undisclosed AI use means rejection, or retraction if we've already published.

Why we're still here

We've been publishing since 2011, and we've stayed on every platform, including the ones you've sworn off, for one reason: words matter more when they're harder to say. We seek to publish writers who deserve the space they weren't sure they were allowed to take.

If that's you, send us something.

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