Ploughshares Literary Journal

"I will go to the archives. What will I look for? Another place, simply, where the past speaks?"

Read Corinna Cook's piece, "Chooutla," from the Spring 2025 issue of Ploughshares, free this week! https://bit.ly/3Wyp6ZD

"Maybe the Hindus got it right with their burning pyres. Maybe it's the smoke that reaches God, just enough to sting His all-seeing eyes."

Read Andrea Thurairatnam Imdacha's story, "Seven Urns," in the Fall 2025 issue of Ploughshares. https://pshr.us/fall25

Ploughshares publishes the leading and rising voices of the literary world. Subscribe today and never miss an issue! https://pshr.us/subscription

"Your daddy's choices have got nothing to do with yours. You've your own course to chart. And don't you forget it."

Read Devon Walker-Figueroa's story, "Hold Harmless," in the Fall 2025 issue of Ploughshares. https://pshr.us/fall25

Thanks to everyone for celebrating the launch of our Fall 2025 issue with us and enjoying the amazing stories read by Juliana Lamy, Heather Thompson-Brenner, and Devon Walker-Figueroa. Thank you to our friends at Trident Books, and our staff and community members for supporting 🎉

"If he can no longer conceive of a way out, and I'm the one remaining tether he has to his life, can I really let him go?"

Read Eric McMillan's story, "Gripped," in the Fall 2025 issue of Ploughshares, free this week! http://bit.ly/4n74EK0

It’s truly a dream to have my story “Angelo” selected by Celeste Ng for this year’s edition of Best American Short Stories! Special thanks to Nicole Lamy and @marinerbooks.bsky.social and to Laila Lalami and Ladette Randolph for selecting it for @pshares.bsky.social (where it first appeared)!

There’s nothing better than staying in with a good book as the leaves fall outside. Curl up with our Fall 2025 issue today. https://pshr.us/fall25

"Please, as long as I'm pouring
my heart out, withhold your good opinions."

Read Jody Gladding's story, "Squash (Cucurbite)," in the Winter 1997-8 issue of Ploughshares, free this week! http://bit.ly/43piBfl

Thrilled and thankful! 🎉🏵️🐽🚴

In celebration of our Fall 2025 issue, we're having a release reading! Join us at Trident Booksellers in Boston on Wednesday, October 22nd, at 6pm, for a reading from Fall 2025 contributors Juliana Lamy, Heather Thompson-Brenner, and Devon Walker-Figueroa. Register here: https://pshr.us/fall25launch

Subscription - Ploughshares Enjoy quality stories, essays, poems, and more through Ploughshares’ print journal, digital journal, or 50-year online archive. Subscribe, and discover why the New York Times named Ploughshares “the T...

2025 was a record high submission year–thank you to all who submitted, and congratulations to our winners! Subscribe to Ploughshares today to reserve our Winter 2025-26 issue, which will feature the winning pieces. pshr.us/subscription

Lo Naylor and Jonathan Wolf, chosen by Joshua Bennett, are our poetry co-winners for their poems “at the baggage claim in JFK” and “The Hog Farm," respectively.

Ennis Smith, chosen by Elisa Gabbert, is our nonfiction winner for his essay, “Happy New Year.”

Max Steiner, chosen by R.O. Kwon, is our fiction winner for his story, “Grace Zeroes Out.”

We're excited to announce the winners of the 2025 Emerging Writer's Contest! 🎉

"But over Patrick's should and beyond the beam of the headlights was the blackest night Yvonne had ever known, and the and lonely wilderness."

Read Mary Winsor's story "Dasvidaniya" in the Fall 2025 isue of Ploughshares. https://pshr.us/fall25

Thrilled to be in the company of these poets and writers and translators whose work I so admire. Might've been late to a couple classes or missed a call or two while I read cover to cover. Thank you, @pshares.bsky.social

In celebration of our Fall 2025 issue, we're having a release reading! Join us at Trident Booksellers in Boston on Wednesday, October 22nd, at 6pm, for a reading from Fall 2025 contributors Juliana Lamy, Heather Thompson-Brenner, and Devon Walker-Figueroa. Register here: https://pshr.us/fall25launch

We're now accepting longform poetry in addition to prose for our fall issues! We define longform poetry as a single long poem, variations on the epic poem, or a sequential poem such as a crown of sonnets or numbered series. Find out more and submit by November 15: https://pshares.org/submit/journal/

Read the new issue of @pshares.bsky.social! There’s a real banger of a story by Geetanjali Shree, translated by me 💖💖💖

Our Fall 2025 issue is out now! Read longform prose by Juliana Lamy, Eric McMillan, Youssef Rakha, Fortunato Salazar, Geetanjali Shree (translated by Daisy Rockwell), Heather Thompson-Brenner, Andrea Thurairatnam Imdacha, Devon Walker-Figueroa, and Mary Winsor. Start reading: https://pshr.us/fall25

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"Doctors take five minutes, and exorcisms take five days, and she figures this is a good compromise."

Read Nadia Bulkin's story, "Florenzia," in the Summer 2025 issue of Ploughshares. https://pshr.us/summer25

"Was she still alive? Was she still struggling, or had she given up? What even was giving up?"

Read Jac Jemc's story, "The Drift," from the Summer 2025 issue of Ploughshares, free this week! https://bit.ly/3VyPfa7

Please join us in welcoming our new Fiction Editor, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Paul Harding! Submit your fiction for him to read by November 15th. Read more about Paul below, or visit our website: https://pshr.us/newfictioneditor

"But aren't most of our ideas silly at sixteen years old? Silly and dumb and innocent and wonderful."

Read S. A. Cosby's story, "The Lion Tamer's Son," in the Summer 2025 issue of Ploughshares. https://pshr.us/summer25

Ploughshares publishes the leading and rising voices of the literary world. Subscribe today and never miss an issue! https://pshr.us/subscription

"Enrique emailed me from Montauk: How are we supposed to survive if we don't believe?"

Read Carolyn Ferrell's story, "The Horror," in the Summer 2025 issue of Ploughshares. https://pshr.us/summer25

Studying never looked so good. Grab a Ploughshares hat between today and September 30th, and get a surprise issue from our archive, then head to the nearest cafe and read in style 💅🏼 https://pshr.us/newmerch