Ploughshares Literary Journal

Why venture out into the cold when you can stay in and read our Winter 2025-26 issue? Grab your copy today: https://pshares.org/product/winter-2025-26/

Come visit us in Baltimore for AWP at Table #T427! Stay tuned for news about author signings and an exciting offsite event.

"In the age of objects so many things stored energy and light: a saddle burnished by oil and sweat; wooden spoons singed velvety black." 

Read Lia Purpura's piece, "In the Age of Objects: A Primer," in the Winter 2025-26 issue of Ploughshares! https://bit.ly/3Zy0Zvt

This week we celebrated the launch of our Winter 2025-26 issue with readings from contributors Alice Hoffman, Maggie Dietz, Shara McCallum, and Bridget Lowe! Thank you to our friends at Trident Booksellers & Café for hosting us, and to our staff and community members for supporting 🎉

Get a head start on your reading goal with our Winter 2025-26 issue, featuring poetry and prose by Alice Hoffman, Victoria Chang, Maggie Dietz, Jennifer Martelli, and more. Don’t wait to get your copy: https://pshares.org/product/winter-2025-26/

Are you in the Boston area? Join us for a celebration of our Winter 2025-26 issue at Trident Booksellers tomorrow, January 21st, at 6 pm! This reading will feature Winter 2025-26 contributors Alice Hoffman, Maggie Dietz, Shara McCallum, and Bridget Lowe. Register for free: https://bit.ly/3NgLVzD

"You / remind me, the Coke is the context for the having. / It is important." 

Read Dujie Tahat's poem, "I Did Not Know, When I First Said I Love You, I Was Thinking About Thinking," in the Winter 2025-26 issue of Ploughshares! https://bit.ly/4jD9leH

You and our Winter 2025-26 issue go together like January and a sweater. Grab your copy and get cozy: https://pshares.org/product/winter-2025-26/

Ploughshares is pleased to present Olufunke Grace Bankole with the annual John C. Zacharis First Book Award for her novel, The Edge of Water (Tin House, 2025)! This year’s judge was Jamil Jan Kochai, author of 99 Nights in Logar (Viking, 2019) & winner of the 2021 John C. Zacharis First Book Award.

Happy New Year! Resolve to read our Winter 2025-26 issue, out today and featuring poetry and prose from Alice Hoffman, Victoria Chang, Jennifer Martelli, and more! Start reading: https://pshares.org/product/winter-2025-26/

There’s still time to apply for the Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices from @lambdaliterary.org! Take your chance at finding a community of queer writers and workshopping your manuscript. Apply by January 15: https://bit.ly/48cM1iy
#LLWritersRetreat

Our Fall 2025 issue is still here for your new year reading! Grab your copy today and enjoy longform prose by Juliana Lamy, Eric McMillan, Youssef Rakha, and more: https://pshr.us/fall25

One week left on our hat sale! Through January 15, buy a Ploughshares subscription and receive a discounted Emerging Writer hat & free entry to our Emerging Writers’ Contest. Click https://pshr.us/ewcbundle, or add a subscription & Emerging Writer hat to your cart and enter coupon code EWCBUNDLE25!

"We all work with death, don't we? Mindy, you, me. All in our different ways." 

Read Ian Stansel's story, "O Holy Night," in the Winter 2023-24 issue of Ploughshares, free this week! https://bit.ly/45p0xD3

Don’t miss out on any new releases this year! Subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date with recently published stories, poems, and more. https://pshr.us/2w9Dg5w

In celebration of our upcoming Winter 2025-26 issue, we're having a release reading! Join us at Trident Booksellers in Boston on January 21st, at 6 pm, for a reading from Winter 2025-26 contributors Alice Hoffman, Maggie Dietz, Shara McCallum, and Bridget Lowe. Register here: https://bit.ly/45p2CPn

Ready to be discovered? Submit your fiction, nonfiction, and poetry to the Emerging Writers’ Contest between February 1 and March 31. Winners receive $2,000, publication in Ploughshares, and a conversation with the literary agency Aevitas Creative Management! Find out more: https://pshr.us/ewc26

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

Read Mary Winsor's story, "Dasvidaniya," from the Fall 2025 issue of Ploughshares, free this week! https://bit.ly/4933aeY

Invest in an emerging writer this holiday season! Until January 15, grab a Ploughshares gift subscription and get our Emerging Writer hat and free entry to the Emerging Writers’ Contest. Add a subscription & hat to your cart and use discount code EWCBUNDLE25, or order here: https://pshr.us/ewcbundle

We are proud to present our nominations for the Pushcart Prize! Read the nominated pieces in print or online with a Ploughshares subscription: https://bit.ly/4q0LXdl

"We all work with death, don't we? Mindy, you, me. All in our different ways." 

Read Ian Stansel's story "O Holy Night" from the Winter 2023-24 issue of Ploughshares, free this week! https://bit.ly/3MHnCdT

Now through January 15, purchase a one-year print & digital Ploughshares subscription and receive one of our Emerging Writer hats and free entry to the Emerging Writers’ Contest! Add a subscription and hat to your cart and use discount code EWCBUNDLE25, or click https://pshr.us/ewcbundle to order.

We're pleased to announce our nominations for Orison Books' Best Spiritual Literature Anthology! Read the nominated pieces in print or online with a Ploughshares subscription: https://bit.ly/4q0LXdl

"Cursing in Kréyol especially, because there's something about swearing in the first language you could sing in that chains it down as of your blood."

Read Juliana Lamy's story, "My Country Full of Thieves," in the Fall 2025 issue of Ploughshares! https://bit.ly/3KYwCKY

Calling all book lovers! We're looking for influencers who are interested in reviewing our quarterly issues on their Instagram accounts. Apply for the program today: https://pshr.us/influencers

For this year’s holiday party, we met at the Plough & Stars, the pub where Ploughshares was founded in 1971. Our staff each dressed as a favorite backlist issue cover, with Marketing Associate Lachlan taking the prize for best costume for their papier-mâché recreation of our Summer 2015 issue!

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

Read Eric McMillan's story "Gripped" in the Fall 2025 issue of Ploughshares. https://pshr.us/fall25

Lambda Literary - 2026 Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices Application Retreat Dates and Location The 2026 Writers Retreat will be held virtually from August 1-August 8, 2026.   Application Details Applications to attend the 2026 Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ* Voice...

Applications for @lambdaliterary.org's Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices are open until January 8th, 2026 at 11:59 PM EST! Find out more on their website and apply: bit.ly/48cM1iy #LLWritersRetreat

During this busy time of year, take a moment to relax with our Fall 2025 issue. Pick up your copy today: https://pshr.us/fall25

Calling all emerging writers! When you purchase a one year print and digital subscription and our new Emerging Writer hat with discount code EWCBUNDLE25, you’ll also receive free entry to the Emerging Writers’ Contest. Or, bundle up by following this link: https://pshr.us/ewcbundle