Calls to Lookout

Lookout Books is the literary book imprint of the Department of Creative Writing at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and Ecotone is their literary magazine, both produced by faculty and students in the MFA programme.

Ecotone, the literary magazine, is ‘dedicated to reimagining place,’ and welcomes work from a wide range of voices. The main interest is ‘place-based work by people historically underrepresented in literary publishing and in place-based contexts’. The team favour emerging writers and ‘writers and artists who are Black, Indigenous, people of colour, people with disabilities, gendernonconforming, LGBTQIA+, women, and others.’

Submissions are open for the upcoming Ocean Issue, until 2 September, the autumn 2023 Labour Issue, as well as for unthemed issues. Submissions ‘will also be considered for all upcoming issues, themed and unthemed’. The team look for ‘work that engages with the climate crisis, along with other work that reimagines place’.

Prose submissions should be around thirty doublespaced pages, no more than 10,000 words, preferably around 5,000. They also welcome shorter prose, 2,0003,000 words. Note that the editors seek non-fiction submissions for upcoming issues which ‘engages deeply, but not overly seriously, with the sciences – ecology, natural history, and other fields, in both Western and non-Western contexts’. They like ‘fiction that is deeply rooted in place, and/or that engages similarly with ecology, natural history, climate crisis, et al’.

Poetry submissions should be three to five poems per sub in a single document, The editors are particularly interested, for upcoming issues, in poetry which ‘engages with the social and natural sciences, and poetry that uses form, metre, and/or other poetic constraints in innovative and expansive ways’.

Simultaneous submissions are accepted with the usual proviso, but not reprints or multiple subs. Submit through the website: https://ecotonemagazine.org

• Lookout Books is the book imprint, publishing ‘emerging and historically underrepresented voices as well as overlooked gems by established writers’. They are ‘particularly proud of their work discovering and nurturing authors in the promising early stages of their careers’ and feel, ‘There’s something particularly special about an indie press, housed at a university with a publishing program and a roster of bright students who are an integral part of the publishing process.’

The books they seek to publish are full of ‘lyrical prose and stories, be they fiction or non-fiction, that are unique and imaginative’. The writing should speak ‘to this moment in a way that is both timely and timeless’.

Check the website for the current submission dates. They change for agented and unagented submissions according to the number of submissions needing reading.

Response time for both Ecotone and Lookout Books is ‘generally six to nine months’. Payment for Ecotone

is ‘an honorarium upon publication, two copies, and a one-year subscription’. Payment for Lookout Books is a 50/50 profit share.

Website: https://lookout.org