Issue 18 reading period is open through the end of September, 2024.
(As per usual, if we receive a slew of fine submissions early on, we may close the reading window before the scheduled date,
so please don't wait 'til the last day to send us your very very best work!)
Theme: Heaven/Sky
What might you write about? How about ...
The stars, planets, sun or moon.
The air we breathe.
Barometric pressure.
The birds or flying insects, lightning or clouds.
Spiritual metaphor or how you see God (without getting "preachy").
The universe & what may be beyond, if anything. Is it endless or finite?
The color blue as it relates to the heavens.
Flight.
Is heaven real? (Tell us in a prose poem or lyric essay, preferred.)
Sunrises or sunsets, storms or hail or tornadoes, hurricanes, derechos, etc.
EMPs - will it happen? WHAT will happen?
Solar flares? Will one end life on earth?
Or a mix of several of the above, allusions to these, other literary devices where ideas about "heaven" or "sky" are involved.
Etc., etc., etc.
Please use your boundless, limitless, imagination and give us a beautiful or startling or eerie prose poem, lyric essay, piece of creative nonfiction, or short work of fiction (any genre).
Specific details on our Submittable page. You can find the link at the bottom of this page.
___________________
To get an idea of the quality of writing we seek, take a peek at our first acceptances for this issue:
Chris Cottom - "Father of Physics" (fiction)
Bonnie Demerjian - "Updraft" (prose poetry)
Ceridwen Hall - "After Thanksgiving" (prose poetry)
Sophia Hammerle - "Inclusions" (creative nonfiction)
Cheryl A. Ossola - "Infinite Blues" (prose poetry)
Daniel Romo - "June Gloom" (prose poetry)
Angela Townsend - "On the Ranch" (creative nonfiction / lyric essay)
(As per usual, if we receive a slew of fine submissions early on, we may close the reading window before the scheduled date,
so please don't wait 'til the last day to send us your very very best work!)
Theme: Heaven/Sky
What might you write about? How about ...
The stars, planets, sun or moon.
The air we breathe.
Barometric pressure.
The birds or flying insects, lightning or clouds.
Spiritual metaphor or how you see God (without getting "preachy").
The universe & what may be beyond, if anything. Is it endless or finite?
The color blue as it relates to the heavens.
Flight.
Is heaven real? (Tell us in a prose poem or lyric essay, preferred.)
Sunrises or sunsets, storms or hail or tornadoes, hurricanes, derechos, etc.
EMPs - will it happen? WHAT will happen?
Solar flares? Will one end life on earth?
Or a mix of several of the above, allusions to these, other literary devices where ideas about "heaven" or "sky" are involved.
Etc., etc., etc.
Please use your boundless, limitless, imagination and give us a beautiful or startling or eerie prose poem, lyric essay, piece of creative nonfiction, or short work of fiction (any genre).
Specific details on our Submittable page. You can find the link at the bottom of this page.
___________________
To get an idea of the quality of writing we seek, take a peek at our first acceptances for this issue:
Chris Cottom - "Father of Physics" (fiction)
Bonnie Demerjian - "Updraft" (prose poetry)
Ceridwen Hall - "After Thanksgiving" (prose poetry)
Sophia Hammerle - "Inclusions" (creative nonfiction)
Cheryl A. Ossola - "Infinite Blues" (prose poetry)
Daniel Romo - "June Gloom" (prose poetry)
Angela Townsend - "On the Ranch" (creative nonfiction / lyric essay)
EASTERN IOWA REVIEW'S
2025 Best of Net Nominations
Virginia Boudreau's nonfiction: "Green Dory"
Jayne Marek's prose poem: "Mountain Ibex"
Michelle Nicolaysen's nonfiction: "All That We Don't Control"
Mandira Pattnaik's fiction: "What do I tell you, Sundarban Bagh"
Sarah Seidel's prose poem: "Were there years enough"
Juanita Smart's prose poem: "When I ignite into the clearing"
Congratulations to all! These are excellent pieces of writing.
One of the two 2021 Eastern Iowa Review's Chapbook Contest winning books is now available!
Congratulations to Walter Shriner and his Winter: A celebration of nature and seasonal change in the Pacific Northwest
You will love this slim book of essays.
EASTERN IOWA REVIEW'S
2024 Best of Net Nominations
Meredith MacLeod Davidson - "Mother's Day" (free verse poem)
Kayla Jessop - "Mother of None" (creative nonfiction)
Amy Karon's "Sunday fishing" (prose poetry)
Natalie Marino's "Epilogue" (prose poetry)
Ellene Glenn Moore - "The Dawson's Creek Essay" (lyric essay / memoir)
Jan Price's "Forgiving" (cover art)
Laura Ruby - "Guide Book: Your Visit to the Sedlec Ossuary" (free verse)
Ellen June Wright - "Unmarked Grave c. 1630" (free verse poem)
Maggie Yang - "Cartography" (free verse poem)
Editor's note: We don't choose selections for our journal based on anything but quality and what we're looking for, so in that way, each and every choice we made for Issues 15 & 16 could have been included here. And a certain amount of subjectivity enters into what we pick for "Best of the Net" as we are only allowed so many nominations. Congratulations to each one chosen above. It was a rather grueling job trying to narrow everything down. Don't be discouraged. We need what you're thinking and writing about at this time in history. We desperately need your creativity and encouragement, your truth-telling and vision.
Stay well,
~Chila
We are honored to have Eastern Iowa Review and our founding editor mentioned several times, alongside other lyric writers, in Michael Askew's 200+ page doctoral thesis (Doctor of Philosophy University of East Anglia School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing) on "The Lyric Essay."
Although lengthy, it's quite interesting. You can read it here.
Although lengthy, it's quite interesting. You can read it here.
Editor's Note - June 2023
We no longer use a mailing system for updates. Please refer back here or on our Updates page periodically for the latest news.
Thank you!
From readers:
--"I admire the prose poems EIR publishes and am proud to be among them." (2024)
--"I doubt I will ever write another lined poem. Thank you for what you and yours do at Eastern Iowa Review." (2024)
--"I am a fond longtime admirer of Eastern Iowa Review...." (2024)
--"I love the lyric essays and prose you publish at EIR and have used more than one to create my own." (2022)
--"I am a huge fan of your work and having been reading EIR voraciously." (2022)
--"The journal is a lovely read. Wonderful writing." (2022)
--"I was truly inspired by the writing I saw in the Eastern Iowa Review...." (2021)
--"Yours is my aspirational publication, and someday I will get there." (2021)
--"I love ... your lyrical, linguistically unique aesthetic...." (2021)
--"It's an honor to have my work appear alongside the other pieces too. They're rich, of very high calibre." (from a contributor, February 2021, Issue 13)
--"Eastern Iowa Review is such a fantastic magazine. It offers whimsy, music, and reassurance that somehow the luminous will prevail. As such, it brings solace. Thank you for bringing it to life, Chila." (July 2020)
--"I admire the prose poems EIR publishes and am proud to be among them." (2024)
--"I doubt I will ever write another lined poem. Thank you for what you and yours do at Eastern Iowa Review." (2024)
--"I am a fond longtime admirer of Eastern Iowa Review...." (2024)
--"I love the lyric essays and prose you publish at EIR and have used more than one to create my own." (2022)
--"I am a huge fan of your work and having been reading EIR voraciously." (2022)
--"The journal is a lovely read. Wonderful writing." (2022)
--"I was truly inspired by the writing I saw in the Eastern Iowa Review...." (2021)
--"Yours is my aspirational publication, and someday I will get there." (2021)
--"I love ... your lyrical, linguistically unique aesthetic...." (2021)
--"It's an honor to have my work appear alongside the other pieces too. They're rich, of very high calibre." (from a contributor, February 2021, Issue 13)
--"Eastern Iowa Review is such a fantastic magazine. It offers whimsy, music, and reassurance that somehow the luminous will prevail. As such, it brings solace. Thank you for bringing it to life, Chila." (July 2020)
