Catamaran accepts fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and visual art. Themes we are especially interested in are science and nature writing, creativity and the artistic process, personal journey and travel, and innovation. Any setting is fine, but the West Coast is of particular interest.
By submitting your work to Catamaran, you grant us first North American serial rights, and the nonexclusive right to archive your work online for an indefinite period of time. We may also choose to nominate published work for awards for recognition in the Best American anthologies, the Pushcart Prize, and others. The author retains all other rights.
Catamaran is distributed to bookstores and subscribers quarterly. Catamaran seeks to provide a channel for you to share your creative work with the general public. We offer two complimentary contributor copies upon publication. We would like to consider your submission for two consecutive quarterly issues of Catamaran after you have sent us your work, so please allow up to six months for a decision.
The Catamaran Poetry Prize for West Coast Poets is open for submissions from November to April, and is for book length collections of poetry. Full guidelines are outlined in the submission. Submission to the poetry prize comes with a one year subscription to Catamaran.
Note: We do charge a small submission fee equal to the cost of mailing a flat rate USPS envelope as we don't accept submissions by mail, only online. The fee covers our costs associated with maintaining the online submission site and supports our work.
But if the online submission fee will pose a significant economic burden, writers may seek a waiver of the fee (for the poetry prize, the fee is equal to the cost of a one year subscription to the magazine you receive, and cannot be waived). To seek a waiver, please email us at editor@catamaranliteraryreader.com with your request and reasons for seeking a waiver.
This issue considers “Fashion” in all its forms used in literary writing to reveal character. Think of elements of fashion that are a filter for underlying human emotion and a lens into identity. The garments themselves can be used to tell a story as well…from denim to silk, from to sunglasses and swimwear to military attire. Settings can include anything that exudes fashion to generate meaning from the elaborate styles on the runway to the hats worn in formal gatherings. Topics can include exploration of characters who are identified by their attire, like in Breakfast at Tiffany’s or The Great Gatsby. Figurative or still life works in art that can evoke the feeling of a garment. Poems can explore the mysteries of what we wear. Essays can investigate the evolution of certain attire, or the personal meaning a specific style might have for the author. Let’s make this issue colorful and full of new insight!
Please submit your original, previously unpublished short fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, or visual art. Select one genre per submission to this category. For fiction or nonfiction, it can be any page length. For poetry a selection of 3-5 poems. For fine art up to five images. In your cover letter please include a brief bio of one paragraph and a mailing address for contributor copies.
This category will close when the submissions cap of 200 is reached.
The Catamaran Poetry Prize encourages the submission of previously unpublished poetry manuscripts across a range of styles, themes, and forms. This contest is for a book length collection of poetry only. Manuscripts of fiction, creative nonfiction, translations, or screenplays are ineligible. The prize is only open to West Coast poets living in California, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and Hawaii. All submissions should be written in English.
A prize of $1,000 will and publication in book form will be awarded to poet for the winning poetry collection selected by the judge for publication.
All poets who have entered their manuscript in the contest will receive a complimentary, one-year subscription to our literary journal Catamaran.
Submissions must be received between February 15, 2025 and June 15th, 2025 in order to be considered for publication. No late submissions will be accepted.
Manuscripts must be typed, paginated, and between 60-100 pages in length. Poems in the collection must be the original work of the author and previously unpublished in a book length collection. Poems can be published previously in print magazines or online journals. Publication acknowledgments should be included for previously published work. Please ensure all included quotations are clearly attributed to the author.
Simultaneous submissions and multiple submissions are acceptable. Please send us an email at editor@catamaranliteraryreader.com and let us know immediately if your manuscript is accepted elsewhere.
Submissions will be read blind, without identification of the author, so please remove your name from the title page and content of the manuscript itself. Because the reviews will be made blind, former students of the judge are not disqualified. Previous manuscript submissions to a prior contest are also not disqualified, and may be entered again.
Revisions are not allowed to the manuscript after it has been submitted to the contest. However, the winning poet will have time to revise the collection before publication. Catamaran reserves the right to get approval from the judge if revisions are significant.
If our staff encounters any difficulties in processing your submission we will contact you to obtain a correction. Minor errors in your submission (spelling, formatting, typographic errors) do not affect your chance of winning.
The winner will be announced on the Catamaran website in August, 2025, and we expect to publish the winning collection in December 2025. We will also announce the names of finalists and semifinalists in August 2025 on our website. We will send a Submittable notification of the manuscripts selected as winner and finalists in August, 2025.
Reminder: this is a BLIND submission. Please remove your name from all pages of the manuscript, including from the title page. Manuscripts with identifying information will be "opened for editing" and not entered into the contest until the poet removes identifying information from all pages. Do not include names of people you would like to thank and acknowledge in your submission. These types of acknowledgements can be included and published with the winning manuscript.
Catamaran will host a book launch event and reading in December 2025. The book will also be entered for publication awards.
This year's judge is poet Mary Szybist. Mary Szybist is most recently the author of Incarnadine, winner of the 2013 National Book Award for Poetry.
She the recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rona Jaffe Foundation, the Witter Bynner Foundation in conjunction with the Library of Congress, and the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Center. Her work has appeared in such publications as Best American Poetry, The Kenyon Review, Poetry, Ploughshares, and two Pushcart Prize anthologies. Her first book Granted won the 2004 GLCA New Writers Award and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. She lives in Portland, Oregon where she teaches at Lewis & Clark College.
Please submit your original, previously unpublished poetry. We prefer to see a selection of 3-5 poems rather than a single poem. In your cover letter please include a brief one paragraph bio and a mailing address for contributor copies.
Please submit your original, previously unpublished short fiction. In your cover letter please include a brief bio of one paragraph, and a mailing address for contributor copies. You may submit any page length. If this story is an excerpt from a novel please let us know. We prefer word documents for editing purposes.
Please submit high resolution image files of at least 300dpi, and 8 inches high/wide. You may submit up to 5 images, preferably in a series. In your cover letter please include a one paragraph bio, and a link to your website or gallery if possible where we can view more images.
Please submit your original, previously unpublished creative nonfiction. We accept any page length. In your cover letter please include a brief bio of one paragraph and a mailing address for contributor copies. If this is an excerpt from a longer work please let us know. We prefer word document format for editing purposes.
This contest is open to current UCSC students, and it is free to enter. The winner will receive $500 and publication in the Fall 2025 issue of Catamaran. Deadline to submit poems is June 6th, 2025 at midnight. Submit up to 3 poems. Please submit using your current UCSC email id.