Ninth Letter: “Performance” Issue
Deadline November 1 (must be received by this date). Ninth Letter, a prestigious literary journal published by the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign), is seeking creative writing on the theme of "Performance" for their Winter 2026 Web Edition. Send 1-3 poems, or one story or essay up to 3,500 words, with a cover letter briefly explaining how you see your work fitting the theme. Accepted authors receive $25 for poetry or $75 for prose. One entry per person per genre. Editors say, "To perform is to, for some audience, create the illusion that reality is this, rather than that. We do this everywhere–our social (and social media) lives, our dress, our relationships, our feelings, our genders, all performed in their ways; all around us there is the low hum of wishful artifice imparting an intended impression onto seen and unseen—perhaps even imaginary–spectators. Taken to its logical conclusion, a reasonable, if cynical, truth emerges: performance, in our day-to-day, is so essential, so inextricable from our quote-unquote 'authentic selves,' that perhaps the authentic self is simply the sum of a lifetime of performances–that the show has somehow become its own type of truth."
Source: https://ninthletteronline.submittable.com/submit
Published: September 30, 2025
