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Ninth Letter @ninthletter.bsky.social · Sep 1

We're open for print AND web submissions & eager to read your work! No theme for the print edition. "Performance" theme for web edition. Link in bio for guidelines & details!
#creativewriting #fiction #poetry #creativenonfiction #litmag

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Eleanor Ball @eleanorball.bsky.social · Aug 25

Day 25: “The Other Things We Swallow” by Natalia Martinez in @ninthletter.bsky.social. I’ve never read an abecedarian quite like this. ninthletter.com/2025/02/28/n...

Natalia Martinez – Ninth Letter

ninthletter.com

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Ninth Letter @ninthletter.bsky.social · Aug 12

Ninth Letter is excited to present the poem “The Masks above the Proscenium" by Richard Hoffman as our August feature. Read it on the website for free! Link in bio.

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Ninth Letter @ninthletter.bsky.social · Aug 8

@leahmensch.bsky.social

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Ninth Letter @ninthletter.bsky.social · Aug 8

@jordanhamel.bsky.social
@jfaun.bsky.social
@tracyneiman.bsky.social
@reemarp.bsky.social
@jdschraff.bsky.social
@paradiselaust.bsky.social

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Ninth Letter @ninthletter.bsky.social · Aug 8

The poetry finalists are: Jaia Hamid Bashir, Jordan Hamel, Lucas Jorgensen, Jenny Molberg, Sandra Tan, Eliongema Udofia, and Constant Laval Williams.

The fiction finalists are: Connie Chen, Christopher Chilton, Amina Gautier, Jonathan Gleason, Tracy Neiman, Cyn Nooney, Reema Rao, and JD Schraffenberger.

The creative nonfiction finalists are: Connor Beeman, C.R. Calabria, Andrew King, Keya Mitra, BC Reynolds, Sarah Safsten, Katie Schmid, and Julia Oschwald Tilton.

The guest judges were K-Ming Chang for fiction, Jane Wong for creative nonfiction, and Derrick Austin for poetry.

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Ninth Letter @ninthletter.bsky.social · Aug 8

🥁Drumroll, please...🥁 We are thrilled to announce the winners and finalists of the 2025 Ninth Letter Literary Awards. Thank you to all submitters for trusting us with your words. And much gratitude to our contest editorial staff and our fabulous guest judges for their hard work! ✨

The winners are Maeve Barry for fiction, Leah Mensch for creative nonfiction, and Weijia Pan for poetry.

The honorable mentions are Mickie Kennedy for poetry and Julie Marie Wade for creative nonfiction.

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Ninth Letter @ninthletter.bsky.social · Jul 24

Check out "Sundogs" by Meghan E. O'Toole live on our website. Meghan was the 2024 Regeneration Contest winner as chosen by Stephanie Anderson, and this story originally appeared in print Vol. 21.2. Link in bio!

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Ninth Letter @ninthletter.bsky.social · Jun 24

Ninth Letter is honored to feature Tylea Richard’s essay “Caribbean Gothic,” which is the Disquiet International Literary Award’s Nonfiction Prize winner for 2025. Read it for free at ninthletter.com. Link in bio!

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Ninth Letter @ninthletter.bsky.social · Jun 9

Ninth Letter, in partnership with I-Regen, is accepting submissions to the 2025 Regeneration Literary Awards. The great Scott Chaskey serves as our guest judge. Submit work that explores the “regeneration" as it relates to food and food systems. Link in bio! #regenerativeagriculture #writingcontest

Text reads "9L Regeneration Literary Award $1,000 prize" overlayed on a photo of a wheat field.

Deadline: June 30

Prize: $1,000 to one winner + print and web publication + two contributor copies

Theme: We invite poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction responding to or exploring the subject of "regeneration," specifically as it relates to food and food systems. All interpretations of this theme are welcome.

Photo of a wheat field.

Text reads: Full details linked in bio. Check out past winners on our website.

For accessibility help, please email ninthletter9@gmail.com.

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Ninth Letter @ninthletter.bsky.social · May 10

We’re back to share more incredible writing! Don’t miss Anne Pritikin’s short story “Hold Hands, Children,” which received an honorable mention for fiction in our 2024 Literary Awards chosen by Lena Valencia. Live now on our website. Link in bio.

Excerpt from Anne Pritikin's short story "Hold Hands, Children" reads: "The Portuguese man has tightroped in sleet, snow, two cyclones, a sandstorm, dense fog, sunshowers, and boiling heat. But he has never missed a step. He has
walked the globe in the air, Georgie thinks, and now he will walk it in my little part of the world.” Live now at https://ninthletter.com/2025/05/09/anne-pritikin/

2024 Literary Award Honorable Mention - Fiction
Anne Pritikin for story "Hold Hands, Children"
Selected by Lena Valencia

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Ninth Letter @ninthletter.bsky.social · May 7

We're thrilled to feature the work of Daniel Uncapher, whose three collage essays won the 2024 Ninth Letter Literary Award in Creative Nonfiction selected by Kristen Millares Young. Check out this genre-bending work live on our website and coming soon in print in Vol. 21.2. Link in bio!

2024 Literary Award Winner - Creative Nonficiton.
Daniel Uncapher - Three Essays
Selected by Kristen Millares Young

Excerpt from Daniel Uncapher's essay "Promiscuous Young Men" reads: "I am writing this anonymously,[2] with phrases and sentences that[3] I have borrowed from the library,[4] so nobody knows who did it.[5]

If you recognize me[6]-no, you don't.[7]"

Numbers in the text represent footnote citations that are available at https://ninthletter.com/2025/05/07/uncapher/

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Derrick @dmartincampbell.bsky.social · May 7

"Three Plagues" up on @ninthletter.bsky.social now is so great and such a wonderful example of how real, immersive world-building is inseparable from line and tone. @ivygrimes.bsky.social sepia old-testament voice makes big, weird things look easy. ninthletter.com/feature/ivy-...

Featured Writer #122: Ivy Grimes – Ninth Letter

ninthletter.com

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Ninth Letter @ninthletter.bsky.social · May 6

We’re proud to share this fantastic poem by Michelle Phương Hồ which will appear in print in Volume 21, Issue 02. Check out “Facing It,” and stay tuned all week for more work from out 2024 contest winners. Link in bio.

2024 Literary Award Winner - Poetry.
Michelle Phuong Ho - "Facing It"
Selected by Sara Borjas

Excerpt from Michelle Phuong Ho's poem "Facing It" reads: “I can almost say my name. Am almost/someone I know. They say I was sold// by my own mother. Call me traitor, sellout, prostitute/ to the empire. What is a girl but an easy// sin to pin down.”

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Seán Padraic Birnie @seanbirnie.bsky.social · May 3

Loved this - classic Grimes.

Ninth Letter @ninthletter.bsky.social · May 1

New story just dropped! Read "Three Plagues" by @ivygrimes.bsky.social for free on our website. Link in bio!

Quote from story reads "We saw some of our neighbors fly by, and we tried to catch them, but the wind took them just beyond our reach. Finally, we saw Grandmother, clinging to the post of her bed, whipped into our lives again. Her bed settled on the roof beside us, and then her body." Attributed to Ivy Grimes's short story "Three Plagues."

Photo of Ivy Grimes with text that reads "Featured Writer #122, Ivy Grimes, live at ninthletter.com"

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Ninth Letter @ninthletter.bsky.social · May 3

(23 of you) asked, we listened! The 2025 9L Literary Awards deadlines is extended until May 10 at 11:59 p.m. CDT. Last chance to win 1 of 3 $1000 prizes + publication. Stay tuned as we drop free web access to 2024 winners all week. We can't wait to read your work!

Text reads: Ninth Letter Literary Awards in fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction, deadline is extended to May 10. $3,000 in prizes. Entry includes free print subscription.

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Beegshotdeentcha @amityvandal.bsky.social · May 2

It’s National Short Story Month and I’ll try to recommend at least one a day. First up is Three Plagues by @ivygrimes.bsky.social in @ninthletter.bsky.social. Mother on the roof, grandmother somewhere. A mystery man. Loved it. ninthletter.com/feature/ivy-...

Featured Writer #122: Ivy Grimes – Ninth Letter

ninthletter.com

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Ninth Letter @ninthletter.bsky.social · May 1

New story just dropped! Read "Three Plagues" by @ivygrimes.bsky.social for free on our website. Link in bio!

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Ninth Letter @ninthletter.bsky.social · Apr 30

Today's the day! Send in your last minute submissions for a chance at $1,000. ✨ Link in bio ✨

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Ninth Letter @ninthletter.bsky.social · Apr 23

Only one week left to submit! Send us your work by April 30th
💌
First prize is $1,000 for each genre, print and web publication, and bragging rights! Every U.S. entrant receives a free, one-year print subscription per submission.

Full guidelines on our website + link in bio ✨

Ninth Letter Literary Awards Deadline April 30th $3,000 in prizes

Only one week left to submit! Send us your work by April 30th

First prize is $1,000 for each genre, print and web publication, and bragging rights! Every U.S. entrant receives a free, one-year print subscription per submission.

Full guidelines on our website + link in bio

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Justine S. Murison @jsmurison.bsky.social · Mar 9

We're fundraising for our award-winning literary journal, Ninth Letter, and the challenge ends tonight! Please consider donating!

Support Creative Writing Students!

Join me in supporting Creative Writing Students for Orange and Blue Week!

payment.giving.illinois.edu

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Ninth Letter @ninthletter.bsky.social · Mar 6

📣 Announcing our annual Literary Awards and this year’s fantastic judges 📣

Send us your unpublished work and get a free 1-year subscription to Ninth Letter—oh and the chance to win $1,000!

Deadline: Midnight, April 30th. For more information, link in bio ✨

Ninth Letter Literary Awards in Fiction, Poetry, and Creative Non-Fiction, submissions open March 1st, $3,000 dollars in prizes

K-Ming Chang is the Guest Judge for Fiction. She is a Lambda Literary Award winner, a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree, and an O. Henry Prize Winner. She is the author of the New York Times Book Review Editors’ choice novel Bestiary (One World/Random House, 2020), which was longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and others. Her latest books are Organ Meats (One World, 2023) and Cecilia (Coffee House Press, 2024), and her next two books are forthcoming from Simon & Schuster.

Jane Wong is the Guest Judge for Creative Non-Fiction. Jane Wong is the author of the debut memoir, Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City, out now from Tin House (2023). She is also the author of two books of poetry: How to Not Be Afraid of Everything from Alice James (2021) and Overpour from Action Books (2016). She is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Western Washington University. Her poems and essays can be found in places such as The New York Times, Best American Poetry 2015, The Kenyon Review, McSweeney’s, POETRY, and others.

Derrick Austin is the Guest Judge for Poetry. Derrick Austin is the author of Tenderness (BOA Editions, 2021), winner of the 2020 Isabella Gardner Poetry Award, and Trouble the Water (BOA Editions, 2016), a finalist for the Kate Tufts Discovery Award, Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry, and others. His third collection, This Elegance, is forthcoming in Spring 2026. A Cave Canem fellow, he is the recipient of a Ron Wallace Poetry Fellowship, a Stegner Fellowship, and an Amy Lowell Poetry Traveling Scholarship.

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Seth Peterson @sethpeterson.bsky.social · Feb 28

“It’s the not knowing that kills us. / The thought that a (worse/better) world could exist / where we (turn into butterflies/get eaten by a flycatcher). / A world where we die alone. / A world where everything is perfect.”

Thanks to @ninthletter.bsky.social for publishing one of my favorites

Ninth Letter @ninthletter.bsky.social · Feb 28

We are proud to announce the Winter 2025 web edition of Ninth Letter, "de/composition," is now live on our website. A huge thank you to our contributors for trusting us with their work and to our editorial team for their efforts. Always free, always fantastic, give it a read today. Link in bio!

Pictures of photo-edited mushrooms on green background. Text: "De/composition. Web issue, Winter 2025."

Featuring: Julie Cadman-Kim, Apollo Chastain, Clara Collins, Taylor Ebersole, Adam Gianforcaro, Laura Hartenberger, Amanda Lin Hayes, Sophie Hoss, kat kluegel, Natalia Martinez, Kate Arden McMullen, Anastasios Mihaloupoulos, Seth Peterson, Kate Welsh.
Visit ninthletter.com/decomp to read.

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Adam Gianforcaro @adamg.bsky.social · Feb 28

I am so excited to have a new poem in Ninth Letter's "de/composition" web feature!

ninthletter.com/2025/02/28/a...

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Kate Arden McMullen @katearden.bsky.social · Feb 28

So incredibly excited to have work in this issue from Ninth Letter online and to dive into the rest of the gross stuff here!

Ninth Letter @ninthletter.bsky.social · Feb 28

We are proud to announce the Winter 2025 web edition of Ninth Letter, "de/composition," is now live on our website. A huge thank you to our contributors for trusting us with their work and to our editorial team for their efforts. Always free, always fantastic, give it a read today. Link in bio!

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