Deadline: February 16, 2021
Art Submissions Deadline: May 22nd, 2021

Submissions are open for Volume 19, 2021: "Empathy and Entropy"

Windward Review is seeking quality works of creative writing in all genres--fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, flash fiction, plays, screenplays (and excerpts), or hybrid genre writing. We also publish select art pieces and art collections. 
 
​In this volume, we are exploring the human quality of empathy, the known vs. the unknown, and meaning vs. senselessness. We also want to draw attention to conversations related to chaos, disorder, and making meaning from senselessness. Writers are welcomed to explore personal, local, or world-level themes. We seek to include a broad range of styles, genres, emotions, and sub-topics.  This is a broad/ intersectional theme, and writers should be able to submit work that they did not write specifically in pursuit of this theme.  However, the pieces we select to publish will have something important and unforgettable to say about Empathy and Entropy. Our final product, we hope, will tell a revealing story about how Empathy and Entropy are related to by a broad spectrum of writers.  ​​

FROM THE EDITOR, Zoe Ramos:
​ENTROPY, AN IMPULSE 

It is a fundamental law that our universe is driven towards greater and greater Entropy, where Entropy can be understood as “disorder."   In an analogy, it is much easier to destroy a fine sculpture and turn it into dust than it is to create the fine sculpture in the first place.  This is because the fine sculpture was bound, by the sculptor, into a very specific state, through countless hours of inspired work. Then, in destroying the sculpture, using a hammer for instance, one has made the awe-inspiring and ornate work of art, into an unintelligent and uniform pile of dust.  

How is this connected with Empathy? It can be said that "disorder" is essentially a lack of pattern, meaning, or sense (all qualities lost by destroying the fine sculpture, for example). Thus, Entropy (and its favor) ensures that our interpretations, meanings, and art will always be short-lived.  At the same time, our ability to detect “meanings” and “order” is limited by our knowledge as a species. 

Could it be that there is indeed meaning in chaos, but we are just unable to grasp it?  Can Empathy help us with our universe’s love affair with Entropy? Can Empathy allow us to take back power, entrusting others with “Meaning” when there is no other rational meaning to be had?

What are the submission guidelines? 

  All work must be original and unpublished. Work can be “published” informally through social media accounts, etc., but please remove the work from the internet while we consider it for publication. This helps to ensure that there is no confusion regarding publication rights. (You are permitted to share the work on social media after we publish it, if it is accepted.)
 
We accept simultaneous submissions, but please let us know if the work in your submission becomes no longer available.
 
Submit your work as an attachment to thewindwardreview@gmail.com.

• We prefer Word documents, but PDF is also acceptable. Personal information should not appear anywhere on the attached document(s).

• Your subject line should include “Submission” followed by the genre in which you are submitting (i.e. poetry, fiction).
• The body of the email should include your name, and the listed title(s) of your work(s)
• ***If you include images in your submission document(s), we assume these are meant to be considered with the rest of the submission, but please let us know if the images are optional
  • If the artwork is created by a separate artist, they will be considered a submitter as well
  • A partner artist does not have to submit an artist statement, but we will need their email address, name, mailing address, and bio included in your submission email

Submitting Prose (Fiction/ Creative Non-Fiction)

• We suggest 12 point Times New Roman font with 1 in. margins on all sides, with titles centered at the top of the first page
• Writing should be generally free of typographical and grammatical errors
• Maximum length of 5,000 words (approximately) – word count should be included in the body of your email when possible
• You may submit more than one piece, but we typically only accept one long fiction piece per submission. Though we may accept more than one smaller/ medium length pieces of fiction (see directions below regarding micro fiction). 

Submitting Poetry/ Micro Fiction

• You may submit up to 5 works. We recommend 12 point font and Times New Roman  
• Multiple poetry submissions should be included in a single document, with each poem on a new, titled page
• Writing should be generally free of typographical and grammatical errors  

Submitting Screenplays/ Plays 

• Please submit previously unpublished material in Word or PDF (Word is preferred). Please make sure that there is no identifying marks on the manuscripts (your name or school, etc.) 
• Submissions should be approximately 10 minutes of material or less.  Excerpts of longer material can also be reviewed, (please indicate in your email that the work is an excerpt). Monologues are also acceptable. 
  • You may submit more than one piece, but we don't typically accept more than one longer piece per writer, per volume. 
• You are permitted to include an Artist's Statement/ Memo if you feel that your work needs an introduction (in order for readers to understand how it relates to the theme, for example) 
• You may submit work that has been previously produced. But please ensure that you are comfortable giving us first publishers rights. 
  • You can publish your work elsewhere after we publish it, so long as you acknowledge us as the first publisher. You can also produce your plays after publishing with us in most cases (rights revert back to you after we publish it).

Art

• We consider art and art collections in any medium. Visual poetry is also considered.
• You may submit up to 5 pieces, not including alternative visuals of the same piece. Our preferred presentation style is to showcase a collection of work from a single artist, so please be sure that your pieces compliment one another.
• Our ability to review your work is contingent upon the quality of photos/ scanned documents that you send us. That said, please let us know if a lack of photography resources is an inhibiting factor for you.
• Please provide an Artist’s Statement to compliment your work/ collection, unless you believe that you work must absolutely speak for itself.
  • This statement should help us to understand the impulse behind your work and enrich our appreciation of it, as well as connect it to our theme more explicitly.
  • There is no minimum or maximum word count on the Statement. Also, we may choose to print it next to your artwork, unless you prefer us not to.

The Submission Deadline for Art is May 22, 2021.

Contact for questions: thewindwardreview@gmail.com or zoeeliseramos@gmail.com
​

EDITOR'S NOTE TO VISITORS 
​
"We believe that great works of art are not what you expect them to be. They are instead, works that excite and mesmerize because they are not.  As editors, we cultivate originality in the frame of convention rather than progenerate convention. Our favorite works pay homage to the human experience, with its surprising commonalities of emotions and histories,... as-well-as relish its necessary subjectivity. The singular experience of every person reminds us that being a brilliant artist takes nothing but a brave acceptance of a need for authenticity.   

If you submit to us and get accepted, know that a devoted team of editors pored through your work on many more than one occasions, engaged with their own creative process, and felt intuitively that the work would be complimented in that years' volume. As editors, we are nothing more than humble creatives ourselves who really love what we do. We rely on heart and what speaks to us in the larger world that year in order to put our journal together.  We do this because we know that our journal has a chance to make a difference with the statement made in the final product.

​If you submit to us and do not get accepted, know that we only fail to accept pieces when they are more likely to be fully appreciated and emotionally witnessed in another volume, another journal, or at another time. For those not accepted, we will contact you with some notes on why, especially to the tune of why the work didn't feel right to us that term. And we are always enthusiastically willing to further engage with you if you would like more extrapolation or help. We do this because we could not call ourselves editors if we didn't become creative partners to everyone who is willing to spend time with us.
 
As a creative publication, our lifeblood is a philosophy of compassion being the most important part of editing.  We are a team of editors and volunteers, but our real role is making everyone who submits to us, works with us, or spends time with us know that they are a welcomed Windward Review family member.  
 
 Thanks for reading, " 

Zoe Ramos Jmj
Senior Editor  ​