Themed Issues
Golden Walkman seeks and will prioritize work from underrepresented voices. If you belong to a group that is underrepresented, please make a note of this in your cover letter
Each month (starting in 2020), we will release an issue featuring work in response to a specific theme alongside general issues. A different guest editor will choose each month's theme and curate the work featured in the themed issues. The deadline for each month will be the 15th of the previous month (ex: January 2020's submissions would be due December 15, 2019). Below are the guidelines:
- Send one (1) piece of writing (regardless of genre - unless genre is specified in the theme) that responds to the monthly theme attached as a Word document or PDF file
- Do NOT submit more than once to a given month, but feel free to submit to multiple months simultaneously
- Send all submissions to goldwalkmagATgmailDOTcom with the "month to which you are submitting"+"Sub" (all as one word) included somewhere in your subject line
2020 Themes
Submissions for each month are now OPEN
January: Kelly Boyker
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Theme: Dystopia
Deadline: December 15, 2019 Genre: Any Subject Line: JanuarySub from Kelly Boyker: Call for dystopian work juxtaposing a dystopian future with our reality today and the thinnest separation between both worlds. Any topic is welcome. Think Handmaid's Tale and Black Mirror. Dictionary Definition: An imagined state or society in which there is great suffering or injustice, typically one that is totalitarian or post-apocalyptic.
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February: Brendan Walsh
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Theme: Reverence
Deadline: January 15, 2020 Genre: Any Subject Line: FebruarySub from Brendan Walsh: I think many of the dire issues we face as a species stem from a common lack of reverence for the earth, its creatures, and the little moments of ecstasy that arise from consciousness. We are weighed down by society's expectations, materialism, and mundanity. What if we took moments to revere this existence, this planet and our place within it, and the small communions we have with other humans and animals? I'm looking for work that applies the concept of reverence to anything and everything--what do you revere and how? Do you revere milkshakes or mountains, or the time you had a milkshake atop a mountain? Take your love for the world and rejoice in it.
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March: Simeon Berry
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Theme: Buyer's Remorse
Deadline: February 15, 2020 Genre: Any Subject Line: MarchSub |
April: Amorak Huey
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Theme: Parents & Children
Deadline: March 15, 2020 Genre: Any Subject Line: AprilSub |
May: Gloria Mindock
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Theme: Atrocities
Deadline: April 15, 2020 Genre: Any Subject Line: MaySub |
June: Sandra Marchetti
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Theme: Sound Work
Deadline: May 15, 2020 Genre: Poetry, Non-Fiction/Lyric Essays (<1,000 words) Subject Line: JuneSub from Sandra Marchetti: Are you innovating with sound? Have you created a nonce form? Do metrics get you excited? Do your poems "scan"? Do you read them aloud while you walk or dance? Do you memorize your poems? Sing them? Rap them? Do they rhyme? If you answered "yes!" to any of these questions, this theme is for you! Poems in received/traditional forms will be considered as well, but this is a call for original, inventive "ear candy."
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July: W. Todd Kaneko
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Theme: Ancestors, Ghosts, Listen
Deadline: June 15, 2020 Genre: Any Subject Line: JulySub |
August: Felicia Connolly
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Theme: Metamorphosis
Deadline: July 15, 2020 Genre: Any Subject Line: AugustSub from Felicia Connolly: This month is all about evolving. Tell us how you've grown as a human, an event that forced you to "level up," or a transformation you've made in your life. Take the term "metamorphosis" and show us what it means in your reality.
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September: Beverly Army Williams
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Theme: Shadow
Deadline: August 15, 2020 Genre: Any Subject Line: SeptemberSub from Beverly Army Williams: The shape and movement cast by a body...the darkness of self, of the world...these shadows interest me and warrant exploration!
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October: Woody Woodger
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Theme: Gender Body Horror
Deadline: September 15, 2020 Genre: Any Subject Line: OctoberSub from Woody Woodger: With Gender Body Horror, I ask artist to reckon with the body, probing how our bodies often feel alien to us, whether due to body dysmorphia, eating disorders, toxic masculinity, white ass beauty standards, disability, that cigarette burn on your right wrist from when you were 12, sexuality, kink, kinetic hedonism’s inherent unfulfillment, capitalism’s exploitation of your body as consumer and product, your undesirable toe, that munching desire in your brain to cheese-grater your ugly leg tattoo clean off.
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November: Trish Hopkinson
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Theme: In Response
Deadline: October 15, 2020 Genre: Any Subject Line: NovemberSub from Trish Hopkinson: Is there a piece of art so powerful that it moves you to write? I personally learn more about myself and the art I love when I write a poem inspired by it or use an original work in an erasure or other found poem project. It provides a different perspective and I often discover new connections when working with a piece of art as inspiration or source for found work. For this issue of Golden Walkman, write a poem or short prose piece in response to another work of art, whether it be written, visual, audio, etc. Include which work of art you are responding to with each submission.
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December: Nancy Antle
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Theme: The Future
Deadline: November 15, 2020 Genre: Prose Subject Line: DecemberSub from Nancy Antle: Gaze into your crystal ball and write stories/poems about the future -- the day after tomorrow or next year; ten years, or hundreds of years from now. What will the earth and humanity look like? Will daily life be the same/better/worse or will humans be extinct in the future you envision? I love narratives about this topic and have read many. I've enjoyed doom and gloom stories about the future as well as lighter more humorous takes on what "tomorrow" looks like. So, follow your vision wherever it takes you but keep in mind I'll be looking for unusual tropes and voices -- no cliches, please.
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We also accept submissions in the following categories:
- General//Any subject//Year-Round
- Tapes From The Outside//Work in response to current events//Year-Round
- Themed Issues//Work in response to a specific theme determined by a guest editor//Monthly
- Dialogue Submissions//Work in response to a specific piece of music//Every few months
- (Audio)Chapbook Contest//Chapbook-length writing//June-August