SUBMIT TO THE JOURNAL

Yellow Arrow Journal is excited to announce submissions are now open for the fall 2026 (Vol. XI, No. 2) issue:

VIGIL

(noun)

: the act of keeping awake at times when sleep is customary

: an event or a period of time when a person or group stays in a place and quietly waits, prays, etc., especially at night

: a watch formerly kept on the night before a religious feast with prayer or other devotions

Submissions are open from August 1 to 31 and will be released in November. The issue will explore those moments in life, in the creative process or otherwise, when you let go of the outcome. Creative practices require a certain letting go, whether it be in the act of writing or in the moment when the writing is shared with others. We don’t know where our creativity will lead, and we don’t know what will become of it.

Please read the guidelines carefully before submitting.

The guest editors of XI/02, Gwen Van Velsor and Annie Marhefka, are well-known to our community and are perfect to lead the second issue of 2026 as we celebrate 10 years.

yellowarrowpublishing.com/news/art-letting-go-guest-editor-yaj-xi-02-vanvelsor-marhefka

Gwen Van Velsor loves writers and writing and finds great value in the act of creating and sharing the written word. She founded Yellow Arrow Publishing in 2016 in Baltimore, Maryland, after publishing her first book. Her work has appeared on various platforms since then, as handbound books, on websites, and on library shelves. Her fulfilling work with Yellow Arrow contributed to the publication of many other writers, of which she is immensely proud. Her current yellow arrows have led to candidacy for rostered ministry in the ELCA Lutheran church while pursuing a MDiv at United Lutheran Seminary. Gwen is from Portland, Oregon, and is proud to call Baltimore home, where she lives with her daughter and enjoys swimming, hiking, and camping.

Annie Marhefka is a writer in Baltimore, Maryland; she is the recipient of the 2024 Eunice Williams Nonfiction Prize, has been featured on The Slowdown Show and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. Annie is the executive director at Yellow Arrow Publishing, a Baltimore-based nonprofit empowering women-identifying writers. Annie has received support from the Maryland State Arts Council, Gullkistan Center for the Arts, Martha’s Vineyard Institute for Creative Writing, and Tin House. She has a BA in creative writing and a MBA from Washington College and is a MFA candidate at the University of Baltimore. She has authored two collections: Strangers We Know By Heart with Garden Party Collective and Baltimore, a travelogue memoir, for the Writer in Sites series by Scrawl Place. When Annie is not writing, she is usually trying to find her way back to the water. Follow Annie on Instagram @anniemarhefka and at anniemarhefka.com.

For information on how to submit, see below. Thank you to all who submit and share. We appreciate your dedication to the literary arts and independent publishing.

Support the journal by ordering a discounted bundle of the 2026 issues (No. 1 WONDER, No. 2 VIGIL), for yourself, for your office, or as a gift. Bundles of volumes IX (2024 ELEVATE and kitalo) and X (2025 UNFURL and KAIROS) are also available. Learn more about our bundles at yellowarrowpublishing.com/store/yellow-arrow-journal-bundle.

Past issues of Yellow Arrow Journal are available in the Yellow Arrow bookstore, on Amazon and through most online distributors, and in bookstores in Baltimore and beyond. Thank you to all who submit and share and for your continued support.

Do you have creative nonfiction, poetry, or cover art you would like to share? Join our newsletter and follow us on Facebook or Instagram for up-to-date information about open submissions and Yellow Arrow Publishing.

If selected, you will receive $10.00USD and a PDF of the journal issue. Note that payments are through PayPal; while we try to accommodate those who do not have a PayPal account, this is not always possible, especially for people outside of the U.S. Thank you for understanding.

We receive many wonderful submissions but have limited room in each issue. Please do not be discouraged if your submission is not accepted or you miss the deadline—there will be more opportunities available to you in the future.

We are grateful that you would like to share your story with us and our readers.

Please read the guidelines below in their entirety before submitting. Any questions? Email submissions@yellowarrowpublishing.com.

Submissions Guidelines

  • Accepted submissions include creative nonfiction and poetry by authors identifying as women (cover art guidelines follow below).

  • Submissions must relate to the theme of VIGIL, as interpreted by the author, using provided guiding questions (these will change for each theme and will be available during open submissions):

    • In what ways have you embraced uncertainty in life or in your writing process?

    • What emotions are stirred up when you contemplate releasing control?

    • Envision a process of letting go of a person, a process, or a thing—what visual images come to mind?

  • Creative nonfiction (1 submission per author per issue) must be between 100 and 2,000 words. Poetry (up to 2 poems per author per issue, grouped into a single document) may be any length.

  • Submissions do not need to be in English but must include an English translation.

  • No previously published work will be accepted at this time—this includes all printed and online material; simultaneous submissions are okay but please let us know when you send in your submission(s) and if a submission is published elsewhere in the interim, email submissions@yellowarrowpublishing.com immediately.

Cover Art Submission Guidelines

  • Cover art (1 submission per artist per issue) can be a painting, drawing, print, photo, graphic design, comic, or anything else that can be dreamed up by artists identifying as women, as related to the theme/guiding questions.

  • Artists must own all rights to the work submitted—if published or shown previously, artists must be able to list where and when.

  • If chosen, the artist must be able to supply the artwork at a resolution no lower than 300 dpi and at a size of 8 ½ x 11 cm, as a .jpeg/.jpg or .tiff/.tif.

Are You Ready to Submit?

To submit to VIGIL, send an email to submissions@yellowarrowpublishing.com and include:

  • Subject: Vol. #, No. # Theme – type of submission [nonfiction, poetry, or cover art] (required)

  • Your full name (and name you would want Yellow Arrow to use), nationality, and current city/state/country of residence (required)

  • Our writers and readers come from all walks of life and so do we. We are taking steps across our portfolio to increase representation and give greater visibility to the voices of underrepresented women-identifying storytellers. If you are comfortable doing so, please share with us which underrepresented communities you identify with that may make you uniquely positioned to connect with a particular group of readers (optional)

  • Your pronouns and age (optional)

  • Where you heard about us (optional)

  • For cover art submissions, a list of past publications/exhibits for the artwork you are submitting (required, if applicable).

Authors/artists should only submit one type of submission per issue; no agents.

Note that submissions are anonymously reviewed in-house; the information you provide above is used only to better understand the composition of our audience.

Attach your submission to your email. Accepted files for creative nonfiction and poetry submissions include .doc/.docx, .rtf, or .pdf (.doc/.docx preferred)—use minimal document styling and do not include identifying information (only within your email). Accepted files for cover art include .jpeg/.jpg, .tiff/.tif, .gif, .eps, or .psd—a low resolution is preferable at this time.

By sending your submission you agree to the following statements:

  • You are a writer or artist who identifies as a woman

  • You have completely read and submitted within the guidelines.

Due to the volume of submissions and the nature of our submission process, authors/artists will not receive an email confirming receipt of submission. Rather, all who submit within the guidelines, whether accepted to the next issue or not, will receive an email after submissions have closed—please do not email us to inquire about a submission.

Submissions for VIGIL (fall 2026, Vol. XI, No. 1) are open August 1-31.