The L Magazine is proud to announce our eighth annual Literary Upstart, The Search for Pocket Fiction competition.

Writers are encouraged to submit their previously unpublished short fiction (a maximum of 1,500 words).

Semi-finalists, fifteen in total, will be invited to participate in one of three readings, in front of a live, lively audience, and a panel of judges comprised of members of the local literati.

The three semi-final winners will advance to our final reading, where they’ll vie for a cash prize, and publication in The L Magazine‘s annual Summer Fiction Issue.

Submission guidelines:

Entries (please limit yourself to two submissions) should be polished little labors of love of no more than 1,500 previously unpublished words. Content, style, subject, et cetera is at the discretion of the writer.

Kindly email submissions as an attached Word document in a standard, 12-point font to:
literaryupstart [at] thelmagazine [dot] com

While curlicues and bubble fonts make us blush, they also make our poor eyes bleed, so please keep it simple and please double space. Please include your name, the title of your story, and your email address, at least on the first page your story and perhaps even on subsequent pages.

Last, but not least, please remember that the live readings are a major component of this competition, so if you’re not living in the NYC area or cannot arrange to be here for a reading or two in spring and summer, you may wish to reconsider submitting your work.

Happy Writing,

The L Magazine
literaryupstart@thelmagazine.com