CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: THE CITY IN THREE LINES

An Urban Haiku Anthology

Fresh Words – An International Literary Magazine

Website: https://sites.google.com/view/freshwordsmagazine/announcements

Key Dates

• Submission Deadline: September 30, 2026

• Acceptance Notifications: October 05, 2026

• Expected Publication: October 2026

Where to Send

Email: specialanthologyfreshwordsmag@gmail.com

Fresh Words invites poets, city-dwellers, commuters, wanderers, observers, night owls, and quiet witnesses to submit original haiku for our forthcoming anthology:

THE CITY IN THREE LINES

An Urban Haiku Anthology

The city is never silent.

It wakes with the first bus, glows beneath streetlights, rushes through railway stations, disappears behind apartment windows, and continues long after midnight. It is crowded and lonely, beautiful and harsh, familiar and constantly changing.

We are looking for haiku that capture the fleeting moments of urban life.

A traffic light reflected in rain.

A stranger asleep on the last train.

Pigeons on a rooftop.

A tea seller before sunrise.

An empty bench beneath a billboard.

A child's face pressed against a bus window.

A streetlight illuminating nobody.

A city can be a landscape too.

Show us your city in three lines.

Submission Guidelines

Format

• Structure: Traditional 3-line haiku.

• Flexibility: Slight creative flexibility is permitted where the poem retains the brevity, immediacy, observation, and spirit of haiku.

• Style: Plain text only. No illustrations, graphics, decorative formatting, or unusual typography within the submission document.

Theme

Urban life, broadly interpreted.

We welcome haiku exploring any aspect of the city, including:

• Streets and sidewalks

• Public transport, buses, trains and stations

• Traffic and traffic lights

• Markets, shops and street vendors

• Cafés and restaurants

• Rooftops and balconies

• Apartment buildings

• Parks and urban gardens

• Pigeons, stray animals and urban wildlife

• Rain on concrete and reflections in windows

• Neon signs and advertisements

• Construction sites

• Crowds and commuters

• Strangers and fleeting encounters

• Loneliness in crowded places

• Nightlife and midnight streets

• Children growing up in cities

• Old neighbourhoods and changing skylines

• Migration and displacement

• Technology and the modern city

• Poverty, inequality and invisible lives

• Memories attached to particular streets or buildings

• Silence within the noise

• Moments of beauty in ordinary urban life

The city may be real, imagined, remembered, or transformed through the poet's perspective.

We welcome submissions from cities of every size—from megacities and capitals to small towns and quiet neighbourhoods.

You do not need to name the city.

Sometimes a city reveals itself through a single window, a passing stranger, or a puddle beneath a streetlight.

Submission Limit

• Maximum of seven (7) haiku per poet.

• All haiku must be included in one email as a single PDF or MS Word attachment.

• Please do not send each haiku as a separate attachment.

Rights Note

Authors retain full copyright of their work.

Fresh Words requests one-time, non-exclusive publication rights for inclusion in the digital and/or print anthology. All rights revert to the author upon publication.

How to Submit

Send to: specialanthologyfreshwordsmag@gmail.com

Attachment: One file (.docx or .pdf) containing all haiku and the required contributor information.

Subject Line:

[Your Full Name] – SUBMISSION FOR THE CITY IN THREE LINES ANTHOLOGY

Required Information

Please include the following inside your submission file:

1. Cover Note – A brief 1–2 sentence introduction is welcome.

2. Legal Name

3. Pen Name – if applicable

4. Postal (Snail Mail) Address

5. Short Literary Biography – approximately 60 words, written in third person

6. High-Resolution Photograph – JPEG, attached as a separate file

Important: We accept only genuine, real-life author photographs. AI-generated portraits, avatars, or digitally fabricated author photographs will not be accepted.

Example Bio

Daniel Okoro lives and writes in Lagos, where he finds poetry between traffic lights, crowded buses, and quiet mornings. His work has appeared in several international literary journals. He is fascinated by the unnoticed gestures of strangers and the brief moments of stillness hidden inside busy places.

Content Policy

We do not accept submissions that promote or glorify:

• Violence or abuse

• Hate speech

• Racism, sexism, or discrimination

• Political propaganda

• Extremist ideologies

References to difficult realities of urban life are welcome when handled with literary purpose, sensitivity, and artistic integrity.

All work must be respectful, original, and artistically focused.

Additional Notes

• Simultaneous submissions are permitted. Please notify us immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere.

• No fees. There are no submission, reading, or participation fees, ever.

• Global voices welcome. We welcome poets from every country and cultural background.

• English only for this anthology.

• Selected contributors will be notified by October 5, 2026.

• Previously unpublished work is preferred.

• Please submit only work for which you hold the necessary rights.

Connect With Us

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Fresh-Words-An-International-Literary-Magazine-106332345070389/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQmmN1p8jcbIa6rUxzCzL2Q

Support Our Work: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/freshwordsmag

THREE LINES. ONE CITY. A THOUSAND STORIES.

The city is waiting.

Between the traffic and the silence, between strangers and familiar faces, between concrete and sky, there are countless moments that disappear before anyone notices them.

Catch one.

Write it in three lines.

Submit to THE CITY IN THREE LINES

Fresh Words

Where small poems hold big magic.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

Tiny Revolutions: A Flash Fiction Anthology

Small acts. Quiet rebellions. Lives changed one choice at a time.

Submission Deadline: September 30, 2026

Acceptance Notifications: October 05, 2026

Submissions: specialanthologyfreshwords@gmail.com

Website: https://sites.google.com/view/freshwordsmagazine/announcements

The world rarely changes all at once.

Sometimes, change begins with a person saying no.

A daughter refuses to follow the life chosen for her. A worker deletes one email. A child asks the question everyone else is afraid to ask. Someone leaves a locked door open. Someone keeps an old language alive. Someone simply decides, for the first time, that enough is enough.

Fresh Words invites writers from around the world to submit original flash fiction for Tiny Revolutions, an anthology celebrating small acts of defiance, courage, resistance, transformation, and unexpected change.

We want stories about ordinary people making extraordinary choices—or seemingly insignificant choices that turn out to matter enormously.

Your revolution does not need crowds, banners, or explosions.

Sometimes, all it takes is one person refusing to remain the same.

SUBTHEMES WE LOVE

Your story does not need to fit these exactly. Use them as sparks:

1. The Quiet No
   Refusing expectations, traditions, demands, or roles imposed by others.

2. One Small Act
   A seemingly insignificant action that changes everything.

3. Breaking the Pattern
   Someone finally ends a cycle that has lasted generations.

4. The Rule Nobody Questioned
   A character discovers an absurd, unjust, or unnecessary rule—and decides not to obey.

5. Rebellion at Home
   Family expectations, inherited beliefs, domestic resistance, and choosing one's own path.

6. The Child Who Asked Why
   Innocence exposing hypocrisy, injustice, or an uncomfortable truth.

7. Against the Machine
   Technology, bureaucracy, corporations, algorithms, institutions, and the individual who refuses to cooperate.

8. A Different Life
   The moment someone chooses a path nobody expected.

9. The Last Traditionalist
   A character who preserves something meaningful—or destroys a tradition that should have ended.

10. The Unexpected Rebel
    The least likely person becomes the one who changes everything.

11. Revolutions of the Body
    Stories about reclaiming identity, movement, appearance, age, or physical autonomy without relying on explicit content.

12. The Absurd Revolution
    Strange, comic, surreal, or speculative rebellions against bizarre systems and impossible circumstances.

13. History's Smallest Hero
    A forgotten person whose tiny decision has consequences far beyond their own life.

14. Tomorrow Begins Today
    Climate, community, technology, or speculative futures transformed by one person's choice.

15. The Revolution That Failed
    A rebellion that goes wrong, changes direction, or succeeds in an unexpected way.

Note: These are invitations, not requirements. Surprise us.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

1. THEME AND CONTENT

• Stories must engage meaningfully with the idea of small-scale rebellion, resistance, choice, transformation, courage, or change.

• Stories may be contemporary, historical, speculative, dystopian, comic, surreal, literary, or experimental.

• Genre is no barrier, but the theme should matter to the story.

• We especially welcome unexpected interpretations of the theme.

• No explicit sexual content, graphic violence, or hate speech.

2. LENGTH

• Strict maximum: 300 words (title not included).

• Minimum: 100 words.

• Stories must be complete narratives with emotional impact, a revelation, meaningful transformation, or a compelling ending.

• We are not seeking fragments or purely atmospheric pieces.

3. ORIGINALITY AND RIGHTS

• Work must be unpublished in any form, print or digital.

• Simultaneous submissions are allowed. Please withdraw immediately if accepted elsewhere.

• Authors retain full copyright.

• Fresh Words requests one-time, non-exclusive publication rights, reverting to the author upon publication.

4. FORMATTING

• Submit as .doc, .docx, or .pdf.

• Use 12 pt standard font such as Times New Roman, Arial, or Georgia.

• Include your legal or pen name, email address, story title, and word count in the document.

• Please paste the complete story into the body of your email as a backup.

5. HOW TO SUBMIT

Email: specialanthologyfreshwords@gmail.com

Subject line: Tiny Revolutions Submission - [Your Story Title]

6. DEADLINE

September 20, 2026

7. COMPENSATION

• A short author bio and social media promotion will be included with publication.

• This is a non-paying market at this time.

8. ELIGIBILITY

• Open globally to writers of all backgrounds, experience levels, and literary traditions.

• Writing in English only for this anthology.

9. QUESTIONS

Contact specialanthologyfreshwords@gmail.com with Query in the subject line.

CONTENT POLICY

We do not accept submissions that promote or glorify:

• Violence, abuse, or hate speech

• Racism, sexism, or discrimination of any kind

• Political propaganda or extremist ideologies

All work must be original and artistically focused.

CONNECT WITH US

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Fresh-Words-An-International-Literary-Magazine-106332345070389/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQmmN1p8jcbIa6rUxzCzL2Q

Support Our Work: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/freshwordsmag

The biggest revolutions do not always make the news.

Sometimes, they happen in kitchens, classrooms, offices, bedrooms, buses, villages, and quiet corners of ordinary lives.

Sometimes, revolution is simply choosing differently.

Give us 300 words that refuse to stay quiet.

Submit by September 30, 2026.

Start something small. Change everything.

Fresh Words

Where small stories hold enormous truths.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

FRESH WORDS — AN INTERNATIONAL LITERARY MAGAZINE

Website: https://sites.google.com/view/freshwordsmagazine/home
Submissions: dramaanthologyfreshwords@gmail.com

HELLO GODOT! (VOLUME 12)

An Anthology of Existential & Absurd Plays

Submission Deadline: September 30, 2026
Acceptance Notifications: October 05, 2026
Publication: October 2026

Fresh Words — An International Literary Magazine — invites playwrights, theatre-makers, and dramatic writers from around the world to submit original plays for HELLO GODOT! (Volume 12), an anthology devoted to the strange, comic, unsettling, and profoundly human territory of existential and absurd theatre.

Inspired by the questions that haunt Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot—without seeking adaptations or imitations—we are interested in plays about characters who wait, wander, repeat, question, forget, hope, fail to communicate, and continue living despite having no convincing explanation for why they should.

What happens when nothing happens?

What if tomorrow never comes?

What if the person we are waiting for does not exist?

What if leaving is impossible?

What if the routine is the only thing keeping us alive?

HELLO GODOT! invites writers to explore these questions through original dramatic worlds of their own.

THE SUBTHEMES

Playwrights may respond to one or more of the following subthemes:

1. THE WAIT

Someone is waiting for someone—or something—that may never arrive.

2. NOTHING TO BE DONE

Characters trapped in futile tasks, impossible situations, existential paralysis, or pointless routines.

3. NOT TODAY

Promises postponed, decisions deferred, departures delayed, and lives permanently suspended.

4. LET'S TALK ABOUT SOMETHING ELSE

Failed communication, meaningless conversations, verbal games, awkward silences, and the desperate human need to keep talking.

5. THE SAME DAY AGAIN

Repetition, circular time, recurring encounters, déjà vu, and characters condemned to begin again.

6. WHO IS GODOT?

The absent, the unknowable, the expected, the imagined, or the person who may never have existed.

7. SHALL WE LEAVE?

Characters who want to escape—but cannot, will not, or do not know where to go.

8. MAYBE TOMORROW

Hope in the face of repeated disappointment; the strange human ability to continue waiting even after hope has become unreasonable.

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR

We are seeking plays that explore the absurdity and uncertainty of existence through theatre.

Your play might be:

• darkly comic

• existential

• surreal

• minimalist

• philosophical

• tragicomic

• experimental

• disturbing

• playful

• dreamlike

• deeply ordinary and quietly absurd

We welcome plays involving:

• waiting

• repetition

• loneliness

• purposelessness

• identity

• memory

• death

• time

• silence

• isolation

• failed communication

• meaningless work

• routine

• uncertainty

• disappearance

• hope

• despair

• the search for meaning

But these are starting points, not restrictions.

We want writers to discover their own version of the absurd.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

1. Originality

All submissions must be original and unpublished.

We are not looking for adaptations, rewritings, sequels, fan fiction, or direct retellings of Waiting for Godot.

Your play may be inspired by existential or absurdist traditions, but it must possess its own characters, dramatic situation, language, structure, and theatrical identity.

A play about two people waiting beside a tree is not automatically an absurd play.

We are interested in what you do with the idea.

2. Length and Format

Each play should be approximately 2 pages in standard theatrical script format.

Shorter works are welcome if they achieve a complete dramatic effect.

There is no strict performance-duration requirement.

A maximum of four characters is recommended.

Minimal casts and simple staging are encouraged.

Stage directions should be concise and purposeful.

Experimental theatrical forms are welcome, including:

• fragmented dialogue

• repetition

• non-linear structure

• silence

• pauses

• direct address

• off-stage voices

• symbolic objects

• circular narratives

• theatrical games

• unconventional characterisation

However, the work should remain recognisably dramatic/theatrical.

Please do not submit prose fiction, poetry, essays, screenplays, or academic criticism.

3. Submission Details

File format: PDF or Word document (.doc / .docx)

File name:

HelloGodot_YourName_PlayTitle

Each submission should include a cover page containing:

• Play title

• Playwright's full name

• Email address

• Phone number

• Country

• Selected subtheme

• Brief biography of 50–70 words, written in the third person

Email your submission to:

dramaanthologyfreshwords@gmail.com

Use the subject line:

Submission: Hello Godot! (Volume 12) — [Your Name]

4. Multiple Submissions

Playwrights may submit up to four plays.

Each play must be submitted as a separate document.

If submitting four plays, please identify the subtheme for each.

Please submit all plays in a single email.

5. Rights

Playwrights retain full copyright and ownership of their work.

Fresh Words requests one-time, non-exclusive publication rights for inclusion in HELLO GODOT! (Volume 12) and for reasonable promotional purposes connected with the anthology.

All other rights remain with the playwright.

6. Eligibility

The call is open internationally.

We welcome:

• emerging playwrights

• established playwrights

• first-time dramatists

• theatre students

• academics

• independent theatre-makers

• experimental writers

• playwrights working outside conventional theatrical traditions

There is no nationality, age, or professional-experience restriction.

English-language submissions only for this volume.

7. Selection Process

All submissions will be evaluated by the editorial team.

The editors will consider:

• originality

• dramatic conception

• theatricality

• quality of dialogue

• characterisation

• structural control

• imaginative use of absurdity

• existential depth

• emotional or intellectual resonance

• effective engagement with the anthology's theme

We are especially interested in works that use absurdity as a dramatic method rather than merely as a style.

Selected playwrights will be notified by email by:

October 05, 2026

The editors' decision is final. Individual feedback will not be provided.

8. COMPENSATION

This is currently a non-paying market.

Selected playwrights will receive:

• Publication in the anthology

• Author/playwright biography

• Publication credit

• Digital publication

• Social-media promotion where appropriate

• International exposure through Fresh Words

CONTENT POLICY

Fresh Words welcomes challenging, uncomfortable, unconventional, and intellectually provocative theatre.

However, submissions must not promote or glorify:

• hate speech

• racism

• sexism

• discrimination

• extremist ideologies

• terrorism

• abuse or exploitation

• political propaganda presented primarily for promotional purposes

Dark themes, death, despair, violence, psychological disturbance, and difficult existential questions are acceptable when they serve a genuine artistic and dramatic purpose.

A NOTE TO PLAYWRIGHTS

You do not have to write like Beckett.

You do not have to imitate Waiting for Godot.

You do not need a tree.

You do not need two characters.

You do not even need someone to wait.

We are interested in the spirit of the questions, not the reproduction of the original play.

Give us characters who do not understand why they are here.

Give us people who keep talking because silence is worse.

Give us someone who has been waiting for twenty years for an answer.

Give us someone who discovers that the answer does not matter.

Give us a door that nobody opens.

A telephone that never rings.

A train that stopped coming.

A job that has no purpose.

A conversation that has happened before.

A tomorrow that never arrives.

Or give us something we have never seen before.

THE CENTRAL QUESTION

What are we doing while we are waiting for life to begin?

Perhaps we are waiting for Godot.

Perhaps Godot is waiting for us.

Perhaps there is no Godot.

Perhaps there never was.

Perhaps that is the joke.

Perhaps that is the tragedy.

Perhaps that is the whole play.

IMPORTANT DATES

Submission Deadline: September 30, 2026
Acceptance Notifications: October 05, 2026
Expected Publication: October 2026

Questions and Queries

For submission-related questions, contact:

dramaanthologyfreshwords@gmail.com

Please use QUERY — HELLO GODOT! in the subject line.

“Nothing happens. Nobody comes. Nobody goes. And yet, somehow, everything happens.”

HELLO GODOT! (VOLUME 12)

An Anthology of Existential & Absurd Plays

Fresh Words — An International Literary Magazine

Where every word commands the stage.

#HelloGodot #WaitingForGodot #AbsurdTheatre #ExistentialDrama #CallForSubmissions #Playwriting #ShortPlays #DramaAnthology #Playwrights #Theatre #ExperimentalTheatre #Absurdism #Existentialism #NewWriting #TheatreWriters #FreshWordsMagazine #WritingCommunity #AmWritingDrama #GetPublished #ShortDrama

CALL FOR GUEST EDITORS

International Poetry & Flash Fiction Anthologies

Fresh Words – An International Literary Magazine

• Website: Fresh Words Announcements

• Contact & Applications: freshwordsmagazine@gmail.com

Fresh Words is expanding its international horizons. To celebrate diverse literary traditions and amplify global voices, we are launching a series of language-specific seasonal anthologies in late 2026.

We are seeking experienced, detail-oriented, and dedicated Guest Editors to curate and manage these upcoming volumes. Editors are required for both our Poetry (Haiku and Tanka) and Flash Fiction anthologies in the following languages:

• 🇩🇪 German (Poetry & Flash Fiction)

• 🇵🇱 Polish (Poetry & Flash Fiction)

• 🇪🇸 Spanish (Poetry & Flash Fiction)

• 🇯🇵 Japanese (Poetry & Flash Fiction)

If you possess a keen editorial eye for contemporary literature, a deep appreciation for short-form storytelling and micropoetry, and strong connections within your target language's literary community, we invite you to collaborate with us. Applicants may choose to edit the poetry anthology, the flash fiction anthology, or both for their respective language.

Role & Responsibilities

As a Guest Editor, you will help shape the creative identity and vision of your language’s anthology. Your core responsibilities will include:

• Theme Development: Collaborating with the Fresh Words team to adapt our seasonal themes to suit specific linguistic and cultural nuances.

• Curation & Selection: Reviewing and selecting original poetry or flash fiction (up to 300 words) submitted in your target language.

• Editing & Proofreading: Providing light structural edits and proofreading to ensure high literary standards while preserving the author's unique voice.

• Community Outreach: Actively promoting the call for submissions within regional writing networks, literary organizations, and localized social media channels.

• Editorial Preface: Authoring a brief, engaging introduction to anchor the final published volume.

Requirements

• Language Proficiency: Native or bilingual fluency in the target language, coupled with a strong working command of English for administrative and structural communication with our core executive team.

• Editorial Experience: Prior experience in editing, publishing, translating, or working within a literary magazine or creative writing environment is highly preferred.

• Project Management: A proven ability to strictly adhere to formatting guidelines, editorial deadlines, and content policies.

• Literary Passion: A demonstrated commitment to mentoring emerging writers and expanding global literary landscapes.

Timeline

• Application Deadline for Guest Editors: December 25, 2026

• Guest Editor Selection Announcement: January 15, 2027

• Public Submission Window Opens: Late February 2027

• Anthology Publication: Late Autumn / Winter 2027

 Compensation & Benefits

• Prominent Billing: Your name and biography will be featured prominently on the cover, title page, and within the editorial preface of both the print and digital editions.

• Global Promotion: Extensive feature and promotion across all Fresh Words social media platforms, website channels, and newsletter distributions.

• Professional Networking: An exceptional opportunity to helm an international project and build meaningful, lasting connections with contemporary global writers.

• Please Note: Fresh Words is an independent, non-paying market. This is a volunteer, project-based collaborative role.

 How to Apply

Please submit your application to freshwordsmagazine@gmail.com with your subject line formatted exactly as follows:

Guest Editor Application – [Language] – [Poetry/Flash Fiction/Both] – [Your Name]

In the body of your email, please include:

1. Genre Preference: Clearly state whether you are applying for the Poetry anthology, the Flash Fiction anthology, or both.

2. Cover Letter: A brief statement (1–2 paragraphs) outlining your interest in the role and your editorial vision for the anthology.

3. Literary Biography: A short bio (approx. 200 words) written in the third person, highlighting relevant publication, translation, or editorial experience.

4. Portfolio/Links: Links to your personal website, past editorial projects, or professional social media profiles (if applicable).

Join us in building bridges across languages, where small poems and short stories continue to hold enormous truths.

Application Deadline: December 25, 2026

Fresh Words

Where small words hold big magic.