Blackbird: an online journal of literature and the arts
@blackbirdjournal.bsky.social
An online journal of literature and the arts led by grad students at VCU. We publish poetry, fiction, nonfiction, art, & more. Submissions are open! https://linktr.ee/blackbirdjournal
Sometimes our lead editors like taking their interns on field trips. Recently, Blackbird's art team stopped by a favorite spot on campus: Cabell Library, which holds a fantastic section of art books. Here are some of the books we browsed to keep us inspired as Blackbird considers art submissions!
Blackbird ❤️s translated poetry! Have you seen this beauty, translated by Kenedee Westberry, from our spring Flight? Read the full poem at blackbird.vcu.edu/flight/v24n3/
#LitMagWeek seems like a good time to get back to regular Bluesky posting! (Thanks for your patience as I, new media editor Megan, got my bearings.) Here's recommendations from our editors. Who would you add?
Looking through the @blackbirdjournal.bsky.social archives to prep for my first day w/ my art interns tomorrow 🥳 and what a poem this is!!! "Do you untie me in the end?" blackbird-archive.vcu.edu/v4n2/poetry/...
Safe From Trains, Ada Limón
blackbird-archive.vcu.edu
Get to know a Shoutout Author: 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐒𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐤 You read her riveting short story “The Four Winds” in 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐉𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 with us back in March, now read the writer. You want answers? We’ve got questions, none of them frequently asked. @blackbirdjournal.bsky.social #booksky #litfic #shortstory
Shoutout Q&A with Grace Spulak
Author of “The Four Winds” in Blackbird Journal
freilly2020.substack.com
It’s here! Blackbird Literary Podcast’s third episode has arrived, and it’s stunning. Listen to “Ascent, Accent” at blackbird.vcu.edu/podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. Credits included here 🎧
Heard this captivating, incredibly well-crafted poem by @jessicapoli.bsky.social in the @blackbirdjournal.bsky.social podcast and I can already tell I will never forget it. "The Duchess of Lightning Drowns" Diving Horse Show, Ocean Park, California, 1927 blackbird.vcu.edu/the-duchess-... #poetry
The Duchess of Lightning Drowns
blackbird.vcu.edu
(1/2) Surprise! Flight 24n4 is OUT. It's our very first Flight containing only video essays, sound art, and visual art. Look, listen, and open your heart to the beauty of these forms. We're so excited for this one! 🐦⬛ blackbird.vcu.edu
"You know, I think it’s kind of write what you know." Another thoughtful interview with Grace Spulak, author of Magdalena Is Brighter Than You Think. Thanks to Sam Schieren at @blackbirdjournal.bsky.social!
Blackbird is pausing our social media posting for the summer. We'll periodically check in and continue to share any big news we have, but you'll be seeing a little less of us than usual over the next few months. Readings, news, writing, and more to come your way in the fall. Bye for now! 👋
So many great opportunities to submit to @blackbirdjournal.bsky.social below ⬇️ I will continue to be our Art Editor through the upcoming school year & would love to see your visual art!!! (Or pass along to an artist friend you know who might not have lit mags on their radar)
Blackbird: an online journal of literature and the arts@blackbirdjournal.bsky.social · 5mo agoYes, we had to close our submissions for poetry and fiction for the summer—but fear not! Our submissions are still open for the following categories: creative nonfiction, art, video essays, sound-based literature, book reviews, interviews, and craft essays. Link in bio! Spread the word. 🐦⬛
Yes, we had to close our submissions for poetry and fiction for the summer—but fear not! Our submissions are still open for the following categories: creative nonfiction, art, video essays, sound-based literature, book reviews, interviews, and craft essays. Link in bio! Spread the word. 🐦⬛
Another new issue of @blackbirdjournal.bsky.social & another art review from me! 💖 "What did the brushstrokes, shapes, and colors mean to the women behind them who painted these works between the years 1936 and 1977?" blackbird.vcu.edu/review-abstr...
Review: Abstract Expressionists: The Women
blackbird.vcu.edu
Glad to have the chance to review Bobby Elliott’s THE SAME MAN (@upittpress.bsky.social) in the new issue of @blackbirdjournal.bsky.social blackbird.vcu.edu/review-bobby...
Review: Bobby Elliott’s The Same Man
blackbird.vcu.edu
"Recipe for Bilo-Bilo" by @asaldrake.bsky.social from Beauty Talk, forthcoming from Noemi Press in October 2026, published in @blackbirdjournal.bsky.social Read it here: blackbird.vcu.edu/recipe-for-b...
Huge news: Flight 24n3 is out now! Swipe through to see the remarkable names featured in this Flight and read it in all its glory at blackbird.vcu.edu. Spread the word! 🐦⬛
Our poetry and fiction submissions close tomorrow at 11:59pm (EST). CNF writers... don't fear! We are keeping our CNF (and art, video essays, sound-based literature, etc.) submissions open until our queue gets too full to reasonably manage. Keep your eyes on our socials for the latest info. ☀️
ANNOUNCEMENT: Our poetry and fiction submissions are set to close on Friday, May 1st, at 11:59pm EST. We plan to reopen submissions when our staff returns in the fall, but keep an eye on our socials to get the latest info. Spread the word!
Reminder: this Sunday, April 26th, is our Sound & Literature event! Come hang out from 6pm to 9pm with us at Gallery5. Gonna be a blast!
"A Summer Day," a poem written by Dmitry Blizniuk and translated by Sergey Gerasimov, is a poem that does not shy away from an image that might frighten us: that of our own reflection. Read this poem and more at blackbird.vcu.edu. Happy National Poetry Month! 💫
Sara Caskey, our associate creative nonfiction editor, introduced some of CAConrad's somatic poetry prompts with our interns last week. She encouraged them to write their own. Here is one that deeply moved us. Write a poem or prompt in response to this. Reply to this with what you come up with! 📝
![A torn sheet of lined notebook paper lies on a wooden surface, with ragged spiral edges on the left side. At the top, a small star is drawn next to the handwritten note “[2-sided].” The handwritten text reads: “Call your mother. If you don’t have a mother, or if you don’t have the type of mother you can call, get on the phone with the kindest person you know. Be sure you aren’t mixing up the kindest person you know with the nicest person you know. Hold something round and delicate in your hands, like an egg or peach—something with something at the center. Talk to your mother or kind person about the weather. But don’t think of the weather: think of mothering. Could you be a mother? What does mother mean? Do you want to be one?”](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:hvds3im2tltaisjxujl6op3t/bafkreihpqsdc3ygdhtmpjv7q64zokd6czvj2a7eqe6krxcykydtxj26adq)
Announcing our 2025 Tarumoto Winner: "Also the Therapist is a Dog" by Danny Eisenberg! 🥇 It employs a captivating voice, a narrative that estranges us from reality, and a hilarity that never ceases its charm. Congrats, Danny!
Anzhelina Polonskaya's ". . ." is translated by Andrew Wachtel in our most recent Flight, and it does what our greatest poems should do; it acknowledges the failure of words. Read this poem and more at blackbird.vcu.edu. Happy National Poetry Month! 🐦⬛
ANNOUNCEMENT: Join us on Sunday, April 26th, at Gallery5 in Richmond, VA for our Sound & Literature Showcase. Swipe to read more about the event, and be sure to put this one on your calendar! 🎧
Are your short stories dramatic enough? Check out Grace Spulak’s “The Four Winds” in Blackbird Journal for a masterclass in tension. Nearly every scene is like a rubber band stretched to its breaking point. @gspulak.bsky.social @blackbirdjournal.bsky.social freilly2020.substack.com/p/the-four-w...
"The Four Winds" / Blackbird Journal of Literature and the Arts
A strange intimacy between care and harm.
freilly2020.substack.com
Swipe to see our selections for the 2025 Tarumoto Prize Shortlist! Three brilliant stories. Three brilliant authors. Announcing the winner in just ONE week from today. Check back in then! In the meantime, you can read all three of these stories at blackbird.vcu.edu.
Day 5: "You're Supposed to Enjoy Dying" by Colin Pope in @blackbirdjournal.bsky.social. Such a surprising, hopeful, human poem about the anxieties of aging and death. blackbird.vcu.edu/youre-suppos...
You’re Supposed to Enjoy Dying
blackbird.vcu.edu
To kick off National Poetry Month, here's a moving, tender quote from a poem that protests fear via radical optimism. Thank you, John Nieves, for your work! Read the full poem at blackbird.vcu.edu.
By simply having your fiction work published in Blackbird, you are eligible for our bi-annual Tarumoto Prize, which awards one talented author $2000 for our fiction editors' favorite piece. Be sure to check back in a week if you've published with us from spring of 2023 to fall of 2025!
