We’ve got a sweet treat for you…our Summer 2026 issue, available now. Get your copy: https://pshares.org/product/summer-2026/
Ploughshares Literary Journal
@pshares.bsky.social
The award-winning literary journal based at Emerson College. Publishing established and emerging writers since 1971. mtr.bio/pshares
SALE! Use coupon code PSROCKS15 when ordering any issues from the pshares.org site for 15% off your grand total, plus a free bumper sticker featuring a quote from Martin Rock’s April PS essay “Recovery as Resistance.” Bumper stickers are also available for individual sale.
"The invitation: wrestle with Catania's reality or get the hell out." Read Angie Cruz's story, "Ciao Catania," in the Summer 2026 issue of Ploughshares: https://pshares.org/issue-article/ciao-catania/
The Ploughshares team recently took a trip to Sweeties Ice Cream Social in Roslindale, where we enjoyed New Zealand style ice cream served by Hazel and Aleida and chatted about our favorite reads in our latest issue. Get a copy here: https://pshares.org/product/summer-2026/
"Next to the asterisk at the bottom of the page was a long list of acceptable violences." Read Kesiena Boom's story, "Birthmark," in the Summer 2026 issue of Ploughshares: https://pshares.org/issue-article/birthmark-2/
We are pleased to present Juliana Lamy with the annual Ashley Leigh Bourne Prize for Fiction for her story, "My Country Full of Thieves." Read an interview with Juliana in our new Summer 2026 issue: https://pshares.org/issue-article/the-ashley-leigh-bourne-prize-for-fiction-3/
In his Editor’s Note, Justin Torres writes that he chose pieces for our Summer 2026 issue that feature “transcendent shaping of words, the exact right turn of phrase.” Encounter the beauty of language: https://pshares.org/product/summer-2026/
"Trees are always home. They can never be refugees." Read Yahya Ashour's essay, "Memory Foam," in the Summer 2026 issue of Ploughshares: https://pshares.org/issue-article/memory-foam/
Senior Reader Kit Freeman’s PS essay emphasizes the importance of queer ancestry and queer visibility in contemporary literary journals. Read more: https://pshares.org/ps/the-archive-is-queer-a-ploughshares-retrospective/
It’s a beautiful summer day, and the cherry on top is our Summer 2026 issue, guest-edited by Justin Torres and out today! 🍒 Pick up your copy to find poetry and prose by Yahya Ashour, Kesiena Boom, Angie Cruz, Sarah Tindal Kareem, Mai Der Vang, and more: https://pshares.org/product/summer-2026/
COVER REVEAL! 🪱🐦The early bird catches the worm: subscribe to Ploughshares before Wednesday, July 15th to make sure you receive a copy of our Summer 2026 issue! Subscribe today: https://pshares.org/product-category/subscription/
We’re pleased to share that two poems from our recent issues were selected for inclusion in Pushcart Prize LI (2027): “The World” by Malena Mörling from our Winter 2024-2025 issue, and “Origin Story” by Leila Farjami from our Spring 2025 issue! Congratulations to these writers!
We're pleased to announce that guest editor Carmen Maria Machado will be selecting prose for our Summer 2027 issue! For the chance to have your work read by Carmen, submit to our reading period: https://pshares.org/submit/submit-writing/
We're excited to announce that Hala Alyan is editing our Spring 2027 issue! Submit to our Regular Reading Period to have your work read by Hala: https://pshares.org/submit/submit-writing/
Have you read the wonderful poetry chosen by Annie Finch for our Spring issue? Now's your chance to submit your own! Ploughshares is accepting poetry submissions to our reading period until November 15 at 5 pm EST. Learn more: https://pshares.org/submit/submit-writing/
"In the dream within a dream: a love note, pressed in my palm." Read Alpay Ulku's poem, "A Love Note," in the Spring 2026 issue of Ploughshares: https://pshares.org/product/spring-2026/
Summer sunshine is here! In our Spring 2026 issue you'll find the "yellow vigor" of daffodils, Earth's "downpours and showers," and "light between the branches of trees." Get your copy and appreciate the beauty of nature: https://pshares.org/product/spring-2026/
What pieces do you love from our Spring 2026 issue? Let us know in the comments! ⬇️💬 Browse the issue and find your favorites: https://pshares.org/product/spring-2026/
"It was an early September afternoon, the air stagnant with rare New England humidity, when the girl came to the island." Read Karen Winn's story, "An (Updated) History of the Modern World," in the Spring 2026 issue of Ploughshares: https://pshares.org/issue-article/352576/
Searching for your last spring read? Look no further than our Spring 2026 issue. Start reading: https://pshares.org/product/spring-2026/
Ploughshares is excited to announce our Summer 2027 Guest Editor, Carmen Maria Machado! In this interview, Machado discusses preserving queer archives and the relationships between speculative writing, research, and truth. Watch the interview and read the transcript: https://bit.ly/4v1m8w6
Too hot to be outside? Stay in and relax with our Spring 2026 issue, edited by Annie Finch. Available now: https://pshares.org/product/spring-2026/
"I had a bed. I was a man who slept / without his shoes, dreaming of one wife" Read Patricia Smith's poem, "Sophiatown Symphony," in the Spring 2026 issue of Ploughshares: https://pshares.org/issue-article/sophiatown-symphony/
Join us on Friday, June 26, at 6 pm EDT for a Zoom reading and celebration of LGBTQIA+ love poems published in Ploughshares, featuring Kelli Russell Agodon, Chen Chen, Eileen Myles, Jacques J. Rancourt, Jaz Sufi, and Mark Wunderlich! 🌈 Reserve your spot: https://bit.ly/4uyhpkQ
With cover art by Ana Seggiaro and poems and stories by 40+ writers, our Spring 2026 issue is sure to inspire your creative side. 🎨✍️💃 Get your copy and start creating: https://pshares.org/product/spring-2026/
"I wasn’t yet ten and wanted something sweet / when what piece of childhood I had was crushed." Read Sapphire's poem, "Ballad of Henrietta King," in the Spring 2026 issue of Ploughshares: https://pshares.org/issue-article/ballad-of-henrietta-king/
PS pitches are now open! PS presents contemporary dialogues between today’s writers and Ploughshares‘ archive. We invite you to consider how your practice converses, converges, and complicates work in our past issues. See the full guidelines: https://pshares.org/about-ps/
Thinking about submitting to our reading period? Check out the Spring issue for inspiration! Pick up your copy and see our reading period guidelines: https://pshares.org/
Our regular reading period is now open! Send us your fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and longform poetry and prose between June 1 and November 15 at 5:00 pm EST for the chance to be published in a future issue of Ploughshares. Read the guidelines and submit: https://pshares.org/submit/submit-writing/
Look what's sprouting...our Spring 2026 issue! Get your copy: https://pshares.org/product/spring-2026/