Call for Submissions: August Reading Period Now Open!

Beyond—by Lou Turner Lou Turner_BeyondDownload Lou Turner is a writer and musician (Lou Turner, Styrofoam Winos) in Nashville, TN. She is an M.F.A. candidate in poetry at Randolph College and the author of Shape Note Singing, her debut chapbook from Vegetarian Alcoholic Press. Recent poems have appeared in Entropy, EcoTheo, HAD and elsewhere. Turner's latest … Continue reading Americana Stories Web Feature: Poetry

Elliot’s Story—Fiction by S. Blair Jockers Looking back, I realize I had a serious crush on Joe. People didn’t think that way in 1949, but I should have figured it out the day he told me he was leaving Pensacola as soon as his enlistment was up at the end of the year. “I’m sick … Continue reading Americana Stories Web Feature: Prose

Skin Smooth—Laine Derr Until her mother died, she’d forgotten a thumb calloused from killing – an ant, hemolymph still warm. an ant, even in death, fights. an ant with boot cut jeans, sugar-coated throat. Letting go: ashes sinking, river stones longing for kind, skin smooth from shining – a body thinned with linseed oil. a … Continue reading Americana Stories Web Features: Poetry

Morels—Amy Love “When old apple trees quit yielding,” she says,  fingering scarred bark with sun-spotted hands,  “farmers beat them with chains. It stirs up traumatin,  a hormone that shocks them into blooming and bearing again.” “Apocalypse sex for trees?” She laughs, but her thumb probes a rift and I flush just watching.   Then she drops … Continue reading Americana Stories Web Features: Poetry

Sometimes We Just Want History to Repeat—Karen Paul Holmes One of the last times Father managed to stand in the kitchen    to chop and to stir his Macedonian Bean Soup,   we captured notes on paper now tomato-stained. The five of us keep trying to recreate him. If Brother has added enough red chili flakes … Continue reading Americana Stories Web Feature: Poetry

The Songster and the Horses—a Hollywood Elegy with Cocaine—Fiction by Nick Sweeney Bass-fiddler-about-town Edvald Ebert found the place at a crossroads off Glendale, a mansion going for a song. “Which song?” songster-at-large Stephen thought out loud. He forgot that Ebert always answered rhetorical questions. Didn’t Americans know you weren’t supposed to do that? Ebert: “If … Continue reading Americana Stories Web Feature: Prose

Today we begin an exciting new series at the museum—Americana Stories—highlighting poetry, fiction, and essays that will bring outstanding new work to our museum readers. Each week here on News & Features, we'll feature selections of exciting repurposed Americana, a chance to expand the writers we serve with new fiction, poetry, memoir, flash, and essays, … Continue reading Welcome to our newest project: Americana Stories Web Features

Welcome to the first of our Americana Stories podcasts! This new series of programs will highlight the writers, staff, and work that define the museum and its mission of reenvisioned Americana in poetry, prose, art, and music. In today’s inaugural episode, prose editor Lauren Alwan chats with the newest member of the museum team, prose … Continue reading Americana Stories Podcast Launch

Issue 26: Our submission period is now open through December 31. We seek work that engages with or repurposes the complex cultural history of America. We are particularly interested in work from writers, artists, and musicians who are traditionally marginalized from publishing. Please read our General Guidelines for more information on how and what to submit.