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The Fiddlehead
@fiddlehd.bsky.social
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The Fiddlehead is Atlantic Canada's International Literary Journal.
Celebrating 80 years of literary foraging in 2025!

https://thefiddlehead.ca
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The Fiddlehead @fiddlehd.bsky.social · Oct 23
Our Autumn issue is now on its way to subscribers, featuring Summer Wishes (2023) by Ann Manuel on the cover.

Here’s a preview of what’s inside: thefiddlehead.ca/issue/305
fiddlehd.bsky.social
The Fiddlehead's office will be closed starting tomorrow until January 4th. We would like to thank all our contributors and readers for another amazing year!
A graphic reading Happy Holidays. Wishing you time to read and time to rest. Our office will be closed from December 24 to January 4 inclusive.
December 23, 2025 at 5:36 PM
fiddlehd.bsky.social
This week, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer/translator Forrest Gander ask us to Stop! Look! Listen! to Erin Robinsong’s Wet Dream:

thefiddlehead.ca/content/stop...
The cover of Erin Robinsong's Wet Dream
December 16, 2025 at 2:33 PM
fiddlehd.bsky.social
Congratulations to our fifteen 2025 Fiction Contest finalists! Thank you to everyone who submitted! And lastly, thank you to our judge, Anuja Varghese!

The contest's winner will be announced in early January!

Visit our website to see who made the shortlist: thefiddlehead.ca/content/2025...
A purple graphic for The Fiddlehead’s 2025 Fiction Contest. From top to bottom the graphic says: Spin the tale only you can tell. Enter our 2025 Fiction Contest. Deadline September 2, 2025! Enter via Submittable. Judged by Anuja Varghese. $2000 Prize plus publication. For more info visit thefiddlehead.ca/contest/fiction or email fiddlehd@unb.ca. In the background is a picture of loop of purple rope and in the lower right corner is a picture of Anuja Varghese.
December 10, 2025 at 3:26 PM
fiddlehd.bsky.social
Stop!Look!Listen! to Issue 305 Contributor Michelle Spencer's Reading Recommendation

"There should be a word for books that show up in your life when you need them. Books which obliterate fears or seemingly by magic connect some of the disparate dots of a lifetime"

thefiddlehead.ca/content/stop...
The cover of Linguaphile: A Language of Love by Julie Sedivy
December 9, 2025 at 2:29 PM
fiddlehd.bsky.social
We're thrilled to share that two essays from The Fiddlehead’s Autumn 2024 issue were named among the Notable Essays & Literary Nonfiction of 2024 in The Best American Essays 2025!

A big congratulations to @ancaszilagyi.bsky.social &
@nancyhuggett.bsky.social
December 9, 2025 at 12:40 PM
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ancaszilagyi.bsky.social
I’m very happy my long essay “‘Apply a Little Sugar with a Feather” is a notable essay in Best American Essays 2025. Many thanks to @rowanmcc1.bsky.social and @fiddlehd.bsky.social for all that you do!

anca.substack.com/p/apply-a-li...

#booksky
Best American Essays 2025 and The Fiddlehead Autumn 2024 sit side by side on a gray sofa, against a pillow that is a soft yellow, blue, white, and pink. The two volumes open to show the title of my essay and its first line, "Let's talk about destruction, sugar, memory" and the index showing my name among other notable essays.
December 8, 2025 at 10:55 PM
fiddlehd.bsky.social
It's the very last day to submit to our 2025 Ralph Gustafson Prize for Best Poem!

Submit or post your submission by 11:59 pm Pacific Time for a chance to won $2000 and publication in The Fiddlehead!

thefiddlehead.ca/poetry-contest

#poetrycontest #poetry #callforsubmissions #canlit
The graphic for The Fiddlehead’s 2025 Poetry Contest. The graphic reads: Turn over a new stanza. Enter our 2025 Poetry Contest. Deadline: December 1 2025. Enter via submittable. $2000 Prize plus publication. Judged by Bertrand Bickersteth, T. Liem, and Douglas Walbourne-Gough. For more info visit thefiddlehead.ca/poetry-contest
December 1, 2025 at 3:58 PM
fiddlehd.bsky.social
The deadline for our special issue call Disability: The Revolution! is in two days! Don't miss your chance to submit!
fiddlehd.bsky.social The Fiddlehead @fiddlehd.bsky.social · Sep 25
Disability: The Revolution!

Special Issue Call for Submissions, Deadline November 30, 2025

If you identify as disabled and would like to answer this call, please submit! We would love to hear from you.

See the full call and instructions on how to submit here: thefiddlehead.ca/revolution
A purple graphic for The Fiddle’s special Summer 2026 disability issue. At the top of the graphic is The Fiddlehead’s logo. Below is a purple image with two transparent light purple circles overlapping like a Venn diagram. On top of this, in white, is the work Revolution. Below is the text: call for submissions from disabled writers. Deadline November 30, 2025. Thefiddlehead.ca/revolution
November 28, 2025 at 3:28 PM
fiddlehd.bsky.social
We're always happy to be on this list! The Fiddlehead is open to excellent writing from both emerging and established authors. Canadian writers, check out our general submissions when they open on January 1st!
November 28, 2025 at 1:45 PM
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phillipcrymble.bsky.social
Barry Dempster, RIP
The Silent Planet This is a world of hope unspoken. The heart's canals sink deep within the tunnels of a silver mine. Emotions etched in stone. Bodies always seem to tremble, stall. Waiting on a sudden spill, a waterfall of silver fire hollowing the fragile bones. A stoic planet, this silence of defeat. Expectations echo, dwindle down to muffled sounds of grief. Pebbles rolling off the edge of a cliff.
November 28, 2025 at 2:14 AM
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juliemannell.bsky.social
My poem “I Wanted to Touch Your Shadow” is in the latest issue of @fiddlehd.bsky.social
A photo of my poem “I Wanted to Touch Your Shadow”
November 27, 2025 at 6:51 PM
fiddlehd.bsky.social
Only TWO more weekends to submit to next summer's special disability issue!
fiddlehd.bsky.social The Fiddlehead @fiddlehd.bsky.social · Sep 25
Disability: The Revolution!

Special Issue Call for Submissions, Deadline November 30, 2025

If you identify as disabled and would like to answer this call, please submit! We would love to hear from you.

See the full call and instructions on how to submit here: thefiddlehead.ca/revolution
A purple graphic for The Fiddle’s special Summer 2026 disability issue. At the top of the graphic is The Fiddlehead’s logo. Below is a purple image with two transparent light purple circles overlapping like a Venn diagram. On top of this, in white, is the work Revolution. Below is the text: call for submissions from disabled writers. Deadline November 30, 2025. Thefiddlehead.ca/revolution
November 21, 2025 at 8:14 PM
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scl-elc.bsky.social
Help us celebrate our 50th Anniversary!
November 21, 2025 at 2:56 PM
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nancyhuggett.bsky.social
Working my way through the latest issue of @fiddlehd.bsky.social and taking my time because SO MANY GOOD WORDS! New-to-me poet Megan Barnet is living in my brain/heart right now. “..the clock / on the pallid wall continues to hack at time / with its arrhythmic arm, all of us lurching forward …”
November 18, 2025 at 7:02 PM
fiddlehd.bsky.social
There are less than two weeks until the deadline for our 2025 Ralph Gustafson Poetry Prize! Don't miss out on your chance to submit!
fiddlehd.bsky.social The Fiddlehead @fiddlehd.bsky.social · Sep 23
NOW OPEN: Ralph Gustafson Prize for Best Poem.

Submit your best poem for a chance to win $2,000 CAD and be published in The Fiddlehead! This year’s judges are Bertrand Bickersteth, T. Liem, and Douglas Walbourne-Gough.

More details here: thefiddlehead.ca/poetry-contest
November 18, 2025 at 2:54 PM
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writingranchette.bsky.social
Tnrilled to be included in issue no.305 @fiddlehd.bsky.social Many thanks to @saleema.bsky.social for all her kind and thoughtful edits. There are so many great contributions in this issue, including 2025 Creative Nonfiction Prize winner Shelley Pacholok.
November 16, 2025 at 7:30 PM
fiddlehd.bsky.social
New this week on the website: editorial assistant Sophia T. R. Godsoe interviews Kate Cayley, whose story "Certainty" was published in Issue 305 (Autumn 2025) on portraying complex relationships, writing narrators that a reader can both sit with and judge, and more.

thefiddlehead.ca/content/inte...
A photo of Kate Cayley
November 13, 2025 at 2:52 PM
fiddlehd.bsky.social
There is just one week until our Autumn Issue Launch! Don't forget to register by emailing thefiddlehead@gmail.com!
The graphic for The Fiddlehead's Virtual Launch party on Wednesday November 10 at 7 PM AST via Zoom. Featuring readings from Shelley Pacholok, winner of our 2025 Creative Nonfiction Contest plus autumn contributors A E Best and Will Richter. To register, email thefiddlehead@gmail.com
November 12, 2025 at 8:08 PM
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phillipcrymble.bsky.social
One of the three Forrest Gander translations featured in the autumn issue of The Fiddlehead.
Indelible Radiance Translation of Jeannette Lozano Clariond It is perfectly itself, the tree fixed in your eyes. Poplar and blood. An image beaming its silver undersides: indelible radiance seeping out through little holes in the tracery. Leaking across the lake, the image advances toward you. But what remains beyond reach is the Word.
November 8, 2025 at 12:00 AM
fiddlehd.bsky.social
There is less than one month to enter our 2025 Ralph Gustafson Prize for Best Poem!

Submit your best poem for a chance to win $2,000 CAD and be published in The Fiddlehead! This year’s judges are Bertrand Bickersteth, T. Liem, and Douglas Walbourne-Gough.

thefiddlehead.ca/poetry-contest
The graphic for The Fiddlehead’s 2025 Poetry Contest. The graphic reads: Turn over a new stanza. Enter our 2025 Poetry Contest. Deadline: December 1 2025. Enter via submittable. $2000 Prize plus publication. Judged by Bertrand Bickersteth, T. Liem, and Douglas Walbourne-Gough. For more info visit thefiddlehead.ca/poetry-contest
November 6, 2025 at 6:59 PM
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stfxenglish.bsky.social
$2000 prize for best poem from
@fiddlehd.bsky.social

Deadline 1 Dec
thefiddlehead.ca/poetry-contest
Poetry Contest | The Fiddlehead
Good luck to all entrants. This year's contest deadline is December 1, 2025 (postmarked for mailed entries and 11:59 pm Pacific Time for Submittable entries).
thefiddlehead.ca
November 5, 2025 at 8:10 PM
fiddlehd.bsky.social
Out now on our website, Fiddlehead Editorial Assistant Caitlyn Sinclair's interview with Shelley Pacholok explores how form and tone engage with content in Pacholok's 2025 Creative Nonfiction Contest winning story "How Not to Say Good-Bye to Your Professor."

thefiddlehead.ca/content/inte...
A photo of Shelley Pacholok The cover of Issue 305
November 4, 2025 at 3:08 PM
fiddlehd.bsky.social
Celebrate The Fiddlehead’s newest issue with a virtual launch!

Join us on Zoom for an evening of readings with Shelley Pacholok, winner of the 2025 Creative Nonfiction contest, and issue 305 contributors, A-E Best and Will Richter!

Nov. 19, 7pm AST

Email thefiddlehead@gmail.com for the Zoom link!
October 31, 2025 at 6:57 PM
fiddlehd.bsky.social
🎃 Happy Halloween! 🎃
phillipcrymble.bsky.social phillip crymble @phillipcrymble.bsky.social · Oct 31
For Halloween this year, a sinister elm poem by Alfred G. Bailey. One of Canada's leading modernist poets, Bailey was not only a key figure in the New Brunswick literary scene, he also founded The Fiddlehead. 🎃🌳
Elm Look well upon the elm whose wittol root roams like a hungry rat the eternal damp and sorrowful ground, its gimlet face a clamp upon a purpose as it tools for loot. The faceless mold transmutes a slavering brute to hang in all the wordless aisles of air as green hosannas, tuned to trumpet fare of sun-bedizened light, from claw to flute. What wry design impels the furtive dark to lift up day to wear its gothic pride? Tree-eyed, the inchoate energies embark upon a glory they themselves have died to fashion, heedless of the slurring sound of the blind and pointed faces underground.
October 31, 2025 at 4:11 PM
fiddlehd.bsky.social
For our Summer 2026 issue, Disability: The Revolution! The Fiddlehead has brought on a team of amazing editors! Our final genre editor almost needs no introduction. The well-loved Phillip Crymble, one of The Fiddlehead's very own poetry editors, is joining the team as poetry editor! (1/4)
A photo of Phillip Crymble
October 31, 2025 at 12:36 PM