Leslie Pietrzyk
@lesliepwriter.bsky.social
Writer of novels & short stories: ADMIT THIS TO NO ONE (2021), SILVER GIRL (2018), THIS ANGEL ON MY CHEST (2015), etc. Fan of classic cocktails, Carolina BBQ & almost every pie. She/her
So proud of the reading & editing teams and their work to get this amazing issue put together! (Okay, also a bit proud of myself, too!! 😊)
Pleased to announce the Editor's Choice Award winner & Finalists! We're so proud of our deluge | drought issue...won't you take a peek?
(Also: Subs will open in January. Unthemed issue: surprise us!)
south85journal.com/fall-winter-...
(Also: Subs will open in January. Unthemed issue: surprise us!)
south85journal.com/fall-winter-...
November 14, 2025 at 8:27 PM
So proud of the reading & editing teams and their work to get this amazing issue put together! (Okay, also a bit proud of myself, too!! 😊)
ALL RIGHT 4-ever!
I'm trying to be all right with *alright,* but I'm really not.
November 12, 2025 at 6:43 PM
ALL RIGHT 4-ever!
Read these (and other) fine writers at www.south85journal.com
November 11, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Read these (and other) fine writers at www.south85journal.com
Okay, we'd all rather be in front of the book, but seeing my story listed in the Special Mention section of the newest edition of The Pushcart Prize is still a thrill! I'll link to the story in the comments if you missed it back when it was first published.
November 4, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Okay, we'd all rather be in front of the book, but seeing my story listed in the Special Mention section of the newest edition of The Pushcart Prize is still a thrill! I'll link to the story in the comments if you missed it back when it was first published.
Reposted by Leslie Pietrzyk
Excited to announce our Long List for the Editor's Choice Award! Winner announced in November. In the mean time, enjoy these pieces (and ALL the excellent writing!) in our deluge | drought issue!!
south85journal.com/fall-winter-...
south85journal.com/fall-winter-...
October 20, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Excited to announce our Long List for the Editor's Choice Award! Winner announced in November. In the mean time, enjoy these pieces (and ALL the excellent writing!) in our deluge | drought issue!!
south85journal.com/fall-winter-...
south85journal.com/fall-winter-...
Look at these writers!!!
Very proud of this new issue and hope you'll take a minute to read some (all??) of our featured work.
www.south85journal.com/fall-winter-...
Very proud of this new issue and hope you'll take a minute to read some (all??) of our featured work.
www.south85journal.com/fall-winter-...
Pleased as punch to present the new issue: deluge | drought
Great writing & photos...put together by the hard-working team at Converse low-res MFA!
Please take a peek. (I mean, look at this line-up!!)
www.south85journal.com/fall-winter-...
Great writing & photos...put together by the hard-working team at Converse low-res MFA!
Please take a peek. (I mean, look at this line-up!!)
www.south85journal.com/fall-winter-...
October 14, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Look at these writers!!!
Very proud of this new issue and hope you'll take a minute to read some (all??) of our featured work.
www.south85journal.com/fall-winter-...
Very proud of this new issue and hope you'll take a minute to read some (all??) of our featured work.
www.south85journal.com/fall-winter-...
Two rejections within 15 minutes, including one "very close/final round" from a fancy place. 0/10, do not recommend for a Monday or any other morning of the week.
October 6, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Two rejections within 15 minutes, including one "very close/final round" from a fancy place. 0/10, do not recommend for a Monday or any other morning of the week.
Gotta share my latest spam-bot assessment of my literary career:
You built a cathedral… and it’s echoing in an empty desert. 🌵
You built a cathedral… and it’s echoing in an empty desert. 🌵
September 24, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Gotta share my latest spam-bot assessment of my literary career:
You built a cathedral… and it’s echoing in an empty desert. 🌵
You built a cathedral… and it’s echoing in an empty desert. 🌵
Reposted by Leslie Pietrzyk
Thanks to @lesliepwriter.bsky.social for letting me share some thoughts on my new collection. #poetry #ecopoetry #BookSky www.workinprogressinprogress.com/2025/09/tbr-...
TBR: The Place That Is Coming to Us by J.D. Smith
www.workinprogressinprogress.com
September 22, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Thanks to @lesliepwriter.bsky.social for letting me share some thoughts on my new collection. #poetry #ecopoetry #BookSky www.workinprogressinprogress.com/2025/09/tbr-...
Happy to help promote the good work we're doing over at the Converse low-res MFA journal, @south85journal.bsky.social! Thanks for the interview, Becky Tuch & Lit Mag News!
Check out this interview with editor Leslie Pietrzyk, who shares observations about South 85's reading process, our team of readers & offers thoughts on how to get your manuscript noticed. Plus why art matters & thoughts about handling fallow writing times!
litmagnews.substack.com/p/the-world-...
litmagnews.substack.com/p/the-world-...
"The World Needs Art." A Chat with Leslie Pietrzyk, Editor of South 85 Journal
"A tiny moment that feels like something huge..."
litmagnews.substack.com
September 11, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Happy to help promote the good work we're doing over at the Converse low-res MFA journal, @south85journal.bsky.social! Thanks for the interview, Becky Tuch & Lit Mag News!
Reposted by Leslie Pietrzyk
A reminder! @hubcitypress.bsky.social is looking for one nonfiction title for (probably fall) 2027. By a southerner and/or related to the South. I had lots of interesting responses to the call below, but mostly unfinished manuscripts. Agents or unagented writers welcome. My DMs are open for q's!
Wowwee @hubcitypress.bsky.social is OPEN this weekend for single-narrative nonfiction! This is my time, my favorite stuff! Can be personal, reportage, memoir, cultural criticism, history, or a blend of the above. Ends at midnight on Sunday. Drop any questions below.
hubcity.submittable.com/submit
hubcity.submittable.com/submit
Hub City Press & Writers Project Submission Manager
Hub City Press, the publishing arm of the Hub City Writers Project, publishes books of literary fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, regional nonfiction, nature, and art. We are seeking new and extra...
hubcity.submittable.com
September 4, 2025 at 7:00 PM
A reminder! @hubcitypress.bsky.social is looking for one nonfiction title for (probably fall) 2027. By a southerner and/or related to the South. I had lots of interesting responses to the call below, but mostly unfinished manuscripts. Agents or unagented writers welcome. My DMs are open for q's!
"You have to have confidence amounting to arrogance, because particularly at the beginning, you're making something that nobody has asked you to make." Elaine de Kooning, qtd in NINTH STREET WOMEN by Mary Gabriel #SundaySentence
August 31, 2025 at 7:46 PM
"You have to have confidence amounting to arrogance, because particularly at the beginning, you're making something that nobody has asked you to make." Elaine de Kooning, qtd in NINTH STREET WOMEN by Mary Gabriel #SundaySentence
PAINFUL.
Not a surprise that they canceled creative fellowships, but the NEA’s new priorities are…odd?
August 22, 2025 at 3:59 PM
PAINFUL.
YAY!
Big news for authors with out-of-print prose books looking for a new home:
We're opening up submissions to our Lost/Found imprint on 9/3! We were so happy to rehome Brooke Shaffner's COUNTRY OF UNDER last year + now we're ready to rehome more.
Full details forthcoming, but the pertinent ones are:
We're opening up submissions to our Lost/Found imprint on 9/3! We were so happy to rehome Brooke Shaffner's COUNTRY OF UNDER last year + now we're ready to rehome more.
Full details forthcoming, but the pertinent ones are:
August 20, 2025 at 4:11 PM
YAY!
Reynolda Garden in Winston-Salem, NC. Whatever the season, there's something gorgeous to see.
August 18, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Reynolda Garden in Winston-Salem, NC. Whatever the season, there's something gorgeous to see.
Starting to write a novel is "like trying to keep everyone alive, forever. Even the ones who must die in the end. They're the most important to keep alive." -THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP, John Irving
#SundaySentence
#SundaySentence
August 17, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Starting to write a novel is "like trying to keep everyone alive, forever. Even the ones who must die in the end. They're the most important to keep alive." -THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP, John Irving
#SundaySentence
#SundaySentence
August 15, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Reposted by Leslie Pietrzyk
YOU HAVE UNTIL FRIDAY!!!!!!!
Don't be shy! Give us a try!
We're looking for poetry/fiction/flash/CNF on the open-ended theme of drought | deluge. 8/15 deadline!
www.south85journal.com/submissions/
We're looking for poetry/fiction/flash/CNF on the open-ended theme of drought | deluge. 8/15 deadline!
www.south85journal.com/submissions/
August 12, 2025 at 4:40 PM
YOU HAVE UNTIL FRIDAY!!!!!!!
Reposted by Leslie Pietrzyk
Our summer issue is now online! Featuring 3rd-prize winner of our short story contest Annie Zaidi; poetry by Grace Schulman, Ted Kooser & Rachel Hadas; reviews on James Baldwin biographies & Sylvia Plath's prose; our new dance reviewer Marina Harss's essay on Baryshnikov, & more! hudsonreview.com
August 12, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Our summer issue is now online! Featuring 3rd-prize winner of our short story contest Annie Zaidi; poetry by Grace Schulman, Ted Kooser & Rachel Hadas; reviews on James Baldwin biographies & Sylvia Plath's prose; our new dance reviewer Marina Harss's essay on Baryshnikov, & more! hudsonreview.com
Gonna agree!!
This issue of @pitheadchapel.bsky.social that @kimmagowan.bsky.social, @karenkay.bsky.social, @brttnyblm.bsky.social, etc., have put out is really great! Work by @marybid.bsky.social, @lesliepwriter.bsky.social, and a lot of other talented writers.
pitheadchapel.com/2025/08/01/v...
pitheadchapel.com/2025/08/01/v...
Volume 14, Issue 8
COVER ART BY ERNEST WILLIAMSON III FICTION TEN MILES OF A RIVER BY THOMAS MIXON HAVE YOU SEEN ME? BY FRANCES ORROK DEADBOLT BY ROSS FEELER LUCKY ENOUGH BY LESLIE PIETRZYK NONFI…
pitheadchapel.com
August 8, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Gonna agree!!
from "Berryman" by W.S. Merwin
I asked how can you ever be sure
that what you write is really
any good at all and he said you can't
you can't you can never be sure
you die without knowing
whether anything you wrote was any good
if you have to be sure don't write
I asked how can you ever be sure
that what you write is really
any good at all and he said you can't
you can't you can never be sure
you die without knowing
whether anything you wrote was any good
if you have to be sure don't write
August 5, 2025 at 3:59 PM
from "Berryman" by W.S. Merwin
I asked how can you ever be sure
that what you write is really
any good at all and he said you can't
you can't you can never be sure
you die without knowing
whether anything you wrote was any good
if you have to be sure don't write
I asked how can you ever be sure
that what you write is really
any good at all and he said you can't
you can't you can never be sure
you die without knowing
whether anything you wrote was any good
if you have to be sure don't write
Hope you'll read my (<300 word) story!
Also hope you'll take a moment to appreciate journals & editors who do the extra work to make sure the pieces they publish are presented beautifully & to support the writers they publish w/ social media posts.
TY Ghost Parachute & @brettpribble.bsky.social!
Also hope you'll take a moment to appreciate journals & editors who do the extra work to make sure the pieces they publish are presented beautifully & to support the writers they publish w/ social media posts.
TY Ghost Parachute & @brettpribble.bsky.social!
Read "That Earliest Memory: 1972" written by @lesliepwriter.bsky.social and illustrated by Brett J Barr.
"If my name were a color instead of this dull word, it would be red, the red of my mother’s favorite lipstick, tucked into the flashy gold tube bought special..."
tinyurl.com/ysh6sn3p
"If my name were a color instead of this dull word, it would be red, the red of my mother’s favorite lipstick, tucked into the flashy gold tube bought special..."
tinyurl.com/ysh6sn3p
That Earliest Memory: 1972 — Ghost Parachute
If my name were a color instead of this dull word, it would be red, the red of my mother’s favorite lipstick, tucked into the flashy gold tube bought special at Mott’s Drugstore downtown; a remote and...
tinyurl.com
August 3, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Hope you'll read my (<300 word) story!
Also hope you'll take a moment to appreciate journals & editors who do the extra work to make sure the pieces they publish are presented beautifully & to support the writers they publish w/ social media posts.
TY Ghost Parachute & @brettpribble.bsky.social!
Also hope you'll take a moment to appreciate journals & editors who do the extra work to make sure the pieces they publish are presented beautifully & to support the writers they publish w/ social media posts.
TY Ghost Parachute & @brettpribble.bsky.social!
Reposted by Leslie Pietrzyk
🚨~TWO WEEKS LEFT~🚨
Make the kitty happy & send us your work for our
deluge | drought issue...$100 to best piece...dedicated readers...all work comes from the queue
Deadline: 8/15
south85journal.com/submissions/
Make the kitty happy & send us your work for our
deluge | drought issue...$100 to best piece...dedicated readers...all work comes from the queue
Deadline: 8/15
south85journal.com/submissions/
August 2, 2025 at 4:59 PM
🚨~TWO WEEKS LEFT~🚨
Make the kitty happy & send us your work for our
deluge | drought issue...$100 to best piece...dedicated readers...all work comes from the queue
Deadline: 8/15
south85journal.com/submissions/
Make the kitty happy & send us your work for our
deluge | drought issue...$100 to best piece...dedicated readers...all work comes from the queue
Deadline: 8/15
south85journal.com/submissions/
VERY PLEASED to have a short story up in @pitheadchapel.bsky.social's newest issue!
pitheadchapel.com/lucky-enough/
pitheadchapel.com/lucky-enough/
Lucky Enough
Leslie Pietrzyk They pick at the dinners I pull together, so how can I mind these girls filling up on Pop-Tarts when they get home from school? Someday, possibly, they’ll regret the quantity…
pitheadchapel.com
August 1, 2025 at 5:02 PM
VERY PLEASED to have a short story up in @pitheadchapel.bsky.social's newest issue!
pitheadchapel.com/lucky-enough/
pitheadchapel.com/lucky-enough/
VERY PLEASED to have a super-short piece up in Ghost Parachute's newest issue!
(Isn't this artwork fabulous?!)
(Isn't this artwork fabulous?!)
"This red, this scent of a bucket of Valentine’s Day carnations in the refrigerated case at Eicher’s Florist"
Wonderful use of synaesthesia and imagery from @lesliepwriter.bsky.social; such a punch from the ending to this one:
ghostparachute.com/issue/august...
Wonderful use of synaesthesia and imagery from @lesliepwriter.bsky.social; such a punch from the ending to this one:
ghostparachute.com/issue/august...
That Earliest Memory: 1972 — Ghost Parachute
If my name were a color instead of this dull word, it would be red, the red of my mother’s favorite lipstick, tucked into the flashy gold tube bought special at Mott’s Drugstore downtown; a remote and...
ghostparachute.com
August 1, 2025 at 4:50 PM
VERY PLEASED to have a super-short piece up in Ghost Parachute's newest issue!
(Isn't this artwork fabulous?!)
(Isn't this artwork fabulous?!)