And HUGE shout out to everyone who found the courage to submit to Bond; and to everyone fighting for better conditions in jails and prisons, for a more humane prison system.

We’d also like to thank our funders of this project (The Awesome Foundation). We wouldn’t have our first mailing address or the capacity to do this work without you 🥹!

❓Did you know that if you are a currently incarcerated individual or an organization working with currently and previously incarcerated people that you can mail in your work to us?

Email us at submissions@luckyjefferson.com for more details and our address.

We’re so honored that students words’ can find a home at #LittleJefferson.

Head here, filter for 826NYC, and enjoy selected works and the publication: luckyjefferson.com/little-jeffe...

“Fantasy writing is not just fiction, it’s fiction of an entirely different universe. You don’t have to be a human being, you can be a martian or a cyclops. From kingdoms to castles, you find a lot of detailed worlds.” - Jenna Barkan, age 10,
Foreword Writer

Celebrate each of the issue’s six writers with us:

Madari Pendas
Ciara Alfaro
Marie Anne
Cecilia Rodríguez Milanés
Catalina Garza Onofre
Vic Xochitl Chavez

Enjoy the issue now by heading to luckyjefferson.com/estallido

“Estallido aims to show that there is another option. There is more than helplessness.

Estallido tiene como objetivo mostrar que existe otra opción. Hay algo más allá del la amargura.”

— Keila Gallardo Cubas(@keilagc_), Editor

Artwork designed by the ever fabulous Dana Ross! danarossportfolio.com/

🍉 We're proud to be working with this year's judge Ahmad Almallah.

Almallah grew up in Palestine and currently lives in Philadelphia. His newest poetry collection, Wrong Winds, is out with Fonograf Editions (2025). He’s an artist in residence at @upenn.edu

luckyjefferson.com/poetry-prose...

We'll also be selecting up to 20 finalists who will ALL be published in our 365 Collection.

Did we mention it’s free to enter.

Submit any original and unpublished poem or prose piece you want.

luckyjefferson.com/poetry-prose...