Pithead Chapel
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Pithead Chapel
@pitheadchapel.bsky.social
3K followers 18 following 75 posts
Pithead Chapel (ISSN 2324-6243) is a monthly online literary journal and small press. We publish gutsy fiction, nonfiction, and prose poetry. Founded 2012.
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pitheadchapel.bsky.social
Time flies! Less than one week remains to send us your best short story. Details here: pitheadchapel.com/larrybrown
October 27, 2025 at 2:59 PM
pitheadchapel.bsky.social
Less than two weeks remain to submit your best unpublished short story to our contest!

There are two fee-based submission options that support prizes and costs of running Pithead Chapel (and our general submissions are *always* free!).

pitheadchapel.com/larrybrown
October 18, 2025 at 2:09 PM
pitheadchapel.bsky.social
Four weeks remain to submit to our annual short story contest! Read more: pitheadchapel.com/larrybrown
October 10, 2025 at 6:51 PM
pitheadchapel.bsky.social
There's still plenty of time to submit to our annual short story contest!

If you're curious, submission fees support winning prizes, guest judge honorarium, and the cost of running the journal (and as always, general submissions are open and free).

See all details at pitheadchapel.com/larrybrown
October 3, 2025 at 5:50 PM
pitheadchapel.bsky.social
Six weeks remain to send us your best short story! Read all details here: pitheadchapel.com/larrybrown/
September 26, 2025 at 9:05 PM
pitheadchapel.bsky.social
Please join us in congratulating our Best of the Net 2026 Nominees! Good luck everyone!
September 18, 2025 at 1:30 PM
pitheadchapel.bsky.social
If you're proficient in social media and possess a love for literary writing, get involved by volunteering for Pithead Chapel!

Find application details at pitheadchapel.com/social-media-editor
September 15, 2025 at 2:44 PM
pitheadchapel.bsky.social
Our annual short story contest is open NOW through October 31st. Send us your best!

Find all guidelines here: pitheadchapel.com/larrybrown
August 6, 2025 at 1:16 PM
pitheadchapel.bsky.social
4. When does a piece feel finished? On some level, nothing I write ever feels truly finished, but I will say that once a piece is published in book form, whether it’s a short story in a collection or a novel, I tend to make peace with the fact that it’s done, for better or worse, that it’s out in the world now and no longer completely mine. By that point, the piece has been through enough rounds of edits and copyedits that I’m usually ready to let it go and move on. 5. What kind of stories are you hoping to read for the LBSSA? I genuinely love all sorts of stories, but I’m especially drawn toward stories that explore the human condition in ways that are unexpected, complex, and emotionally resonant. As I mentioned above, I love to be surprised by fresh situations and scenarios, by dynamics that I haven’t seen explored in quite that same way before, by the strange and fascinating things that people say and do. ANDREW PORTER is the author of four books, including the story collections The Disappeared (Knopf) and The Theory of Light and Matter (Vintage) and the novels In Between Days (Knopf) and The Imagined Life (Knopf). A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, he has received a Pushcart Prize, a James Michener/Copernicus Fellowship, and the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction. His work has appeared in One Story, Ploughshares, American Short Fiction, Narrative, The Southern Review, The Missouri Review, and on Public Radio’s Selected Shorts. Currently, he teaches fiction writing and directs the creative writing program at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. The 2025 Larry Brown Short Story Award will be open August 1st to October 31st. Read full guidelines at pitheadchapel.com/larrybrown
July 28, 2025 at 2:04 PM
pitheadchapel.bsky.social
Our submission window for our annual short story contest opens this Friday! This year, we welcome @andrewporter01.bsky.social as our guest judge. We're excited to share our Q&A with him on craft, writing, and more!
1. What inspires your craft? So many things! Film, music, visual art. Certainly the work of many writers. I try to draw inspiration from as many places as possible, and I try to be open to inspiration at all times. In terms of more specifics, though, I think I’ve always been drawn toward art—whether it’s film, music, writing, etc.—that places human emotion as its focus. When I think of work that inspires me, it’s usually work that explores certain emotional terrain that I haven’t seen explored before or a particular dynamic between people that I haven’t seen portrayed in quite that same manner. 2. Who are some of your favorite writers? Marilynne Robinson, Elena Ferrante, Rachel Cusk, Stuart Dybek, Kirsten Valdez Quade, James Baldwin, Alexander Chee, Emma Cline, Manuel Muñoz, Sarah Majka, Laura van den Berg, Chang-rae Lee, Joan Didion, Denis Johnson, Danielle Evans, Karl Ove Knausgård, Zadie Smith—I could keep going, but I’ll stop there! 3. Is there anything you have read or written lately that has surprised you? I read a very suspenseful and emotionally intense story by Amber Caron called “Didi” that genuinely surprised me. It was included in last year’s O. Henry Prize Winners anthology, and it’s kind of a hard story to describe without giving too much away, but I’ll just say it had me on the edge of my seat the entire time and genuinely worried for all the characters. When I finished it, I remember sitting for a while and just thinking about it in the way I always do when I’ve just read a really great short story.
July 28, 2025 at 2:04 PM
pitheadchapel.bsky.social
Our annual contest opens for submissions August 1st! This year's guest judge is Andrew Porter. Keep an eye out for our Q&A with Andrew soon.

Find more details about our contest here: pitheadchapel.com/larrybrown/
July 22, 2025 at 6:56 PM
pitheadchapel.bsky.social
Our July issue is live! Read here: pitheadchapel.com/volume-14-issue-7/

Words
@mczyzniejewski.bsky.social
@kimchinquee.bsky.social
RENESHA DHANRAJ
WYLEY FROHLICH JUNGERMAN
TROY ANDERSON
@danbillyc.bsky.social
@theresegleason
@claudiamonpere.bsky.social
BRITTANY REDD
TARA SHEA BURKE

Art
JACELYN YAP
July 1, 2025 at 11:43 AM
pitheadchapel.bsky.social
Congratulations to Gwen Kirby, Felicity Landa, Daniel Miller, Claudia Wair, and Addison Zeller for making the Wigleaf Top 50 Longlist!
June 29, 2025 at 1:10 AM
pitheadchapel.bsky.social
Happy release day to our EIC @kimmagowan.bsky.social and Michelle Ross! DON'T TAKE THIS THE WRONG WAY is available now! eastoverpress.com/book/dont-ta...
March 11, 2025 at 2:15 PM
pitheadchapel.bsky.social
Our February issue is live! Read here: pitheadchapel.com/2025/02/01/volume-14-issue-2/

Words by
@davidyourdon.bsky.social
@emilyrinkema.bsky.social
L. Soviero
Sarah Perrin
Sarah Carson
Shome Dasgupta
Kristina Garvin
Mark DeCarteret
Barbara Westwood Diehl
Nora Nadjarian

Cover art by Nuala McEvoy
February 1, 2025 at 1:06 PM
pitheadchapel.bsky.social
We are excited to announce the winners and honorable mentions of the 2024 Larry Brown Short Story Award! Please join us in congratulating these incredible writers: @reemarp.bsky.social @mbvalente.bsky.social

You can read their stories in the forthcoming January issue!
December 14, 2024 at 6:17 PM
pitheadchapel.bsky.social
Congratulations to our 2024 Pushcart nominees:

Carrie Grinstead
Meg Toth
Carmen Leñero
Tyler Gebauer
Naana Eyikuma Hutchful
Leslie Harrison
Ace Chu

Good luck everyone!
November 28, 2024 at 1:46 PM
pitheadchapel.bsky.social
Join us in congratulating our Best Small Fictions nominees! Good luck everyone.
@gwenekirby.bsky.social
@glennorgias.bsky.social
November 19, 2024 at 5:50 PM
pitheadchapel.bsky.social
Our November issue is live!

Read here: pitheadchapel.com/volume-13-issue-11/

Words:
JUNE GLASS
@graythebruce.bsky.social
CHRISTY STILLWELL
CURTIS SMITH
REBECCA TIGER
LESLIE HARRISON
FRANCINE WITTE

Cover art:
DONNA VORREYER
November 1, 2024 at 12:11 PM
pitheadchapel.bsky.social
We’re pleased to share our nominations for Best of the Net! Many thanks to our writers and artists for sharing their incredible work. Please join us in congratulating them and wishing the best of luck!
September 17, 2024 at 6:19 PM
pitheadchapel.bsky.social
Send us your best! Details here: pitheadchapel.com/larrybrown
August 23, 2024 at 10:53 PM
pitheadchapel.bsky.social
In case you missed it, our March issue is here!

[FICTION]
Addison Zeller
Olivia Payne
Vincent James Perrone
Claudia Wair @CWTellsTales.bsky.social

[NONFICTION]
Mollie McLean

[PROSE POETRY]
Joshua Zeitler
Ben Kline

[COVER]
Travis D. Roberson
March 8, 2024 at 12:43 PM
pitheadchapel.bsky.social
Our February issue is live!

[FICTION]
Meera Rohit Kumbhani
Gwen E. Kirby
Max Kruger-Dull
Felicity Landa

[NONFICTION]
Olga Katsovskiy
Deb Werrlein @debwerrlein.bsky.social
Lisa Thornton @thorntonforreal.bsky.social
Philip James Shaw

[PROSE POETRY]
N. Cuzzi

[COVER]
Anthony Carrasco
February 1, 2024 at 3:10 PM
pitheadchapel.bsky.social
Our December issue is live! Cozy up with the latest fiction, nonfiction, prose poetry, and art: pitheadchapel.com/volume-12-is...
December 1, 2023 at 8:31 PM
pitheadchapel.bsky.social
We are so excited to celebrate our 2023-24 Pushcart Prize nominees! Please join us in congratulating these authors. 🤩
November 28, 2023 at 8:28 PM