Subnivean’s editorial mission is to curate and produce bone-deep, high-caliber literary art that speaks urgently to an evermore-connected international audience. 

We publish three to four issues per year: Fall, Winter, Spring, and sometimes Summer. 

OPENING DECEMBER 1: Subnivean New Writers Award, a special opportunity for Central New York high school students. Young writers, prepare your submissions and get ready to show up and show out!


$7.00

The Subnivean Awards offer writers the chance to have their work blurbed by one of our final judges and published in the May issue. Finalists and winners will be invited to read at a hallmark virtual event that will be promoted to thousands at SUNY and beyond. Winners will also receive $150 each.  

Final Judge in Fiction: SOMA MEI SHENG FRAZIER

Entry fee: $7  

Deadline: February 21 

"I like sugar in everything but short stories."

Soma Mei Sheng Frazier


 

"Frazier captures the relatable toggle between the private and the collective, between sinking into the anxieties of your life and grieving for the cruelties of the world." The New York Times


 

Five finalists' work will be

  • forwarded on to the final judges in poetry and fiction
  • published in the May issue
  • featured in the Subnivean Awards, a virtual event

Two winners (one in poetry, one in fiction) will receive the above as well as

  • a blurb by the appropriate final judge
  • a $150 prize

To read judges' blurbs about previous winners' work, click here.

Distilled. Precise. Goosebump-raising and downright amazing. Albert Abonado is looking for poems that shoot from the hip, heart and head. To date, Subnivean has received manuscripts from writers in 60+ countries and every U.S. state, as well as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands: whoever you are, wherever you are, we are always grateful for the opportunity to read your work. 

The stories that we are looking for need not fit into a particular mold; rather, we're seeking work that breaks the mold, grinds it into a fine powder, pours it in a pot of water and brings it to a boil, schleps it up a steep mountainside, drizzles it across the snow and lets it cool, there, into the desired shape.

  • Simultaneous submissions are welcome, provided that you notify us if another publication beats us to accepting your skilled work.
  • For the Subnivean Awards in fiction, please submit an original, unpublished story up to 6,000 words. We do consider English translations, so long as the work has not been published in English before. Subnivean reserves first North American publishing rights; upon publication, rights revert immediately to the author while Subnivean requests only that the story live on our website, for an international audience to enjoy, in perpetuity.
  • Competition entries are read blind: please do not add identifying information to your manuscript.
  • Due to potential conflicts of interest, Subnivean does not accept general submissions from current SUNY Oswego students.
  • Technical obstacles? We'll try our best to help you get around them. Please contact us at SubniveanMag@gmail.com.

We look forward to reading your submission, and notifying finalists by March 15, 2025; winners in May.

NOTE: Because Subnivean will never charge readers to access the full contents of our issues, we collect a literary competition fee. All revenue raised from the competition supports the publication's annual budget. In short, when you enter this contest, you are supporting not only literature at large, but the hardworking SUNY undergraduate staff that is nose-to-grindstone right now, bringing you high-caliber content amid the internet's clamoring chaos. 

$7.00

The Subnivean Awards offer writers the chance to have their work blurbed by one of our final judges and published in the May issue. Finalists and winners will be invited to read at a hallmark virtual event that will be promoted to thousands at SUNY and beyond. Winners will also receive $150 each.  

Final Judge in Poetry, 2024-25: ALBERT ABONADO   

Entry fee: $7    

Deadline: February 21

-

“There’s always something more to say.”

 — ALBERT ABONADO, award-winning author of 2024 National Poetry Series selection A Field Guide for Accidents and recipient of NEA and New York Foundation fellowships.
 

Five finalists' work will be

  • forwarded on to the final judges in poetry and fiction
  • published in the May issue
  • featured in the Subnivean Awards, a virtual event

Two winners (one in poetry, one in fiction) will receive the above as well as

  • a blurb by the appropriate final judge
  • a $150 prize

To read judges' blurbs about previous winners' work, click here.    

Distilled. Precise. Goosebump-raising and downright amazing. Albert Abonado is looking for poems that shoot from the hip, heart and head. To date, Subnivean has received manuscripts from writers in 60+ countries and every U.S. state, as well as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands: whoever you are, wherever you are, we are always grateful for the opportunity to read your work. 

The poems that we are looking for need not fit into a particular mold; rather, we're seeking work that breaks the mold, grinds it into a fine powder, pours it in a pot of water and brings it to a boil, schleps it up a steep mountainside, drizzles it across the snow and lets it cool, there, into the desired shape.

  • Simultaneous submissions are welcome, provided that you notify us if another publication beats us to accepting your skilled work.
  • For the Subnivean Awards in poetry, please submit up to six original, unpublished poems, in a single document. We do consider English translations, so long as the work has not been published in English before. Subnivean reserves first North American publishing rights; upon publication, rights revert immediately to the author while Subnivean requests only that the poems live on our website, for an international audience to enjoy, in perpetuity.
  • Competition entries are read blind: please do not add identifying information to your manuscript.
  • Due to potential conflicts of interest, Subnivean does not accept submissions from current SUNY Oswego students.
  • Technical obstacles? We'll try our best to help you get around them. Please contact us at SubniveanMag@gmail.com.

We look forward to reading your submission, and notifying finalists by March 15, 2025; winners in May.     

NOTE: Because Subnivean will never charge readers to access the full contents of our issues, we collect a literary competition fee. All revenue raised from the competition supports the publication's annual budget. In short, when you enter this contest, you are supporting not only literature at large, but the hardworking SUNY undergraduate staff that is nose-to-grindstone right now, bringing you high-caliber content amid the internet's clamoring chaos.  

Our deepest gratitude.

Subnivean is always grateful for the opportunity to read your work. 


We are a small undergraduate staff, so it can take 2-4 months for us to read carefully through every submission. Simultaneous submissions are welcome, provided that you notify us if another publication beats us to accepting your skilled work.


Please submit an unpublished story or standalone excerpt of 6,000 words or less, in a single document. We do consider English translations, so long as the work has not been published in English before. Due to potential conflicts of interest, Subnivean does not accept general submissions from current SUNY Oswego students.


Subnivean reserves first North American publishing rights; upon publication, rights revert immediately to the author. Due to the impact of COVID-19-related budget cuts upon the SUNY system and our department, we are unable to pay contributors—but we hope you'll still send your work our way now, though we pay only in undying affection and by shouting our contributors' good names from the mountaintops.


We look forward to reading your fiction.

Technical obstacles? We'll try our best to help you get around them. Please contact us at SubniveanMag@gmail.com.

Subnivean is always grateful for the opportunity to read your work.


We are a small undergraduate staff, so it can take 2-4 months for us to read carefully through every submission. Simultaneous submissions are welcome, provided that you notify us if another publication beats us to accepting your skilled work.


Please submit up to six original, unpublished poems, in a single document. We do consider English translations, so long as the work has not been published in English before.


Simultaneous submissions are welcome, provided that you notify us if another publication beats us to accepting your skilled work.


Subnivean reserves first North American publishing rights; upon publication, rights revert immediately to the author. Due to the impact of COVID-19-related budget cuts upon the SUNY system and our department, we are unable to pay contributors—but we hope you'll still send your work our way now, though we pay only in undying affection and by shouting our contributors' good names from the mountaintops. 


Due to potential conflicts of interest, Subnivean does not accept general submissions from current SUNY Oswego students.


We look forward to reading your poems.

Technical obstacles? We'll try our best to help you get around them. Please contact us at SubniveanMag@gmail.com.

Subnivean