Casual conversations often give me ideas for listicles that might be helpful to creative writers who are trying to get their work published.* Along came the topic of dying, and I realized that I didn’t know of many publications specializing in literary works and straightforward personal essays about the end of life.
In poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction, deaths are plentiful. Meditations on the end of life are published in all variety of media. Crime fiction, which often revolves around death, has its own imprints. Narrowing down to publications devoted significantly or entirely to the subject of dying, however, was an interesting challenge. The following publications that include creative writing seem to meet the criterion.
I’ll continue to update this list whenever I can. Please leave a comment if you know of a relevant niche publication I haven’t mentioned—or even if you want to link to a favorite book, poem, or short story on the subject of death. Of course, death is a common topic in literature and many wide-ranging publications occasionally include creative writing focused on the end of life. There’s no need to limit submissions to only these listings.
AgeBlog (open to members of the American Society on Aging)
Death Poetic poetry anthology from FunDead Publications
The Gerald T. Perkoff Prize in Poetry given by the editors of the Missouri Review
*Any writer who is ready to start submitting work to literary journals will find Ayelet Tsabari’s free guidebook immensely helpful.
Robin Mizell: Treated & Released 