Yemassee Journal founded in 1993, is the graduate student-run literary journal of the University of South Carolina’s MFA creative writing program. We're seeking exceptional and surprising writing from a range of national and international voices.
We publish fiction, poetry and nonfiction, and we're open for submissions year round. Check out our submittable page. We run an annual contest in poetry and fiction, which opens November 1st. This year we'll be holding our inaugural chapbook contest.
The editors, Maya Marshall, Tracie Dawson, and Emylisa Warrick, are dedicated to growing the in-person presence of the journal. We want to grow the literary conversation around what's relevant in this city, region, and country. So we publish reviews, interviews, and artwork that speak to the world we live in now. We provide a platform for emerging and established writers. To level the playing field we run contests in which we offer $750 for an exceptional poem, $750 for an exceptional piece of fiction and $1000 for an outstanding chapbook.
The 2017 Yemassee Poetry Contest will be judged by Jericho Brown (The New Testament). The final fiction and chapbook judges are TBD. Look to our website for details in October.
As we move toward developing a deep relationship with the community arts scene in Columbia, we would very much like to share space in the growing Columbia art scene. To that end we will be hosting a few events throughout the year.
You can catch us at the Jasper Project's Summer in the City Arts Showcase on August 4th. Also, we'll be hosting, a joint reading the RHINO journal at Drip in Five Points at 729 Saluda on August 20th.
-- Maya Marshall