Award-winning Canadian journal of innovative writing that has been publishing exceptional writing for over 45 years. One of Canada’s oldest literary magazines.

Prairie Fire is an award-winning Canadian journal of innovative writing that is published quarterly by Prairie Fire Press, Inc. Each issue is a fresh, vibrant mix of fiction, poetry and creative non-fiction by our most celebrated writers and the hottest new voices of our emerging writers. It consistently features solid writing that will engage your mind and delight your spirit.

In a typical issue you will find a wide range of writing, including excerpts from a work-in-progress, a thoughtful essay or memoir, literary humour, lots of poetry and fiction, and sometimes something more experimental.

Prairie Fire has been publishing imaginative, provocative, exceptional, worthwhile writing for over 45 years, making it one of Canada’s oldest literary magazines.

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Prairie Fire: A Canadian Magazine of New Writing

General call

Poetry

Prairie Fire Press invites creative nonfiction on the theme of remembering and forgetting for our fall 2026 issue.

Our survival and growth have always depended on both. Memory helps shape who we are and how we understand our connection to others—personally, culturally, historically. Some memories bring comfort and joy; others are confusing, painful, even traumatic. Beyond individual experience, there are ancestral, familial, and collective memories that require unearthing, remaking, and re-examining. What has been buried? What has been reshaped over time? What needs to be remembered now, and what might need to be released?

We welcome work that explores the tension between holding on and letting go, and the ways remembering and forgetting shape healing, identity, and transformation.

Call for Creative Non-Fiction for Lost & Found: Things Forgotten, Things Remembered

Prairie Fire accepts ONE submission per category (Poetry, Fiction, Creative Non-Fiction) every twelve months. Once you have submitted, please wait twelve months before submitting again.

Please, no revisions, replacements or substitutions once submitted.

Prairie Fire receives hundreds of submissions every year in each genre. Because of the high volume of submissions, our editors are not able to comment on work being returned. The editors meet several times per year. Generally, the response time takes 3-6 months. If you have waited longer than this for a reply, please feel free to query us.

If your work is accepted, you will be notified via email. Payment is made upon publication. Please see our contributor rates for details. We buy First North American Serial Rights and First Digital Publication Rights only (If you have published your work previously with a digital publication, this work is considered published. Please do not submit previously published work). After publication, copyright reverts to the author.

Creative Non-Fiction

One fiction entry consists of one story, maximum 5,000 words.

McNally Robinson Booksellers Annual Writing Contests

One poetry entry consists of up to three poems, maximum length of your poetry submission should not exceed 150 lines, regardless of whether you are sending 1, 2 or 3 poems.

One creative non-fiction entry consists of one piece, maximum 5,000 words.

Prairie Fire: A Canadian Magazine of New Writing

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Featured Call

Creative Non-Fiction

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