University of Alabama

Red Rook Press is a student-run literary press out of the University of Alabama. We publish undergrad and grad student fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction from any institution.

Must be enrolled as a graduate or undergraduate student (at any institution) at the time of submission.

Red Rook Press

General call

Red Rook Press is currently accepting submissions of picture book manuscripts, both illustrated and unillustrated. If your manuscript includes illustrations, please indicate whether you would be open to working with a staff illustrator. Red Rook’s design team is excited to work with any writer whose manuscript comes our way unillustrated—we are not actively looking for illustrators at this time.
We are most excited to read picture books that tell original stories with unique characters. We are eager to read your fantasy, sci-fi, or coming-of-age story for readers between the ages of 5 and 8 who are beginning to explore getting lost in stories on their own, or who love having a long story read to them before bedtime.
We are committed to publishing a wide array of voices. We strongly encourage creators with underrepresented and unique perspectives to submit their manuscript for consideration.
At Red Rook, we work with writers and creators who are enrolled as undergraduate or graduate students anywhere in the world at the time of submission. Please let us know where you go to school when you submit your work!
Red Rook Press requires all writers to disclose any AI usage at the time of submission.
To be considered for publication, picture books must be a minimum of 32 pages in length and fall somewhere within the range of 800 and 3,500 words.
Submissions are open until April 15th, 2026.

Red Rook Press: Children's Lit

The Intro Journals Project is a literary competition for the discovery and publication of the best new works by students currently enrolled in AWP member programs. The program will nominate—chosen by the faculty—one work of fiction, one essay, and three poems, which will then go on to the national competition to vie for publication in participating literary journals. Winning entries will be awarded publication in a literary journal and $100.
DEADLINE: FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6
GUIDELINES:
—Submit your work as a Word document or PDF, putting AWP INTRO and the GENRE as the title of your submission
— Faculty will judge blind to choose the work to send forward, so please do not include your name in the body of the submission
— MFA students currently enrolled at the University of Alabama are eligible
— You may submit in multiple categories, but only one submission per category (one poem, one story, one essay)
— No submission may exceed 5,000 words. Prose must be double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman.
— In the form, you will be asked to provide your name, address, phone number, email address and title of the piece; judges will not see this information.

MFA students currently enrolled at the University of Alabama are eligible.

Red Rook Press

Highlights

About

Featured Call

AWP Intro Awards (MFA Only) - Fiction