SwampPink Literary Journal

Open for submissions

Selva Oscura

Jen Jabaily-Blackburn | Poetry

Soil, Sky

Susan Li | Essays

Artificiality

Benjamin Niespodziany | Poetry

Date Night

Vera Tomasi | Flash Fiction

The eulogy I didn’t give (XVI)

Bob Hicok | Poetry

It’s Not the Body’s Fault

Melissa Crowe | Poetry

blog

The Escape to Happiness: A Review of Helen of Nowhere

January 20, 2026 | blog, book reviews

Review by Leslie Cox, MFA ‘27Helen of Nowhere141 pp. Coffee House Press. $18.00 Makenna Goodman’s second novel, Helen of Nowhere, presents itself as a story about a disgraced professor, the Man, who leaves behind a forgotten career and a failing marriage where the dog has taken his place upon the bed. Thus, the Man is…

Catching up with 2025 Fiction Prize Winner Mary Jean Babic

September 30, 2025 | Awards, blog

Mary Jean Babic grew up in Illinois and lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her family. Her writing has appeared in The Missouri Review, The Iowa Review, Crab Orchard Review, and other publications. She works as a content designer in the financial industry. She self-published Central Standard a collection of stories and essays, earlier this year….

Catching up with 2025 Poetry Prize Winner Samuel Piccone

September 30, 2025 | Awards, blog

   Samuel Piccone is the author of Domestica (University of Arkansas Press, 2026), winner of the 2025 Miller Williams Prize. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in publications including, Frontier Poetry, Washington Square Review, and RHINO. He serves as poetry editor at Raleigh Review, and is an assistant teaching professor at Iowa State University. HS: What about Judi Dench’s line from Spaceship Earth…

Catching up with 2025 Non-Fiction Prize Winner Brandon Toh

October 9, 2025 | Awards, blog

Brandon Toh is a Singaporean writer and translator. He is an ALTA Travel Fellow and his works have placed in the Stephen Spender Prize and Another Chicago Magazine Nonfiction Contest. TLT: “The Difference Between Ghost and Ghost and Ghost” feels so deeply personal, like you’re sharing your family archive with us. Why did you choose…