iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

The 2026 Variant Lit Poetry Prize shortlist is here! The shortlisted poems will now move on to the final round of judging. The three prize-winning poems will be published this September. Thank you for sharing your poetry with us and congratulations to this year's shortlisted poets:

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

Check out an excerpt from "Out of Gas" by Spencer Brownstein, then read the story at the link! variantlit.com/out-of-gas/

Excerpt from the story "Out of Gas" from Variant issue 23: "You could be management, baby. Think about what we could have then! Land-survey the cak outta them. Then, once the LCP is done, we can go on vacation to the COINS or the Iberian Republic or Rio if we’re feeling de fête, whatever you like.”

Whatever I like? thought the Foreigner. That was, unofficially at least, the Great National slogan. A sort of promise, like a long-bastardized dream. You can do or be whatever you like, but nothing in this Great Nation is free. You have to work for the cost of freedom. But what a freedom that could be! After a year, five, a decade. The monopolocratic dream. To pay with time to climb the corporate ladder, and from the top look down and know true liberty: the opportunity for fame, power, wealth."

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Tomorrow! Free workshop led by prose editor @thebrandonhaff.bsky.social! Sign up here: variantlit.com/fiction-work...

Variant Literature is excited to announce Write Weirder Fiction: On Leaning into Your Own Strangeness, a free fiction workshop led by Brandon Ahmad Haffner.

Thursday, June 18th, 2026
Time: 4:00 PM PT / 6:00 PM CT / 7:00 PM ET
Duration: 90 minutes
Live on Zoom

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Check out "Anthem" by Ashley Varela @ashleyvarela.bsky.social from issue 23. View the whole poem at the link! variantlit.com/anthem/

To the city next to the city
of evaporated milk: I pledge my undead river,
my peach-soaked August. Cowshit underpits
of a spring gone soft. I pledge it: my gray skies
scabbed green. The cottonwoods’ insistent cavort. (From "Anthem" by Ashley Varela)

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

Today's poem: what remains (i) by Jessica Popeski variantlit.com/what-remains/

what remains (i) by Jessica Popeski
an opulence of cards. thinking of you. vases
spill terra-cotta carnations. mother die
mushrooms. moonflowers burst. a cold snap.

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

Huge congratulations Ben Kline! It Was Never Supposed To Be is the 2026 Lambda Literary Award Winner for Gay Poetry!! @benkline.bsky.social

It Was Never Supposed To Be by Ben Kline is the 2026 Lambda Literary Award Winner for Gay Poetry

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Read this poem! "At the National Gallery" by Paul Potts variantlit.com/at-the-natio...

At the National Gallery
Paul Potts

You see the million hands.

Yes,
have they touched them?

Do they feel what I have felt:
the million hands in the mind
pointing and prodding
while I wait

for a painting I have never seen
except in the movies?

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Read "In a different world, I am not a stranger to this ranch," by @kplumhoff.bsky.social from Variant issue 23 variantlit.com/in-a-differe...

"Behind the house, horses’ necks stick out above wooden fences bloomed with lichen, none of them having been put down, and wisteria, purple and pendulous, planted by my mom and tended to by my sister, before one died and the other stopped speaking to me, hangs down from the latticed arch..."

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

Check out "The Garden of Hands" by @ezhang77.bsky.social from issue 23! variantlit.com/the-garden-o...

The Garden of Hands by Elena Zhang

Start the morning off with a handshake.
Pick the one with unfurled fingers,
reaching towards sunlight.
Be gentle, but firm.
Note the texture of the skin.
If rough and dry, shower with
kisses until the veins are rivers.

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

Maybe you need to read a poem? The poster of this account certainly does. Here's "Jane Goodall’s Hologram Comforts Tapioca, Earth’s Last Remaining Chimpanzee" by @readinstead.bsky.social Read the whole beautiful poem here: variantlit.com/jane-goodall/

Poem: Jane Goodall’s Hologram Comforts Tapioca, Earth’s Last Remaining Chimpanzee by Jared Beloff

There are memories that remain across generations
like single-use plastic, the wind shaking the trees.
We are sorry. Do you forgive us for our dividends
and fixed mortgages, the satisfaction in the sound
of roots pulled from the ground, each snap of bone.

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Today's poem: I’ll Love You Forever, I’ll Like You for Always —after Robert Munsch by Daniel Lurie variantlit.com/ill-love-you...

I’ll Love You Forever, I’ll Like You for Always—after Robert Munsch
by Daniel Lurie

I propped Mom’s head up, all ten thousand pounds
of her skull, so she could watch the robins fashion
their nest atop the dead AC. I’m tired,
she said. I fed her cracked lips blue pills. I took one
and rolled it in my palm like a tiny egg. I rationed her time
with the window, sunlight shattered the usual slick pitch

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

Check out "Remote Work" by Lyn Li Che from issue 23 variantlit.com/remote-work/

Remote Work by Lyn Li Che

I turn off my video mid-Zoom. Outside, the moon palms its time card, apron already hung up. The wall sweats. Even the air struggles to breathe. Twelve hours behind, my CEO whirs onscreen, part time-traveler, part sentient Patagonia vest.

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Today's poem from issue 23 is "The Naming" by Sara Hovda Read the whole poem at the link variantlit.com/the-naming/

The Naming by Sara Hovda

Like a current
I was always

the liquid
bent, practicing

its voice,
but the naming—creek—

came later.

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

From issue 23, read "The St. John’s River" by Christa Fairbrother @christafairbrother.bsky.social

From poem The St. John’s River by Christa Fairbrother:

Ducks flew aloft in long lines,
bullet trains rocketing to the next stop.

Their reflection’s magnetism pushing,
more than wings pulling,

a hovering wind rush, a whistle, an explosive quack.

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

Issue 23 prose from N.D. Stone, David Ryan, Yitzchak Friedman, Joseph Randolph, Katherine Plumhoff @kplumhoff.bsky.social, Adina Leschinsky Levine, Phillip Hall, Alex Rost, Nick Dmytrow @nickdmytrow.bsky.social, Spencer Brownstein, and Nora Maynard @noramaynard.bsky.social

Prose

The Hollow by N.D. Stone

Exposure by David Ryan

Polynesian Fish by Yitzchak Friedman

Micro Series by Joseph Randolph

In a different world, I am not a stranger to this ranch by Katherine Plumhoff

Graydough by Adina Levine

Chasing Leviathan by Phillip Hall

Nightstands by Alex Rost

Something by Nick Dmytrow

Out of Gas by Spencer Brownstein

The Peony Ant by Nora Maynard

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

Issue 23 has new poetry from Christa Fairbrother, @christafairbrother.bsky.social, Sara Hovda, Lyn Li Che, Daniel Lurie, Jared Beloff @readinstead.bsky.social, Elena Zhang @ezhang77.bsky.social, Paul Potts, Jessica Popeski, Ann DeVilbiss, Ashley Varela, Chimezie Umeoka, and Jason Zhang

Poetry

The St. John’s River by Christa Fairbrother

The Naming by Sara Hovda

***

Remote Work by Lyn Li Che

I’ll Love You Forever, I’ll Like You for Always by Daniel Lurie

Jane Goodall’s Hologram Comforts Tapioca, Earth’s Last Remaining Chimpanzee by Jared Beloff

***

The Garden of Hands by Elena Zhang

At the National Gallery by Paul Potts

***

what remains (i) by Jessica Popeski

Disappearing Act by Ann DeVilbiss

Anthem by Ashley Varela

***

ocean nocturne by Chimezie Umeoka

Octopus Years by Jason Zhang

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

Don't forget to submit to the Variant Lit Poetry Prize judged by @toddedillard.bsky.social! Submissions close June 15th.

A note from Todd Dillard, judge of the Variant poetry contest, on what he's looking for: I am interested in poems that show me the marvel underneath. I am most interested in poems that hook me immediately, with startling images and a compelling voice, and that end in ways I could never see coming. I love humor, surrealism, absurdity, narrative, and interiority.

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

So excited to announce our next free workshop! Write Weirder Fiction: On Leaning into Your Own Strangeness, led by Brandon Ahmad Haffner @thebrandonhaff.bsky.social

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Send us a poem! variantlit.submittable.com/submit

Now open! 2026 Variant Lit Poetry Prize, for a single, exceptional poem. Judged by Todd Dillard.

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

Variant Literature is excited to announce the inaugural Variant Lit Poetry Prize! Winners will receive a cash prize and be published online in a special Variant Poetry Prize folio, with an introduction from guest judge @toddedillard.bsky.social. Subs open May 15! variantlit.com/announcing-t...

Variant Literature is excited to announce the inaugural Variant Lit Poetry Prize judged by Todd Dillard. Submissions May 15 to June 15.

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

Variant Literature is excited to announce Trusting the Image: List Poems, a free generative poetry workshop led by writer Ashley Kim! @ashlogophile.bsky.social variantlit.com/free-poetry-...

Trusting the Image: Writing List Poems, a Variant poetry workshop led by Ashley Kim. May 21, 2026 at 6pm PST.

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

Flash prose/micro series and poetry subs for our summer issue close tomorrow! ☀️ variantlit.submittable.com/submit

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

Thrilled to share the news that Michael Agunbiade’s poem “the new testament” is a Best of the Net finalist! ✨️ Read the poem, from issue 20: variantlit.com/the-new-test...

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

We're open for submissions! Send us your best prose or poetry: variantlit.com/submit/

Variant Lit is open for submissions of prose and poetry. Photo by staff member of the moon in the trees in the pacific northwest.

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 01/03/2026

Submissions are open for our summer issue! variantlit.submittable.com/submit

Variant Lit open for submissions of poetry, fiction, flash, and speculative.

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

"Everyone Wants to Be Division I" by S. H. Woodgeard variantlit.com/everyone-wan...

Division I Boyfriend tells me to stop crying. To be quiet. To sit. He can’t be stressed now. If we lose to State, he might get angry. He might do something. Someone might get hurt. He doesn’t say it, but I know that someone might be me.

“That’s how important this is, Babe,” he says. He thrashes fists. “State’s no joke!”

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

"What Thou Lovest Well Remains American" by Jeff Whitney variantlit.com/what-thou-lo...

"In the glowing lobby of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, one is to choose
one’s skater. Hair type, board. One can even be an alien or Jesus"

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

"Mermua" by Gerardo J. Mercado begins like this! Read the whole story at the link: variantlit.com/mermua/

Excerpt from "Mermua" by Gerardo Mercado

"Dear Carm, about your living dead man by the river, I believe you. Puerto Rico has many wonderful things about it—the people, the nature, the food and culture—but its other side, the violent side, the painful and macabre side, is just as real, just as real as us anyway, and, well, last week, I think I saw the devil in the woods."

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

From issue 22, read the poem "Terracotta" by Lalini Shanela Ranaraja variantlit.com/terracotta/

Terracotta by Lalini Shanela Ranaraja

"You’re drinking the wax he’s seethed for you, frothing the stained-glass flute in which his grandmother hoarded lavender talcum. Do you feel guilty yet? The wax is filmy with salt; not his first Saturday frittered with waiting on you, tilted towards the street. Last week the flat was cold and you chipped candles with a blunt butter knife. The bathroom door was bolted..."

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 22/02/2026

Get lost in the striking details of "Back in the Tall Grass" from @chrissystegmanpoet.bsky.social variantlit.com/back-in-the-...

He unwraps the egg and cress sandwich from its wax paper but doesn’t eat it. Outside, the town rolls past in rows of red-brick terraces. A small boy drags a stick along the ground, scratching a line into the heart of the sidewalk. A black-and-white border collie tied to a lamppost with a bright red scarf in place of a leash. Its head tilts as it watches the brown pods of a laburnum tree fall.

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

Read the poem "roadkill season" by Kathy Jiang, from issue 22 variantlit.com/roadkill-sea...

roadkill season by Kathy Jiang

i want to be teeth to teeth, i said yesterday. with you.
out of love, you took it as language more languid
in its absurdity than alarmingly,

routinely urgent.
when we touched

in the first year, i thought i would
bite right through your face: rabid,
carefree rabbit, unaware of the dead...

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

Have you read "You Deserve This" by @nicholas-claro.bsky.social from the latest issue of Variant? Read this story about a powerful moment between a father and son variantlit.com/you-deserve-...

Excerpt from the story "You Deserve This" by Nicholas Claro:

"Beckett’s eyes are deep green. Like his mother’s, a deep jade. It doesn’t happen as often as it used to, but in the initial months after his mother and I separated, there were times I’d notice a physical feature they share—primarily their eyes—and find myself resenting him, resenting the resemblance."

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

Read the poem "The Bravest Among Us" by @theonlygman.bsky.social from the new issue of Variant variantlit.com/the-bravest-...

He gets the mail, reads all of it,
even the T-Mobile phone stuff, the
“Your car warranty has expired!”
The Sam’s Club brochure. The TV
is on inside, mainly for the noise,
the laughter and the clapping. He’s
tired, just getting the mail; almost
got stuck outside. Embarrassing.

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

A poem too, before the day is done. From issue 22: "Mirror Listing, No Refunds" by Stefanie Lee variantlit.com/mirror-listi...

Excerpt from "Mirror Listing, No Refunds" by Stefanie Lee:

"I try not to explain. Like photographing
a mirror to sell online, I crop the fatigue out
with a surgeon’s precision. Angle the frame
to hide the worst of it—misfire in my muscles,
the way my spine leans as a question
no one dares to ask. Still, evidence leaks in..."

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

Read "Snake Lake," a story of lurking danger by @rebeccavl.bsky.social 🐍 variantlit.com/snake-lake/

Excerpt from "Snake Lake" story by Rebecca van Laer from Variant issue 22: "No—for years, Emma has been like the lake: She’s been open to whoever comes.

Maybe this is her problem.

Still, shouldn’t Daisy at least try to console her?

'OK,' Daisy says. 'It actually feels kind of nice once you’re moving a little.'"

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 17/02/2026

From issue 22, "Vultures," a new poem by @janezwart.bsky.social on grief, precious finds, and what we inherit or borrow variantlit.com/vultures/

Excerpt from poem Vultures by Jane Zwart, from Variant issue 22:

"When my favorite aunt died, her daughter
went through her jewelry. It was not precious
as rubies are precious. It was precious
as strangeness is precious. Or time."

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

Have you read "The Daddy Factory" by Christian Fuller yet? 🍬 variantlit.com/the-daddy-fa...

Excerpt from "The Daddy Factory" by Christian Fuller from Variant issue 22:

"Turns out the factory didn’t put this one together right, so he wasn’t gonna be my daddy, like all the other daddies they’d messed up, but at least the factory people gave Mama a hundred bucks because she had to practice the mommy job, the cooking and the cleaning and the kissing all mommies do."

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

"Three stubborn women—and a wish." Read the poem "Flying Geese in Orbit" by Christie M. Buchovecky from issue 22 variantlit.com/flying-geese...

Excerpt from the poem "Flying Geese in Orbit" by Christie Buchovecky from Variant issue 22

Sixteen colors of nanofiber—
unraveled from ancient photon sails
and spooled into thread.

Cluttered worktable. Plasma cutter.
Diamond-tipped needles.
Three stubborn women—and a wish.

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 15/02/2026

Check out the new poem "Dog Museum" by @ariellemkaplan.bsky.social from Variant issue 22 What about turtles? variantlit.com/dog-museum/

From the poem "Dog Museum" by Arielle Kaplan, from Variant issue 22: "I ask M. if other animals can visit the museum:
What about turtles?

Sadly, he says, no. You have to be a dog
or have a dog to get in."

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 14/02/2026

Today's poem, from issue 22: "Love Is a Fruit" by Grace H. Zhou 💛 Read the full poem here: variantlit.com/love-is-a-fr...

Excerpt from poem "Love Is a Fruit" by Grace H. Zhou: "A soft yellow fig, bruised
from its fall. I was a bad guest..."

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 14/02/2026

New prose in issue 22 from @rowanthewriter.bsky.social is chilling and relevant. Read the full story here: variantlit.com/the-replacem...

Excerpt from a story, "The Replacements" by Rowan MacDonald, from issue 22:

"They began arriving soon after the federal investigation. Smiling faces were replaced with humanoid robots and computerized voices. They didn’t have names for us to remember, only cold expressions lacking soul. We could hear them moving through the hallways in the night."

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 14/02/2026

"The poster said I WANT TO BELIEVE but I didn’t know in what" Read this poem from issue 22 by @andhow.bsky.social 🛸 variantlit.com/what-i-mean-...

Except from "What I Mean to Say Is This Isn’t About Aliens" by
T. De Los Reyes in Variant Lit Issue 22:

"Back when my parents were inventing new ways to disappoint
each other across the dinner table, I was often watching
Mulder and Scully chase aliens and the idea of evidence
like any of us knew what to believe in anymore. 1993 smelled
like evaporated milk and resentment ..."

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

Check out our issue 22 prose contributors! Joey Hedger / S. H. Woodgeard / Rowan MacDonald / Nicholas Claro / Christian Fuller / Elizabeth Rosen / S. L. Johnson / Chrissy Stegman / Rebecca van Laer / Gerardo J. Mercado variantlit.com/issue-twenty...

Variant Lit Issue 22 prose from Joey Hedger, S. H. Woodgeard, Rowan MacDonald, Nicholas Claro, Christian Fuller, Elizabeth Rosen, S. L. Johnson, Chrissy Stegman, Rebecca van Laer, and Gerardo J. Mercado.

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

Celebrating our issue 22 poetry contributors ✨️ T. De Los Reyes / Kathy Jiang / Stefanie Lee / Arielle Kaplan / Christie M Buchovecky / Jane Zwart / Grace H. Zhou / Lalini Shanela Ranaraja / Nick Daoust / DL Pravda / Jeff Whitney / Guinotte Wise variantlit.com/issue-twenty...

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

We're excited to announce a FREE poetry workshop! Ashley Kim @ashlogophile.bsky.social will lead The Weight of Small Moments: A Jane Kenyon Study on Feb 26th at 6PM PT variantlit.com/kenyon-works...

The Weight of Small Moments: A Jane Kenyon Study on Feb 26th at 6PM PT, a free workshop hosted by Variant Literature.

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 22/11/2025

We’re in our final stretch for Winter 2026 submissions and would love to read your work. Submissions close December 4th. We are accepting poetry, flash prose, and fiction.

Variant Lit: 12 more days to submit poetry or prose.

Variantlit.com/submit

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Variant Literature @variantlit.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

We’re thrilled to announce our Pushcart Prize nominations for 2026: “On Craft” by Erica Dawson “Clutch” by Stephanie Frazee “Holes” by Nicole Desjardins Gowdy “Cooking Lesson” by Shira Haus “Five O’Clock Shadow in Philly” by Allen Means “The Opposite of Dusk” by Ron Riekki

Variant Literature Pushcart Prize nominations for 2026:

“On Craft” by Erica Dawson
“Clutch” by Stephanie Frazee
“Holes” by Nicole Desjardins Gowdy
“Cooking Lesson” by Shira Haus
“Five O’Clock Shadow in Philly” by Allen Means
“The Opposite of Dusk” by Ron Riekki

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