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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Our annual writing contests are on now until November 30th! Check out prairiefire.ca/contests/ for full details.

Contest poster
Text: McNally Robinson Booksellers & Prairie Fire Writing Contests
2026 Annual Writing Contests
$3750 in cash prizes! One cash prize of $1250 in each category
MRB Poetry Contest (up to 3 poems per entry, max. 150 lines total)
Judge: Patrick Friesen

MRB Short Fiction Contest (one story per entry, max. 5000 words)
Judge: Tonia Laird

MRB Creative Non-Fiction Contest (one story per entry, max. 5000 words)
Judge: Rowan McCandless

Deadline: Nov. 30, 2026

Fee: $34 per entry, which includes a one-year subscription to Prairie Fire.
Complete guidelines at www.prairiefire.ca
For inquiries: prfire@prairiefire.ca

Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Our summer issue is on sale NOW at prairiefire.ca and includes a new poem by Shannon Quinn! Snag a copy at prairiefire.ca/current-issue/

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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

A quick FAQ as we have received these questions a bunch! Hope this helps! Comment if you have any other questions!

Branching out FAQ
We've received these three questions a lot the last few days so here are the answers!

Do you accept international submissions? Yes!

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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

We just hit our fiction cap limit! General fiction submissions on Submittable are now closed. Submissions will reopen on March 1, 2027. Thank you to everyone who submitted!

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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

We've reached our poetry cap! Thank you to everyone who submitted. We will re-open the Submittable portal on March 1, 2027.

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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Our summer issue is on sale now on the PF website and in book stores around the country! Thanks for Helen Georgas for these gorgeous photos of Monemvasia! Details: prairiefire.ca/current-issue/

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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

New Call for Submissions! Prairie Fire is looking for work for on the topic of "Branching Out—All About Trees" for our spring 2027 issue! Guest Editor: Erna Buffie Deadline: November 15th, 2026 Full Details: www.prairiefire.ca/call-for-sub...

Call for Submissions Branching Out Graphic

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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

We are saddened to hear of the passing of David Arnason, celebrated writer, teacher, editor, CanLit champion and long-time friend and supporter of the magazine. Safe travels, friend.

David Arnason standing in a craggy field on the cover of Prairie Fire circa 2001.

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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

It's contest season! Our annual writing contests are on NOW until November 30th! Full details: prairiefire.ca/contests/

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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Read Melanie Power's full poem "The moon is mother of us all" in our summer issue, out now! Details: Prairiefire.ca/current-issue

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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Submittable should be working now! Apologies for the issues!

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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Our new Submittable forms are acting buggy. We're fixing them, hang tight! We'll post when they're working!

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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Our fall submission period is now open on Submittable! Submission period runs from September 1 until Nov 30th, or until submission cap reached.

Graphic of fall leaves with text: Our fall submission period is now open on Submittable! Submission period runs from September 1 until Nov 30th, or until submission cap reached.

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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Ken Wilson reads from "The Bear on the Path to Tofino" which is featured in our summer issue and won our 2025 MRB Creative Non-Fiction contest! youtu.be/luimPXD4U5U Snag a copy of the summer issue on the Prairie Fire website or in bookstores around Canada.

youtu.be

Ken Wilson reads from "The Bear on the Path to Tofino"

To read the whole story, please check out our summer 2026 issue! Thanks to Ken Wilson for sending us this reading! "The Bear on the Path to Tofino" was the winner of our 2025 MRB Creative Non-Fiction contest. Issue available at prairiefire.ca.

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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Our summer issue is here! Snag a copy at prairiefire.ca/current-issue/ Thanks for Anna Mark for this great graphic! Read her whole poem "Woman in Yellow" in the summer issue.

Photo of a yellow candle burning in a bowl. Text "See through the skewed V between her shoulder blades, the bra's strained closure. Its unclasped hooks & eyes are her unmet impulses & empty receptors, her potential—synaptic disfunction—inert." from "Woman in Yellow" by Anna Mark.

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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Our summer issue features new work by Martha Grace Duncan! Get your copy in bookstores around Canada and online on our website. Thanks to Martha Grace for the family pic! Prairiefire.ca/current-issue/

1960’s Black & White image of a family of 6 (Mom, Dad, three little girls and an infant boy) standing in front of a home in summer, smiling.

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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Our "foxy" summer issue has arrived! 🦊 Snag a copy before they're all gone! Prairiefire.ca/current-issue/

PF's summer issue featuring a fox on the cover, set against milkweed plants.

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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Our summer issue is on sale NOW at prairiefire.ca/current-issue/ and in bookstores around the country! 😎

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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Check out new work by Tazi Rodrigues in our summer issue, out now! Prairiefire.ca/current-issue/

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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

It's here! The summer issue has arrived! The issue is now live on the Prairie Fire website. Details: prairiefire.ca/current-issue/

Cover of the summer issue with greenery in the background. The cover features the names of the annual contest winners a fox behind the text.

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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

We've got a new book review! Check out Sightings by Patrick Friesen! Review by Alexander Sallas. prairiefire.ca/sightings-by-patrick-friesen/

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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Check out new work by Joanne Epp in our spring issue! Thanks to Joanne for sending this great sunset shot. We're on our last box of copies, so get 'em while we got 'em! Prairiefire.ca/current-issue/

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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

Join the party! From now until June 30th, new Canadian subscribers can get 5 issues for the price of 4 with offer code KITCHENPARTY at checkout at prairiefire.ca!

Join the Party! Ad. New subscribers get 5 issues for the price of 4!

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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

Gillian Crawford's grandpa was once caught on the back on a moving steam engine in the middle of a Manitoba winter. Read all about it in our spring issue! Thanks to Jill for sending these great pics! praifriefire.ca/current-issue/

Gillian Crawford's grandfather and an unknown coworker posing in front of locomotive in winter, with heavy steam (1955).

Scanned CPR accident report documenting the incident the poem is based on.

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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Our spring issue is on sale NOW on the PF website and in bookstores around the country! Also, new Canadian subscribers! Get 5 issues for the price of 4 with offer code KITCHENPARTY at checkout! prairiefire.ca/current-issue/

Image of Winnipeg street on a late winter day at sunset. Snow and grit cover the unplowed road.
Text: “What can be said can be said clearly.”

Clearly this as a description is not the case
of symbols in this muddled composition of a place.

from “A City Passed Through: Ambivalent Matters”
by Kristian Enright

PF’s spring issue on sale NOW at prairiefire.ca

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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

(1 of 3) We are THRILLED to announce that SEVEN PF pieces will be in the 2027 Best Canadian Anthologies! A big ol' congrats to: Essays (Creative Non-Fiction): Julie Salverson, “Rearranged by Water” (Prairie Fire 46.1) Cora Siré, “¡Hola, Texas!” (Prairie Fire 46.3)

Cover images of Best Canadian Series 2027

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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Congrats to Chris Pickrell for receiving Honourable Mention for his piece "Reading Raymond Carver’s “A Small, Good Thing” ..." at this year's National Magazine Awards! This story can be found in our fall 2025 issue: www.prairiefire.ca/shop/fall-20...

prairiefire.ca

Fall 2025, Volume 46, No. 3 – Prairie Fire

In this issue, we look for surprising moments of of transformation in the mundane, the spectacular and in the little moments that make up our lives. New work by Evelyn Lau, Eleni Zaptses, Susan Gillis...

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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

New book review! Check out Night Birds by Margaret Sweatman! Review by Janet S. Pollock. www.prairiefire.ca/night-birds-by-margaret-sweatman/

Cover of Night Birds by Margaret Sweatman

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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

Lost & Found Issue Update! We have now contacted everyone whose work we can take for the issue. Thank you to everyone who submitted!

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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

Join the party! From now until June 30, 2026, new Canadian subscribers get 5 issues for the price of 4 with coupon code KITCHENPARTY at checkout!

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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

Our spring issue "Manitoba Kitchen Party" is on sale now! Thanks to Angeline Schellenberg for sending these great pics and recording of the poem "Exposure." youtube.com/shorts/scZb4...

youtube.com

Angeline Schellenberg reads "Exposure"

YouTube video by Prairie Fire Press Inc.

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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

Join the party! Manitoba Kitchen Party is on sale NOW at prairiefire.ca/current-issue/

By Ccyyrree - Own work, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21938978
Image of clock in Portage Place Mall inside a glad atrium, trees line its base.
Text: Frozen clock stands above
an empty rainforest floor
what remains are the phantoms
of the paradise.
From “Elegy for Portage Place” by Jordyn Sheldon
PF’s spring issue on sale NOW at prairiefire.ca

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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

Check out "Is it too Late to Become a Wunderkind?" by Bob Armstrong in Manitoba Kitchen Party! Check out prairiefire.ca/current-issue/ New Canadian subscribers can get 5 issues for the price of 4 for a limited time with offer code KITCHENPARTY for a limited time! (Chair pic by Bob Armstrong!)

Faint image of an office in Fort McMurray in the 80s.
Text: “Journalists from around the world flocked to the wild, gritty northern city. They described the mind-boggling scale of the mining equipment and the tailings ponds, the Road Warrioresque southbound traffic when workers head back to Edmonton, the chemical smell that engulfs the city when a north winds blows, and the free-spending blue collar princes who earn three times as much in Fort McMurray as they’d have made back home in Corner Brook or Trois-Rivières or Brandon, if they’d have had jobs at all.”
From “Is it too late to become a wunderkind?” by Bob Armstrong
Prairie Fire’s spring issue is on sale now at prairiefire.ca!

Image of an office in Fort McMurray in the 80 with an old Micro-Comp computer and a mustard yellow office chair.
Photo by Bob Armstrong

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Reposted by Prairie Fire Magazine

Morgen Jahnke @morgenjahnke.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

Now that it finally feels like spring in Saskatoon, seems like a good time to share my spring poem from the January 2026 issue of @prairiefiremag.bsky.social.

Homecoming

bury my body in the tall prairie grass—
this ruined house
of rusted cans and porcelain shards,
boards and plaster.
what is true will remain.

what is true will feel the floods of spring—
chimney full of crows,
paper peeling from the walls.
a spindle-backed chair, each rung a rib,
smashed lung of bottle, empty of air.

at dusk coyote creeps to the doorsill,
burs of wild rye on his tail,
eyes glowing in the darkness,
to see what this place once was.

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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

Spring has arrived! Let's party! Snag a copy of our spring issue: Manitoba Kitchen Party! prairiefire.ca/current-issue/

Image of a table with a pie on it. Text in front:
“This issue opens the door and lets people in. We’re inviting readers into a Manitoba kitchen party—because if there’s one thing we know here, it’s that you are welcome in our kitchen
Pull up a chair.
Stay warm.
Stay awhile.”
-Carolyn Gray, Editor, Prairie Fire
Manitoba Kitchen Party is on sale NOW at prairiefire.ca.

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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

TOMORROW is the deadline for our Lost & Found call for creative fiction submissions! We're accepting submissions until end of day May 4th. Details: www.prairiefire.ca/c...

Graphic for Call for Submissions for Lost & Found featuring two stone birds.

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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

Congratulations to Chris Pickrell on being nominated for "Reading Raymond Carver..." At this year's National Magazine Awards!

Fiction finalist graphic for Chris Pickrell's "Reading Raymond Carver..."

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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

New book review! Check out Retcon by Garry Thomas Morse! Published by At Bay Press. Review by Leah Bobet. www.prairiefire.ca/theorists-be...

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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

Thank you to everyone who came out to the launch of Manitoba Kitchen Party! And thank you to McNally for having us, Kristian Enright for hosting & our readers for making the the evening one heck of a party! If you missed the event, you can watch it on Youtube here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qri...

Readers from Manitoba Kitchen Party at McNally Robinson

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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

We're looking for your best Creative Non-Fiction on the topic of Lost & Found! Details: www.prairiefire.ca/c... Deadline: May 4, 2026

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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

TONIGHT! Join us at McNally Robinson (7 p.m.) for the launch of Manitoba Kitchen Party!

Graphic for Manitoba Kitchen Party featuring the cover of the issue. April 24, 2026, 7 p.m., McNally Robinson Grant Park

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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

This Friday! We would LOVE to see you at the launch of Manitoba Kitchen Party at 7 p.m., at McNally Robinson. Also on YouTube! www.youtube.com/live...

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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

A little under two weeks left until the deadline! Send us your creative non-fiction! Details: www.prairiefire.ca/c... Deadline: May 4, 2026

Graphic of Call For Submissions for Lost & Found, featuring a statue of two birds.

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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

Thinking about subscribing? New subscribers: Get 5 issues for the price of 4 from now until June 30th with code KITCHENPARTY at checkout! (Offer good on 1-year Canadian subscriptions.) www.prairiefire.ca/shop/individ...

Graphic that says "Join the Party! New subscribers: Get 5 issues for the price of 4!"

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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

Come party with us! We're launching Manitoba Kitchen Party THIS FRIDAY at 7 p.m., at McNally Robinson Grant Park!

Poster for Manitoba Kitchen Party Launch.

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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

New work from Di Brandt in our spring issue: Manitoba Kitchen Party! Check out prairiefire.ca/current-issue/ to snag a copy!

Faint image of a bison.
Text: “...They were
trampling the canola and wheat fields in
their path, they were snorting huge gulps
of fresh prairie air and breathing out flames
of Fire and ire. The settlers, who benefitted
so greatly from the gift of land bestowed
upon them for agriculture and industrial
development at the First People’s expense,
stood in crowds along the highway, mouths
agape.”
From “The magic Chickadees’ song by Di Brandt
PF’s spring issue on sale NOW at prairiefire.ca

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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

Genia Blum sent us this fabulous video to go with her story "Not a Single Brick: The Right of Abode" that appears in our winter issue and I somehow forgot to post it. Whoops! Better late than never! Thanks to Genia and her daughter Daria for this great video! www.youtube.com/shorts/-Lcrl...

youtube.com

Genia Blum reads from "Not a Single Brick: The Right to Abode"

YouTube video by Prairie Fire Press Inc.

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Prairie Fire Magazine @prairiefiremag.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

Join us for an evening of readings as we launch our spring issue: Manitoba Kitchen Party! Details: www.prairiefire.ca/manitoba-kit...

Poster for Manitoba Kitchen Party Launch. April 24th, 7 p.m., McNally Robinson Grant Park

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