Open Call: In/Through/Of: Process

In connection with the Editorial Fellowship at A Public Space, we are pleased to announce an open call for a special portfolio in the magazine to be edited by Theodore Heil.

IN/THROUGH/OF: PROCESS

What happens when an artist or writer tries to put an image or idea into words? What happens to writing as it moves from the first draft and revisions to the final realization?

This open call is looking for writing on the idea of process. What is a process in writing, what does it look like to process through writing, and what does it mean to take chances in the process of writing.

Send me your Künstlerroman, your craft talks and anti-craft talks, your ars poeticas and anti-ars poeticas. Send me your revolutionary artist’s statement, your experimental method, your innovation on the discussion of process. Send me what happens between the blank canvas and the painting on the wall; what happens between the first page of a notebook and a final draft; what happens between the hum and a song.

Eligibility: Only writers who have not yet published or been contracted to write a book-length work with a U.S. publisher are eligible. Writers who have self-published, published an academic text, published a book with a publisher outside the U.S., or translated another writer’s work are eligible to apply. Writers who have published a chapbook in the U.S. are ineligible to apply. International applicants are encouraged to apply. Work that incorporates multiple languages is eligible, so long as the primary language is English. Only one submission per person is allowed. A Public Space reserves the right to invite submissions.

Timeline: Submissions will be accepted via Submittable from July 14, 2025–July 28, 2025. Submissions close at 11:59 p.m. (ET) on July 28, 2025. All submissions will receive a reply by the end of August.

Submission Requirements: Submissions are only accepted through Submittable. There is no submission fee. Please submit the following:

— A cover letter, including a short biographical statement and a brief note (1-3 sentences) on the connection of your piece to the open call.

— One previously unpublished piece up to 6,000 words, double spaced, or up to five (5) poems.

— Simultaneous submissions are allowed.

Note that we only accept PDF or Word files (.doc and .docx). Please do not include your cover letter as part of your manuscript.

Questions? Write Editorial Fellow Theodore Heil at [email protected].

Recommended Reading: Below are selections from A Public Space’s archive that were among my references in developing this open call. These pieces are part of this month’s Public Access—work from the magazine’s archive—made free and open to all. I have included some pieces from elsewhere as well.

“Exercise for the Evening”
Jean-Paul de Dadelsen, translated from the French by Marilyn Hacker
Observe, as if it were the whole world at once, / An object, slight and domestic, for example / This cup.

“Summer Luncheon for Painters and Sculptors”
F.T. Marinetti, translated from the Italian by Elsbeth Pancrazi
After a long period of repose, a painter or sculptor who wishes to resume his creative activities at three on a summer afternoon will try in vain to excite inspiration with a traditional, succulent lunch.

“Small Stories”
David Lynch, interviewed by Robert Cozzolino
I get ideas, and—in the ideas that I fall in love with—that happens to be sometimes an idea possibly having to do with revealing something hidden....

“So You Think I’m the Prometheus of the Literary World”
Lucian, translated from the Greek by Keith Sidwell
What people admire [in my work] is its bit and purple saddle. Even the fact that it's made up of two absolutely splendid things, dialogue and comedy, I mean, will be insufficient to create beauty, unless the mixture is also harmonious and measured. Because, you know, it's perfectly possible to produce something grotesque out of mixing two lovely things together.

“A Short Tractate On Fine Art”
Yordanka Beleva, translated from the Bulgarian by Izidora Angel
The collective canvas of farewell. After it’s framed, the painting is lowered into storage, but the exhibition continues. It will last as long as there is someone to talk about it.

From Elsewhere
“Borges and I” by Jorge Luis Borges, translated from the original Spanish by James E. Irby
I shall remain in Borges, not in myself (if it is true that I am someone), but I recognize myself less in his books than in many others or in the laborious strumming of a guitar.

“Nude on a Horsehair Sofa” by Matthea Harvey
from E-Verse Radio
& me, I’m avoiding / the subject, still fretting over how to paint / the word ‘sometimes’