Spring 2026 Submissions Closed
Share your work with the Short Vine Literary Journal!
We loved seeing all the wonderful work from so many talented authors and artists! The responses we received to not only our theme but our journal as a whole blew us away. Thank you all for engaging with literature and art in a meaningful way, and please never stop writing!
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Sincerely,
The Short Vine Editorial Team
Theme: Paradigm
We make patterns, we share moments.
Jenny Downham, Before I Die
Our minds are built, from the cellular level, to recognize and embrace patterns.
The patterns of moments: habit.
The patterns of days: routine.
The patterns of generations: tradition.
The patterns of humanity: history.
Within your submission we ask you to explore either:
What does it mean to uphold these patterns? How do we preserve a culture, defend our rights, or uncover the extraordinary through the repetition of the ordinary?
Conversely, what does it mean to break these patterns? How do we escape generational trauma, challenge our self-perception, or adapt to new frontiers of scientific advancement?
You may choose to focus on a single pattern, or on an entire set of patterns: a paradigm.
We invite submissions that dissect and redefine the paradigms of the world around us through concept and form. We look forward to engaging with your creative interpretations.
There are only patterns, patterns on top of patterns, patterns that affect other patterns. Patterns hidden by patterns. Patterns within patterns. If you watch close, history does nothing but repeat itself. What we call chaos is just patterns we haven't recognized. What we call random is just patterns we can't decipher. what we can't understand we call nonsense. What we can't read we call gibberish. There is no free will. There are no variables.
Chuck Palahniuk, Survivor