Fiction, Essays, Poetry, Artwork and Writing Workshops

Gertrude Stein Award

Announcing the Winners of The Gertrude Stein Award in Fiction

Eckleburg is pleased to announce the Gertrude Stein Award in Fiction winners. Thank you to all the talented writers who submitted and their incredible patience as we, our families and literary community recovered from the COVID pandemic. It is always a difficult task choosing among so many fine stories and ...
News /
Monica Marioni

Monica Marioni

Monica Marioni was born near Treviso in 1972, but moved to the area of Vicenza when she was still very young, and here she still lives several months a year. She instinctively approached art during her studies, enrolling at the Vicenza Institute of Art; nevertheless, she obtained a degree in ...
Eckleburg Gallery /
April Vázquez

Charlotte Sometimes

As a teenager, my favorite band was The Cure. This was pre-Radiohead, pre-Editors, before bands—even alternative bands—tended to be literary. Yet The Cure turned out songs like “Killing an Arab,” based on The Stranger by Albert Camus, and “How Beautiful You Are,” an echo of Charles Baudelaire’s essay “The Eyes ...
Essays /
Ukrainian Au Pair

Ukrainian Au Pair

smoke             cinder                           ash dye job from hell calls Putin “Daddy” spellbinding back tat-- a forest of impossibly tall trees with dark squid-like branches loves Billie “Eyelash” possesses                   a wicked                                    left hook ...
Poetry /
Cloud Corporation

Cloud Corporation

They lock you up and feed you clouds. Cumulus candy puffs. Cirrostratus and Nimbostratus gummies. You float on delicious filaments. So much wonder. Silvery minnows of the mind. Nets for the careless. Stippled with black floaters ...
Poetry /
Richard Peabody

Ophelia in Aspic

she is under the rice fingers poking up through the water playing air piano are fish allowed to swim the paddies? they should be flashes of koi gold among rich green every hillside a rice aquarium with jazzy flowing fish and rice fit for a Sumo wrestler who secretly yearns ...
Poetry /
Dusky Time

Dusky Time

last days of autumn have fallen on your fragrant locks like honey rust clouds in the distance rolling toward the Rio Grande at Pilar trout are biting rattling the snakes behind every rock ...
Poetry /
Star Spangled Bullshit

Star Spangled Bullshit

star bride on the beach paging Pierre Reverdy firecrackers in dubious battle overhead not even close to dark She yearns La Mordida the Frat boys mirrored along the strand ...
Poetry /
Period.

Period.

I don’t want to be all playing into stereotypes here, but I’m on my period and everything is pissing me off. From my dog who selectively understands English and won’t stop whining at the squirrels to my long-distance boyfriend/affairmate who I haven’t even talked to today because I’m getting frustrated ...
Essays /

Submit Your Fiction, Essays & Poetry

We accept previously unpublished and polished prose up to 8,000 words year round, unless announced otherwise.  We accept essays and poetry, too. No multiple submissions but simultaneous is fine as long as you withdraw the submission asap through the submissions system. During the summer and winter months, we run our Writers Are Readers, Too, fundraiser when submissions are open only to subscribers. During the fall and spring, we open submissions for regular, unsolicited submissions. Submit 

Join us for creative writing workshops in fiction, essay, poetry and more.

Issues

Eckleburg No. 21Eckleburg No. 21

Eckleburg is a literary and arts journal publishing original works from both emerging and awarded writers, poets, artists and musicians including Roxane Gay, Rick Moody, Cris Mazza, Steve Almond, Stephen Dixon, Moira Egan and David Wagoner. Eckleburg No. 21 curates a beautiful selection of traditional and genre-bending fiction by Gertrude Stein Award winner, Faerl Marie Torres, Agnes Scott Poetry Award winner, Jessica Melilli-Hand, eleventh century Sanskrit translation by Brishti Guha, artwork by Sandra Shugart and more.

 

Eckleburg No. 20Eckleburg No. 19Eckleburg No. 17

What others are saying about Eckleburg…

“Being a good lit citizen means supporting lit pubs. Donate. Buy. I’m going to show some #AWP17 mags that you need to support… , , .” Meakin Armstrong (Guernica)
 
“The most exciting and adventurous and gutsiest new magazine I’ve seen in years.” Stephen Dixon
 
“Refreshing… edgy… classic… compelling.” Flavorwire
 
“Progressive….” NewPages
 
“Eye-grabbing… fun… bold… inviting… exemplary.” Sabotage
 
 
“Eclectic selection of work from both emerging and established writers….” The Washington Post
 
Literary Burroughs D.C…. the journal cleverly takes its name from the The Great Gatsby. F. Scott Fitzgerald….” Ploughshares
 

Proud member of the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses.

 

The Doctor T. J. Eckleburg Review was founded in 2010 as an online and print literary and arts journal. We take our title from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and include the full archives of our predecessor Moon Milk Review. Our aesthetic is eclectic, literary mainstream to experimental. We appreciate fusion forms including magical realist, surrealist, meta- realist and realist works with an offbeat spin. We value character-focused storytelling and language and welcome both edge and mainstream with punch aesthetics. We like humor that explores the gritty realities of world and human experiences. Our issues include original content from both emerging and established writers, poets, artists and comedians such as authors, Rick Moody, Cris Mazza, Steve Almond, Stephen Dixon, poets, Moira Egan and David Wagoner and actor/comedian, Zach Galifianakis.

Currently, Eckleburg runs online, daily content of original fiction, poetry, nonfiction, translations, and more with featured artwork–visual and intermedia–from our Gallery. We run annual print issues, the Eckleburg Reading Series (DC, Baltimore and New York), as well as, the annual Gertrude Stein Award in Fiction, first prize $1000 and print publication, guest-judged by award-winning authors such as Rick Moody and Cris Mazza.

We have collaborated with a number of talented and high profile literary, art and intermedia organizations in DC, Baltimore and New York including The Poetry Society of New York, KGB Bar, Brazenhead Books, New World Writing (formerly Mississippi Review Online), The Hopkins Review, Boulevard, Gargoyle Magazine, Entasis Press, Barrelhouse, Hobart, 826DC, DC Lit and Iowa’s Mission Creek Festival at AWP 2013, Boston, for a night of raw comedic lit and music. We like to promote smaller indie presses, galleries, musicians and filmmakers alongside globally recognized organizations, as well as, our local, national and international contributors.

Rarely will readers/viewers find a themed issue at Eckleburg, but rather a mix of eclectic works. It is Eckleburg’s intention to represent writers, artists, musicians, and comedians as a contemporary and noninvasive collective, each work evidence of its own artistry, not as a reflection of an editor’s vision of what an issue “should” be. Outside of kismet and special issues, Eckleburg will read and accept unsolicited submissions based upon individual merit, not theme cohesiveness. It is our intention to create an experience in which readers and viewers can think artistically, intellectually, socially, and independently. We welcome brave, honest voices. To submit, please read our guidelines.

Over the ashheaps the giant eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg kept their vigil, but I perceived, after a moment, that other eyes were regarding us with peculiar intensity from less than twenty feet away. —The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald

WRITING WORKSHOPS | Fiction, Poetry, Essays & More

Writing Workshops

Writing Violence in Literary Fiction and Creative Nonfiction: Are Your Violent Scenes Essential or Gratuitous?

Writing Violence in Literary Fiction and Creative Nonfiction: Are Your Violent Scenes Essential or Gratuitous?

How do we transcend the cliched and gratuitous fight scene when writing violence? How do we create a scene that will engage smart readers in critical, aware and rigorous ways? ...
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One on One Workshops | Fiction, Essay, Prose Poetry, Rae Bryant

One on One Creative Writing Workshop

Welcome to the One on One Creative Writing Workshop. Thank you for trusting us with your words. We look forward to reading your creative writing: fiction, short story, short short ...
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Rae Bryant

The Novel: From Start to Finish

Create Unforgettable Characters. Unforgettable characters are the heart of an unforgettable narrative. Using a number of guided structural and narrative explorations, you will explore your characters and ask your characters ...
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[Em]Powering the Self Workshop: Fiction, Poetry, Creative Nonfiction and Hybrid Narratives

[Em]Powering the Self Workshop: Fiction, Poetry, Creative Nonfiction and Hybrid Narratives

Welcome to the "Evolving Origins Workshop." In this course you will explore how progressive experiences with cultures, both your own and others, inform your writing voice. You'll add additional "writing ...
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Magic Realism Writing Workshop

Magic Realism Writing Workshop

Magic Realism is the sweet spot between realism and the fantastic. In this course, you will read short works and excerpts from foundational magic realism authors such as Virginia Woolf, ...
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The Undead Workshop: Coming Soon...

The Undead Workshop: Coming Soon…

We will read and view excerpts of undead works such as Zombie Survival Guide, World War Z, Pride, Prejudice and Zombies, Day of the Dead, The Walking Dead and more ...
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The Eckleburg Workshops: Online Writing Workshops

Eckleburg offers noncredit online writing workshops in fiction, poetry, essays, short stories, the novel and more. The writing workshops are intended for writers who want to focus on craft in an encouraging, professional, diverse environment. 

All writing workshops are work-at-your-own-pace. When you are ready for individualized feedback—developmental edits, line edits and endnotes—submit your work. Our instructors have graduate degrees and professional publication experience in their writing workshop focuses and are happy to meet participants at whatever writing stage and focus participants find themselves. Participants may complete assignments anytime. We are open to English-speaking and writing participants both locally and globally and encourage gender and cultural diversity with a focus on historically marginalized voices.

Our instructors are award-winning and published authors and hold degress from/taught at the Iowa Writers Workshop, Iowa’s International Writing Program, Johns Hopkins, Yale, Brown, Harvard, Columbia, New School, New York University, SUNY, Portland, San Diego State University, New York University, Bennington, the University of Illinois at Chicago, Loyola University Chicago, the University of Oregon and more. They live in Washington D.C., New York, Chicago, Ankara, San Diego, LA and Denver. Several of them are award-winning and with books out. They have been interviewed and published in The Paris Review,  The New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, McSweeney’s, The Rumpus, The Nervous Breakdown, The New York Times, Salon, and more. What our instructors share is an eye for innovative storytelling with solid narrative structure as well as a focus on personal voice. Learn more about our individual instructors. More Questions? Visit our FAQs Page.

Methods

Each work has its own strengths and needs, successes and focus areas. I approach each new work with an eye toward individual voice so that the work can take on a life of its own that focuses on your intentions. Below, you’ll find a link for submission guidelines and submitting your manuscript. As we move through your work, we’ll look at the following:

    • What is the intention for the work, as communicated on the page and as is essential to the main characters?
    • What is the authentic voice of the narrator, and how can this be brought out thoroughly and to the work’s best interest?
    • What is your authentic voice and how can this be coupled with the needs of the narrative voice?
    • Developmentally, how can the character arcs and the overall narrative be brought to fuller realization?
    • Linguistically, how does the cadence, syntax and repetition in language support the overall artistry of the piece? 
    • Mechanically, are the choices being made in the overall best interest of the authentic narrative voice?
    • What can be strengthened from word choice and comma usage?

Thank you for joining us at The Eckleburg Workshops. I promise to honor your hard work and talents.

How intensive is the Eckleburg Writing Workshops schedule?

You will be able to log in and complete the weekly writing prompts, readings, discussion prompts, etc. as it best fits into your schedule, whether you are at home or traveling. The online visual structure of the course makes it easy to read and respond via your desktop, laptop and smartphone.  Submit work for individualized feedback when it is convenient for you and your project.

How do I register for the Eckleburg Writing Workshops?

Begin by clicking on the workshop link you would like to take. Next, click on the CART link and you will be taken to the payment portal where you can pay by credit card or Paypal. You can CANCEL at anytime with a click. 

The Eckleburg Gallery

eckleburg gallery

eckleburg gallery

About The Eckleburg Gallery

Since 2010, we have been an online, print and pop up gallery space for contemporary and international artists, including event installations in Washington D.C., New York, Chicago, Boston and more. We seek to share provocative art forms in all media through intimate, intellectual moments in which aesthetics and ideas entwine. We are committed to providing artists an international platform to explore voice, context and form in canvas, sculpture, performance, digital media, intermedia, video, technology and more. We encourage all aesthetics with gender and diversity awareness.