Work first published in Burningword goes on to anthologies, prizes and books. This page gathers the pieces our editors have nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net, and new books by past contributors.
Pushcart Prize nominations
2026 6 nominees
- I get asked to be on a podcastRon RiekkiPoetry · January 2025
- Spencer Jones Ate the Last DodoRose Mary BoehmNonfiction · January 2025
- How To Identify a BodyJudith Mikesch McKenziePoetry · April 2025
- My New Exercise BikeAngela TownsendNonfiction · July 2025
- Why Thinking About Taxis Makes Me SadPete FollansbeePoetry · October 2025
- CrawlspaceMeggie RoyerFiction · October 2025
2025 6 nominees
- ElectPatrick T. ReardonPoetry · July 2024
- “Not everything’s a poem”Larry OaknerPoetry · April 2024
- LuchaChristopher Rubio-GoldsmithPoetry · January 2024
- We Are the EnablersRichard LeBlondNonfiction · January 2024
- Tell Me, Tall ManMatt WanatFiction · October 2024
- Time Travel SubletHeather BourbeauFiction · January 2024
2024 6 nominees
- O The LeavingJennifer Randall HotzPoetry · April 2023
- Dragonfly Puzzle BoxElya BradenPoetry · October 2023
- Moon ChildAnn WeilPoetry · October 2023
- Clapping GameEvan Morgan WilliamsFiction · January 2023
- The Twilight ZoneLorraine Hanlon ComanorNonfiction · October 2023
- The GoatsJuyanne JamesFiction · October 2023
2022 6 nominees
- CadgeSteven DeutschPoetry · January 2021
- An Exploited BodyAnnie ElizabethPoetry · January 2021
- Shiny PerfectMichael AroFiction · January 2021
- If Right Now Everything StopsHannah Story BrownNonfiction · April 2021
- DormantCaroline N. SimpsonNonfiction · July 2021
- Country BoyRobert NisbetPoetry · July 2021
2021 6 nominees
- Figs and SnapsVirginia WattsNonfiction · January 2020
- How To Recognize An AmericanCarol HamiltonPoetry · January 2020
- Ice MeltingDan JacobyPoetry · April 2020
- GreenShoshana Tehila SurekPoetry · April 2020
- Nonagenarian+ Role Model Not Racked With ConcernsGerard SarnatPoetry · April 2020
- GraceSue PowersFiction · October 2020
2019 6 nominees
- BabelogueMichelle BowdlerNonfiction · January 2018
- Give Me Joy, Not LibertyGrethel RamosPoetry · July 2018
- Charles Mingus’s MiracleSean MurphyPoetry · October 2018
- ChessMichael Karl RitchiePoetry · October 2018
- EyelessHeath BrougherPoetry · October 2018
- The Machinery of the StateAndy PosnerPoetry · October 2018
Best of the Net nominations
2027 13 nominees
- Hot RhythmKenneth BoydPoetry · April 2026
- chrysalisKimmy ChangPoetry · July 2025
- I’ve Spent My Life Separated from LivingBethany JarmulPoetry · July 2025
- Huck at the altar of drainage culvertsLucinda TrewPoetry · July 2025
- Unfavorable Weather Over the BayBrooke WiesePoetry · April 2026
- Why Thinking About Taxis Makes Me SadPete FollansbeePoetry · October 2025
- The Tender EarthRome SmaouiFiction · July 2025
- TestFrancine WitteFiction · January 2026
- Sleeping ArrangementsMary Ann McGuiganNonfiction · October 2025
- So You’ve Decided to Convert Your Middle-Aged Bedroom into a Magical Forest but All You Have is Amazon and WeedSarah SorensenNonfiction · January 2026
- Storm Over Ocean / Tree DownD.M. FrechVisual Art · January 2026
- MultiLozengeJean WolffVisual Art · July 2025
- a friendly reminder / ilgesysGreta KaluževičiūtėVisual Art · April 2026
2025 13 nominees
- Everywhere All the Time (with a Line from Ashley Capps)Eric RoyPoetry · April 2024
- Metaphysical ExamLiz IrvinPoetry · January 2024
- Paternity TestCarol AlexanderPoetry · January 2024
- The EmpathAnne ChampionPoetry · October 2023
- Came as RavensMark Anthony BurkePoetry · October 2023
- the allMara Adamitz ScrupePoetry · July 2023
- WORKEROLICKMark CrimminsFiction · April 2024
- Under the Texan SunSuzanne C MartinezFiction · January 2024
- Yard SaleSarah Chavera EdwardsNonfiction · April 2024
- It’s Ungodly Cold in KahramanmaraşCaroline N. SimpsonNonfiction · January 2024
- Allium, Hydra, GreeceRoger CampVisual Art · April 2024
- Another Political SeasonStephen Curtis WilsonVisual Art · April 2024
- Antique Aquarians 1Steve ZimmermanVisual Art · January 2024
2024 13 nominees
- Blind in One Eye, Can’t See Out of the OtherCyn KitchenPoetry · April 2023
- Miss You and the Blue Jean HatMD BierPoetry · October 2022
- Thursday, 12:20 p.m., Saturday, 2:22 p.m., Thursday, 3:25 p.mJustin LacourPoetry · July 2022
- The Very First Venus FlytrapDante NovarioPoetry · July 2022
- Do You Have an Accent?Elizabeth CurleyPoetry · April 2023
- Ode to Candle StubCathy HollisterPoetry · October 2022
- FallingJulia PooleFiction · April 2023
- ForecastAaron SandbergFiction · July 2022
- Governing the Western FieldRichard HolingerNonfiction · April 2023
- AggregatesDian ParkerNonfiction · July 2022
- Barn en Route to LowevilleJim RossVisual Art · October 2022
- PharmacopiaMichael HowerVisual Art · April 2023
- JaywalkingLarena Nellies-OrtizVisual Art · January 2023
2022 13 nominees
- Bad Memories of the Good Old DaysJuan David Cruz-DuartePoetry · April 2021
- Bench Warrant WednesdayTobi AlfierPoetry · April 2021
- Country Road at Night, North Carolina, 1979E. Laura GolbergPoetry · April 2021
- The Final ExamElison AlcovendazFiction · January 2021
- How to Draw a HorseDaisy BassenPoetry · April 2021
- Hunger StonesClaire ScottPoetry · January 2021
- Grace in Four PartsMichelle Cacho-NegreteNonfiction · April 2021
- Just Take Me HomeHarry LongstreetVisual Art · January 2021
- Limited LightPaul RabinowitzVisual Art · July 2020
- Solo FlightAdeet DeshmukhVisual Art · October 2020
- Sonny Rollins’s BridgeSean MurphyPoetry · January 2021
- A Tale of Two BicyclistsHiram PerezNonfiction · October 2020
- We Don’t Promise You a Rose GardenTheo GreenblattFiction · January 2021
2021 10 nominees
- DualityAlice B FogelPoetry · July 2019
- On The Complexity of SymbolsMichele ReesePoetry · July 2019
- Visiting Poet in LockdownGlen SorestadPoetry · July 2019
- Inauguration DayCharles SpringerPoetry · October 2019
- Beach TripDanielle HansonPoetry · October 2019
- FlightKelley Jean WhitePoetry · April 2020
- The Obedient DaughterJoel WayneFiction · April 2020
- Stop a SecondJames William GardnerFiction · April 2020
- IntersectionCarlos Andrés GómezNonfiction · October 2019
- Figs and SnapsVirginia WattsNonfiction · January 2020
2020 10 nominees
- Mailbox Number EightHaydée TouitouNonfiction · April 2019
- The Statue of Robert E. Lee Contemplates his RemovalScott McDanielPoetry · April 2019
- Waking at NightSharon ChmielarzPoetry · July 2018
- PopeyeMichael Karl RitchieFiction · January 2019
- VantablackStuart James ForrestPoetry · July 2018
- Unarmed CombatNicolas RidleyFiction · January 2019
- The Absurdist Son of an Immigrant Grapples with Comprehending His Google News FeedGary SinghPoetry · July 2018
- Lobster in BrothGregory LosellePoetry · January 2019
- Noble Metal, Best of ClassGerard SarnatFiction · July 2018
- Psychologists Say That When Someone Calls You by the Wrong Name, It’s Because They Love YouKasandra S. LarsenPoetry · April 2019
2018 10 nominees
- The Blue OnesNatalie E. IllumPoetry · April 2018
- The Patriarch Strokes a White Cat (Or How to Defeat Fascism)Viviane VivesFiction · April 2018
- All Earth is Dull and MuddyAlani Rosa Hicks-BartlettPoetry · April 2018
- Train at Night in the DesertAmie SharpPoetry · January 2018
- Toxic GamingPatricia ColemanNonfiction · April 2018
- We’d PlannedLowell JaegerPoetry · January 2018
- My Own Van GoghCharles LeipartFiction · April 2018
- Strangler FigBeth ShermanPoetry · October 2017
- High School LunchKelsey Ann KerrPoetry · October 2017
- BabelogueMichelle BowdlerNonfiction · January 2018
New books by contributors
Recent books by writers first published in Burningword.
Undercover Butterfly
Poems by Carella Keil · Dark Thirty Poetry Publishing
Surrealism, blunt simplicity, loss and awe, sex and stars. Every poem a chrysalis, every thought a damp wing.
ISBN 978-1-9191648-8-5 · Buy at Bookshop.org
Current Disasters
Stories by Jen McConnell · Magical Jeep Distributing
Twenty-two flash and short stories about the ways we try to connect with others and the larger world: false starts, unresolved endings, and the agonizing moments in between.
Jen McConnell has published prose and poetry in more than forty literary magazines and has twice been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her first story collection, Welcome, Anybody, was published by Press 53.
- Big Time: Contemporary Stories of the American SouthJames William Gardnerjameswilliamgardner.com
- Busted FlatMichael Loyd GrayNovella · Blue Cedar Press
- Born WithMichael DaleyPoems · Dos Madres Press
- On The Badlands Of New TimesPaul BambergerPoems · Deerbrook Editions
- Selling The FarmDebra Di BlasiNonfiction · C&R Press
- Cocktails with a Dead ManJoe AlbanesePoems · Cyberwit.net
- Crafting WingsJoseph MurphyPoetry · Scars Publications
- Fraying Edge of SkyDanielle HansonPoems · Codhill Press Poetry Award Winner 2017
- Spokes of an Uneven WheelColin DoddsPoems · Main Street Rag
- EpochPaul FauteuxPoetry · Finishing Line Press
- Ambushing WaterDanielle HansonPoetry · Brick Road Poetry Press
- WatershedColin DoddsNovel · CreateSpace
