Between the Lines
Between The Lines
Between the Lines, a literary magazine sponsored by the English faculty of SouthArk, provides a showcase for creative writers, ages 18 and older, who live in the college’s service area, which includes Ashley, Bradley, Calhoun, Chicot, and Union Counties in Arkansas, as well as Union, Claiborne, and Webster Parishes in Louisiana. Submissions are also accepted from writers younger than 18 if they are full-time students at SouthArk. The college publishes the magazine each fall and welcomes submissions of original poetry, short fiction, and essays from January through early October each year. The editors seek high quality material and invite creative writers – both published and unpublished – to treat the magazine as an outlet for their best poetry and prose.
Because we target a general audience in south Arkansas and north central Louisiana, we are looking for well-written, mainstream poetry or prose manuscripts that avoid extremes in subject matter and language. We welcome personal essays that explore everyday subjects and issues, short fiction that vividly delivers a slice of life in a memorable style, and poems that evoke powerful images without sentimentalism or predictability.
Fiction and essays should be no longer than 3,000 words, and poems should not exceed 50 lines. Simultaneous submissions are acceptable; previously published works are not. We acquire First North American Serial Rights; all other rights revert to the author upon publication. The editor will respond to all submissions within two months after the deadline. Published authors will receive three copies of the issue in which their work appears.
Copies of the previous year's volume are available at the college bookstore at 300 South West Avenue in El Dorado for $5.00 each as well as by mail for an additional $2.00 each for postage and handling. Mail order requests should be addressed to Phil Ballard. Checks should be written to South Arkansas Community College.
Submission Requirements
All submissions should be typed and double-spaced, with the author’s name, address, and telephone number on the first page. However, the author’s name should not appear on subsequent pages. The approximate number of words should also appear on the first page of short story and essay manuscripts. In a cover letter, please include biographical data that may be used if your submission is published as well as a short list of previously published works, if applicable. Writers must be legal residents of one of the specified counties or parishes at the time of submission and publication.
Disk copies: please e-mail all manuscripts to the editor. This will keep the staff from having to re-type manuscripts for the printer. When submitting your work by e-mail, type “Between the Lines” in the subject box so your message will not be deleted as spam.
Be sure to include a stamped, addressed envelope for a letter of acceptance or rejection. If you wish to have a rejected manuscript returned, the return envelope must have the required amount of postage. Manuscripts received without a stamped, addressed envelope will not be acknowledged.
Address submissions to
Scott Larkin, Editor
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Between the Lines Literary Magazine
South Arkansas Community College
P.O. Box 7010
El Dorado, Arkansas 71731-7010
The Institutional Sponsor
To learn more about the magazine’s institutional sponsor, South Arkansas Community College, write the Vice President for Academic Affairs at the address above, call (870) 862-8131, or e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .