Welcome to Prime Number Magazine!
ISSUE 137, july — september 2018
Our Eighth Anniversary Issue!
(a Press 53 publication)
Winners and Finalists named in the 2018 Prime Number Magazine Awards!
Prime Number Magazine is home to distinctive poetry and short fiction from writers around the world. Browse our selections by clicking on the author's photo or title of the poem or story.
Winners of our monthly Flash Fiction Contest
Low $7 entry fee (a prime number) and a nice prize of $251 (also a prime number)
February 2018: "First Floor Foolin'" by Colin Packard, judged by Kevin Morgan Watson
March 2018: "Deep Blue" by Jonathan Segol, judged by Steve Mitchell, author of The Naming of Ghosts
April 2018: "Lost Hills" by Ann Hillesland, judged by Joseph Mills, author of Exit, pursued by a bear
Winners of our FREE 53-Word Story Contest
Winner receives a free book by that month's judge
March 2018: "Might Get Lucky" by Anne Anthony, judged by Kevin Morgan Watson
April 2018: "Hailstones" by Laura Ruth Loomis, judged by Liz Prato, author of Baby's On Fire
May 2018: "The Gift" by Nancy Jorgensen, judged by Barbara Presnell, author of Blue Star
Editors' Selections
Each issue, we ask our guest editors to select their favorite poems or stories from those submitted during our open submission period. Submissions are free and only accepted through Submittable. Send us a poem or story now for Issue 149, Jan-Mar 2019.
Guest Editor for Poetry
Terri Kirby Erickson
Terri Kirby Erickson is the author of five full-length collections of award-winning poetry. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in American Life in Poetry, Artemis Journal, Asheville Poetry Review, Atlanta Review, Boston Literary Magazine, Christian Science Monitor, Cutthroat: A Journal of the Arts, Journal of the America Medical Association, Kakalak, Literary Mama, NASA News & Notes, North Carolina Literary Review, Poet's Market, storySouth, The Christian Century, The Writer’s Almanac, Valparaiso Poetry Review, Verse Daily, and many others. Awards include the Joy Harjo Poetry Prize, Nazim Hikmet Poetry Award, Atlanta Review International Publication Prize, Gold Medal in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards, and a Nautilus Silver Book Award. She lives in North Carolina. Her most recent collection is Becoming the Blue Heron.
Guest Editor for Short Fiction
Jeffrey Condran
Jeffrey Condran is the author of two works of fiction: a short story collection, A Fingerprint Repeated (Press 53), and a novel, Prague Summer (Counterpoint). He is the faculty co-advisor of University of Arkansas Little Rock’s literary magazine, Equinox, and co-founder/publisher of the independent literary press, Braddock Avenue Books.
Meet Our Guest Editors for Issue 149, Jan-Mar 2019
(Submissions are open now through September at Submittable)
Guest Editor for Poetry: Howard Faerstein
Click here to read Howard's bio and his poem "You Ask How I Describe You to My Friends" from his collection GooGootz and Other Poems coming from Press 53 in October.
Guest Editor for Short Fiction: Virginia Pye
Click here to read Virginia's bio and her story "Best Man" from her short fiction collection, Shelf Life of Happiness, out from Press 53 in October.
prime number
: any integer other than 0 or ± 1 that is not divisible without remainder by any other integers except ± 1 and ± the integer itself (Merriam-Webster's Dictionary)
In literature: poetry and prose that is distinctive and unique (Prime Number Magazine)
Prime Number Magazine is a Press 53 publication, founded by Clifford Garstang and Kevin Morgan Watson on July 1, 2010, beginning with Issue 2 and continuing in prime numbers.