about Calla Press, the Literary Journal
WHO WE ARE
We publish articles on faith, poetry, prose, essays, flash fiction, short fiction, and book excerpts. Max is 5,000 WC per literary genre.
As of August 2026, we are open for online literary submissions only. We are currently not accepting entries for a print journal at this time. Please subscribe to know when we do open for a print journal!
Please fill out our Formester form here to apply and submit your work. Entries submitted by any other means will be overlooked. Thank you for understanding. Please wait two weeks before submitting new work. Simultaneous submissions welcome. Please expect to wait one to two months before hearing back about the status of your submission.
Welcome to Calla Press
Calla Press began in 2017, when our founder first started publishing others' work on her website. In 2019, that early collection of writing evolved into an online literary journal through Issuu every year thereafter, laying the foundation for what would become Calla Press.
The journal soon expanded into an annual print publication. You can find our published journals online.
Today, Calla Press is an established literary journal publishing work submitted online on a rolling basis. We remain committed to creating a thoughtful, lasting space for writers and their work.
Articles
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The Ministry of Hard Things by Emily Curzon
“Should we bail?” I asked my husband as we loaded everyone into the excruciatingly hot car. We built the idea up in our minds when the weather had been slightly more ideal, and now we faced an age...
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No Trial So Hard by Jayne English
“No trial is so hard to bear as a sense of sin.” –– Valley of Vision, Confession and Petition I was reading H.J. Massingham’s Poems About Birds and came to “The Nightingale” by Sir Philip Sidn...
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Faith, hope and love. Hope is the hardest, sometimes.
To be precise, it’s hard every morning, when I get on the el and see my neighbor slumped over. The other day, I found a seat, took out my book to read—and then I saw him. A kid, maybe fifteen; he ...
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Cheering for Others by Alisha Machalica
The stands were crowded, but somehow all of our extended family had managed to find seats together at Vincent's graduation. Even Grandma and Grandpa were there to cheer for cousin Vincent. Today w...
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Instructions for the Catechumen by Timothy E.G. Bartel
Don’t vocalize the “P” within the “Psalms,” To mispronounce will indicate you're new At this religion stuff. It's fine. Review The oddments of the language: “homage,” “alms,” The sharp stigmata on...
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I Wanna Live More Than Half Alive by Dalton Olive
“The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, serenely, divinely aware.” — Henry Miller The ache has shown itself countless times in my 32 years, but one of the clearest m...
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