Ribbons Submission Guidelines

Ribbons Submission Guidelines

Submissions to Ribbons, the Tanka Society of America journal, are open to TSA members and nonmembers alike. Your submissions must not be under consideration elsewhere, submitted to any contest, or previously published anywhere at any time, including online. However, tanka posted to online workshop lists or on Facebook are permissible. All rights revert to authors upon publication, except that the TSA reserves the right to reprint content from its publications on TSA social media sites and its website.

Ribbons seeks fresh material of the highest standard to present to our readers. Any tanka with a sensibility that distinguishes the form will be considered. Therefore, we welcome different syllable counts, varying individual styles and techniques, and are open to diverse yet appropriate subject material. We also welcome essays that offer fresh insights and information. As our space for essays and interviews is limited, please query the editor with a summary before writing your essay in full.

We also publish a twice-yearly members-only online journal, Laurels, which requires separate submissions.

Submission Deadlines

Ribbons submission deadlines are in-hand no later than the following dates:

The Ribbons editors will respond to all submissions within one month of each submission deadline.

Tanka and Tanka Sequences

For each issue, you are welcome to submit either up to ten original, unpublished tanka or two tanka sequences (not more than six tanka per sequence) or one tanka sequence and up to five tanka.  From among these, one individual tanka or a sequence may be selected. Email submissions are preferred (please include all text in the body of each email; no attached files, please, unless requested). Please submit to ribbonseditor@gmail.com with the subject heading “Ribbons Submissions.” You can also submit by postal mail:

Susan Weaver

Ribbons Editor

127 N. 10th St.

Allentown, PA 18102 USA

Tanka Prose

Please send one tanka prose piece to Liz Lanigan, our tanka prose editor, at tankaproseeditor@gmail.com. Please put “Ribbons Submission” in the subject line. The prose should not exceed 300 words. The number of tanka is flexible (within reason and when in service to the whole). Please include a creative title.

While submissions by email are preferred, you may also submit tanka prose by postal mail:

Liz Lanigan

Ribbons Tanka Prose Editor 

38 McClure Street

EVATT ACT 2617, Australia

Book Reviews

Please query Ribbons editor Susan Weaver (at ribbonseditor@gmail.com or at the following postal address), before sending your book for review:

Susan Weaver

Ribbons Editor

127 N. 10th St.

Allentown, PA 18102 USA

Note

These submission guidelines do not apply to submissions for the “Tanka Hangout” column or our online journal Laurels (both open to TSA members only). See the Tanka Hangout Submission Guidelines and Laurels submission guidelines.


For more than twenty years, the society also published poems in a previous column titled “Tanka Café,” and for one year in the “Tanka Studio” column. See our old Tanka Café Submission Guidelines and Tanka Studio Submission Guidelines.