Barstow & Grand

05/21/2026

While we continue reading all the incredible submissions for issue #10, here's one more web feature from issue #9. "The Band in the Bank Vault" is a semi-autobiographical, partially fictionalized story from Timothy Lord's past. See if you can discern which parts are true!

In the early days of punk rock I auditioned for a band in an empty bank vault beneath a Taco Bell near the corner of 7th and Hennepin in downtown Minneapolis. I doubt the bank vault and the Taco Bell, which shared an outer entrance from the street, are still there. The block next to them, Hennepin A...

05/05/2026

A tremendous THANK YOU to everyone who submitted work for our tenth issue! Our reader teams are currently diving in, and all submitters will hear back from us by mid-summer. In the meantime, please enjoy Kassandra Vilchis's poem from issue #9!

Kassandra Vilchis is a poet based in Minnesota. Her work thoughtfully examines themes of grief, womanhood, and generational relationships. She was recently short-listed for the Central Avenue Poetry Prize. Her writing appears in Bending Genres Journal, Rowayat, Roots & Ruins anthology and the Upon L...

04/28/2026

For the sake of all the procrastinators, we're keeping submissions open through the end of the weekend, May 3rd. Send us the prose and poetry you're most proud of! It's going to be a fantastic issue #10, and we'd love for you to be a part of it.

https://www.barstowandgrand.com/submissions

04/22/2026

Our most heartfelt congratulations to Steve Fox, whose story "These Are My People" from B&G #9 was selected as a finalist for Madison's Art + Literature Laboratory Zona Gale Award for Short Fiction! Check out Steve's short story collection, and submit your own work to B&G!

04/14/2026

THIS THURSDAY, B&G will help celebrate the Chippewa Valley Writers Guild's 10th birthday at Brewing Projekt in Eau Claire! Whether you attend all of CVWG's offerings, or this will be your first foray into the local writing community, the CVWG is something special--way more special than a lot of people realize--and it deserves all the recognition we can give it! See you there!

04/10/2026

FROM STREET CORNER TO PRINT: 10 years ago, the local literary journal Barstow & Grand was founded with the single intention to support writers of the Chippewa Valley and has continued to do so. The submission window for issue 10 is now open, from March 1 to April 30.

🔗 Read the full story: volumeone.org/articles/2026/04/01/385795-barstow-grand-welcomes-submissions-for-issue-10

03/25/2026

As an upper-Midwestern journal, we publish a lot of pieces with upper-Midwestern themes, but it's not all seasons and farming. Check out "Burned," by Suzanne Zipperer, and when you're finished, submit your own slice of upper-Midwestern weirdness!

Bob the Burn Guy operated an illegal burn pit that was never extinguished, releasing dark smoke from worn tires, creosol-treated railway ties, asbestos siding, and every other kind of garbage a hoarder might throw in because the eight acre lot was too chocker block full with school buses, leaky RV c...

03/19/2026

Today's to-do list:
1. Read Joshua Forehand's energetic piece of nonfiction from B&G #9
2. Be inspired
3. Submit your own work to B&G #10!

I’m three years old, maybe four. We’re living in a sh*tty prefabricated rental in a dust-coated West Texas trailer park. I chase h***y toads and lizards all day. Mom’s behavior is getting strange and more erratic. She sleeps a lot. I’m old enough to know something is wrong. 

03/13/2026

If you need something to do this weekend during, say, a historic snowstorm, why not send us some of your writing?

https://www.barstowandgrand.com/submissions

03/05/2026

Barstow and Grand is at AWP! While we glad-hand the literary movers and shakers, we hope you’re preparing your submissions. We’re open now and can’t wait to read your work!

www.barstowandgrand.com