Jelly Bucket [jel-ee buhk-it]
-noun
1. archaic slang for a lunch pail, formerly used by coal miners and other laborers residing in Appalachia.
2. EKU's annual graduate student–produced literary journal.Reading period EXPANDED! Opens January 1 and ends June 1
Jelly Bucket is published annually by the MFA in Creative Writing Program at Eastern Kentucky University. Founded in 2009, Jelly Bucket features established and new writers. We accept works of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction from anywhere in the world. At least one eight-page color insert in each issue is dedicated to visual art that incorporates text and/or features an aspect of the book arts.
Purchase a Copy By Check
To order by mail, please send a check made payable to EKU Dept. of English for $12 to: Jelly Bucket, 467 Case Annex, 521 Lancaster Ave., Richmond, KY 40475. Please do not send cash.
Submitting Your Work
We now only accept electronic submissions via our submissions portal:Jelly Bucket submission manager. ---> Submit to Jelly Bucket
Only one submission per person per reading period. Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please let us know immediately if your submitted work is accepted elsewhere. All hard copy submissions will be recycled and will not be returned. No previously published work, please. We define previously published work as a piece published in another journal, either paper or electronic in a book or chapbook—even a self-published one—or one that is currently online in a public blog or within a public forum.
Poetry
Please send us no more than five poems at a time. One poem per page. Format poems on the page as you would have them printed. .Non-fiction
Non-Fiction pieces of up to 10,000 words are welcome. Please double-space all entries..Fiction
Please limit word count to 10,000. For short fiction (less than 1,000 words), up to 3 pieces may be submitted.Text as Art
Each issue features a text-as-art/book arts project. Project images can involve any media, but must incorporate text or font design, calligraphy, tattoos, book design, crossword puzzles, or other aspects of text as art or the book arts. You may query first, send us a CD, direct us to a web site to review your work, or submit low-res samples of your project through the submissions portal. To inquire by email: art@jellybucket.org.