Ploughshares, one of the nation's most enduring literary journals, has long served as a bellwether for contemporary writing. Founded in 1971 at Emerson College, it has published early work by writers who went on to define American letters, and its pages remain a reliable index of formal ambition and emotional precision. The journal's commitment to unsolicited submissions is a rare and principled stance in an era of closed reading periods, and it reflects an institutional belief that literary gatekeeping should remain porous to new voices. The submission call is open to fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, with no fee required. This absence of a fee is significant: it signals that the journal prioritizes access over revenue, and it places Ploughshares in a distinct category among peer publications. Writers are asked to submit a manuscript of up to 10 MB in doc, docx, or pdf format, along with a cover letter. There is no prize attached to this call; it is a standard reading period, not a contest. The reward is publication itself, which for many writers carries more weight than any cash award. The curatorial vision of Ploughshares has historically favored writing that is both artful and accessible, work that rewards close reading without being hermetic. The editors seek narratives and poems that demonstrate control of language, a sense of structure, and an authentic voice. While the journal does not prescribe themes, recent issues have shown a predilection for writing that engages with the complexities of contemporary life—identity, memory, dislocation, and the quiet dramas of the interior. This is not a venue for genre fiction or experimental writing that prioritizes concept over craft. It is, rather, a home for writers who understand that the sentence is a moral unit and that story is a form of knowledge.