Yellow Arrow Journal is a biannual publication of creative nonfiction, poetry, and cover art by writers and artists who identify as women.

About Yellow Arrow Journal

Submissions for Yellow Arrow Journal (fall 2026, Vol. XI, No. 2) on VIGIL are open from now until August 31.

Please show some love to the guest editors of VIGIL Gwen Van Velsor and Annie Marhefka. They are both well known to our community, and we are excited to have both oversee the creation of our fall 2026 during our 10-year anniversary. Hear from Gwen and Annie herself about the focus of the next issue, those moments in life, in the creative process or otherwise, when you let go of the outcome.

yellowarrowpublishing.com/news/art-letting-go-guest-editor-yaj-xi-02-vanvelsor-marhefka

For more information on how to submit to the issue, visit our submissions page.

Support the journal by ordering a discounted bundle of the 2026 issues (No. 1 WONDER, No. 2 VIGIL), for yourself, for your office, or as a gift. Bundles of volumes IX (2024 ELEVATE and kitalo) and X (2025 UNFURL and KAIROS) are also available. Learn more about our bundles at yellowarrowpublishing.com/store/yellow-arrow-journal-bundle.

Past issues of Yellow Arrow Journal are available in the Yellow Arrow bookstore, on Amazon and through most online distributors, and in bookstores in Baltimore and beyond. Thank you to all who submit and share and for your continued support. For an editorial statement from our Editor-in-Chief, see below.

Meet the Guest Editors

Editorial statement

At Yellow Arrow Publishing, we pride ourselves on nontraditional publishing methods that align with our nontraditional publishing company. We seek to uplift underrepresented voices and to allow women-identifying writers to exist and be heard exactly as they are.

We believe that publishing is a vehicle for storytelling and that each storyteller should have the freedom to tell the truest version of their story. This means that we don’t focus on common style guides and norms and that we don’t change our authors’ voices into something they are not.

While we provide a basic copyedit of each journal issue, manuscript, and chapbook that we publish, we prioritize maintaining the unique voice and style of each of our authors. Instead of fixating on grammar perfection (though we will fix errant commas), we focus on the heart of each piece: we want the ideas, themes, and styles of our writers to shine.

We believe that every writer has a story to tell and that every story is worth telling.

We want every writer we publish to come out of the process feeling heard, valued, and needed.

We believe that your story matters. That you matter.

And we want you to be heard.

Kapua Iao, Editor-in-Chief

JOURNAL ISSUES: FROM JOURNEY (VOL. I) TO WONDER (VOL. XI)