Vine Leaves Literary Journal Issue #05 is now live. Plus, we're open for submissions!

*excerpt from the Vine Leaves Newsletter.

It is said that January was named after the god Janus, the two-faced “spirit of opening” with the ability to look both backwards into the old year and forwards into the new at the same time.

How appropriate for Vine Leaves, as we remember our first year with fondness, and literally float into 2013 on a cloud of success. This experience – from our humble beginnings as a quarterly journal through to the publication of our first anthology – is almost surreal, and it is with much pride, and gratitude, that we launch our fifth issue.

And, oh, how ethereal it is.

Much like Vic Caswell’s “Seaweed” graphic vignette, the artistry in our January issue will entangle you in powerful prose, and pull you into its depths with artwork that explodes with vivid hues, abstract imagery and photographic precision. From Sean Enfield’s brilliant Poem Written in a Gas Station Bathroom and Derwood Morris’ clever Story of Derwood, through to the emotional pull of Misty Waters’ Gone, Gone, Gone, we invite you to get wrapped up in our fifth issue of Vine Leaves.

In the true spirit of opening, please turn the page (or click this link) ...

Submissions open!
Love Vine Leaves? Love to write? Perfect. Our submissions inbox for the April 2013 issue is now open! Send us your best snapshot in time -- poetry, prose, illustration, photograph or original artwork - for the opportunity to be published in our sixth issue, launching Friday, April 13th. How very lucky. Deadline for submissions is February 28, 2013. Remember, all published vignettes throughout 2013 will be considered for our annual "Best of" anthology.

VINE LEAVES IS HIRING!
Hurray! Our inboxes are overflowing with YOUR work. Poetry, prose, pictures and more - powerful vignettes that inspire us, excite us, and yeah, sometimes overwhelm us. Trust us, we're not complaining. But as the journal continues to grow, we recognize we can't do it all on our own, not while keeping our mandate of giving each submission the consideration it deserves. So, we're hiring.

Well, kind of. As you know, Vine Leaves is a labour of love and our work is volunteer. For us, it's more important that our contributors get paid (as minor as that is). But, quite frankly, what we don't take in cash reward, YOU give back in immeasurable riches - your support.

We're looking for a couple of passionate, dedicated and vignette-loving volunteer editors to help us navigate our impressive inbox. Interested? Great. We don't need a formal resume, but please e-mail your expression of interest along with a paragraph telling us WHY you want to join the Vine Leaves team and WHAT you think you could bring to the journal. We'll take it from there.

Deadline: February 28, 2013