Persimmon Tree is a quarterly online literary magazine celebrating the creativity of women age 60 and older. They publish fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and visual art, with fiction and nonfiction accepted year-round and additional opportunities for poetry and themed short works. There are no submission fees, and the editors especially encourage more fiction, Creative Life submissions, and visual art. Read my interview with Editor-in-Chief Peggy Wagner below to learn more about what they’re looking for and how to submit.

HOPKINSON: How/why was Persimmon Tree originally started? 

WAGNER: Persimmon Tree  was founded by Nan Gefen in 2007. Nan realized then that older women, no matter what their artistic accomplishments, were increasingly marginalized. Late in the year, looking out her window in California, she saw a persimmon tree, which was still bearing fruit. In fact, as has been noted by many, persimmons are at their most nutritious and succulent as the year winds down. That’s why Nan chose the name Persimmon Tree for the publication she launched that year. She did this, of course, with assistance. This included the help of Janet Holmgren and others at Mills College in California (Janet Holmgren is now a member of Persimmon Tree’s Board of Directors) and other supporters, including Gloria Steinem, who was present at the launch of the magazine–and in whose honor we are currently striving to establish an annual award for feminist writing.

HOPKINSON: Who is your target reader audience? 

WAGNER: While we are a magazine devoted to celebrating and publishing the continuing creativity of women 60 years of age and older, our target audience is everyone–female, male, younger people, and those of age–who appreciate the importance of the creative arts.

HOPKINSON: What type of work are you looking for in submissions? 

WAGNER: In short, work of originality and integrity. But I realize that’s too amorphous. Thus potential submitters should know that in our Fiction and Nonfiction sections–which accept submissions all year–we’re looking for fine writing and interesting ideas. Our Short Takes section looks for short (500 words or fewer) prose or poetry on the topic specified for a specific issue. Twice a year, we open submissions to poets from specific geographic areas (the other two issues each year are columns by our very talented Poetry Editor, Cynthia Hogue). Twice a year, we also publish a feature called “The Creative Life,” which features essays–and sometimes fiction–about the agonies and ecstasies of the creative process. Anyone interested in submitting to Persimmon Tree should consult our SUBMISSIONS guidelines (please see the subject headings at the top of the front page of our website.

HOPKINSON: What do you wish you’d see submitted, but rarely comes in? 

WAGNER: What an intriguing – and difficult – question! We receive so much that is amazing and fulfilling. But we do receive much more nonfiction than fiction. And we’d love to see more well-written fiction. We’d also love to see more submissions for our Creative Life feature: what are the problems, fears, plusses and minuses older women encounter when they send their work out into the world.

HOPKINSON: What are some of your favorite lit mags/journals?

WAGNER: I certainly can’t speak for my colleagues–each of whom is an accomplished woman in her own right. But I will say that I love to read Lit Mag News, by the amazing and prolific Becky Tuch–which keeps me in touch with so many wonderful publications, and the challenges we all face. I deeply appreciate the continuing work of such magazines as Narrative, Ploughshares, Craft, and The Avalon Literary Review (which, full disclosure, published one of my own stories a while back). I find it hopeful that there are so many venues out there waiting to publish creative work. Though–and to emphasize and reiterate–older writers of fiction, nonfiction, who might have become  discouraged and decided that no one will listen to them–remember that Persimmon Tree is here and eager to consider their work. Work that we are striving to introduce to women and men of all ages.

HOPKINSON: What is your favorite part of being on staff with the Persimmon Tree?

WAGNER: I love (let me emphasize that, LOVE) the interaction with the women who submit their work to us–as I love working with the amazing team of unpaid volunteers (all of our editorial staff) who keep this magazine alive, and who also admire all the members of what we term our Persimmon Tree community – i.e., all the women who subscribe to us and those who submit their work to us. (And, by the way, I do love the occasional complimentary emails we receive from men and younger women; we want to see more of those!!) Of course, we cannot publish every submission we receive. But we love connecting with–and encouraging–all our readers and submitters, as we also strive to let men and younger women know about our magazine and the riches it contains.

HOPKINSON: Where can we send submissions? 

WAGNER: We ask that all interested look to our Submissions guidelines, which can be accessed at the top of our main page, or at https://persimmontree.org/submissions

HOPKINSON: If someone has a question, how can they contact you? 

WAGNER: I welcome all questions, of course. Please send them to editor@persimmontree.org.

HOPKINSON: Is there anything exciting coming up you’d like to mention? 

WAGNER: There are always exciting developments with us as we evolve. Right now, as we enter our fall fundraising campaign (Persimmon Tree is funded almost entirely by donations) we are striving to establish an annual award honoring our supporter Gloria Steinem. And, in addition, next year, we will be announcing another annual award: for fiction. Please “stay tuned” for more information on both those awards.

Click here to read submission guidelines.

• SUBMISSION DEADLINE: We accept fiction and nonfiction submissions all year round – as we do for our Creative Life section. See our Submissions Guidelines for information on Poetry, Short Takes, and the Persimmon Tree Forum.
• THEME(S): Persimmon Tree issues never have a general theme. However, please note the special requirements of our Poetry and Short Takes sections.
• FORMAT: online, electronic (PDF/other), print, audio, etc. Persimmon Tree is an online magazine only. We now include audio versions of much of the prose we publish.
• SUBMISSION FEE: None. We do not currently require any submissions fees.
• PAYMENT: None
• ISSUE FREQUENCY: Persimmon Tree is a quarterly online publication.
• AVERAGE RESPONSE TIME: We strive to (1) acknowledge submissions immediately and (2) let submitters know our decisions within 6 months.
• SUBMISSION METHOD: Persimmon Tree accepts direct email submissions. Please see our Submissions guidelines.
• SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS: Persimmon Tree does accept simultaneous submissions. We ask that submitters let us know, immediately, if something they’ve submitted has been accepted by another publication.
• FORMS: Persimmon Tree accepts fiction and nonfiction–including for our Creative Life section (all year). We accept poetry twice a year, for our regional poetry section (please see our guidelines). We also accept poetry, as well as prose, for our Short Takes section – as long as the poetry and prose is in accord with the Short Takes theme for a particular issue (again, please see our Submissions guidelines). Though we do have an Art section which, in each issue, highlights specific artists chosen by our Art Editor, we do accept art submissions for visual art that we may use to illustrate our many other sections. We therefore encourage art submissions. Please see the relevant section of our Submissions guidelines.
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