Literary Journals
The Department of English sponsors several literary publications and projects for UWF students and the community. The department publishes Troubadour (the university's student-edited literary and art journal) and Panhandler Books (a book imprint of original creative writing distributed by University Press of Florida.) The Department of English also sponsors the UWF Poetry and Art Nature Trail on the Edward Ball Nature trail on the UWF main campus.
Troubadour
Troubadour is UWF’s annual student-edited and designed literary journal of selected art and creative writing from student submissions across campus. Submission guidelines are announced each year early in the Fall semester. For more information, contact jfink@uwf.edu
2027 Troubadour Submission Guidelines
UWF's annual student literary and art journal, Troubadour, is now accepting submissions of original poetry, short fiction, creative nonfiction, photography, and artwork from UWF graduate and undergraduate students across the university. Please feel free to share these guidelines. Flyers and social media posts are also forthcoming.
Troubadour will have a theme for this year’s publication – Voices: The Relationship Between Art and Self. This theme’s purpose is to inspire you to submit work that best represents you and/or your artistic perspective. You may submit work on any topic. Please send any questions and submissions to troubadoursubmissions@gmail.
Submission Deadline: End of Day, Tuesday, October 13, 2026
Creative writing submissions should be sent to: troubadoursubmissions@gmail.
Art submissions should be sent to: troubadourartsubmissions@
Please send your work as an attachment and include your name, department, and UWF student email address in the body of the email. Because of our desire to capture the spectrum of student work being done at UWF, student submissions may only include artwork, one short story, one nonfiction piece, and/or 3-5 poems.
Artistic Integrity: Troubadour encourages you to indulge in the artistic process and all challenges it has to offer. Therefore, all works you submit must be your own.
Prose Submissions:
- Short fiction and creative nonfiction only—no critical essays
- Fiction and nonfiction submissions should not exceed 4,000 words.
- Accepted file formats are .rtf and .doc (MS Word)
Artwork Submissions:
- 2-D artwork and photography. Photos of larger art projects, such as statues or paintings, are accepted as long as the photographs follow the art submission guidelines. Images may be color or black and white.
- All artwork must be submitted as .tiff files and attached to the submission email
Poetry Submissions:
- All poetic forms are acceptable
- Accepted file formats are .rtf and .doc (MS Word)
Panhandler Books
In Spring 2015, the Department of English at the University of West Florida launched Panhandler Books. Distributed by the University Press of Florida, Panhandler Books publishes poetry, fiction, and nonfiction consistent with its mission to champion underrepresented literary genres. Publishing one book every two years, Panhandler Books will provide exceptional attention to the work published in the series.
Panhandler Books:
- Proper Imposters Four Novellas by Chaya Bhuvaneswar, Mauricio Montiel Figueiras, Jason Ockert and Jeff Parker
- Spectacle by Lauren Slaughter
- This Luminous by Allan Peterson
- Knives, Forks, Scissors, Flames by Stefan Kiesbye
- Wasp Box by Jason Ockert
UWF Poetry and Art Nature Trail
The UWF Poetry and Art Nature Trail at the Edward Ball Nature Trails on the UWF main campus is made possible by a grant from the UWF Living Lab Program. The goal of the UWF Poetry and Art Nature Trail is to inspire participants to see deeply into themselves and their relationship with the natural world and to create and share their own poetry and art. Each of the signs in the UWF Poetry and Art Nature Trail contains a poem or work of art followed by a prompt for participants to respond with their own poetry and art.
The UWF Poetry and Art Nature Trail features work from national, regional, historical, and contemporary artists and poets including Mary Ann Carroll, Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, John Markowitz, Mary Oliver, Milicent Patrick, Charlotte Pence, Alexis Rockman, Lyda Toy, and William Butler Yeats.
Additional information about the UWF Poetry and Art Nature Trail is available on the companion website. The Department of English also welcomes and leads class visits to the UWF Poetry and Art Nature Trail for UWF students/courses and K-12 classes from the community. To schedule a class visit, please contact the Department of English at 850.474.2923 or english@uwf.edu.