I was talking to a friend over the phone recently about the divisive political climate when he made a surprising statement: He argued the political unrest and discourse is sure to spur an uptick in the great art being produced.

I bring this up now not to argue about the merits of any one political party or idea, but to point out that a certain level of unease and angst fuels creativity. That got me thinking about Austin Expression, the literary magazine portion that publishes annually in the July-August edition of Austin Living magazine.

I’ve said it before, Austin Expression has quickly become one my favorite parts of Austin Living. It gives Austin and Mower County residents a chance to show their creativity. And you never know what you’re going to get for submissions.

We accept submissions of art, poetry, short stories, pictures of sculptures — you name it.

Though we’re still a few months away from the 2017 submission deadline for Austin Expression pieces, it’s never to early to start the process of crafting a submission.

So start readying your submissions or perfecting your pieces, because May will be here before you know it.

What can be submitted?

As was our mantra in the first few years: We’ll accept anything that can be represented in print. That means art; poetry; short stories; song lyrics; mixed media; photographs; illustrations; pictures of sculptures, pottery and origami; and more.

However, we are again limiting written submission, especially fiction and nonfiction, to 1,500 words or less due to space limitations.

We also ask those submitting visual pieces to send the largest possible file sizes. Austin Living is a glossy magazine, so higher quality images will print the best. That may mean sending images in multiple emails or even via sites like Dropbox. That’s perfectly fine.

We don’t have a firm deadline set year, but it will likely fall on the first or second week of May. Submissions should be sent to newsroom@austindailyherald.com with “Austin Expression” in the subject line. Along with an email, please include a phone number if we have questions.

The cost to submit is free and people are welcome to submit more than one piece; however, we don’t pay for publication.

With questions, feel free to contact me at newrsoom@austindialyherald.com or 507-434-2235.