It’s time to come out of hibernation, folks, and show your creative sides.

As Minnesota’s weather slowly transitions from winter to spring, the Austin area has no shortage of events coming up to strike your creative fancy as we prepare for our biggest artistic endeavor of the year.

Austin Living is kicking off the submissions period for Austin Expression, a literary magazine set for its third year in the July-August edition of Austin Living. Submissions will be due on Friday, May 12.

As we’ve seen through the Austin ArtWorks Center, the Austin ArtWorks Festival, events at local schools and articles appearing here in the Austin Daily Herald, the community has no shortage of creative people.

That’s why each year, we strive to give them a place to share their work with their friends and neighbors.

With the Austin ArtWorks Festival turning the focus to the arts every August, the July-August edition of Austin Living magazine has morphed into our annual arts issue with arts-focused stories and, of course, Austin Expression.

Leading up to the May 12 submission deadline, the community has several arts-themed events to help inspire your creative sides.

The second annual first through eighth grade Austin Public Schools Youth Art Show will be on display at the Austin ArtWorks Center, 300 N. Main St., through April 1, and it’s open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays.

April 17 will be the annual Eberhart Poetry Night, where students from each Austin school share poetry they’ve written.

Then “Good Night, Mr. Wodehouse” author Faith Sullivan will give a presentation at the Austin Public Library at 7 p.m. on April 20 to cap the annual Page Turners citywide read.

Leading up to Sullivan’s April 20th visit, other events will be held around town.

Who can submit?

Any Mower County resident, former Mower County resident or a tie to the community.

What can you submit?

This community publication highlights a variety of pieces — essentially, 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.

Where do you submit?

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.

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

Is money involved?

No. The cost to submit is free and people are welcome to submit more than one piece; however, we don’t pay for publication.

Submitting to Austin Expression

To help the Austin Living staff when organizing submissions — especially for art submissions that may come in multiple emails — please fill out the quick following questionnaire when submitting to Austin Expression.

•Name of artist/writer:

•Number of submissions:

•Submissions description or type:

•Email:

•Telephone number:

•City of residence:

•What’s your connection to Austin/Mower County: