If you are a writer with an identity that is marginalized or traditionally marginalized, please feel free to submit here. We wish to support BIPOC writers, writers with disabilities, queer and LGBTQIA+ writers, and neurodivergent writers. 

Your stories and words are necessary, and we are so excited to read them.   General Guidelines  We accept previously unpublished poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please let us know right away if your work is accepted elsewhere. You can include a cover letter full of amusing tidbits about you or of fascinating trivia you learned from a podcast recently, but we are not interested in reading a list of the journals your work has appeared in. What is important to us is that you are sending us writing that feels urgent and necessary, work that is ready to go out for a stroll in the world. 

As a journal, we are committed to publishing diverse voices of all kinds.   We know how nerve-wracking it can be to check your inbox every morning, hoping to hear back from a journal, so we do our best to make our turnaround time as quick as possible. We will try to respond to every submission within two months, if not sooner. Please do not send more than one submission in any genre until you have heard back from us. After receiving our response, please wait three months before submitting again. 

 We aren't looking for particular styles or types of writing, but here are some things we consider when reading: 

 Poetry   Nothing excites us more than a stellar combination of image and sound. We’re interested in how the two collide and inform each other and the work they’re doing. Images that have energy are the best images. Sound and form that follows content are the best sounds and forms. We want to be able to understand what’s going on in your poem by the weight and lilt of it in our mouths. We read everything aloud. We pay attention to line breaks. If we’ve seen it before, we don’t want to publish it. Please send up to three poems of any length. 

 Fiction  We’re into fiction that explores the human condition with empathy and curiosity. We love reading fully realized characters who are pushed and challenged, and clear, carefully-crafted sentences that bring them to life. Speculative, experimental, and flash fiction are absolutely welcome here. Please, no work over 7,000 words, and send only one short story or three flash pieces.   Nonfiction  We love nonfiction pieces we can’t classify. If it’s a brief flash prose poem using academic language that’s also a sonnet, we want to read it. We most admire essays that (like poetry) emphasize image, that show the process of discovery. Please send only one piece at a time.

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Peatsmoke Journal