We are already someway into January, and writers are looking to send out their works of prose and poetry. Here is a list of magazines currently open to submissions. All are free to submit to, and some pay their contributors.
You should check them out.
The Threepenny Review
This reputable magazine is open for submissions from January to April. It publishes fiction, nonfiction (including critical pieces and memoir), poetry, and Table Talk pieces. Contributors include Imbolo Mbue, Otosirieze Obi-Young, and Okwudili Nebeolisa. It pays $200 per poem or Table Talk piece, and $400 for fiction and nonfiction.
Submit here.
A Public Space
This important magazine welcomes submissions from every genre, including graphic and hybrid work. It published the Caine Prize-shortlisted title story of Arinze Ifeakandu’s forthcoming God’s Children Are Broken Little Things. Accepted contributors are paid an honorarium.
Submit here.
Better Than Starbucks
This poetry and fiction journal is “especially interested in reaching out to international and African communities beyond the English-speaking world.” Each of its issues dedicates a special section to African poetry and it pays an honorarium of $20 to selected contributors.
Submit here.
Isele
Founded in 2021 by the novelist Ukamaka Olisakwe, Isele has published established and emerging African writers, including Chika Unigwe, Romeo Oriogun, Makena Onjerika, and Logan February. It pays contributors a modest token.
Submit here.
Lolwe
The magazine founded by the Kenyan writer Troy Onyango will accept submissions for its fifth issue through the month of February. It is looking for work that is “bold, different, and blurs or pushes boundaries.” It offers a modest remuneration for accepted work.
See more details here.
Afreada
Founded by Nancy Adimora in 2015, this Afrocentric magazine publishes fiction, nonfiction, and photography. Its next submission period opens on February 1 and runs to March. It pays £25 for all accepted works.
See more details here.
34 Orchard
Founded in 2019, 34 Orchard is looking for “dark, intense pieces that speak to a deeper truth.” It isn’t genre-specific and is open to publishing works that are scary, disturbing, unsettling, and sad. It pays $50.
Submit here.
Novelty Fiction Gazette
The quarterly digital magazine, based in Jacksonville, Florida, is accepting submissions for its Issue 13, Spring 2022. It pays $30.
Submit here.
Maudlin House
This journal welcomes flash, poetry, and fiction submissions. It is particularly looking for work that explores the human condition and admires “all forms of transgressive, absurdist and minimalist literature.” It publishes a new issue every month and is always open to submissions.
Submit here.
Diagram
An electronic journal of text and art, Diagram is interested in “representations. . . in the labeling and taxonomy of things. In poems that masquerade as stories; in stories that disguise themselves as indices or obituaries.”
You can submit here.
Kitchen Table Quarterly
This journal is “preoccupied with history—cultural, political, geographical, personal—and how each interacts with the other to mold our experience. . . works that spills secrets and wipes dust off old memories.”
Submit here.
There you have it. Get writing and submitting, and may the Universe be with you.
