Dearest human, submissions are currently closed. We are building Issue Five. General submissions will reopen in July. The Clark Closser Memorial Literature Contest will open in the fall. xoxo, Magpie

general submissions

Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, book reports, experimental/unclassifiable, and visual art—artwork, photography, collage, comics.

The prose word limit is 2500. For poetry, submit 1-3 pieces. For visual art, submit 2-4 pieces. We strongly favor work with depth and unique insight that explores the human condition and leans toward unusual, possibly urgent, and slightly unhinged. Life is absurd, and we like being moved in unexpected ways by its absurdity. Unsettle us. Charm us. Send us something entirely YOU. To make sure we’re a good fit for each other, view our issues. All content is free.

For humor, we’re currently accepting delightful middle school book reports.

pub basics

We publish a bound, online issue (no paywall) and feature individual contributor pages.

We only accept submissions through Submittable, and submissions are generally open unless we’re between issues or have reached our capacity, emotionally and Submittably. Note: Poetry subs tend to fill quickly. If you don’t see an option to submit poetry, poetry submissions have closed for that reading period.

We don’t charge a submission/reading fee for general submissions. Please only submit to one category per reading period. Multiple submissions will be declined.

Magpie is now a paying market! For Issue Five, we are able to pay a small $15 honorarium per published written piece and $15 per artist for artwork.

Submissions must be previously unpublished, original, and from the original creator. (Sharing on your personal social media or personal blog is fine. We don’t consider this a publication.) For artwork, it should not have been previously published online or in a major print publication. We only accept work created by corporeal human beings.

Our current response time is about four months. Each editor reads every submission in their genre, so sometimes hearing from us can take a little longer. We only read for one issue at a time.

For Issue Five, we’re thrilled to have Lee Baker join us as a guest editor.

rights & releases

Your work belongs to you.

We will publish, lovingly promote, and maintain a copy online. If your submission is later published elsewhere, please mention its home on Magpie Zine.

p.s.

Our list of absolutely nots:

1. Racist, queerphobic, transphobic, misogynistic, xenophobic, fascist, exploitative, ableist, or appropriation of experiences and communities that aren’t your own. We also refrain from publishing creators whose work may not espouse these views, but who personally do.

2. We do not, never ever, no way at all, want AI-created work. Do not send us that unoriginal bologna. “AI” literally has the word “artificial” in it. Artificial anything is in direct opposition to everything we value, support, and try to represent.

We reserve the right to remove your work from our site without notice if we become aware of cringey behavior, plagiarism, or other issues not enumerated here.

If we have already published your work, please wait three issues before sending us more.

If a piece was previously declined, please do not resubmit it unless encouraged to do so.