SUBMIT

Welcome to the World

Parentheses Journal is a bi-annual publication. We welcome unsolicited submissions of poetry, prose and art, not necessarily in that order. Please make sure you read our submission guidelines carefully.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the publication date for Issue 15 has been delayed. We intend to launch the issue before the end of year, and all contributors have already been informed.

READING PERIOD

Parentheses Journal is open for submissions on the following reading periods

Spring Reading Period

Nov 20 – March 10

Fall Reading Period

May 20 – Sep 10

Given the large volume of submissions, a reading period might close earlier than expected for some categories. We will accept submissions on a rolling basis through our reading period. You will be updated about the issue in which your work will be published as more information becomes available. Our editors curate work in accordance with what best aligns with a particular issue.

We are a small team of dedicated volunteers. We request you to kindly adhere to our submission guidelines and ensure that you do not submit twice within the same reading period. As editors, we are rooting for you and want to give your work the full consideration it deserves.

GENERAL SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Parentheses Journal welcomes diverse and interdisciplinary narratives. We seek work that straddles across varied paradigms, in form and content.

Please do not submit work to us that is misogynist, sexist, racist or homophobic. We are committed to being a safe space for artists and writers, and will not tolerate communication that enables bigotry.

No identifying information in the submission document.

We read and select your submissions without seeing the cover letter or bio to ensure fairness. Kindly DO NOT include any identifying information in your submission document. We will automatically reject pieces that do not follow this, so check your submission carefully before sending it to us.


Send a cover letter with your submission. 

Blank emails will not be entertained and will be deleted unread. Please include a brief cover letter and introduce yourself, the title of your pieces, and anything else you would like to share with us. This letter will be only viewed by our founding editors in the last phase of the consideration process to ensure a blind peer-review process.

Please send your submission in a new email that does not include an email thread with a response to your previous submission. This practice has caused several backlogs and we would not be responding to such submissions. If you need to withdraw any part of your submission, only then reply to us in the same email thread as your submission for that particular issue.

Please do not include a third person biography or a long list of prior publications. We will request a brief biography upon acceptance.


We actively seek to publish and celebrate diverse voices.

Our founding editors are deeply committed to ensuring that the contributor community of Parentheses Journal are people from multitude areas of life.

We welcome international submissions and are especially interested in works by contributors that identify as women, non-binary, LGBTQ+, disabled, immigrant, working-class, trans, indigenous and anyone else living and working in a fluid space of identity.

Response time is around 3 months.

We will attempt to respond as quickly as possible but bear with us as we are a small journal run by volunteers.

Please allow up to 3 months for us to inform you if we’ve selected your work for publication.


We DO NOT accept previously published work.

This includes content previously appeared in print or online (including on your personal blog or website).

Artwork and photography may appear online on the artist’s web portfolio/blog /social networks but must not be published by any literary journal, magazine, or self-publication.  In case you are unsure, please send us an inquiry via email or by using our contact form


We accept simultaneous submissions.

However, we request you to let us know by email (email id) at the earliest if your work is accepted for publication elsewhere. We will celebrate your success.


Note for Previous Contributors

If you have already been published in Parentheses Journal please refrain from submitting for one reading cycle after the date of the issue in which you were published.

POETRY - SUBMISSIONS OPEN

We welcome all genres of poetry, in form, length, and content. We specifically like poems that move us in an organic way and work in new and interesting ways with form and content. Set the rules aside.

  • Please title your email subject line as Your-Name — Poetry.
  • Please title your word documents as per the poem title, and submit each poem in their individual document.
  • If your poems rely on specific formatting on the page, note that Parentheses Journal is printed on pages that are 6 inches wide x 9 inches tall, with written column spacing of 3.5 inches wide. Long poem lines/ prose poems may be wrapped around the page.
  • Please do not use Microsoft Word’s indents to shape your poems. You can add spaces using the spacebar.
  • Please send up to two poems, single-spaced only, as a .doc or .docx format to editors@parenthesesjournal.com

FICTION - SUBMISSIONS OPEN

We want great themes and largesse. We want muffled curtains to sift and utter. We want personification, mire, and myth. We want skins of your tales. Think consciousness, brevity, and spirit.

  • Please title your email subject line as Your-Name — Fiction.
  • Please title your word documents as per the story title, and submit each story in their individual document.
  • Do include the number of words on the top right of your document or in the document’s header.
  • Please send up to two flash fiction/short stories, single-spaced only, of not more than 2000 words as .doc or .docx format to editors@parenthesesjournal.com

ART - SUBMISSIONS OPEN

We delve into everything and find art. It runs through fields and mist, sounds of winds within locks of trees, the discursive semicircle of a used tin. The satisfaction to create, know and share. There is art where you attempt to look outside in, for it is no monolith.

  • Please title your email subject line as Your-Name — Art.
  • Note that Parentheses Journal is printed on pages that are 6″ wide x 9″ height, with artwork encompassing the entire page. Submissions might get cropped accordingly.
  • We do take landscape-oriented (horizontal) artworks as well as a full two-page layout(12″x9″), keeping in mind the composition of the artwork is such that subject details are not lost in the spine of the journal.
  • Please send up to six pieces of artwork in a .jpeg format at 300dpi + an artist statement, to editors@parenthesesjournal.com
  • Do note all artwork will be printed in Black and White. Colored artwork, if accepted, will be automatically converted to BW art during printing.

PHOTOGRAPHY - SUBMISSIONS OPEN

We encapsulate varied interpretations into a moment, and that is photography. It embodies hues and transcends a second into newer ways of looking, through a fresh lens.

  • Please title your email subject line as Your-Name — Photography.
  • Note that Parentheses Journal is printed on pages that are 6″ wide x 9″ height, with photographs encompassing the entire page. Submissions might get cropped accordingly.
  • We do take landscape-oriented (horizontal) photographs as well as a full two-page layout(12″x9″), keeping in mind the composition of the photo is such that subject details are not lost in the spine of the journal.
  • Please send up to six stand-alone photographs or photo essays in a .jpeg format at 300dpi, + an artist statement to editors@parenthesesjournal.com
  • Do note all photographs will be printed in Black and White. Colored images, if accepted, will be automatically converted to BW images during printing.

COPYRIGHTS

By agreeing to allow us to publish your work, you, the contributor, grant Parentheses Journal First World Serial Electronic Rights & First Print Publishing Rights to the work & non-exclusive Archival Rights so we can keep it archived online. We also reserve the rights to use and re-use the work, contributor’s name, image, and/or biographical data in advertising or promotional purposes in print or digital mediums.

Additionally, we reserve rights for publication in any of our future print anthologies, which would be communicated to you, the contributor, beforehand. Reprints of your work that previously appeared in our publication are considered second serial rights. These rights are non-exclusive, meaning the contributor can sell the piece to many publications at the same time. In case your work is republished elsewhere, we ask that you credit Parentheses Journal.

You, the contributor, confirm that your work is wholly original, does not violate or infringe upon the copyright or privacy of any other person, company, or organization whatsoever and that you, the contributor, are the sole owner and creator of the work to be published. You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Parentheses Journal and its staff from and against any and all claims resulting from a breach of this warranty.

All other rights revert to the contributors upon publication in Parentheses Journal and we would be honored to receive an acknowledgment should your piece appearing with us is reprinted elsewhere in future publications.

PAYMENT

Parentheses Journal is available online and print-on-demand. Any funds received from print-on-demand is solely used for the administrative costs of running the journal.

We are currently a non-paying market.  Although this is a non-monetary engagement, we passionately promote our writers and artists in all that we do.

We nominate works by our contributors for major awards. We have so far nominated works published in our journal for Bettering American Poetry and Best of the Net.

NOTE TO CONTRIBUTORS

When you submit to Parentheses Journal, you agree to be added to our email lists. You may unsubscribe from these lists at any time.

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