subs

Issue #25 is now closed for submissions 

We usually accept:

  • Poetry (1–4 poems, up to 8 pages total)
  • Fiction (up to 4,000 words, no minimum)
  • Creative Nonfiction (up to 4,000 words, no minimum)

Submission guidelines:

  • Submit your work through Duosuma (email submissions won’t be accepted)
  • You may submit to all genres (but only one submission per genre, thank you!)
  • We accept simultaneous submissions, but if your piece is accepted elsewhere please let us know as soon as possible (either through Duosuma or email)
  • We don’t accept reprints
  • Submissions that contain hate speech, any form of bigotry, or any writing the Headlight team deems unacceptable will be immediately rejected
  • We strongly encourage subs from BIPOC+ & 2SLGBTQIA+ writers
  • Anyone can submit!

Submit through Duosuma

about duosuma

Duosuma is our submissions manager.

Email submissions won’t be accepted.

Submissions are always free, with an optional tip jar, which helps pay for Duosuma & coffee for our volunteer editors!

You’ll need a free Duotrope account to submit.

thoughts on genre(s) from our editors

Poetry:

A poem is language that displays—through imagery, sound, syntax, form, or lack thereof—its mechanisms, wounds, contradictions, complicities, and ambiguities.  A poem renders the unbelievable believable, the believable absurd.  A poem has the capacity to astonish us and astonish us again. 

Fiction:

Fiction is like candy floss or steel. It’s sweet and addictive in a sickening way or a satisfying one, depending on who you are. You want to wrap it around your fingers and then lick them clean, or chuck it in the waste bin and forget you ever saw it. It’s hard and reflective and it makes you think in ways you do not like – if you throw a rock at it, the rock will bounce off. Words can’t be dented, you can’t crush ideas. All that to say, send us what you want us to see – send us the stories that are unformed in your head and can only live fully once written and then read. We’ll publish what we can, reject some of what we wish we did not have to, candy floss, steel, waste bin, rock, take words and tell us stories with them. Make the similes dance with your syntax.

Creative Nonfiction:

A piece of creative nonfiction contains a nugget of truth—a thread of real—and how that is brought to life is entirely up to the writer. What never happened is not a lie, and what’s been finely polished is not an embellishment. Instead, creative nonfiction is the beauty of a story retold with retrospect, inspired by what could be, and delivered through writing that connects meaningfully to readers.

We do not accept submissions via email, but for any questions please contact us at headlightanthology{at}gmail{dot}com