Black Sun Lit accepts 100 submissions per month via Submittable. Please be familiar with the type of work we publish before submitting. We do not accept unsolicited book manuscripts.
digital vestiges: We (generally) read submissions year-round and consider only unpublished work. For consideration, please submit—in one file—up to 5 poems (no more than 10 pages) or 1–5 works of prose (no more than 3,500 words). Interviews, art, and works of drama are also welcome.
Vestiges: Themes, submission guidelines, and open reading periods vary. Subscribe to the BSL mailing list or follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or Tumblr for announcements and related information. Submissions for Vestiges are currently open.
We are interested in meanderings and stammerings. We favor work which bears similarity to that of Samuel Beckett, Jean Genet, Claude Cahun, Unica Zürn, Marguerite Duras, René Crevel, Gertrude Stein, and Clarice Lispector. We are not particularly fond of genre fiction, narratives driven by references to popular culture, or suburban realism.
We are interested in silences and aesthetic infinity. Some examples of the poetic we admire include Ghérasim Luca, André Breton, Mina Loy, Francis Ponge, Aimé Césaire, Hölderlin, Paul Celan, Alejandra Pizarnik, Rosmarie Waldrop, and Kim Hyesoon. Work overtly concerned with form may not be taken seriously.
We are interested in theoretical essays that present different positions on marginalized writers and philosophers, theorists, critics, and/or visual artists that have largely been been neglected by mainstream (i.e. academic) scholarship. We do not want book reviews, personal essays, or the politically saturated.
We are interested in translated poetry and prose that give expression to our influences and literary objectives. Submissions should include the original work and documentation from the author or the author’s original publisher/copyright holder indicating that permission has been granted, or the rights are available, to publish the translation online and/or in print.
Please note that for all submissions, we require every writer to submit a brief cover letter, which may include:
– Genre(s) to which the work might be indexed
– Genesis of the work and technical details
– Influences
– A (short) list of previously published/forthcoming work
We allow simultaneous submissions (in the good faith that the writer will promptly notify us if their work has been accepted elsewhere) and request all writers wait until they’ve heard back from us before sending additional work (we aim to reply within 3–6 months). For past contributors, please wait at least 2 years (online) or 2 issues (print) after your work last appeared before submitting to us again (unless otherwise solicited). If withdrawing only a part of a submission, e.g. a poem, we ask that writers add a note to their submission via Submittable.
We reserve the right to immediately dismiss—without notification—any work that does not observe our submission guidelines.
