Black Sun Lit accepts 100 submissions per month.

digital vestiges is an online series of fragments and ephemera. Black Sun (generally) reads submissions for digital vestiges year-round, accepts only previously unpublished work, and allows simultaneous submissions in the good faith that the writer promptly notifies us if their work has been accepted elsewhere. For consideration, please submit—in one file—either 1–5 works of prose (no more than 5,000 words), up to 5 poems (no more than ten pages), or 1 essay (3,500–5,000 words). We are also open to translations, interviews, and/or works of drama, and enjoy debate on any artistic endeavor as it relates to our mission statement.

Vestiges is Black Sun’s irregularly printed journal of prose, poetry, essay, works in translation, and art. Themes, submission guidelines, and open reading periods vary: Subscribe to our mailing list or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, or Tumblr for announcements and related information. Submissions for Vestiges are currently closed.

 

Prose

We are open to any form. We favor writers who bear similarity to authors like Samuel Beckett, Rainer Maria Rilke, Jean Genet, Rachilde, Unica Zürn, Marguerite Duras, Louis-Ferdinand Céline, and Clarice Lispector. We are not particularly fond of genre fiction, narratives driven by references to popular culture, or suburban realism.

Poetry

We are interested in aesthetic infinity. Some examples of the poetic we admire include Stéphane Mallarmé, Guillaume Apollinaire, Ghérasim Luca, Gertrude Stein, Paul Celan, Mina Loy, and Alejandra Pizarnik. Work overtly concerned with structural integrity may not be taken seriously.

Essay

We are looking for theoretical essays that cover marginalized writers, philosophers, theorists, critics, and/or visual artists who have never been under serious study. We do not want book reviews, personal essays, or the politically saturated.

Translation

We welcome submissions of translated fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama that both pay respect to Black Sun’s influences and give expression to the press’s aesthetic objectives. Submissions should include the original work and, if required, permission from the author or the author’s original publisher/copyright holder 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
– Technical details
– Influences
– Author biography
– A (short) list of previously published/forthcoming work

Furthermore, we 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 one year (online) or one issue (print) from when 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—partial withdrawal notifications delivered by email are likely to get lost in our inbox. Lastly, as of May 20, 2016, we are no longer accepting unsolicited book manuscripts.

Black Sun reserves the right to immediately dismiss—without notification—any work that does not observe our submission guidelines.

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Send queries to: editor [at] blacksunlit [dot] com