Who We Are: 

Outskirts (n) — The fringes of a place, existing with and pushing against imposed boundaries. 

Outskirts publishes poetry, short stories, essays, hybrid works, and visual art. We seek to amplify a wide range of voices from emerging and established artists. In fact, we'd love to be your first publication!

We want to read work that, like rural spaces, challenges the constructs of what’s interesting, valuable, or sacred. While we’re interested in place-based writing, we have a broad understanding of what “place” can be — a body, a mind, a cookie jar, a mountain range — and care more about a piece’s connection to the world than anything else. For a better sense of our aesthetic and mission, please read our first issue. 

We charge a $3 reading fee for general submissions to support the costs of running a literary journal. We also offer a 2-week expedited response for an additional $5. 

If the reading fee is a barrier, we don't want this to deter you from submitting your work. Please reach out to outskirtslit@gmail.com to request a fee waiver. 

We don't have the capacity to pay contributors at this time, but we hope to in the future. What we can offer is a home for your work, publicity on socials, and a personalized editorial experience. 

General Guidelines

We accept simultaneous submissions, but we ask that you notify us immediately via Submittable if your work is accepted elsewhere. We only consider unpublished work. We do not accept anything generated using AI, nor anything discriminatory.

Our goal is to respond to your submission within eight weeks. We accept work on a rolling basis, so it benefits you to submit early during our open period. If you haven't heard from us after two months, please send us an email at outskirtslit@gmail.com to check the status of your submission.

If we've published your work in the past, wait until two submission periods have passed before submitting again. However, we do love sharing our previous contributors’ new publications on Instagram, so please DM or email us with good news! 

Outskirts acquires first serial publishing rights, including electronic rights and the right to promote on socials. All ownership reverts back to the author upon publication. Please credit Outskirts Literary Journal with first publication if published or reprinted elsewhere.

We offer 50 free submissions for BIPOC individuals in both poetry and prose. This option will close after the submission cap has been met.

For our second issue, we’re piloting the visual art category. Because of this, we’re offering free submissions for this reading period. 

Click on each tab for instructions regarding genre-specific submission guidelines.