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 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. 

Submissions for Issue 02 will be open from September 1st to November 15th, 2025. We’ll no longer be accepting submissions through email, as we have moved to Submittable.

Please submit your work in a single (Word) .docx file. Spacing should be single-spaced for poetry and double-spaced for prose, unless special formatting requires otherwise.

Utilize a standard 12-point font and include page numbers in your header.

Poetry: 3-5 poems for a maximum of ten pages. Poems should start on a new page.

Prose: up to 12 pages. Multiple flash pieces are okay!

Visual Art: Submit up to 10 pieces of visual art. We're super open to all forms and genres. Please submit the highest quality file of your work as possible.

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 We only consider unpublished work.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.