Call for Submissions: Torch Literary Arts

Torch Literary Arts seeks original creative work by Black women writers. We are interested in work that challenges and disrupts preconceived notions of what Black women’s contemporary writing should be. Your stories and poems are valuable and necessary. Write freely and submit work you are excited to share with the world.

Reading Period

• General submissions are accepted for Friday Features only.

• We accept submissions on a rolling basis.

• There is no submission fee. 

Simultaneous and Multiple Submissions

• Simultaneous submissions to other journals are welcome as long as they are identified as such and we are notified immediately upon acceptance elsewhere.

• Please submit one (1) entry to one (1) genre at a time. Wait until you receive a response on your submission before submitting again.

• If accepted, please wait one (1) year after publication to submit to Torch again in any genre.

Manuscript Guidelines

• Include a one (1) page cover letter noting the title(s) of the work(s) submitted.

• Upload your text submission as a Word (DOC, DOCX) or portable document format (PDF).

• Typed, double-spaced (poetry may be single-spaced) pages.

• Numbered pages.

• Margins should be set at no less than 1” and no greater than 1.5”.

• Poetry: submit up to five (5) poems totaling no more than eight (8) pages.

• Fiction, Creative Nonfiction: 12-point font. Double-spaced. No more than fifteen (15) pages or 3500 words (whichever is achieved first). Excerpts of longer works are welcome if self-contained.

  • We want CNF that is thought-provoking, engaging, and personal. Please see the following examples for the type of creative nonfiction we publish:

    • Samantha Irby, “My Taste is Basic, So What?”

    • Ashley C. Ford, “My Father Spent 30 Years in Prison. Now He’s Out.”

    • Roxanne Gay, “Vehicular Manslaughter”

    • Safiya Sinclair, “Revisiting My Rastafari Childhood”

    • Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton, “Two Traumatic Births Changed My Experience of Motherhood”

    • RaeJeana Brooks, “Worm Food Support Group”

• Script (plays, screenplays): submit one act or a collection of short scenes no longer than fifteen (15) pages. Excerpts of longer works are welcome if self-contained. Indicate if a performance video or dramatic audio reading will be available with the text submission if selected.

Restrictions

• We do not reprint previously published work for Friday Features.

Submitting Online

• We accept submissions via our online submission management system only. Submissions via postal mail or email will be discarded without response.

• To submit online, please use the Torch submission management system, found here.

Notifications and Queries

• Expect up to three months for a decision. Using our online submission system (Submittable), you will be able to track the status of your submission. Contact us after three months with questions via our contact form. 

Publication & Compensation

• Publication is online at TorchLiteraryArts.org unless expressly stated for print publication.

• All work will be archived on our website. 

• Authors with work selected for a Friday Feature will receive a $150 (US) payment.

• All rights revert to the author after publication. 

​Awards

• All work accepted for publication is considered for nomination for the following external awards: The Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, The O. Henry Prize, and the AKO Caine Prize.