South 85 Journal will officially announce our summer reading period in June 2024. We look forward to reading your work soon!
South 85 Journal is accepting general submissions from June 15, 2024, to August 31, 2024, for its Winter issue through Submittable: South 85 Submissions Page. Additional reading periods will be announced.
Manuscripts should be sent as an attachment.
• Fiction submissions should be between 2000 and 5000 words. Please include word count in upper corner of first page. For fiction that is fewer than 2000 words, please submit to the flash category.
• Nonfiction submissions should be no longer than 5000 words. Please include the word count in your email.
• Poetry submissions should contain no more than 3 poems up to 6 total pages, one poem per page.
• Please send only one submission per category (Poetry, Fiction, and Non-Fiction) during each reading period. You are welcome to submit to multiple categories. Include the title of your work in your file name.
• We will publish flash fiction, short stories, and novel excerpts, provided they can stand on their own. We do not publish genre fiction or children’s stories. We encourage you to read archives of South 85 Journal and acquaint yourself with the material we publish before submitting your work. We encourage the use of a content warning if necessary, in consideration of our manuscript readers.
• Type should be no smaller than 12-pt. font. Please use a standard font such as Times New Roman or Arial, and refrain from script or “flowery” lettering.
• Submissions should be saved in Word or Rich Text format.
• Number pages consecutively, double space, and use margins of at least one inch.
• Place your name, email address, and word count in an upper corner of the first page.
• We accept simultaneous submissions. If it is accepted elsewhere, please withdraw your work via Submittable.
• Please include a professional bio of 50 words or fewer written in the third person with your cover letter.
Information about the annual Julia Peterkin Literary Awards will be forthcoming in January 2025. (Full submissions guidelines for our contest can be found here: Julia Peterkin Literary Awards.)
Winners and finalists in each category will be published in the winter issue of South 85 Journal.
South 85 Journal does not publish work which has been previously published either in print or online. Our reply time is typically six to eight weeks. If AI has been used in the creation of the work, please indicate so.
We acquire exclusive first-time Internet rights only. All other rights revert to the author at publication, but we offer formal, written reassignments upon request. Works are also archived online. We are unable to pay for submissions. We ask that whenever an author reprints the work that first appeared in our pages, South 85 Journal be given acknowledgment for the specific work(s) involved.
Blog Submissions: We accept unsolicited blog submissions about any aspect of the writing life, including balancing writing with life responsibilities, the trials and tribulations of completing an MFA, the joys and sorrows of publication, and writing in these current times.
Interviews: If you would like to conduct an interview with a literary writer with whose book has been published or is forthcoming within the last year or so, please send a query through our Submittable page.
Artwork: We welcome queries for visual art and photography to accompany accepted works and as the feature image for our bi-annual issues