Submit to The Lit 2023
Submissions for the 2023 edition of The Lit are closed — thank you to all who submitted! Submissions for the 2024 edition will open early in Fall I.
2023 Call —
We can’t wait to see your work. We’re looking for writing & art from current LaGuardia Community College students and alums.
The deadline to submit is Wednesday, May 3, 2023. We are accepting both general submissions and special call/contest submissions from LGBTQIA writers & artists!
Casa de las Américas Special Call: LGBTQIA Writing + Art Contest
LaGuardia’s Casa de las Américas is teaming up with The Lit to offer awards for the best LGBTQIA writing and art from students and alum! There will be 2 winners per category. All winners — chosen by the La Casa and Lit faculty directors — will receive a $50 gift card.
Submit your flash fiction, flash creative nonfiction, poetry, and art to the special call by clicking on the La Casa Contest button below. Please refer to our general guidelines further down for more on what we’re looking for.
If you already submitted a piece, are LGBTQIA, and wish to be considered for the contest, shoot us an email at submissions.thelit@gmail.com and we will make sure your piece is included.
What we’re looking for
You can submit to only one genre —
Flash Fiction -1 piece, 1,000 words max.
Flash Creative Nonfiction – 1 piece, 1,000 words max.
Both flash fiction & flash creative nonfiction pieces should be complete stories/narratives that can stand on their own — no excerpts from longer stories, novels, nonfiction narratives, or memoirs, please, unless you’ve somehow re-shaped them to work as solo pieces.
Poetry – up to 3 poems max, 5 pages total max. We’re also open to hybrid forms that incorporate art and/or digital media, and experimental work.
Visual or Digital Art – photo, design, painting, drawing, graphic narratives – 2 works max
What we’re not into
Bigotry of any kind. We don’t dig racism, transphobia, homophobia, misogyny, graphic violence or sex (the kind that’s only done for shock value), or xenophobia.
Representation matters. Think about whose story you are trying to tell, and if you are the best one to tell it. Think about whose voices have been marginalized. Consider if you are trying to tell a story, or write a character, that another creator — whose own voice has been marginalized — could tell or know better.
More info…
The Lit publishes an issue once a year, during the spring semester.
We only consider previously unpublished materials (this includes blogs, personal websites, other publications, social media — you get the drift). The Lit asks for first-time electronic publication rights, and we ask that you acknowledge a piece was published here first if your work is re-printed/published elsewhere; by submitting to us you are agreeing to these terms.
Contact us at submissions.thelit@gmail.com with any questions.
