Submissions
OUR ONLINE SUBMISSION WINDOW IS CLOSED UNTIL SUMMER.
Brittle Star welcomes submissions of unpublished, original work in the following categories:
Poetry: 1 – 4 poems
Literary short fiction: 1 story up to 2000 words (double-line spaced)
Submission Guidelines – Please read.
NB – WE ARE NOT ACCEPTING ONLINE SUBMISSIONS AT THE MOMENT, ONLY POSTAL SUBMISSIONS.
We would encourage you to read a recent copy of Brittle Star before submitting work. You can subscribe for print copies at brittlestar.org.uk or download a digital copy of our current issue at 0s & 1s here. And if you buy us a coffee on ko-fi.com/brittlestar you’ll receive a pdf back issue as a thank you.
Online
During the Covid pandemic we have an online/email submission window. Please keep to this time-frame. We’re afraid if you send work outside of these dates we won’t be able to read it and your email will remain unopened.
• Submission Window: TBC
• Submit up to 4 poems or 1 story (up to 2000 words). Only 1 submission per issue.
• Send work as an attachment. Acceptable formats include: Pages, doc and docx but no jpg, pdf, gifs or other image formats. In your attachment, please include a cover letter with a 40 word biography. Please ensure your attachment has your name and email address in the footer of each page.
• Email to brittlestar.subs@gmail.com ONLY DURING THE SUBMISSION WINDOW
• We will let you know of our decision within three weeks
• We cannot accept work that is currently under consideration by another magazine or competition or has won prizes or been commended in competitions.
By Post
Submissions by post are rolling and can be sent at any time. Please include a covering letter and an SAE (with the correct postage).
• Submit up to 4 poems or 1 story (up to 2000 words). Only 1 submission per issue.
• Please include your name on each page and a short biography (third person) of no more than 40 words
• Please include your email address if you have one.
• We cannot accept work that is currently under consideration by another magazine or competition or has won prizes or been commended in competitions.
• We are unable to return submissions, so please do not send us the only copy of your work. Post to: Brittle Star, Diversity House, 72 Nottingham Road, Arnold, Nottingham NG5 6LF. UK.
• All contributors will be notified of the editors’ decisions as soon as possible.
Overseas submissions
Please submit online during the submission window
Brittle Star is run on a volunteer basis by artist and designer Martin Parker and writer Jacqueline Gabbitas.
If you like what we do at Brittle Star, you might think about buying us a coffee at ko-fi.com/brittlestar to help us keep going. Everyone who buys us a coffee will receive a free e-mag pdf of issue 42 (our last competition issue including judges’ reports from Pascale Petit and Nicholas Royle).
Submissions For Reviews
We only review first, full poetry collections and single-author short fiction collections.
No poetry pamphlets or anthologies, please.
No short fiction/story anthologies, please.
No second, third, fourth, five-millionth poetry collections, please. We only review first full collections of poetry.
Books for review are selected by our reviewers, we’re unable to review every book we receive.
Any books we’ve received that do not fit our guidelines will be included in our LuckyBag Christmas dip for our Patrons and subscribers. We’re not able to return review copies.
Please, send to Brittle Star, Diversity House, 72 Nottingham Rd, Arnold, NG5 6LF.