Dear Contributors, We typically have two open submissions periods, one in the Fall and one in the Spring. Some of this depends on our workload as we try, as much as possible to process submissions efficiently and carefully.
At the moment, due to a backlog of submissions, we are currently closed for submissions in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction.
Please consult Submittable and our Instagram feed for announcements regarding our submission period. Because of our small staff we will have to close when we reach our maximum threshold.
Thank you for being Normal!
-- Editors
Please Note: Generative AI Submission Policy
The Normal School publishes work created by humans. We do not accept writing, visual art, audio, or multimedia submissions that contain any content generated or substantially rewritten/supplemented by the use of generative AI.
Assistive technologies are welcome, including tools used for disability access, communication, and transcription. Their use does not disqualify a submission when its creative language, imagery, and artistic decisions remain the contributor’s own.
By submitting, you confirm that you accept this policy, and your work follows this and all the above guidelines for submission. The Normal School reserves the right to decline any creative submission or retroactively withdraw any accepted creative work for failing to adhere to our AI policy.
The Normal School seeks original fine art, digital art, and photography to feature in our online magazine. Our goal is to celebrate visual artists and provide a space for them to get some exposure. We especially encourage submissions from Black and Indigenous artists, artists of color, artists with disabilities, artists from LGBTQIA+ communities, and voices that have been historically under-represented and minoritized in the art world.
Please limit the number of submissions to 3 maximum
Formatting:
- images should be “landscape” only
- image width should be between 1500 and 2500 pixels
- File sizes should be limited to 20 MB (but 1.5 MB or less
will have the best quality)
- Please make sure the file type for images is .jpg, .gif,
or .png only
- There is a 120 megapixel (MP) limit on resolution
- Lastly, please note that images posted on the Normal School magazine are downloadable. We cannot provide a watermark to protect against this, but we’re happy to use one provided by the artist.
Submission Guidelines for Fiction: 5000 words maximum. Double-spaced, 12-point (readable) font, with name, address, and email on the submission. Format the document as .doc, .docx, .pdf, or .rtf. Please include a brief cover letter, and remind us if we know you.
We are looking for stories that experiment with form, genre, voice, character, and beyond; stories that engage with and push beyond the boundaries of convention. Send us your stories that are strange, surreal, and sincere, stories that are driven by the unexpected and meaningful. We are particularly excited to read stories by historically marginalized writers. Read a few of our most recently published stories to get an idea of what we’re passionate about. Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but let us know immediately if the piece is accepted elsewhere. We only consider unpublished work.
Generative AI Submission Policy
The Normal School publishes work created by humans. We do not accept writing, visual art, audio, or multimedia submissions that contain any content generated or substantially rewritten/supplemented by the use of generative AI.
Assistive technologies are welcome, including tools used for disability access, communication, and transcription. Their use does not disqualify a submission when its creative language, imagery, and artistic decisions remain the contributor’s own.
By submitting, you confirm that you accept this policy, and your work follows this and all the above guidelines for submission. The Normal School reserves the right to decline any creative submission or retroactively withdraw any accepted creative work for failing to adhere to our AI policy.
Submission Guidelines for Nonfiction: Double-spaced, 12-point (readable) font, with name, address, and email on the submission. Format the document as .doc, .docx, or .pdf. Please include a brief cover letter, and remind us if we know you.
For the current Submission Period, we will consider essays, memoir, and other forms of creative nonfiction of NO MORE than 5000 words, with contemporary styles and an attention to language, form, and consciousness. Our ideal word count is around 3500, but we're open to more as well. We especially encourage submissions from Black and Indigenous writers, writers of color, writers with disabilities, writers from LGBTQIA+ communities, and voices that have been historically under-represented and minoritized in the publishing world. Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but let us know immediately if the piece is accepted elsewhere. We consider only previously unpublished work.
Generative AI Submission Policy
The Normal School publishes work created by humans. We do not accept writing, visual art, audio, or multimedia submissions that contain any content generated or substantially rewritten/supplemented by the use of generative AI.
Assistive technologies are welcome, including tools used for disability access, communication, and transcription. Their use does not disqualify a submission when its creative language, imagery, and artistic decisions remain the contributor’s own.
By submitting, you confirm that you accept this policy, and your work follows this and all the above guidelines for submission. The Normal School reserves the right to decline any creative submission or retroactively withdraw any accepted creative work for failing to adhere to our AI policy.
Submission Guidelines for Poetry: Limit 5 poems per submission. Single-spaced, 12-point (readable) font, with name, address, and email on the submission. Format the document as .doc, .docx, .pdf, or .rtf. Please include a brief cover letter, and remind us if we know you. Send us your weird, your strange, your hybrids, your rough edged, thorned, and deadly. We want the poetry that captures, transports, conjures, imagines, materializes you on a page. We consider poetry of any form, style, or focus. Stretch out language(s), blend them, if your work is bilingual/trilingual/a polyglot, send us the magic. The poems that don’t seem to fit, that the mold can’t seem to hold, we want them to find a home here. Black and Indigenous people, and people of color; LGBTQIA+, people with disabilities, and other voices that have been historically under-represented and marginalized, help us redefine normal. Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but let us know immediately if the piece is accepted elsewhere. Please notify us of withdrawals by sending us a note through submittable. We consider only previously unpublished work. IF your work is inspired by or borrows heavily from the work of other poets/writers/artists, please tell us about this in your cover letter.
Generative AI Submission Policy
The Normal School publishes work created by humans. We do not accept writing, visual art, audio, or multimedia submissions that contain any content generated or substantially rewritten/supplemented by the use of generative AI.
Assistive technologies are welcome, including tools used for disability access, communication, and transcription. Their use does not disqualify a submission when its creative language, imagery, and artistic decisions remain the contributor’s own.
By submitting, you confirm that you accept this policy, and your work follows this and all the above guidelines for submission. The Normal School reserves the right to decline any creative submission or retroactively withdraw any accepted creative work for failing to adhere to our AI policy.
We seek submissions that use more than one medium to tell a story. This includes but is not limited to comics, graphic fiction, nonfiction, or poetry, photo and video essays, spoken word pieces, and audio prose and poetry. We especially encourage submissions from Black and Indigenous writers, writers of color, writers with disabilities, writers from LGBTQIA+ communities, and voices that have been historically under-represented and minoritized in the publishing world.
Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but let us know immediately if the piece is accepted elsewhere. We do not accept previously published or displayed multi-media work.