Thank you for your interest in So to Speak! The best way to get a sense of what we publish is to read our most recent issue(s), available on our website.
Please note we only accept previously unpublished work for all categories. Please do not send us a piece you have sent us before unless we ask to see another version.
Blog submissions will open periodically throughout the year for themed calls. Please submit book reviews, interviews, essays, etc. See our website for additional submission information. It's always a good idea to read a few of our blog posts (outside of a limited series) for a sense of what we're looking for.
We offer fee-free submissions for Black and Indigenous writers always. This will be available as a separate form when submissions are open.
If you are not a Black or Indigenous writer and the submission fee presents a financial hardship, please email us at sts@gmu.edu for a fee waiver.
Please note that affiliates of George Mason University may not submit their work for consideration until at least five years after their graduation date.
For more information, please visit our submissions page.
The So to Speak blog is now accepting submissions for our newest limited series, Beginnings of Belonging.
Our mission is to amplify the perspectives of writers, poets, and artists who challenge the canon. Beginnings of Belonging is a way for So to Speak to celebrate, honor, interrogate, and engage with your first experiences in your marginalized identities.
We're looking for interviews, reviews, poetry, fiction, nonfiction, visual art, and musings answering some aspect of this question: When did you first feel like you belonged in your community? How were you introduced to your culture? How did it feel moving to a new country? Tell us about your diagnosis, tell us about finding a queer space. The good, the bad, the ugly, and the hopeful. Our blog editor's inspos include Ocean Vuong, Carmen Maria Machado, Maggie Nelson, and Akwaeke Emezi. Please submit any creative work or craft essays that explore themes of identity and belonging through an intersectional feminist lens.
Submissions should consist of no more than 2,000 words of prose or 3 poems, and should be double-spaced with numbered pages (poems do not have to adhere to this formatting). We would also be excited to receive multimedia creative work. This could take the form of audio, spoken word, a mix of visual art and text, or anything else that you can think of. Please note that blog publications are not paid at this time.
Submissions will be open from January 1 to February 15, or until our blog cap is met.
Simultaneous submissions are also welcomed, provided you notify us promptly if the piece has been published elsewhere. So to Speak is humbled to share an online space with writers and artists who seek to produce thought-provoking work that engages diversity and inclusion. We can't wait to hear from you!
An all-new collection of intersectional fiction, poetry, CNF, and visual art!
Our Spring 2024 Issue of So to Speak is available for purchase as a digital PDF for $4!
To receive a print hard-copy of the contest issue, you can select the add-on of "mail me a print copy!" for just an extra $5! (We'll even throw a back issue or two in with your order, free of charge.)
Fill out this form to receive two back issues of STS!