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Call for Submissions for Issue 2
For chlorophyll’s second issue, Untitled, we’re accepting submissions around the theme of language.
Writers relate to life through language; we find connection through our words and others’. What is your favourite kind of language or argot? What does it mean to be fluent in a language? How does language change in exile, in empire, in subjugation?
We want your thoughts about agency and nuance, interpretation, translation, and hidden, lost, and visible meanings. What happens when language gets sanitised, watered-down, or weaponised, when we struggle to find le mot juste in a second (or third) language, or get tongue-tied, understood or misunderstood?
Language celebrates the power of words, which can paralyse us or connect us; words can celebrate the mundane, sterilise horrors, and equally, reveal the true nature of circumstances. Like rivers, languages have a flow – they can be disrupted and dried up, carried across borders, and break barriers – but what happens when this stops?
Pitches for this issue might look like:
Of course, these are just topics to help you get started on the theme. Interpretations are more than just welcome – we insist on it. Pitches, like language, don’t have to be conventional; get wild with it. Guidelines can be found on the ‘About’ page of our website: chlorophyllmag.com
Deadline: Monday, 31 May
Read the guidelines on content and formatting below and send your submissions to chlorophyll.zine@gmail.com
We’re looking for fiction, narrative and creative nonfiction and poetry related in some way to the announced theme for the issue. Themes are open to wide interpretations, but please adhere to submission guidelines
We love writing that's engaging, absorbing, and beautiful, as well as dark, funny, and weird. Personal essays that are vulnerable and thoughtful, that go beyond the remit of personal, and that have a broad scope. Any genre of fiction is welcome apart from erotica, science fiction, or fantasy, as long as it's original material. And poetry that surprises and delights.
Simultaneous submissions are encouraged, but please let us know as soon as your work has been accepted elsewhere. All work must be previously unpublished either in print or online.
Please include a brief bio in your email, including any previous experience with publishing your work if applicable.
Writers relate to life through language; we find connection through our words and others’. What is your favourite kind of language or argot? What does it mean to be fluent in a language? How does language change in exile, in empire, in subjugation?
We want your thoughts about agency and nuance, interpretation, translation, and hidden, lost, and visible meanings. What happens when language gets sanitised, watered-down, or weaponised, when we struggle to find le mot juste in a second (or third) language, or get tongue-tied, understood or misunderstood?
Language celebrates the power of words, which can paralyse us or connect us; words can celebrate the mundane, sterilise horrors, and equally, reveal the true nature of circumstances. Like rivers, languages have a flow – they can be disrupted and dried up, carried across borders, and break barriers – but what happens when this stops?
Pitches for this issue might look like:
- A story about language as a bridge to travel, connection, possibility
- An essay about how internet slang is affecting the way we speak and write, or a deep dive into some curious aspect of fonts, lettering, or palaeography
- Poems tracing some peculiarly fascinating etymology, full of witty wordplay, or in the shape of concrete poetry/a calligram
- An elegy to your favorite lexicographer, or for looking words up in the printed dictionary
- An essay about the history and influence of poster ad copy
- An original translation (please send us both the original and translated text!)
Of course, these are just topics to help you get started on the theme. Interpretations are more than just welcome – we insist on it. Pitches, like language, don’t have to be conventional; get wild with it. Guidelines can be found on the ‘About’ page of our website: chlorophyllmag.com
Deadline: Monday, 31 May
Read the guidelines on content and formatting below and send your submissions to chlorophyll.zine@gmail.com
Guidelines
We’re looking for fiction, narrative and creative nonfiction and poetry related in some way to the announced theme for the issue. Themes are open to wide interpretations, but please adhere to submission guidelines
We love writing that's engaging, absorbing, and beautiful, as well as dark, funny, and weird. Personal essays that are vulnerable and thoughtful, that go beyond the remit of personal, and that have a broad scope. Any genre of fiction is welcome apart from erotica, science fiction, or fantasy, as long as it's original material. And poetry that surprises and delights.
Simultaneous submissions are encouraged, but please let us know as soon as your work has been accepted elsewhere. All work must be previously unpublished either in print or online.
Please include a brief bio in your email, including any previous experience with publishing your work if applicable.
Format
Please format your work in a Word document using a legible font, size 12 with 1.5 spacing. List the word count and title at the top of the first page. Please provide only one submission per genre.
Fiction: Short stories at a maximum of 1500 words.
Poetry: Maximum 3 poems per submission.
Nonfiction: Between 750 and 1500 words.
Send your submissions to chlorophyll[dot]zine[at]gmail[dot]com
Fiction: Short stories at a maximum of 1500 words.
Poetry: Maximum 3 poems per submission.
Nonfiction: Between 750 and 1500 words.
Send your submissions to chlorophyll[dot]zine[at]gmail[dot]com
Masthead
Apoorva SripathiAnne Wallentine
A note from the editors
chlorophyll is a scrappy production entirely funded by its founders and editors. While producing our magazine is a labour of love, we believe in writers being paid for their work. We aim to pay each contributor a small honorarium. If you'd like to donate to the publication, which will go directly to contributors, please get in touch! We believe literature and writing are for everyone and community is predicated on everyone giving of themselves.
(c) 2025, chlorophyll