Call for Submissions on the American South: Callaloo Literary Journal

 

Callaloo is a journal devoted to creative work by and critical studies of the work of African Americans and peoples of African descent throughout the African Diaspora. We accept original submissions of scholarly articles, book reviews, interviews, nonfiction essays, short fiction, poetry, and visual art. Studies of life and culture in the Black world are also published regularly in Callaloo, as is wide-ranging cultural criticism. Callaloo is a quarterly journal. We accept submissions through Submittable during our open reading period.
 

Callaloo seeks submissions for a special issue to commemorate the journal’s 50th anniversary. In 1976, Callaloo was founded to create a space for writers from the US South whose voices had been overlooked or excluded from mainstream American literature. The issue, guest edited by our co-editor for Poetry Tyree Daye, will feature pieces by Southern writers or those living in, working in, or observing the South from another regional vantage point. We seek poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, scholarly articles, book reviews, interviews, and artwork for a survey of the contemporary arts and letters landscape in the South. 

Deadline: Feb. 14, 2026

All manuscripts must be double spaced (except poetry) and submitted only as a Word document (.doc or .docx). We suggest that prose manuscripts not exceed 6,000 words (excluding the abstract and references in the case of scholarly articles), although we will consider submissions of up to 10,000 words if the piece truly merits the length. All manuscripts should follow the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing (3rd edition) and include a works cited and endnotes, not footnotes. Callaloo's Style Guidelines can be downloaded here.

IMPORTANT NOTE: All submissions made to the journal are considered final drafts. In order to honor our publisher's production schedule, manuscripts accepted for publication in Callaloo must be forwarded to our Production Editor immediately, allowing contributors no time to make revisions. Before submitting your work, please be sure that the manuscript being uploaded is the version you wish to ultimately see in print.

Poetry submissions are limited to no more than six poems at a time (all in a single document) with a maximum of twelve poems by an author per calendar year. Additional poems (unless requested by an editor) will automatically be declined.

Prose submissions are limited to one manuscript per submission with a maximum of three submissions by an author each calendar year. Additional prose submissions (unless requested by an editor) will automatically be declined.

Artwork must include the following information: title of piece, year created, media, dimensions (in inches), location of the piece.

We do not accept any unsolicited material that has been previously published.

Please do not send revisions during the time your manuscript is being reviewed; those revisions will not be considered during the review process.

 

Submit your work here.