Call for Submissions: Variant Literature

 

Variant Literature 

To be considered for our Winter 2027 issue please submit between October 10th and November 20th 2026.

General

• Please submit only once per submission period unless otherwise invited.

• We do not accept e-mail submissions; all work must be submitted through Submittable.

• Please send all work in one file.

• We aim to respond to your work within two months; our average response time is closer to one month.

• Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please notify us immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere.

• We do not accept previously published works.

• We do not accept any AI-assisted or AI-generated work.

Poetry

• Limit your submission to 5 poems totaling no more than 10 pages.

Flash Prose or Micro Series

— 750 to 1200 words Submit one piece of flash prose, 750–1,200 words, or a connected series of exactly three micros, 250–400 words each.

We welcome literary fiction, speculative fiction, and nonfiction in this category.

Literary Fiction

— 1200 to 5500 words Submit one literary fiction piece of 1,200–5,500 words.

Speculative Fiction

— 1200 to 5500 words Submit one speculative fiction piece of 1,200–5,500 words.

What happened to the nonfiction genre?

We are not looking for longer nonfiction. If your nonfiction is 750–1,200 words, submit it to the Flash Prose genre.
Payment

We pay $15 per accepted poem, flash piece, or micro series.
We pay $25 per accepted longform story.
We pay through PayPal.  

Tips Tip jar offerings go to support payment and promotion of writers. All editors at Variant Lit are volunteers.

We appreciate your support!