Voiceworks is now open for submissions to Issue #135, ‘Bend’!

Theme: Bend

Do you bend the way grass does in the autumn breeze, or the way the pages of a book are curved by a reader’s curious hand? Like the arc of the waning moon or the soft line of a lover’s cheek? Do you bend to imitate the shapes of boys and girls you see on screens, or do you bend between them? You watch the way a sleeve gathers in the bend of an elbow, the way a well-cut piece of fabric curves around a waist. 

Or do you bend like a neck over a desk? Fingers into a cane? The warp of something that should be straight? Into line, into place, into rules. Yet even the straight shot of raindrops gives rise to the rainbow’s curve. Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon sits warping on the shelf, the wrinkle on your shirt refuses to be ironed out. Hell bent, they say, but who says heaven’s straight?

 — Blurb by EdCommers Sharyn Sale and Scout Manuel 

Print Guidelines

Voiceworks accepts fiction, poetry, nonfiction, art and comics, but before you send your work our way, here are some rules:

We are only able to publish writers and artists who are under the age of 25 (that is, 24 and under) at the time of submission.

We only accept work by people living in Australia (including international students) or by Australians living overseas.

We only consider previously unpublished work.

Each category has its own submission page with specific guidelines, but here are the basics:

Fiction: send no more than two stories, each no more than 3,000 words.

Poetry: send no more than three poems, each no more than 100 lines. We recommend reading our poetry guide here before sending us your work.

Nonfiction: we recommend that you pitch your nonfiction work before sending it to us. Head here for advice on how to construct your pitch and write good nonfiction. For completed work, send no more than two pieces, each no more than 3,000 words.

Art and comics: please keep in mind, we print in duotone (only two colours of ink) and our page dimensions are 170 x 245 mm. We recommend you pitch your comics before sending them to us. For advice on how to pitch your comics, check out our handy guide here. Please send no more than three artworks or comics.

We encourage you to submit across genres, but please send us no more than four submissions in total (excluding comics and art).

Deadlines

Nonfiction pitches—Sunday 1 June, 11:59PM AEST

Fiction, completed nonfiction and poetry—Sunday 8 June, 11:59pm AEST

Art, comics and comic pitches—Sunday 22 June, 11:59pm AEST

Rates of pay

$100 for written work and art

$150 for multi-page comics or suites of art

Please read the information carefully and contact Voiceworks Editor Joel Keith if you have any questions or concerns.

Remember, you don’t have to stick to the theme! Our themes are a prompt more than a selection criteria—a springboard to get the creative ideas flowing. Most of all, we just want good work.