Torch Literary Arts Submissions (Payment: $150 +Publication)

Torch Literary Arts is accepting submissions of poetry, fiction, hybrid genre, and scripts by Black women from all over the world.

 

Torch Literary Arts is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization established to publish and promote creative writing by Black women.

They publish contemporary writing by experienced and emerging writers alike. TORCH has featured work by Colleen J. McElroy, Tayari Jones, Sharon Bridgforth, Crystal Wilkinson, Patricia Smith, Natasha Trethewey, Elizabeth Alexander, and others. Programs include the Wildfire Reading Series, writing workshops, and retreats. 

Torch Literary Arts submissions should be original creative work by Black women writers. They are interested in work that challenges and disrupts preconceived notions of what Black women’s contemporary writing should be. Your stories and poems are valuable and necessary. Write freely and submit work you are excited to share with the world. Learn how to write a short story.

Guidelines for Torch Literary Arts Submissions

• Drama/Screenwriting: submit one act or a collection of short scenes no longer than fifteen pages. Excerpts of longer works are welcome if self-contained. Indicate if a performance video or dramatic audio reading will be available with the text submission if selected.

Reading Period at Torch Literary Arts

• The team accepts general submissions for Friday Features only.
• They accept submissions on a rolling basis.
• There is no submission fee.

• Simultaneous submissions to other journals are welcome as long as they are identified as such. Also, notify them upon acceptance elsewhere.
• Please submit one entry to one genre at a time. Wait until you receive a response on your submission before submitting again.
  • If accepted, please wait one year after publication to submit to again.

Manuscript Guidelines

• Include a one page cover letter noting the title of the work submitted and a brief bio. The cover letter page does not contribute to the overall page count.
  • Note: Not including a cover letter might result in your submission not being read.
• Upload your text submission as a Word (DOC, DOCX) or portable document format (PDF).
• Typed, double-spaced (poetry may be single-spaced) pages.
• Numbered pages.
• Set margins between 1” and 1.5”.
• Poetry: submit up to five poems totaling no more than eight pages.
• Fiction, Creative Nonfiction: 12-point font. No more than fifteen pages or 3500 words (whichever is achieved first). Excerpts of longer works are welcome if self-contained.
  • They want CNF that is thought-provoking, engaging, and personal. Please see the following examples for the type of creative nonfiction they publish:

1. 1. 1. Brittany Rogers, “Before Uses of the Erotic”
      2. Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton, “Two Traumatic Births Changed My Experience of Motherhood”

Benefits

• Publication and $150
• Torch Literary Arts nominates works published in their magazine for literary awards such as the Caine Prize

Submit here.