ABOUT
Collateral is an online literary journal run by people who are directly and indirectly impacted by violent conflict and military service. Many journals showcase work centered on deployment and the combat experience, but we provide a creative platform to highlight the stories of those existing in spaces surrounding combat, including the military family, veteran, service member, close friend, protestor, refugee, teacher, and advocate. These voices sometimes go unheard, and we’d like to capture the “collateral” impact of military service.
We’ve been publishing two issues per year (every May and November) since 2016. Every issue includes poetry, creative nonfiction, fiction, and an interview with one featured visual artist. We don’t charge reading fees, we read year-round, and we don’t filter submissions through readers; our editors read and consider every submission carefully—and with gratitude.
When we’re not experiencing a pandemic, Collateral is also the facilitator of free, face-to-face creative writing workshops in our communities, as well as readings, collaborative panel discussions, and book signings. We strive to directly address the impact of war by facilitating writing opportunities for refugees and military-civilian communities.
MISSION STATEMENT:
Collateral publishes literary and visual art concerned with the impact of violent conflict and military service beyond the combat zone.
Our editorial vision is to be as inclusive as possible and ideologically diverse. We are interested in amplifying voices of minorities and the marginalized, and we recognize that our archives don’t yet reflect the full diversity of writers in the world. That said, we especially encourage submissions from artists of historically silenced backgrounds.