SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Writing the Impact of Violent Conflict: Collateral's 10th Anniversary Craft Issue [scroll down for guidelines]
General tips:
Please read our mission statement before submitting. We are looking for work that draws us into the impact of war and military service beyond the combat zone. Consider reintegration, waiting, exile, homecoming, escape, injury, loss, home front, discharge, military/civilian divide & politics, and the translation of these experiences in art. Push the envelope; show how this impact exists in ways we may not have seen yet.
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 underrepresented backgrounds, including LGBTQ, veteran, and artists of color. We are committed to publishing high-quality fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and art that speaks authentically about the collateral impact of violent conflict.
We read submissions year-round, but our deadline for the spring issue is March 1 (published in May), and September 1 (published in November).
We ask that you wait 4-6 months before querying about the status of your submission. Send queries through our Contact page or email us at collateralsubmissions[at]gmail[dot]com.
Responses are sent to the email address writers provide. Please make sure your address is correct.
We do not accept previously published poetry, fiction or creative nonfiction, so please don’t send it. We do, however, consider previously published visual art, including photography, mixed media, well-lit and well-composed pictures of textiles, jewelry, paintings, drawings, sculpture, glass & wood art, and more.
If you must withdraw one or all parts of a submission, do so using the messages field in Submittable. Do not email withdrawal notices.
Our blog, launched in November 2018, features reviews of books published by our contributors and occasionally books by other authors writing on related topics. If you would like to suggest a book for review, please contact us at collateralsubmissions[at]gmail[dot]com.
We are happy to accept simultaneous submissions, but please limit submissions in the same genre to three per reading period. Feel free, however, to submit in multiple genres at once.
We love our contributors, but we ask authors to wait one year after publication to submit more work.
For manuscript submissions, we prefer Word or PDF files (JPG, TIFF or PNG for art).
Formatting:Please include a cover letter with your name, contact info and brief bio either in the body of your submission or in the designated comment box on the submission form.
Fiction and creative nonfiction should be double-spaced. Poetry can be single-spaced.
Fiction and creative nonfiction pieces should avoid going longer than 5000 words. Send poems in batches of 1-5 that total no more than ten pages.
Should your prose include references, please format them using Chicago style.
Visual artists: please query via email [collateralsubmissionsATgmailDOTcom] and include a cover letter with bio and link to website and/or online portfolio. If you would like us to consider a specific portfolio connected to Collateral’s mission, please note the portfolio title in your cover letter.
Collateral acquires first serial rights to the pieces we publish. All rights revert to the author after initial publication.
Writing the Impact of Violent Conflict: Collateral’s 10th Anniversary Craft Issue
No human being is exempt from encountering violent conflict in its various forms, whether it is through war, displacement, systemic oppression, or the images and headlines flashing daily upon our screens. Here at Collateral, we believe in the power of art to illuminate resistance to such violence and begin restoring the human spirit in its aftermath, on both an individual and communal level.
But how does one go about the daunting process translating personal experiences of violence to the page or canvas? To honor our first ten years of working together, Collateral is putting together a special print edition of flash pieces that seek to answer this question, and we invite all past and current contributors to submit nonfiction pieces (500 words or fewer) exploring the process of creating art that echoes our mission.
What would you share with emerging writers and artists about making work that speaks to the human cost of violent conflict in all its forms? How do you approach writing about violence and the emotional toll that such writing can take? Are their certain practices that have guided your work? How can creative expression help us exist within both grief and hope? We encourage you to interpret these questions through your own experiences rather than drafting prescriptive rules. Show us how your creative practice witnesses, transforms, or resists the effects of violence, and how it connects to a broader sense of community and humanity.
Submissions must NOT be previously curated or published. Submit .doc or .docx if possible; if you submit a .pdf and your work is accepted, you will need to submit a .doc or .docx on request. Contributors are required to identify which issue their work has appeared in previously. An optional $5 donation to this project is available (thank you!) but not required for consideration.
Submission deadline is 1 January 2026. Submit here or use the button below to navigate to our Submittable portal. Still have questions? Email us at collateralsubmissions [at] gmail [dot] com.