Submission Guidelines

Theoria Discourse welcomes submissions from writers, artists, and thinkers of all experience levels.  We particularly invite emerging voices, students, and creators from communities historically excluded from publishing.

What We Publish

We accept work across:

• Creative Nonfiction

• Fiction

• Poetry

• Cross-genre/Hybrid

• Autobiography/Memoir

• Environment/Nature

• Essays

• Experimental

• Feminist

• Flash Fiction

• Interviews

• Regional

• Translation

• Visual Art

• Young Adult

What We're Looking For

Submit work that:

• Provokes new thinking or shifts perspective

• Engages deeply with ideas

• Takes formal or conceptual risks

• Speaks from lived experience

• Challenges conventional thinking

• Makes readers/viewers stop and reconsider

We're not looking for: work that aims only to entertain, pieces that don't take themselves seriously, or submissions that don't engage with ideas.

Who Can Submit

Everyone. High school students, undergraduates, graduates, emerging artists, established writers. We especially welcome Black, African American, and African diaspora creators; Indigenous voices; disabled artists; queer writers; women; elders; and perspectives from outside mainstream institutions.

Manuscript Requirements

For written work:

• Poetry: up to 5 poems per submission (no page limit)

• Essays/creative nonfiction: up to 8,000 words

• Reviews/criticism: up to 3,000 words

• Interviews: up to 5,000 words

• Hybrid work: flexible—describe your piece

For visual art:

• Submit 3-10 images as high-quality JPGs or PNGs (300 dpi preferred)

• Include artist statement (100-300 words) explaining concept/thinking

• List medium, dimensions, date created

Format:

•  .pdf 

• Include author/artist bio (50-100 words)

• Name and contact info on submission

Submission Fee

• Free submissions for students 

• $10 for non-students

Timeline

• Response time: 2-8 weeks

• We read year-round

• Simultaneous submissions accepted—just notify us if accepted elsewhere

• We'll respond via email

Rights

• First publication rights

• Right to archive work on our website/in digital database

• Right to include work in print/digital collections

• Authors retain all other rights

Payment & Contributor Copies

Press authors:

• 40% royalties on paperback sales

• 45% royalties on ebook sales

• 5 free author copies

• Payment/royalty statements quarterly