There are 31 non-fiction themed calls from the 25 outlets listed here. Some themes are: Open Canon (underrepresented American artists); winter-themed gardening; surplus; intersections; harvest; the whole you (health/fitness); drinking; Black history month; the vampire; mapping the brain; and stories from the margins. Some have pitch/submission deadlines, and some do not. – S. Kalekar
Logic: supa dupa skies (move slow and heal things)
While Logic is still a magazine of technology, they are relaunching as a Black + Asian queer tech magazine. They have extensive guidelines, including, “This inaugural issue welcomes all types of mediums thinking through tech and matching our theme, supa dupa skies (move slow and heal things), including reported articles, features, graphic stories, poetry, speculative sci-fi and fashion. Can we detonate and rebuild a genre that began from product reviews? Let’s reach for the skies as we collage and remix like we’ve always had to. We are open to any creative responses bringing together the theme and critically examining tech.” Also, “We are deeply interested in pieces reflecting on a critical caste, abolitionist approach that moves beyond demands for corporate inclusion or police prosecution of hate crimes. We’re also looking to receive submissions thoughtfully engaging with the distinctions and connections between caste, race and nationality in the development of new technologies or grassroots campaigns refusing them.” Writers who are currently incarcerated are given special priority in the pitch process. Pay begins at $1,200 for shorter essays of 1,200-1,600 words, and $2,000 for longer features of 2,000-4,000 words and up. Other mediums will be compensated at the same rate depending on length. The pitch deadline is 27 January 2023. Details here and here.
Critical Read: Two themes
Their website says, “Our mission is threefold: to re-imagine critical writing about the arts; to make American art and art history more accessible and discoverable; and to help artists build sustainable careers. Pitches for these two columns are fee-free.
— Critical Read: “Critical Reads are artwork biographies. They combine research, reporting and analysis and use a specific work of art as a lens to tell a broader story about art history, culture, and society. Artwork biographies are generally assigned to experienced arts reporters. They are assigned at approximately 5,000 words. Approvals for art should be considered before pitching.” The pitch deadline is 31 December 2022.
— Profile: pitch an artist for Open Canon: “For our new series, Open Canon, we’re looking for stories of underappreciated American artists. We are particularly interested in those writers, artists, and performers whose work has been unfairly overlooked or forgotten because of their race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation. We want short, informative profiles of these American artists whose work hasn’t historically been considered canonical but maybe should be. What was their most important contribution to American art history? Was it a particular way of working, an idea, a style?
Please note: This is not the space for contemporary artists. Those interested in pitching stories about contemporary artists should look at our Pitch a Reported Story form.” There’s no pitch deadline for this column. Details here.
New York Times: Fortune series
Times Opinion is looking for pitches for its Fortune series. “Fortunes is a series of personal essays exploring the ways that class shapes psychology — if you’d like to write something for us, pitch me!” Examples of previous essays are here. Details in the Twitter thread here.
(Please note, recently, Times journalists and other staff did a 24-hour walkout.)
GreenPrints: Winter-themed gardening stories
This US-based magazine publishes true personal gardening stories – “the absolute best true stories of gardeners from all across the country.” They want “winter-themed gardening stories, stories that are true and personal, expressive and thoughtful, humorous and witty … and that have a winter theme! We focus on the human, not the how-to, side of gardening, so your story should be entertaining, moving, unexpected, touching, and funny”. They want work of 600-1,500 words, and pay $100-$150. The deadline is 17 February 2022. Details here.
Bellona Magazine: Surplus
Bellona Magazine is a biannual journal and publishing collective that seeks “a new paradigm for critical expression. Against the “creative” forms of mass consumption and instrumentalized social relations that predominate in the culture industries today, Bellona is our attempt to resituate criticism as a site of contemplation and contestation. Our primary object of critique is music, specifically its circumscription in the commodity-form, but our interests also range to film, literature and the visual arts, all undergirded by a broad political economic critique.” Read more about them here (scroll down). They invite pitches on the Surplus theme – they “are seeking speculative pitches on the political economy, aesthetics, rhythms and spatialities of surplus” for their third issue. They have extensive guidelines. They pay $150 per essay (with some per essay contingencies for research and length), and the extended submission deadline is 20 January 2023. See the detailed guidelines on the theme here, and the Twitter thread here.
Experience Life: The Whole You
This is a health/fitness/quality-of-life magazine that is published 10 times a year. Apart from three in-depth features (2,500-3,500 words), they have other departments that need shorter pieces: Front of Book, Real Fitness, Real Food, Feature Well, Real Life, and Back of Book. They plan issues well in advance. For December 2023, the theme is ‘The Whole You’. Their guidelines say, “Often when we think about health, we zero in on the physical aspects of who we are — but we are emotional and social, too. Wherever you are in your journey, we encourage you to join us in nurturing your mind, body, and spirit.” Pitches are due 24 February 2023. Details here (guidelines; scroll down for 2023 themes).
Order of the Good Death: Death positive stories
Their website says, “We create a wide variety of content that strives to meet people wherever they are on their death positive journey”, including articles that challenge the ways we think about death. They accept pitches for articles and videos, and have an extensive pitch guide, including “We want stories that challenge our basic ideas about a subject, and reveal something about our society, beliefs, ourselves and our relationship with death.” They prioritize pieces on the ways death intersects with race, disability, gender, immigration, class, politics, capitalism, and sex; features on the ways humans have been reckoning and interacting with mortality, death, and the afterlife, throughout history and today through art, religion, culture (that includes pop culture!), and more. They also publish personal essays. Details here.
The Stir: Drink-related pitches
The Stir is a new drinks magazine for drizzly.com and they are seeking drink-related pitches. See the stories on their website/Twitter thread to see what works for them. They accept pitches on a rolling basis, and pay $500-1,000. See the Twitter thread here.
WordWorks: Money
WordWorks is a magazine of the Federation of BC Writers (FBCW). They offer opportunities and resources to British Columbia and Yukon writers. For the Money issue, they want pitches for articles, as well as creative work. For articles, “Our spring 2023 issue is about money: making it, managing it, persevering without it. Being mindful of money is an asset for all writers, whether you’re a full-time author or just starting out. For this issue, we’re looking for practical advice, creative ideas, and helpful insight about the financial realities of being a writer. From funding your work, generating revenue, and budgeting responsibly, to knowing your worth and more, we welcome your ideas for articles for the money issue.” Writers can send up to three pitches. Pay is CAD125 for articles of 400–600 words and CAD250 for articles of 800–1,100 words, and will consider longer features as well as reprints. For creative work, they pay CAD50/piece. “We prioritize submissions from FBCW members but welcome submissions from all writers with a connection to BC or Yukon.” The submission deadline is 15 January 2023. Details here.
Weathered: Cities/landscapes/built environment in the context of the wintertime
This weekly newsletter is looking for pitches for Season 2, for articles that will run from January to April 2023, about cities, landscapes, and the built environment in the context of the wintertime. “I’m particularly looking for topics surrounding maintenance/care, open/public space, insulation, climate change, togetherness/isolation, unusual winter infrastructure, etc. Your pitch should have a strong perspective and engage critically with your topic; I accept lyric/braided essays, too. Stories can be as long as 1,800 words, but all stories are paid a flat rate of $200.” You can read previously published work here. Details here (scroll down to ‘Call for pitches’.)
The Saltbrush Review: Intersections
Apart from creative nonfiction of up to 3,000 words (including personal essays and life writing), they want poetry and fiction on the ‘Intersections’ theme. “Submissions are open to all, but we particularly welcome work from South Australian and regional writers, emerging writers, First Nations and POC writers, the LGBTQI+ community, and writers with a disability.” Pay is AUD100-150. The submission deadline is 20 January 2023. Details here.
Taproot Magazine: Two themes
They want pieces exploring the topics of food, farm, family and craft. The magazine is divided into three sections: Head – essays about living a more connected life; Hands – recipes, crafts and projects to make yourself; and Heart – the personal experience of more connected living. Also, “We are looking for traditional and modern crafts. We are looking for recipes, and techniques to be carried into the kitchen, the garden, the pasture, the urban homestead, the rural farm.” Articles are 800-4,000 words. Their next themes are: Blue (deadline 1 February 2023, publication June 2023); and Harvest (deadline 1 April 2023, publication August 2023). They have other themes listed, as well. Details here.
The Bureau Dispatch: Wayfinding
“We’re open to all kinds of narratives but are particularly interested in ones about WAYFINDING: stories that explore our relationships with physical (and metaphorical) spaces and places, how we orient ourselves within or among them, and how we navigate and find our way.” They publish creative nonfiction and fiction, up to 1,000 words. They pay $50. The deadline is 31 January 2023. Details here.
Viator: Lunar New Year
Viator, which is run by Tripadvisor, is looking for Lunar New Year pitches – personal essays with a travel hook. They pay $250. Pitch by the first week of January. Details in the Twitter thread here.
Mobilisation Lab: Creative campaigns working/campaigning under authoritarianism, and more
The editor of Mobilisation Lab, a collective which “equips activists to drive systems change through people centred and powered campaigns”, has issued a pitch call for 2023. “we are accepting pitches from journalists/organizers around the world analyzing creative campaigns that are working, campaigning under authoritarianism, offline + online grassroots organizing strategies and more”. And, “We are ESPECIALLY looking for pitches from non-US/Europe/Aus voices, grassroots campaigners and organizers, social movement voices, and people behind diverse networked coalitions, networks, alliances, and more. We want to be hearing about the ‘HOW’s of mass movement mechanics.” Pay is $300-500 for this call. You can read their general contributor guidelines here. Details about the current call are in the Twitter thread here.
Kenyon Review: Luminous Gender Vessel
Apart from creative nonfiction (up to 6,000 words), they want poetry, fiction, art, including comics, and multimedia pieces exploring ideas and questions of gender for their guest edited folio, ‘Luminous Gender Vessel’. “We want work that tells us something about what it means to be alive in a body, that makes us feel more alive in our own. Tell us what you don’t understand, what you’re trying to figure out. Get experimental. Get speculative. Get hybrid. Get weird. Push boundaries of style and form. Because genre, like gender, is a construct. It’s rarely one thing or the other.” The deadline is 5 January 2023. Payment is upon publication. Details here and here.
Translash News & Narrative: Two themes
Their website says, “This platform is a safe space for trans and gender nonconforming (TGNC) people. We want your authentic voices and truths about how our society affects everyday life.” They publish work on various topics – government policy, bodily autonomy, navigating social services, community, identity, travel, and history. Currently, they’re looking for pitches for Black History Month, and also for Valentine’s Day. Pay is $350. Their general pitch guide is here and the Tweet is here.
Cunning Folk: The Vampire
This magazine covers magic, mythology, folklore and the occult. They are open to pitches and submissions on The Vampire theme for their next print magazine. They have extensive guidelines on the theme; they want articles, interviews, rituals, poetry and short fiction “pertaining to the vampiric, that intersect with our other themes and that shine light on what lies behind the vampire’s shiny façade – and what that tells us about the current age, the unconscious shadow and humanity. This question can be explored via journalism, art, literature, science, pop culture and the personal.” Pay is £100 per article, interview or short story and £50 for poetry and rituals. “Pitch personal essays, articles, recipes and how-tos, interviews with interesting people. We are particularly keen to hear from practitioners, authors and scholars.” The submission deadline is 1 March 2023. Details here.
Insider: Delayed/cancelled holiday flights
The travel editor at Insider wants “stories about delayed/canceled holiday flights and similar holiday travel horror stories – if you’re traveling and experiencing this or know someone who is, would love to connect!” Rates are around $175. See the links to freelancing and pitching Insider here, and for this call, the Twitter thread is here.
The Gay & Lesbian Review: Three themes
The Gay & Lesbian Review is a bimonthly magazine of history, culture, and politics targeting an educated readership of LGBT people, and their allies that publishes themed features (2,000-4,000 words), reviews, interviews, and departments. They have announced three themed calls, and they also invite suggestions for future themes.
— The Age of Innocence: Gay life in the time of Wilde
–– The Great Transformation: From bar culture to hookup world
— LGBT Science: New research on gender & sexual orientation
Writers can send proposals or complete pieces. They pay for features ($200) and full-length book reviews ($100). Details here.
New Socialist: Transmissions
This is an independent, online socialist magazine based in Britain. “We are always looking for contributions on struggles and movements both in Britain and abroad for our Transmissions series.” See past published work in the series here. They also accept pitches for ecology, book reviews and interviews, and Culture is Ordinary sections. Rates are £50 for Transmissions, and £75 for longer pieces published in their editions. Details here.
Michael Jacobs Travelogue Scholarship 2023: Latin America/Spain
This is a project for a piece of travel writing/journalism book or travel article on Latin America or Spain. Their website says, “The scholarship, which is in its ninth edition with the purpose of encouraging travel writing, will reward a travel book or article project on Latin America or Spain with $7,500, to be published in Spanish or English. To choose the winner, the juries will take into account the narrative quality and journalistic depth of the projects. For Michael Jacobs, travel journalism went beyond the simple anecdotal experience and for this reason, work capable of awakening the five senses and opening the mind of any reader is sought.” See the qualification and submission requirements; writers can be of any nationality, and must have had at least one travel article or book published. The deadline to apply is 30 December 2022. Details here.
(See more opportunities and resources for journalists from the International Journalists’ Network.)
BorderLore: Culture & Climate in Community
BorderLore is a magazine of the Southwest Folklife Alliance. “We’re building a cadre of community storytellers, journalists, documentarians, ethnographers, and artist-researchers to dive deep into the intersections of folklife and the climate crisis and produce stories for BorderLore, our monthly journal of culture & heritage. How might stories from the US-Mexico borderlands contribute to intergenerational climate justice? How does documenting and facing loss help us collectively take stock of what remains as we develop strategies to protect culture and tradition? By documenting and sharing folklife stories, can we underscore inextricable connections between us, the land, culture, and nature to build equitable cultural and ecological futures?
Up to 15 participants will be selected to research and write/produce stories focused on the US Southwest (Arizona, California, New Mexico, Texas)and Northern Mexico. Participants will join a 2-day (online, weekend) training in early February 2023 and attend monthly peer sessions through June 2023. Participants will share stories, skills, and perspectives in a collaborative environment; hear from climate scientists, climate justice advocates, folklorists, and documentarians/ethnographers; participate in peer learning and support circles; and work with a developmental editor to create and finalize their story for publication. Participants will receive a stipend of $500 for their participation and publication in BorderLore. We particularly seek perspectives and voices from BIPOC communities.” Stories might explore loss, adaptation, relationship, and occupational folklife. The application deadline has been extended to 30 December 2022. Details here.
BrainFacts.Org: Two themes
They want pitches on stories around the brain and nervous system. They have extensive guidelines, including: BrainFacts.org “tells the story of scientific discoveries, the people behind them, and how it relates to our everyday lives. Knowing about the brain’s inner workings helps paint a better picture of the human experience that explores the universe between our ears. We’re looking for freelance science writers, journalists, and multimedia creators with a strong portfolio in science communication to pitch us story ideas about the brain and nervous system.” They have some themes they are interested in for 2023, including the following, but also say that they are open to all neuro-related pitches.
“– Mapping The Brain: #Imaging #Data #AI
Open-access data sets. Imaging innovations. Non-invasive techniques. Researchers are modeling the brain like never before. We’re looking for new stories that explain the tools and techniques designed to map the brain at the cellular and molecular level — and what it takes to use them.
— The Brain & Nature: #Enviroment #Climate #MentalHealth
A simple walk outdoors can deliver a very calming feeling — but on an increasingly warming planet, it may not feel as meditative as before. We want stories that explore the intersection of ecology and emotional health.”
They assign long (1000-1200 words), medium (700-900 words), and short-form (500-800 words) written and multimedia stories. They do consider profiles of experts in neuroscience if you weave the science throughout the story. Commentaries are accepted by invitation only. Pay depends on a number of factors, but is roughly $1/word. Please note, they will review pitches submitted after 21st December only from 12th January 2023 onwards. Details here (guidelines), here (pitch form), and here (themes).
CNN As Equals: Stories from the Margins
CNN is looking for pitches for a new column. A Twitter thread from the series editor says, they are “curating & editing a new series for CNN As Equals that we’re calling Stories from the Margins. We’re looking for stories that reveal, explain, or investigate some facet of what it’s like to belong to certain categories of women whose stories remain largely out of view.” These include but are not limited to domestic workers, incarcerated women, undocumented women or those living in borderlands, older women (age 45+), Trans women and nonbinary people, and more. They want “deep stories from storytellers who are from these backgrounds or have covered these underreported groups extensively”. They prefer stories from the global south. Pay is $350/day for journalists, for stories up to 2,000 words. The pitch deadline is 24 January 2023. Details in the Twitter thread here and pitch guide here.
Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She can be reached here.