Spellbinder Magazine Open Call

Spellbinder is a nonprofit quarterly literary and art magazine which celebrates and offers a platform to artists, dramatists and poets, as well as writers of fiction and nonfiction. Spellbinder was founded in 2020 by a group of students who were based in Durham, England, at the time, and who had first met at the Durham University Creative Writing Society. The team has now grown to proudly include editors from a range of different countries around the world, all generously devoting their time to providing this literary and artistic platform, at the same time as pursuing their own careers, studies and other commitments and interests. The two remaining original co-founders, Amber and Linda, operate as the central management committee of the magazine, and are indebted to all of the volunteers who join the Spellbinder team.

Once you have read the guidelines below, you can submit your work through our submission form.

Starting with the Autumn 2022 issue contributors, we pay a £3 honorarium per acceptance after print publication.

Compulsory Submission Guidelines:

Your submission will be considered invalid if you do not adhere to the following guidelines.

One submission is permitted per quarterly. This means that you may only enter your work into one category. Your submission will be considered for the upcoming issue only.
Within each category, you may only submit one piece of work, unless you are submitting poetry or artwork. Please note that we are unlikely to accept more than one work per poet or artist.
We do not consider previously published or self-published submissions. This includes work that is and/or has been on sale and/or displayed on websites, social media channels, and personal blogs.
We do consider simultaneous submissions. However, you must inform us immediately if your work gets published anywhere else so that we can withdraw your submission.
We do not accept work containing offensive language (anything containing racist, sexist or otherwise derogatory language), graphic erotic detail, and/or radical religious or political commentary.

Written Work Guidelines:

Compulsory:

Your submission will be considered invalid if you do not adhere to the following guidelines.

Works must be written primarily in English. Translations are acceptable and should be accompanied by a copy of the original text.
Submit all written work as a singular .doc/.docx/.odf attachment. Do not send your work as a .pdf.
Please name your file names as the title of your work, regardless of the file extension.

Optional:

We really appreciate it if you adhere to the following instructions, but it is not essential for you to do so.

All works should be typed in 12 point font and single-spacing.
Centre your title and number the pages of your document.

Compulsory Category Guidelines:

Your submission will be considered invalid if you do not adhere to the following guidelines.

Your work should not exceed more than 10% of the maximum total word/ line/ page count, as detailed below.

We are unable to read more than the permitted number of works per category.

Poetry:
- Maximum of 40 lines per poem.
- Maximum of 2 poems, all submitted in the same document.
- Note: Free verse, formal verse and anything in between is welcome.
Fiction:
- Short Stories
  - Maximum of 3000 words.
- Flash Fiction
  - Minimum of 100 words.
  - Maximum of 1000 words.
Nonfiction:
- Creative Nonfiction
  - Maximum of 3000 words.
- Flash Creative Nonfiction
  - Minimum of 100 words.
  - Maximum of 1000 words.
Drama:
- Stage plays
  - Maximum of 5 A4 pages.
- Screen plays
  - Maximum of 5 A4 pages.
  - Formatting should be as close to Final Draft as possible.
- Note: Play extracts and monologues are welcome.
Artworks:
- Visual art submissions are THEMED. We are looking for visual artworks in any style/medium that loosely adhere to the theme of Other Worlds. We are looking for a wide range of subjects, including but not limited to: underwater scenes, depictions of space, extra-terrestrial worlds and microscopic shots, such as those of cells or insects, as well as works which explore diverse spheres of imagination, and even those which engage with complex virtual worlds! Feel free to submit any works that you perceive to fit the theme.
- Maximum of 3 works. Submit works in .png/.jpg/.jpeg format. For your artwork/photo to be considered for the cover art please submit in A4 format or aspect ratio 1:√2.
- Our form may have problems with file sizes larger than 10MB. Feel free to use our contact form to let us know in case you are interested in submitting larger works and are having problems with the form.
- Note: Paintings, Drawings, Digital Art, Collages and Photographs are welcome.