The Manifest Station was founded in 2011. This is what they have to say about what they publish: “The Manifest Station is a literary safe space for essays about the complicated, beautiful, and hard parts of being alive. Since 2011, we have published personal writing about grief, healing, courage, family, relationships, and the full spectrum of being human. Our contributors are not celebrities. They are people who have lived something and found the words for it.”

You can learn more about them, and see their full masthead here.

They only publish personal essays that fall within the following topic lines: Healing and Grief, which they say are their largest and most-read sections, Inspiration and Courage, Family and Relationships. It appears they used to publish work about Activism, but do not seem to have a section on the site focused to it anymore, even though it’s mentioned in the about us page. Please read two essays in the category you might submit in, before proceeding. After reading those essays it should be clear if their publication is the right fit for you, or not.

They are not interested in “Inspirational content. Writing that mistakes confession for craft. Work generated by AI.”

They only allow submissions up to 2,500 words, with no upwards wiggle room. They only allow one submission at a time. Simultaneous submissions are fine, as long as you withdraw your piece. They also say, “Previously published work is considered only if exceptional; tell us where it ran. We may ask you to take it down if we accept it.”

Rights revert to the author, they just ask that you credit them if you republish it. Photos are allowed to be shared as well, as long as they fit the piece, but are not required.

You can read their submission guidelines here.

Their Submittable is here.