Common House Magazine is an online journal of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, artwork, photography, audio, and video, produced and published by students at the University of Ottawa. They welcome submissions from around the world, and they publish student writing, too. You can read the journal online to get a sense of what they publish.
Common House launched in 2022, and since then they’ve published two issues per year, in the spring and fall. They also hold a themed contest for flash fiction each summer. Common House is especially committed to publishing underrepresented voices—”Common House can be a place for everyone”—and they do consider author bios in their final selection process.
Common House holds two main submission periods each year, from August 24 through November 30, and from December 1 through March 31. They also hold a separate submission period for their summer contest.
Poets may submit up to five poems. Authors of fiction and creative nonfiction may submit one piece, 3,000 words or fewer, or two to three flashes, 1,000 words or fewer each. They do accept excerpts from longer pieces, as long the except works on its own. They also accept multimedia pieces including audio and video. Submitting authors can expect a response within one to four months.
Common House accepts submissions online using Google Forms, not via email or by post. They accept simultaneous submissions but ask that authors withdraw writing published elsewhere. They do not accept previously published writing, including writing published on social media or personal blogs.
Common House only accepts submissions that follow the guidelines they’ve posted online. Please read these guidelines in full before submitting. They do not accept writing that’s been assisted or generated by AI.
If you would like to learn more or submit to Common House, please visit their website.
Bio: Ella Peary is the pen name of an internationally published author and editor. After earning a Master of Fine Arts degree in poetry from Sarah Lawrence College, she lived as a monastic for five years. She now lives as a lay monastic, and teaches poetry, flash fiction, and literary publishing at the Authors Publish Writers Workshop. Her writing has been published in Room, The Apple Valley Review, Fourteen Hills, and elsewhere. And a number of full-length manuscripts she’s edited have received major international awards, including The Best Graphic Novel of the Year (Comics Finlandia), The Montaigne Medal, and The National Indie Excellence Awards. She’s also a long-time literary journal reviewer and editor at Authors Publish Magazine.
