Black Elephant is a new online and soon-to-be print journal hoping to shake up the literary landscape with boundary-breaking new writing. They want to showcase voices that challenge convention and defy form. They want to celebrate stories, poems, essays, spoken word pieces, photographs, and short films that speak subtly and viscerally, with textured layers of meaning. Black Elephant’s minimalist aesthetic and unconventional one-line author bios put great writing front and center, nothing else. To get a sense of their style, you can read their first issue online.

Black Elephant will be published online four times a year, and twice a year in print. Additionally, they will release an audio publication four times a year. Their first issue contains work from nine contributors.

Poets may submit up to five poems. Fiction and creative nonfiction writers may submit stories between 2,000 and 5,000 words. Essayists may submit pieces under 2,000 words. Spoken word artists may submit MP3 audio files under four minutes. Photographers may submit up to five black and white photographs, and filmmakers may submit short films less than ten minutes in length. Submitting authors and artists can expect a response within about eight to twelve weeks.

Black Elephant accepts submissions online, but not via post or email. They do not accept work previously published in print or in other online literary journals; however, they accept work that has appeared on personal blogs or websites as long as the work is removed before it is submitted to Black Elephant. They accept simultaneous submissions of fiction, creative nonfiction, and essays, but ask that authors immediately withdraw work accepted elsewhere.  They do not accept simultaneous submissions of poetry, spoken word, photography, or short film. Any author or artist may submit to more than one category.

If you would like to learn more or submit to Black Elephant, please visit their website at http://www.blackelephantlit.org/read-me/.