City Keys tagline is “Exploring the City through the Arts”. They are an arts journal that is focused on sharing experiences related to cities of every size. They believe that cities are a valuable source of inspiration for art and writing that “captures the human experience”. They are not interested in work that is not about cities in some way. They publish a real range of work within this focus including art and photography, prose, poetry, and essays, as well as a category called Metro Ethos.
fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry
You can read what they’ve published recently by “entering the city” or by clicking on a specific category on the left hand sidebar.
They are open to submissions year round. Simultaneous submissions are allowed as long as you alert them if your work is accepted elsewhere.
All submissions must be made via email. Up to ten photographs can be submitted at a time, and up to five pieces of art. Work should be formatted as a jpeg, gif, or png format.
They accept only previously unpublished fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. Fiction and creative nonfiction can be up to 2,500 words in length. You can submit up to three poems at a time.
To learn more, go here.
Emily Harstone is the author of many popular books, including The Authors Publish Guide to Manuscript Submissions, Submit, Publish, Repeat, and The 2023 Guide to Manuscript Publishers. She regularly teaches three acclaimed courses on writing and publishing at The Writer’s Workshop at Authors Publish. You can follow her on Facebook here.
