Isele Magazine is an online publication with an impactful mission: “We publish writers and artists who hold a mirror to our society, who challenge conventional expectations about ways of being, how to be, and who decides who should be.” They believe that literature plays a powerful role in shaping our thoughts and ideas, and uplifting our communities.
With that goal in mind, they publish a bi-monthly magazine and a seasonal blog, as well as a quarterly series, featuring authors from the African content and around the world. They’ve been publishing since 2020.
Isele Magazine features fiction, poetry, essays, interviews, and book reviews. They usually accept submissions on a rolling basis. Submitting authors can expect a response within six months. Right now through 30 June 2022, they’re accepting work on the ‘Queer Joy’ theme, and they seek fiction, nonfiction, poetry, photography, visual art, and hybrid works on this topic.
For general submissions, poets may submit up to six pages of poetry. Authors of fiction and nonfiction essays may submit up to 8,000 words. They don’t accept novel excerpts. Authors of book reviews may submit up 1,500 words. All submissions should include a cover letter. Authors published in Isele Magazine are paid “a modest token”.
Isele Magazine accepts submissions via email, not online or by post. They accept simultaneous submissions but ask that authors withdraw work published elsewhere. They do not accept previously published work, including work published in print or online on personal websites. They do, however, consider translations of work originally published in languages other than English.
Isele Magazine only accepts submissions that adhere to the guidelines they’ve posted online. Please read these guidelines in full before submitting.
If you would like to learn more or submit to Isele Magazine, please visit their website here.
Bio: Ella Peary is the pen name for an author, editor, creative writing mentor, and submission consultant. Over the past five years, she’s written hundreds of articles for Authors Publish, and she’s also served as a copywriter and copy editor for a wide range of organizations and individuals. She is the author of The Quick Start Guide to Flash Fiction. She occasionally teaches a course on flash fiction. You can contact her at ellapeary@gmail.com.