Call for Submissions: Mizna Summer Issue 26.1

PLEASE READ THE SUBMISSION GUIDELINES CAREFULLY, UNSOLICITED SUBMISSIONS SENT TO OUR EMAIL AND SUBMISSIONS THAT DO NOT ADHERE TO THE GUIDELINES WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED.

We are opening submissions for our unthemed Summer 2025 Issue, Mizna 26.1, December 6, 2024-January 6, 2025. We write this call as the ongoing ethnic cleansing and genocide in Gaza has passed its one year mark. In the midst of catastrophe and on the brink of new waves of fascism, we look towards cultural work— art, writing, music, film, and criticism— as the generative space in which our communities can come together in grief, rage, and solidarity as we redefine and upend our current world order. For this unthemed issue, we continue to encourage work that affirms the necessity of resistance and steadfastness against imposed structures of catastrophe; work that imagines new collectivities, new forms of struggle, new worlds. We welcome writing which centers Palestine, Armenia, Afghanistan, Sudan, Morocco, Libya, and beyond, places directly affected by the worst of recent imperial devastations. As solidarity with Palestine continues to be met with harsher forms of censorship, doxxing, cancellation of awards and events, expulsion from universities, and firing from professional positions, we also encourage writing from our anti-Zionist comrades as well as those who have been subjected to the aforementioned silencing. While we welcome submissions from former contributors seeking a space for their work in this urgent moment, we also especially encourage submissions from writers who have never been published by us before. 

Mizna has long been a home for literature with innovative, experimental forms, as well as visual art that is published with high quality print production practices. As such, we especially encourage ongoing submissions of visual poetry work, or hybrid works that cross the arbitrary boundaries of genre. In general, literary works of poetry, visual poetry, fiction, flash fiction, nonfiction, creative nonfiction, comics, collage, invented forms, and any forms of mixed print or hybrid work will all be considered. 

Submitters do not need to be SWANA or Arab identified, but work submitted should be considerate of Mizna’s ethos and the social realities of our audiences, as well as aim to contribute to ongoing conversations in and beyond our communities. We encourage submitters to read back issues of Mizna before submitting work for consideration. 

There are no submission fees. Selected contributors receive a $200 honorarium, a 1-year subscription to Mizna, and 5 copies of the issue.