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Submission Guidelines

Read about Zhagaram Literary Magazine to understand what kind of work we look for. As long as your work explores some aspect of your culture and heritage, whichever part of the world you're from, we'd love to consider it for publication. For themed submissions, please adhere to the theme given below.

EIC's Interview with New Pages, Duotrope

we nominate for BEST OF THE NET & Best Spiritual Literature prizes

IDENTITY

Though we're open to submissions from writers from all around the world, our ultimate goal is to amplify diverse and marginalised voices. If you are a writer who is a woman, a Person of Colour, belonging to any marginalised communities, we emphatically encourage you to submit. We highly prioritise these submissions and would be honoured to publish your work.  

GENERAL GUIDELINES

Submission Period 2024:

30 May - 31 August 

01 November - 31 January 2025

  • Submissions must be made using the Google Forms only. Email submissions won't be considered.

  • Written work must be primarily in English but can contain words and phrases from other languages.

  • Simultaneous submissions are allowed. Please make sure you withdraw your work as soon as possible if your work is accepted before we could.

  • Response Time: 1 month

  • Please submit only once per submission period in one category.

  • If your submission has been accepted, please submit again only after one year has passed. If your work was not accepted, you're free to submit again in the next submission period.

  • All submitted work must belong to the person making the submission. Any form of plagiarism won't be tolerated. We also do not appreciate work that promotes any form of hatred.

  • If you have any doubts regarding submissions, please feel free to email us with the subject: QUERY

Image by Rohit Tandon

POETRY SUBMISSIONS - OPEN
ALWAYS FREE

  • Please read about our mission before submitting.

  • Submit upto 3 poems in a single document. Each poem should begin in a new page. 

  • Poems must be single spaced, 12 pt and in TNR/Georgia/Garamond/Courier New font.

  • Document name must be your name as you want it published.

  • If your poems have words from other languages, please include their translations at the end of the page.

  • Provide necessary context and required trigger warnings (asked in the Google Form). Asking for context might be a less common practice especially when blind reading of submissions is promoted as a solution for reducing bias. However, as a literary magazine that publishes work rooted in culture, it's important for us to be aware of the cultural context the poem originates from. It is impossible for a single person (the editor) to be aware of cultural nuances from all around the world and a blatant dismissal of these nuances in pursuit of supposed literary merit is not the solution. Zhagaram promises to treat your poem, and as an extension, your heritage, with care.

  • Expedited submissions and detailed feedback available for a small fee. Submit below for free general submissions

If you use ChillSubs, we'd be grateful if you track your submission to Zhagaram. Thank you! 

EXTENSIVE FEEDBACK ON SUBMISSIONS

  • For the given fee range, your submission will be returned with a decision and extensive feedback:

1 Poem - $2.16 (Rs. 180)
2 Poems - $4.20 (Rs. 350)
3 Poems - $6.00 (Rs. 500)

  • All poetry guidelines mentioned above apply.

  • If accepted, no feedback will be provided. In this case, the money will be refunded per accepted poem.  

  • Please note that you may not resubmit the same poem if rejected, after feedback considerations.

  • You can pay via Paypal or Google Pay. Please make sure to mention 'Feedback Submission [First Name]'

  • For security purposes, please upload a screenshot of your transaction when you submit.

  • Please use the below submission form ONLY to submit.

  • In case of any confusions, please feel free to contact and clarify: zhagaramliterary@gmail.com

EXPEDITED POETRY SUBMISSIONS

  • For a nominal fee of $2.40 (Rs. 200), your submission will be returned with a decision within 48 hours.

  • All poetry guidelines mentioned above apply.

  • Expedited submissions are subject to the same editorial standards as regular submissions. That is, an expedited submission does not guarantee an acceptance.

    • You can pay via Google Pay. Please make sure to mention 'Expedited Submission [First Name]'. You may even pay directly through the UPI ID: suchita.senthilkumar@okicici

    • If you're having issues with the above modes, you may make direct bank transfers. For such cases, please email us directly.

    • For security purposes, please upload a screenshot of your transaction when you submit.

    • In case of any confusions, please feel free to contact and clarify: zhagaramliterary@gmail.com

Old City

MINI ESSAYS - OPEN

  • Word Count - try not to cross 2k words. We're not too strong on word count limits though. If you think your essay needs more than 2k words, we're ready to accomodate. The limit is just a preferance.

  • Themes - we're interested in essays about cultural observations from any part of the world. Feel free to define this as you like. We are also looking for poetry analysis and book reviews that read like essays. Please make sure you have a focus on the heritage, culture or linguistic aspect of the piece you are analysing. If you think you have an essay we would like and we haven't described it here, send it our way. We're open to experimenting.

  • Document Submission - One essay, 12 or 13 pt, single spaced, preferrably Garamond or Times New Roman

  • All other submission guidelines apply here as well. In case of queries, feel free to reach out to us.

VISUAL ART GUIDELINES - OPEN

​Out of all the submissions we receive, one piece of art will be selected as our magazine's cover art. Others will be featured in the magazine. While we cannot offer monetary compensation, the selected cover artist will be interviewed and featured in our digital magazine. Please follow the submission guidelines as below.

  • Submit upto 3 visual art pieces. No theme, although if the work adheres to the Lexicon theme we'd be elated.

  • Submission may be in ANY medium (physical or digital), photography or hybrid visual art pieces.

  • All submissions must be in .jpeg or .png format

  • Please submit through the Google Form below where we ask for an artist's statement and artist bio.

PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED

We publish work that has been previously posted on the author's social media or personal blog. However, we request you take it down upon acceptance. Work previously published by other magazines will not be considered.

PUBLISHING RIGHTS

All rights belongs to the concerned contributor. We request for publication rights to print your work digitally and to promote it on social media. You may republish your work elsewhere as long as Zhagaram Literary is credited as the first publisher.

PAYMENT

Unfortunately, we are currently unable to pay our contributors but hope to change that soon. We're currently building support for the magazine. Learn more here.

IMPORTANT TO NOTE

Zhagaram is run by a single editor and we hope to diversify our team as we keep growing. However, as of now, this means that our knowledge and understanding of the world and its cultures is very limited. This might lead to discrepancies in publishing and if any piece of work published by Zhagaram is ever found to have expressed problematic ideas and views, we kindly reserve the right to take it down. 

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