**now reading for our spring issue with guest poetry editor jim peterson**
♥ welcome, feral storyteller!
Magpie Zine is a collection of somewhat unusual, possibly urgent, and slightly unhinged human expressions, existing somewhere between feral and fancy or a rock and a highbrow. The mag was born from an affinity for early underground zines—subversive, intelligent, uniquely collaborative, and vigorously imaginative. We are devoted to the spirit of that counterculture and the heart and soul of originality. We support writers and artists whose aesthetic is an experience. View our latest issue here →
we seek the following:
Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, humor, experimental/wildly unclassifiable, and visual art—artwork, photography, collage, comics. The prose word limit is 1500. For poetry, submit 1-3 poems. For visual art, submit 2-4 pieces. We strongly favor work with depth and unique insight. Life is absurd, and we like being moved in unexpected ways by its absurdity.
For humor, we’re looking for terrible pitches that would never sell and giggle-fit middle school book reports. More on humor subs →
publication basics:
We publish an online issue (flipbook style and downloadable PDF with no paywalls) four times a year. Submissions must be previously unpublished, original, and from the original creator. (Shared on your personal social media or personal blog is fine. We don’t consider this as a publication.) We only accept work created by corporeal humans. We don’t consider AI-written work. For artwork, we ask that it not be previously published online or in a major print publication.
We cannot offer payment at this time, but general submissions are always free.
Even though submissions are free, please only submit to one category per reading period. Multiple submissions will not be read.
If we have already published your work, please wait three issues before sending us more. If a piece was previously declined, please do not resubmit it unless encouraged to do so.
Currently, our reading windows are open for two months, and our response time is within three months.
a note on poetry subs:
Poetry submissions tend to close early due to reaching our Submittable plan capacity. If you don't see an option to submit poetry, this means submissions are closed for the current reading period.
Work submitted here is for nonfiction words only. If your submission contains visuals and words, submit to the Visual Art or Experimental category. We only accept previously unpublished original work by the original creator.
Submit only one (1) piece. Max 1500 words. Pieces over 1500 words will not be considered. Do not include your name on the document or in the file name—we prefer to read anonymous submissions.
If the original is not in English, an English translation must accompany it. If we have previously declined a piece, please do not resubmit it unless encouraged to do so.
If we have previously published your work, please wait three issues before submitting more work.
We know our submissions are free but only submit to one category per reading period. Multiple submissions will not be considered.
Work submitted here is for fiction words only. If your submission contains visuals and words, submit to the Visual Art or Experimental category. We only accept previously unpublished original work by the original creator.
Submit only one (1) piece. Max 1500 words. Pieces over 1500 words will not be considered. Do not include your name on the document or in the file name—we prefer to read anonymous submissions.
If the original is not in English, an English translation must accompany it. If we have previously declined a piece, please do not resubmit it unless encouraged to do so.
If we have previously published your work, please wait three issues before submitting more work.
We know our submissions are free but only submit to one category per reading period. Multiple submissions will not be considered.
Work submitted here is for pieces that do not fit into any of our other categories. Your work may include embedded visuals, but words should be the primary content; otherwise, consider submitting to our Visual Art (Collage) category. Do not use this category to submit scripts; we don't publish scripts.
We only accept previously unpublished original work by the original creator.
Submit only one (1) piece. Max word count is 1500. Do not include your name on the document or in the file name—we prefer to read anonymous submissions.
If the original is not in English, an English translation must accompany it.
If we have previously declined a piece, please do not resubmit it unless encouraged to do so.
If we have previously published your work, please wait three issues before submitting more work.
We know our submissions are free but only submit to one category per reading period. Multiple submissions will not be considered.
Here are some past Magpie experimental pieces:
The Digital Snail That Lives Inside My Head...
Work submitted here is for visual art. Collages may contain only visuals or visuals + words. We only accept original work by the original creator. Artwork should not have been previously published online or in a major print publication.
We DO NOT pair your art with written work. Visual art is its own feature, and your submission should be substantial enough to stand on its own and tell its own story. Submit 2-4 pieces.
We tend to publish submissions that include pieces from the same medium. (For example, all photography, all collages, etc.) We also lean toward submissions where the pieces seem to go together or appear to have connected ideas or themes or reflect a consistent vibe. (For example, all black and white scenes, all celebrations of life, commentary on the state of the world, etc.)
If we have previously declined a piece, please do not resubmit it unless encouraged to do so. If we have previously published your work, please wait three issues before submitting more work. Only submit to one category per reading period. Mulitple submissions will not be considered.
Work submitted here is for our humor categories. Currently, we're looking for terrible pitches that would never sell and giggle-fit middle school book reports. See below for the requirements of each. We only accept previously unpublished original work by the original creator. Please do not include your name on the document—we prefer to read anonymous submissions.
If the original work is not in English, an English translation must accompany it. If we have previously declined a piece, please do not resubmit it unless encouraged to do so. If we have previously published your work, please wait three issues before submitting more work. Only submit to one category per reading period.
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Terrible Pitch
You have five minutes to sell something—a product, an idea, your soul, etc.—to an interested party. Write the worst pitch you can come up with that is guaranteed not to result in a successful sale. Please don’t send scripts to this category.
Read a terrible pitch we loved: "Bone-In Hotdogs"
Middle School Book Report
Remember middle school, that horrifically awkward time that criminally sandwiched together the carefree pre-adolescent days and the even more confusing double-digit years (that you thought would get better after you became an adult because you were told you could “do anything you wanted to” when you became an adult, like eat cookies for breakfast and stay up past 10 PM, but then you became an adult and realized it’s all a sham, and if you eat cookies for breakfast you’ll probably develop heart disease, and everything needs to happen before 6 PM, including all meals, rock concerts, and magic, because you haven’t had the energy for 10 PM since middle school)?
The book report is a nod to a simpler time when critiquing or analyzing wasn’t on our radar, but we did have an endless amount of opinions. Write a book report about a book you love, love, luvvvv.
Your language and sentence structure should match the ability and complexity of a middle schooler, but the book should be something an adult would read.
The appropriate length is probably a page or two, and the content should include the basics and plenty of cheeky opinions.
Here are two great examples:
"The Grapes of Rath by Jon Stineback by Trevor Johnston-Piper"