Call for Submissions
Lesions is a literary magazine created for and by people who live with chronic conditions if this is you, please consider submitting your work!
Lesions is a literary magazine created for and by people who live with chronic conditions including (but not limited to) multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease, stroke survivors, cancer patients and survivors, arthritis, and other autoimmune conditions. As such, we welcome submissions from writers and artists living with chronic conditions, who may or may not consider themselves disabled, or sick.
We seek previously unpublished stories, essays, poems, and artwork that (broadly interpreted) touch on ideas of health (mental, physical and spiritual), wellness, uncertainty, struggle, (mis)diagnosis, ability/disability/ableism, healthcare, and mortality. These themes need not be overt in your piece and disclosure of specific diagnoses is not required and up to each contributor.
Copyright for all work remains with the creator and you are free to republish your piece(s) elsewhere. Please acknowledge Lesions as the outlet where your piece first appeared in all reprints.
How to submit:
Email your cover letter, a headshot (.jpg preferred), and attach your submission. Only submissions sent to editor.lesions@gmail.com will be considered.
Your cover letter should include:
Your full name as you’d like your byline to read
Your city and state/country
A bio/artist statement up to 150-words, written in 3rd person including up to two links (website, newsletter, socials, Linktree, etc.)
An acknowledgement that you live with a chronic condition if it’s not specified in your bio, (this will not be published.)
Simultaneous submissions are welcome, please let us know if your piece has been accepted elsewhere.
Please wait until you hear back on your current submission before submitting again.
Submissions are accepted year round, please wait 12 weeks to follow up on your submission.
Writing
Type your cover letter in the body of your email and attach your submission and as a .docx or Google Doc to editor.lesions@gmail.com
You may include .mp3 file(s) of yourself reading your work using your voice recorder app, an online voice recorder, or any other recording technology to be uploaded with your work. This is optional, but a great way for readers to connect with authors. Published pieces submitted without an audio file may be read and recorded by a Lesions editor.
Poetry
Type your cover letter in the body of your email and attach your submission. Send it to editor.lesions@gmail.com
Submit up to 5 poems of up to 30 lines each in a single file. If your work is a translation, please include the original work as well. If you are submitting audio files in addition to your written poems, please submit an .mp3 for each individual poem.
Save each piece as Lastname_Firstname_Title_of_Poem.docx or send as a Google Doc
Fiction
Type your cover letter in the body of your email and attach your submission. Send it to editor.lesions@gmail.com
Submit one piece of short fiction between 100 and 1500 words.
Save your piece as Lastname_Firstname_Title_of_Story.docx or attach as a Google Doc
Non-fiction
Type your cover letter in the body of your email and attach your submission. Send it to editor.lesions@gmail.com
Submit one piece of shot non-fiction between 100 and 1500 words
Save each piece as Lastname_Firstname_Title_of_Story.docx or send as a Google Doc
Artwork
Type your cover letter in the body of your email and attach your submission. Please also include a 1-2 sentence caption/image description for each image (these will help visually impaired readers access your work.) Send your submission to editor.lesions@gmail.com
Submit up to ten high-res digital images of artwork in any medium in .jpg, .png, or .gif formats (other file types will not be accepted.)
Save each piece as Lastname_Firstname_Title_of_Image
Film
Type your cover letter in the body of your email and include a link to your submission and send to editor.lesions@gmail.com
Submit one short film up to 15 minutes in length. Please do not send video files, instead include a link to the film on Vimeo, YouTube, personal webpage, etc.
Music
Submit up to 3 original audio files (we unfortunately cannot accept covers of copyrighted material) each up to 5 minutes in length and send as .mp3 files (other file types will not be accepted.)
Save each piece as Lastname_Firstname_Title_of_Song.mp3
We do not publish
Submissions featuring gratuitous violence, homophobia, sexism, ableism, etc.
Submissions written by people who do not live with a chronic condition (thank you for thinking of us, please support us by subscribing, sharing, and donating if you can!)
Submission fees/ Payment
Lesions does not currently have submission fees. We do not currently have the budget to pay artists for their work, but we are working hard to apply for funding so we can change that!