Story Magazine is currently seeking submissions of stories, essays, poetry, and interviews on the theme of identity. The submission period ends on May 1st, 2016. They pay up to $200 per story, $30 per poem, and $100 per interview.
They want “material about the way we tell stories about ourselves and have ourselves storied by history and society, on such topics as gender, race, sex, family, culture, and bodies.”
According to their website:
‘Story is interested in narrative of any shape and kind we can get onto the printed page. Surprise us with traditional and experimental forms of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. We love short fiction, but we love hermit-crab essays, hybrid forms, research, lists, and charts too. Issues are themed and double-sided and feature the best narratives that speak to that theme in whichever size, shape, or genre they come.The editors are not only interested in fiction and nonfiction, but also innovative, human stories in any shape or form, and from as diverse a population as possible—Korean mathematicians, Iraq war veteran narrative poetry, musical scores from young girls in Mississippi, or the narrative analytics of big data. (We are also very much interested in research, essays, and interviews about how stories work to define and complicate our world.) As poet Muriel Rukeyser wrote, “The universe is made of stories, not of atoms.”‘
Submissions are completely free, both through mail and their Submittable account.