By S. Kalekar
These are themed calls for pitches/submissions of creative non-fiction/essay/reportage. Some themes are: the best (films) of 2025; miracles, messages from heaven & angels; modern love; writing communities; mental health/emotional life; LGBTQ2S+ health; sports; harmony and sunder; maps; writes of nature; Stranger Things; and feminist topics.
Bright Wall / Dark Room: The Best of 2025
They publish essays on film and television related topics. “In keeping with our annual tradition, our first issue of 2026 will be entirely focused on the best films of 2025! No fancy prompt this time around—as long as it was released in 2025, and we haven’t already covered it this year (sorry, One Battle After Another is off the table), any film is fair game to write about.” They are also accepting emailed pitches on this theme (see The Best of 2025 on Submittable for details). They pay $50. First drafts are due on 8th December 2025. They’re also accepting unthemed submissions and pitches; there is no deadline for those. Details here.
Chicken Soup for the Soul: Miracles, messages from heaven & angels
They publish true stories and true poetry, up to 1,200 words. They’ve posted details on a few themes. The upcoming deadline is for Miracles, messages from heaven & angels, about “unexplained happenings and occurrences. Stories about miracles, angels, messages from heaven, premonitions, amazing coincidences and other unexplainable but good events! Here is another chance for you to share a story about a miraculous event or amazing coincidence that happened to you.
We are looking for powerful, astounding, stories that will make people say “wow” or give them chills. This book is for everyone, whether religious or non-religious.” They also have several themes / suggested topics on the guidelines page. The submission deadline is 15 January 2026. Details here and here (also see other tabs on this page, including FAQ).
(Chicken Soup for the Soul is also reading true stories and poetry on other topics, including Stories about November & December holidays; the deadline for that is 28th February 2026, theme details on this page.)
Wine Enthusiast
They have updated themes for their print and digital issues for 2026. “In Print, we entertain and empower readers with a mix of reported features, travel stories, and recipes. We also publish wine and spirits recommendations, which are selected in-house. From freelancers, we’re looking for previously unreported, meaty stories that go untold in other media outlets, such as profiles of innovative winemakers and other industry pros, colorful peeks into subcultures, opinionated essays, and more. We’re drawn to pitches with compelling narratives and human-interest angles. Review the 2026 print issue themes here.” For print, for April, the theme is, “The Travel Issue, High Elevation
For this year’s Travel Issue, we’re getting high—high elevation, that is. We’re focusing on high-elevation wineries, distilleries, and travel destinations up in the mountains. Some of the best wines in the world are produced at over 1,600 feet above sea level, and this issue celebrates them alongside culinary travel experiences like après-ski.” And: “What to pitch: Stories about high-elevation regions and their producers. Visually compelling is the name of the game for travel—with a side of rich culture and history.” They have other themes listed, as well. Rates for digital begin at $0.50/word; rates for print are unspecified. Pitching is via a form on their website (see guidelines). Details here.
The New York Times: Modern Love
Modern Love is a non-fiction column of the New York Times. They want “honest personal essays about contemporary relationships. We seek true stories on finding love, losing love and trying to keep love alive. We welcome essays that explore subjects such as adoption, polyamory, technology, race and friendship — anything that could reasonably fit under the heading “Modern Love.” Ideally, essays should spring from some central dilemma you have faced. It is helpful, but not essential, for the situation to reflect what is happening in the world now.” Send essays of 1,500-1,700 words. Modern Love has two submission periods, March through June, and September through December. Writers are paid. They especially welcome work from historically underrepresented writers, and from those outside the US. Details here.
Poets & Writers: Writing Communities
They publish articles of interest to emerging and established literary writers. They publish News & Trends, The Literary Life Essays (on the more contemplative aspects of writing, ranging from creative process to the art of reading), The Practical Writer (advice and how-to articles that offer nuts and bolts information about the business of creative writing), and features of 2,000-3,000 words – articles, essays, profiles, and interviews regarding American literature. According to their section for advertisers, for March/April 2026, the issue theme is Writing Communities. (see Upcoming Issues and Deadlines here). They do not publish fiction, poetry, or reviews. They accept pitches as well as articles on spec (see guidelines), and take 4-6 weeks to respond to queries or manuscripts. Details here (themes) and here (writers’ guidelines).
Video Game Town
They publish work on video games. “Video Game Town, my website, is looking for freelance writers, and we offer $150 an article and $100 for a podcast appearance!” See the pitch call here and their website here.
Open Secrets Magazine: Food Insecurity Personal Essays
They are commissioning personal essays on food insecurity. They have detailed guidelines, including, “Open Secrets Magazine is seeking original, unpublished, non-AI-generated 1,000-2,500 word personal essays on the author’s current personal experience with food insecurity to be published in our Finances section. Priority will be given to those writing about their current experience related to food insecurity and SNAP benefits in the United States, but we are open to submissions from anywhere in the world on the topic and essays by U.S. authors unrelated to SNAP benefits. We don’t consider pitches, only full essay drafts submitted according to our guidelines. We want to showcase the human sides of modern food insecurity and intend to publish essays by writers from a range of backgrounds, locations, races, genders, sexual orientations, and ages.” They also have a list of suggested topics. They pay $200, and will close the call once the slots are full. They will open for general submissions in 2026. Details here.
The Stylist: Learn From My Mistakes Column
UK-based Stylist is commissioning “first-person pitches for The Stylist Group‘s series, Learn From My Mistakes📣
It’s a weekly series that sees women sharing their story of a big mistake they made and what they (and we) can learn from it. You can see the full series so far here”. The editor has also linked to some of their favourite pieces in the column. You can see the pitch call / editor’s post here.
Blanket Gravity Magazine
“Blanket Gravity Magazine is a journal for fiction, creative nonfiction, and visual art. We are interested in moments of emotional intensity, and how their effects ring out in the bigger picture of our identities. We are looking for writing and art that explore mental health or emotional life. By “mental health,” we mean art that tries to make sense of emotional struggle or uncertainty, as well as our thoughts about who we are, what other people mean to us, and the nature of the world.
For nonfiction, we hope to receive personal essays by people with lived experience of mental illness or emotional struggle.
We curate submissions for writing and art that will offer readers experiences outside their emotional pain, or a moment of interest or connection. We’re not trying to erase or replace negative moods—we’re trying to show an expression of care.” They pay $40. The deadline is 10th January 2026 (with potential for extension). Details here.
Complex: Sports pitches
Complex is looking for sports pitches: “I’m looking to assign features for Complex Sports before the end of the year. Please send me a pitch! Also looking for writers w/ experience covering college hoops, college football, and international soccer.” See the pitch call here.
Matador Network: World Cup/Soccer
According to the commissioning editor of Matador Network, “we are closed to freelance pitches probably through mid-Dec, with the exception of World Cup/Soccer pitches.” According to their pitch form, “Matador is covering the 2026 FIFA World Cup in a big way, and we’re looking for stories from freelancers to round out our coverage. We’re looking for coverage relating to
– World Cup logistics (booking tickets, navigating stadiums, going to fan fests, etc)
– World Cup travel to specific cities
– General soccer/fandom pitches
– Articles around host cities for which we have less content than others (see: Monterrey, Guadalajara, Toronto, Kansas City, etc.”
They pay $200-300 for articles of 1,100 words. See the pitch call here and the pitch form is here.
Balls and Strikes
They are looking for pitches on American courts, judges, and the legal system; “original reporting and voice-y commentary on court opinions, judicial nominations, the legal profession, and legal academia. Typically, these essays run between 800 and 1200 words. … we are also interested in pitches for stories that might slip through the cracks elsewhere. Deep-dive analyses of sparsely-discussed Supreme Court cases that highlight the legal system’s failures, like this, are great. So are stories about people whose petitions the Court turns away, since the cases the justices ignore say as much about their priorities as the cases they accept.
That said, we also love pitches that are a little less tethered to the news cycle: explainers of important legal concepts and (usually) why they are bad, Q&As with smart people who have good ideas, and reviews of law-adjacent books, movies, TV shows, articles, and the like.” Also, “Typically, we pay $500 for essays of about 1000 words, and adjust both figures up or down based on a project’s scope, the depth of necessary research, your availability, and the like.” See their pitch call here and their detailed guidelines here.
B Cubed Press: More Alternative Liberties
“Our sequel to the Alternative Liberties volume. We will be buying stories, poems, and essays about the potential consequences of the 2024 (US) Presidential election told in current, near future or even similar situations where such a leader is in power.
This anthology is our vision what these next years will look like. Not just in the White House, but in the day-to-day world on our planet. Under such conditions people will adapt, people will suffer, people will prosper, people will axtively and passively resist, people will live, people will die.
We want stories of people who fight the change, endure the change, or embrace the change. But key word is people. We want the stories to be about the People (an maybe the animal liberation front in Springfield or a couch salesmen in Ohio who knows things.” They pay $0.10/word and royalties for works of 1,500 to 3,000 words, and the submission deadline is 20 December 2025. Details here and here.
Script: LGBTQ2S+ health
Script is a “brand new platform dedicated to covering LGBTQ2S+ health in a period where our rights and healthcare access are under extreme threat.” You can read about them here. While they are Canada-based, they accept pitches from outside Canada, as well. “We know that queer and trans people are too often dismissed, ignored or worse when trying to access healthcare—if they can get access at all. We want Script to serve as a by us and for us health resource to help people access the high quality info they need to take charge of their health. It’ll be serious when needed, but we believe there’s room for irreverence when we talk about our bodies and what they need. We’ll be talking about everything from aging to transition to disability to sex to substance use to HIV to healthcare policy and beyond. … And I don’t have a limitless budget, but I’m always happy to hear from writers with exciting pitches!” Pay starts at CAD350 for a Q&A and CAD450 for a basic short reported story. See the editor’s pitch call / thread here.
Wild Hyacinth: Harmony and Sunder
This literary magazine aims to promote new and established Canadian voices, though they also accept international authors. They want creative non-fiction, fiction, poetry, and art submissions. “Our second issue explores harmony and sunder as winter sets in.” They accept prose up to 3,000 words, and up to 3 poems. Payment is CAD25, and a contributor copy. The submission deadline is 31st December 2025. Submission is via a form. Details here.
The Oval Update: Track and field
The Oval Update is open for pitches. “While we’ll likely only be able to publish a few of the great ideas we receive, we’re encouraging all interested athletes, coaches, track fans, and anybody else with something to say about the world of track and field to apply.
We’re primarily interested in track and field topics that have a global appeal. About 50% of our readers are in the United States, and about 75% are in North America.” They’re currently open for pitches for: Voices (opinion about track and field, 600-1,000 words); Coaches Corner (educational articles on track and field targeting coaches and athletes, 1,000 words); and interviews (with athletes, coaches, and other people involved in the sport, 1,000 words). They pay $0.10/word. They also want first-person narratives, but do not pay for those. Pitching is via a form on their website. Details here.
Documented
“Documented is an independent, non-profit newsroom dedicated to reporting with and for immigrant communities in New York City.” You can read about them here. “Immigrants are an indelible part of what makes NYC so special — especially at this time of year. As 2025 comes to an close, we want to know: How are New York’s immigrants and immigrant communities observing this holiday season? What foods, music, traditions, or seasonal shops should @documentedny.bsky.social be shining a light on? At a time of year so often about gratitude and spending time together, how are immigrant families—separated by detention or deportation—finding support and a bit of cheer? We want to hear from you. Send us your holiday story pitches!” See the pitch call here and their pitch form here (also download their detailed guidelines from that page).
Root Quarterly: Saturation
Their tagline is, ‘Art & Ideas from Philadelphia’, and their writing is for a regional as well as US-based audience. They publish personal essays or articles for their “Switchbacks” section that relate points of inflection in a person’s life that have taken them to an unexpected and new place (send full pieces, not pitches), as well as essays, book reviews, provocations, cultural criticism and think pieces of 500 to 3,500 words (based on the issue’s theme), and long-form profiles of regional artists, and more; they also accept fiction. The theme for their next issue is Saturation. “Drenched in color. Drenched in sweat. High-resolution and dripping with detail. When something is completely saturated, it can’t absorb anymore. What is the current firehose of information and media and maelstrom doing to our brains? When is it possible to take in new information? To what extent is the ease of making much art—the much lower bars to record, to publish—a good or bad thing?” They pay $50-150, and the submission deadline for their Spring issue is 15th January 2026. Details here.
Midstory Magazine
They want work by midlife women; previously unpublished personal essays about life, love, loss, and friendship at midlife. Pay is $75 and they prefer essays of 750-2,000 words. Details here (scroll down).
Electric Lit: Personal Narrative
Electric Lit is accepting submissions of personal essays; “While there are no restrictions on form or subject matter, submissions should center narrative and consider what it means to essay; in other words, write to interrogate, investigate, adventure, and introspect.” They pay $100 for works of 2,000 to 6,500 words. The deadline is 14th December 2024, or until they hit their submission cap. Details here.
In a Flash: Maps
In a Flash is a Substack-based literary magazine and they publish one piece of themed flash non-fiction a month. For December 2025, the theme is Maps; send a creative non-fiction piece of up to 500 words on this theme. And, “We’ll also spotlight the author with a Q&A section.” They pay $25, and the submission period for each month’s theme is from the 1st to the 15th of that month. Pieces sent outside of these dates will not be read. Details here (general guidelines) and here (theme for this and upcoming months).
Coastal Heritage: Two themes
Coastal Heritage is the flagship magazine of South Carolina based S.C. Sea Grant Consortium; the magazine is being relaunched. They are looking for features pitches from freelance science writers.
“We intend to contract two writers for 2026 for articles on the following topics:
Contaminants of emerging concern (PFAS) – Publishing Spring, 2026
Microplastics – Publishing Summer, 2026”.
Articles must be focused on South Carolina, and 2026 articles must be related to contaminants of emerging concern or microplastics. They have detailed guidelines. The pitch deadline is 23rd January 2026. They pay. Details here.
River Glass Books: Writes of Nature
They are reading chapbook manuscripts (20-30 pages) till mid-January, in any genre or form. “We are interested in un-themed manuscripts as well as socio-environmental work for our new Writes of Nature series.” And, “Each manuscript will be considered for publication as a limited-edition chapbook in 2026 or 2027. Additionally, individual pieces may be selected for publication in a forthcoming anthology.
We are also reading shorter manuscripts (3-5 pages of any genre / form) for potential publication in a forthcoming anthology.” Payment is $75 for chapbooks, and an anthology copy for shorter works. The submission deadline is 15 January 2026. Details here.
Freelance Writing Jobs
They have issued a call for pitches targeted at freelance writers; the pitch should work for a UK-based audience first. They have detailed guidelines, including, “I’m commissioning at least three original features. These pieces will really explore and examine the business of being a freelance writer. … Every newsletter I send is geared towards helping writers get paid for their words, and these features are no different. I want these pieces to be encouraging and inspiring – first person pieces are great – but they still need to be business-minded.
I’m keen to publish original journalism on topics that I can’t cover myself, particularly focussing on parts of the writing and media industries that I’m less familiar with. What’s going on in your writing world? What issues impact you? What should we all be talking about?” They pay £350 for articles of 1,000 words. The pitch deadline is 12th December 2025 (see guidelines). Details here.
The Audacity Emerging Writer Essays
The Audacity is Roxanne Gay’s newsletter, featuring essays by emerging writers. “There are few guidelines for the kind of essays I am looking for. i want nuanced, thoughtful work where the essayist looks both inward and outward. I am particularly interested in well-researched, voice-driven writing. Personal essays and cultural criticism are warmly welcomed.
Submissions should be between 1500 and 3000 words. Writers are paid a flat rate of $1000.
Submissions are only open to emerging writers. You can only have three publications or fewer and no books or books under contract.” Submissions are accepted on an ongoing basis. See the relevant category here.
Acquired Tastes Anthology
This is also a project by Roxanne Gay; it is an anthology call for writers ages 15-21. “In 2014, I published an essay, “Not Here to Make Friends” where I wrote about the importance and delight of unlikeable female protagonists. Likeability, I said, was a very elaborate lie, a performance, a code of conduct dictating the proper way to be, a trap, constraining women to very narrow ideas about how they should be. In fiction, characters who don’t follow this code are labeled as unlikable, as problems, as less worthy of taking up space on the page. I wrote the essay because of my own conflicted experiences with likability but also because I have spent a lot of time over the years thinking about unlikeable characters and how unfairly they are maligned.
As I also noted in my essay, unlikable are characters I’m frequently drawn to. I want interesting characters to do bad things and get away with their misdeeds. I want characters to think ugly thoughts and make messy decisions. I want characters to make mistakes and put themselves first without apologizing for it. I want authenticity and to read stories about real people who aren’t always picture perfect.
Because I remain fascinated by unlikable characters, I’m putting together Acquired Tastes, an anthology celebrating unlikeable characters: how we create them, how we understand them, how we love them and how they enrage us, and why they are so necessary to our stories.
This call is for young adult writers, whose work I’d like to include in this anthology alongside some more familiar names.
I’m looking for short fiction or essays, from young adults, ages 15-21.” They pay $1,000 for works up to 5,000 words. The submission deadline is 2nd February 2026. See the relevant category here.
New Humanist: Stranger Things
This is a call by UK-based New Humanist: “As Stranger Things comes to an end, we’re looking for thought-provoking takes on the show, its themes and what it has meant to audiences. Send pitches by Dec 9”. According to their general guidelines, “A quarterly magazine of ideas, science and culture, New Humanist brings together expert voices and quality journalism to illuminate our turbulent times. Published since 1885, New Humanist is for anyone who wants to understand the concepts, conflicts and systems shaping our world today—from climate and technology to ideology, fundamentalism and struggles for equality.” In general, they accept pitches for “features on culture, ideas, science and philosophy. We’re also looking for book reviews and in-depth reportage, both globally and UK-focused, as well as poems”. They pay. See the pitch call about Stranger Things here and their general pitch guide is here.
Medusa Rising
This magazine accepts work by women in any genre on any feminist topic and in translation into English. “We’re mostly – but not only – looking for shorter work, as heavy on the moxy/attitude/rizz as on the thought/knowledge/imagination. … We accept pseudonyms to protect women’s lives and livelihoods.” Their current focus is on new and beginning writers; new and beginning feminists. They’ve also given a list of topics you could write on, including:
“Praise for your feminist inspriation! A woman. An event. A creation.
How did you become a feminist?
What is the most precious part of your feminism for you?
What do you want older or younger feminists to know or do?
How do you do your feminism?
What do you want feminists of other factions/ethnicities/countries to know or do?
Pick some part of the Manifesto RadMatFem, imagine what it could look like in action. All speculations welcome!”
They accept art; essays, memoirs, creative nonfiction; flash, micro fiction, and poetry; conversations, reportage, shorter ‘think pieces’ – includes history, reportage, analysis, critique, explorations; reviews of all cultural artefacts about or affecting women: film, music, books, podcasts, musicals, music videos, trends on social media; policy ideas and proposals, legal history and discussion; recommendations, super-short positive reviews of culture, books, websites, feminist organizations; long reads and deep dives – will be published as a series of posts. They pay $15-200, and are open on an ongoing basis. Details here.
Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She can be reached here.