By S. Kalekar
These are calls for non-fiction pitches and submissions. A few also accept other genres, like fiction and poetry. Some of the themes are: excess; science of cycling; wedding hot takes; science; sweet hereafter; reproductive justice; food (and fairy tales); intersection of cinema and other art forms; and stories about pets.
Science Friday: Science of cycling
Science Friday has a podcast, a radio show, and also publishes online articles. Currently, they’re interested in pitches about the science of cycling – “We’re looking for stories about the science of cycling as the pro season heats up ahead of the Grand Tours. These could take on the science of any aspect of cycling (eg., physical and mental endurance, geography, team dynamics, equipment, history, etc.) but should be interesting to cycling fans and non-fans alike. These could be simple explainers of some interesting aspect of cycling, larger looks at how something has evolved, overlooked histories, etc. In general, we’re not looking for small technical advances or single-study findings unless they have a compelling impact.” They pay $0.80/word for stories of 500-1,000 words in English, and up to 1,200 words in Spanish. (Please see their note about payment, including to non-US writers). Details here (scroll down to the end for theme details).
BP Review: Excess
BP Review is a literary magazine from Burrow Press, affiliated with Stetson University. They want work on the Excess theme. “Determine a movement by its value: Who looks? Who buys in? How do we decide what’s ornament and what’s artifact?
Seeking fiction or nonfiction prose up to 10,000 words. Hybrid, text-image, multimedia, experimental forms welcome.” Pay is $100, and the submission deadline is 30 June 2025. Details here.
GQ: Men’s health/grooming trends, and more
The wellness + grooming editor at GQ Magazine has issued a pitch call: “i’ll have more details on the types of stories i’m looking for soon, but in the meantime, please pitch me on the latest men’s health/grooming trends, psychedelics, strength training, dating, diet, and AI health”. Details here.
Channel
This Ireland-based magazine publishes non-fiction, open on an ongoing basis; they’re also open for fiction and poetry till 30th June 2025. They have detailed guidelines, including, “Although we draw inspiration from local and international traditions of nature writing, as well as from the many dedicated platforms for writing on climate and ecology that exist today, much of what we publish falls outside common definitions of nature writing and eco-writing. We love work that speaks directly of a writer’s bond with and fear for our planet, and work that takes a local landscape, or a local flower, as its subject; equally, though, we love work that draws on an aspect of nature as setting, image or metaphor. We believe that all writing relies to some extent on historical engagement with nature, in that all human language has been shaped by our embeddedness in our shared environments. The kind of work we want to publish is the kind that takes this seed of connection and runs with it, revelling in its potential and exploring how it might grow. The best way to understand the range of work we’re interested in is to read our current print issue or some of the work available on our blog.” Non-fiction submissions are considered for both print and online, on a rolling basis. And, “prose non-fiction (… may include interviews and commentary on creative work or community-based environmental projects, as well as essays and narrative pieces). We also regularly publish non-fiction on the Channel blog.” They accept submissions in English and Irish. Pay is €35 per printed page, up to €250 per piece. For work published online, they pay €35 per 400 words, up to €250. Details here.
Briarpatch Magazine: The Labour Issue
This Canadian magazine publishes writing and artwork on a wide range of topics, including current events, grassroots activism, electoral politics, economic justice, ecology, labour, food security, gender equity, Indigenous struggles, international solidarity, and other issues of political importance. “Every year, for our November/December issue, Briarpatch publishes an issue devoted to reporting stories about the labour movement. This year, we’re looking for articles, investigative reporting, historical analysis, photo essays, timelines, personal essays, reviews, profiles, recommendations, lists, humour, comics, and art for the issue.” They have detailed guidelines and suggestions for topics on the theme. The pitch deadline for this issue is 7th July 2025; if the pitch is accepted, the first draft is due 11th August 2025. They pay CAD150-350. Details on the theme are here and their general guidelines are here.
Business Insider: Thank you cards, wedding hot takes, and more
Business Insider is open for pitches, for first-person stories: “Looking for pitches for BI on: – thank you card (didn’t write them for wedding…) and wedding hot takes (weekday weddings rock, etc) – best advice from older relatives (retiring early, lasting marriage…)”. Pitch on these topics via this form. Pay starts at about $230 for 600 words. See the call / thread here.
Business Insider: Aldi / Costco / Trader Joe’s grocery diaries
Business Insider is looking for pitches on grocery diaries – “Looking for some fresh pitches for our Aldi, Costco, and Trader Joe’s grocery diaries! Please fill out the form to be considered”. The form for these pitches is here. Pay starts at $175 for these stories. Details here.
Business Insider: Lifestyle and Food pitches
The Lifestyle & Entertainment editor at Business Insider is looking for lifestyle and food pitches. Rates begin at $230 for a 600-word piece. Pitching for the lifestyle section is via a form. See the post / thread here.
Reckoning: It Was Paradise
Reckoning is an annual magazine that publishes speculative works on environmental justice. They’re accepting works for a special theme, It Was Paradise, for which they want works at the intersection of war and environmental justice. For this theme, they say, “In a world devastated by catastrophes, we need stories that confront these horrors. This is all out war on the planet, on life itself. War and conflict as viewed through the lens of environmental justice, are the themes for this volume of Reckoning. Probe into the heart of extinction, genocide, and climate crisis. Expose the exploitation of the earth. Show us how the world could be on the other side. Send us your stories of violence, imperialism, fascism, and resistance, of destruction, survival, and of triumph. Send us your creative writing about war and environmental justice. It Was Paradise is open for submissions now through the summer solstice, June 22, 2025, with tentative release scheduled for October.” Payment rate will be $0.15/word for prose for this call (send up to 15,000 words for creative nonfiction and up to 3,000 words for critical essays for this call – see their Moksha submission portal here), $75 per page for poetry and art. As always, we’re seeking submissions from Black, Brown, Indigenous, queer, trans, disabled, neurodivergent, imprisoned, impoverished, and otherwise marginalized human beings from everywhere, but in particular for this issue, we will be prioritizing work by people with lived experience of war and conflict. We’ll continue to accept submissions to our communication-themed regular issue, Reckoning X, throughout.” See details of this themed call here, general guidelines here, and submission system here and here.
(Reckoning is also reading regular submissions for Issue X themed around communication, deadline 22nd September 2025.)
IHRAM Anthologies: Today’s Pressured Youth
International Human Rights Art Movement (IHRAM) is open for an anthology on Today’s Pressured Youth. Apart from essays (up to 2,500 words), they also accept fiction, poetry, and visual art.
They have detailed guidelines, please read them carefully. They themes they want are: Value of the youth voice, Modern challenges faced by youths (including social-media, societal expectations, and family dynamics), Empowering childhood experiences which shaped the writer’s early adulthood, LGBTQ+ and trans representation, Mental-health, invisible illness, learning disability and neurodivergence awareness. While this call will amplify youth voices, they accept submissions from writers of all ages. They pay $50 for written submissions, and $25 for art. The deadline has been extended to 21st June 2025 for this call. Details here.
(IHRAM is open for other calls too, Voices of 21st-century Activism, the deadline for that is 1st October, and America’s Slide Toward Authoritarianism, deadline 1st July, details here.)
IHRAM Anthologies: America’s Slide Toward Authoritarianism
International Human Rights Art Movement (IHRAM) is open for an anthology on America’s Slide Toward Authoritarianism. Apart from essays (up to 2,500 words), they also accept fiction, poetry, and visual art. They have detailed guidelines, including,“How do you feel about America’s slide towards authoritarianism? …It is clear that the American political class has all the tensile strength of tissue paper in a summer storm, and that our court system is porous, offering a weak and possibly irrelevant backstop to what was once the strongest democracy in the world. So, as in all authoritarian states, it is left to the artists and creators to hold the line, to stand up for what is right and just, and to safeguard the republic. Only the creators have the courage to resist.”IHRAM pays $50 for written submissions, and $25 for art. The deadline for this call is 1st July 2025. Details here and here (scroll down).
(IHRAM is open for other calls too, Voices of 21st-century Activism, the deadline for that is 1st October, and Today’s Pressured Youth, deadline 21st June, details here.)
Shooter Literary Magazine: Sweet Hereafter
This literary magazine is looking for submissions on the ‘Sweet Hereafter’ theme. Apart from essays and memoir, they also want “stories … and poetry to do with afterlives: life after death, life after work, life after having a baby, life after divorce… Anything to do with what follows a major change in life, when someone or something ends and significant adjustment occurs. Pieces that treat heavy subject matter – grief, heartbreak, loss, bereavement, ageing, death – with a light or humorous touch would be especially welcome. A positive (or wild, or bizarre, or comic) spin on what comes after a difficult ending or change would be in keeping with both parts of the theme.” Length guidelines are 2,000-6,000 words for short prose; they pay £25 for short prose, and £5 for flash prose and poetry. The deadline is 22 June 2025. Details here.
Kill Your Darlings
Pitches are open to Australian citizens (at home and abroad) and Australian residents; they prioritize works from KYD members. They publish short fiction alongside commentary, essays, memoir, reviews, profiles and interviews that examine books and ideas, creative practice and the publishing industry. Fiction is closed now. For the current non-fiction call, they say, “we’re looking specifically for pitches for work between 1500–2000 words that examine the rise and influence of literary YouTubers and BookTok. We’re open to all angles on this subject, but we’re particularly interested in how this content informs critical discourse, how it enhances (or puts the squeeze on) more traditional outlets that are struggling to retain readership, and who is carving out a genuine authority in this space. We are also keen to examine pitches that explore literary podcasts, especially (but not only) in the Australian context.” They’re also interested in “essay/commentary .. that analyses a cultural, political or societal issue of interest to KYD’s progressive and engaged readership. … Memoir or personal essay … that reflects on or tells us something broader about society, identity and/or culture” and “cultural criticism that illuminates or engages with works and trends in art, literature or pop culture.” They’re also open to “Work that doesn’t quite fit within the above categories but you think would be a good fit for us!” Pay starts at AUD700 for nonfiction, and the pitch deadline is 15 June 2025. Details here.
Room Magazine: Science
This Canadian literary magazine only accepts work by persons of marginalized genders, including but not limited to women (cisgender and transgender), transgender men, Two-Spirit and nonbinary people. They want submissions on the Science theme. They accept fiction, nonfiction, poetry and art. They have detailed guidelines, including, “Science is both a lexicon for what we know and a field of exploration for what we don’t know yet. In Room Magazine’s Science, as in science, we will savour curiosity, question orthodoxy, dig into hidden histories and understudied areas, and titrate, examine, hypothesize, collaborate, queer, and dream our way to wilder futures. How do we come about and decide what is knowledge? What knowledge is accessible, credible/sanctioned, or forbidden? What pseudo-sciences shaped society in the past, and are doing so now? What does it mean to have nonhuman teachers during the Anthropocene?” Apart from creative nonfiction (up to 3,500 words), they also accept fiction and poetry. They have separate submission categories for Canadian and international writers. They are open now, and will close by category as they reach their submission quota.
They pay CAD50-200 for writing. Details here and here.
(Room is also open for a creative non-fiction contest until mid-June, for which there is a submission fee.)
The Reclamation Era: Redacted – What Divorced Women Aren’t Telling You
The Reclamation Era is a Substack-based project, and they’re open for submissions for personal essays by divorced women – they want works on any topic related to your personal experience with divorce. They have detailed guidelines, including, “The Redacted weekly Substack column will feature anonymous personal essays about the author’s experience with divorce as well as shorter form stories. A selection of longer form anonymous stories will be published as a print and digital anthology in 2026.” They want writing in various lengths/formats. There is payment for successful anthology submissions (not for other formats). Writers will be paid $125 for their essays after publication. The deadline is 31 July 2025. Details here and here.
The Ipas Network Anthology: My resilience looks like this…
This is a call for a reproductive justice anthology and they want pitches (not unsolicited submissions) from Africa, Asia and the Americas. They want “Stories of reproductive justice, resistance and persistence from across the globe. Are you a creative storyteller who believes in reproductive justice and bodily autonomy for all? Have you lived through moments of deep challenge and perseverance in the fight for sexual and reproductive rights—whether through activism, art, organizing, advocacy, or personal experience? Do you believe in storytelling as a force for sparking hope and sustaining movements for change? If so, the Ipas Network invites you to pitch an original essay or poem for inclusion in our upcoming 2025 digital collection: My resilience looks like this… This global storytelling initiative will spotlight voices from Africa, Asia and the Americas that vividly speak to resilience in action. Your story might center on one powerful moment or trace the arc of a longer fight. It could explore reclaiming joy, confronting stigma, surviving loss, building community, or healing from harm.” And, “We’re especially interested in stories that explore themes like: • Reclaiming joy amid adversity • Confronting stigma • Surviving loss • Building community • Healing from harm
If your pitch is selected, you’ll receive a $1,000 commission to develop a full-length essay (2,500–5,000 words) or poem (350–5,000 words).” And, “The Ipas Network is a locally led, globally connected nonprofit working across Africa, Asia and the Americas to ensure that all people can determine their own futures.” The pitch deadline is 16 June 2025. Details here and here.
The Media Co-Op
“The Media Co-op publishes (and pays for) grassroots journalism focused on important issues and struggles based in or related to the Canadian context. The pieces we publish often focus on things like Indigenous land and water defence; climate justice; Palestine solidarity; housing, homelessness, and tenant rights; struggles related to policing, state violence, and white supremacy; labour struggles and worker organizing; resisting the far right; grassroots work that is feminist, trans, queer, and/or anti-racist; disability struggles; community organizing; impacts of the Canadian state and Canadian corporations in other countries; and lots more. Though we welcome pitches related to any local context within so-called Canada, at the moment we are particularly interested in stories by or about social movements in Montreal, especially migrant justice movements.” They pay CAD100-250 for works of 600-1,500 words. Details here and here.
Gay & Lesbian Review: Three themes
They accept unsolicited manuscripts and proposals on all LGBT-related topics. They are especially looking for work on these themes:
— The State of LGBT Rights: What is to be done?
— The Kink Issue: Alternative sexualities
— Ethnographic Journeys: LGBT lives in non-Western cultures
They also welcome suggestions. They accept feature pitches/features (2,000 to 4,000 words), as well as work for various sections/columns and reviews. Some sections are unpaid. They pay $250 for feature articles, and writers of full reviews can request $100 payment (see guidelines). Details here.
Film East: Intersection of cinema and other art forms
They want “Slow Criticism style articles focused on the intersection between art and visual media” for an upcoming book. They have detailed guidelines, including, “Film East’s fifth film criticism book is starting production, and we’re excited to accept pitches from critics, journalists and creatives all over the world!
This new book will focus on the connection between cinema and other art forms such as fine art, performance, music, theatre, literature and so on. Cinema is one of our most modern forms of art, and there’s an exciting cross-over between traditional art and visual media.
We encourage you to think about music videos as short films, consider concert films and live theatre recordings as cinematic works, ponder how famous paintings (such as Goya’s Saturn Devouring His Son) become visual motifs in storytelling or explore the relationship between written word (novels, poems) and cinema. Within film production itself, you have set design, costuming, make up, sound design, scoring, animation… how do all these artistic mediums contribute to the narrative being told on screen?” Pay is £25 or two print copies of the published book. Articles in the book will be around 1,200-1,500 words each, and the pitch (not submission) deadline is 16 June 2025. Details here and here.
New Scientist: Science’s emerging research, and more
An editor for New Scientist has issued a pitch call: “Send me your big-swing feature ideas about science’s emerging research, disruptive discoveries or high-impact applications”. They have a detailed general pitch guide, including, “In general, we are looking for science and technology stories from around the world that will intrigue, entertain and inform the widest possible audience, be they physicists, biologists or people with no science background at all. … Only pitch from these sources (major journals and press sites) if you have an exclusive angle on the research, its context or implications that others will not. … Try to find stories that none of our editors or reporters are likely to have spotted, and that haven’t been covered by the mainstream media in the UK, the US or Australia.” Details here (general pitch guidelines) and here (pitch call).
Nonlinear Love: Summer love
Nonlinear Love “is a project that shares and interrogates love stories that don’t follow the “linear” or traditional course, in a nonjudgemental format. Think of NYT’s Tiny Love Stories meets advice column meets podcast.” They’re looking for stories on summer love: flings, marriages, breakups, mixed signals, and more. Please note, you must also follow them on Instagram to be considered. They pay $50 for essays of 500-800 words. They deadline is 15 June 2025. Details here.
Works in Progress: Ending the environmental impact assessment, and more
Works in Progress is a Substack-based project. They are interested in commissioning work on several themes, including (but not limited to): Homage to Madrid: urbanism in Spain; Ending the environmental impact assessment; Land reclamation; Cookbook approach for special economic zones; Gigantic neo-trad Indian temples; and more. Please see the website for details on the themes.
They pay “a $50 Amazon gift voucher, or donate $50 to an effective charity of your choice.” Details here.
Asimov Press: New metascience column
Asimov Press publishes articles and fiction on “the science and technologies that promote flourishing.” They want pitches for “a new metascience column. If you want to write about “new institutions of science,” please pitch us!” According to their general guidelines, they pay up to $2,000 for full-length features (less for shorter works). See the pitch call for the new column here.
Fairy Tale Review: Food
They want fairy tale informed work. They accept prose fiction, verse fiction, nonfiction, creative scholarship, and poetry. They’re accepting work on the food theme (see the first line on their general guidelines page). They pay $50. The submission deadline is 15 July 2025. Details here and here.
Slate: Science & health features
An editor is “looking for pitches for science & health features for Slate! Pieces that will shift/challenge how readers see the world and how it works. Rates vary based on how involved the piece. for reported features of 2,500+ words they start at $1,500.” Details here.
Consequence Forum: Young Writers Nonfiction Project
This is a call for writers ages 15-24. “Consequence is a longstanding literary journal and online forum that documents the experiences of those who have witnessed, participated in, or been affected by war and/or geopolitical violence.” They have detailed guidelines, including a brief list (with examples) of recurring themes their writers have focussed on: first-hand combat accounts of veterans; accounts and interviews of visual artists whose works are acts of cultural resistance or intervention; memoirs centering on families impacted by genocide and geographic displacement; and reflections on humanitarian aid efforts by former Amnesty International/United Nations workers. “For this young writers’ project, the journal is looking for nonfiction pieces (such as personal essays) from writers aged fifteen to twenty-four that in some way center around themselves and their relationships, as well as how those relationships have been impacted by the global crises of today and yesterday. What political and military decisions—made perhaps before you were born or before you were even allowed to vote—are plaguing the most personal parts of your world? How are you dealing with them?” They will pay $40 for submissions to this project. The deadline is 30 June 2025. Details here and here. (And, Consequence will open to general submissions from all writers on 15th July; submissions of translations for their Substack and / or website – not print – are open now, see here and here.)
Chicken Soup for the Soul: Stories about pets
“A Chicken Soup for the Soul story is an inspirational, true story about ordinary people having extraordinary experiences.” They publish true stories and poetry, up to 1,200 words. Their upcoming theme is Stories about pets. They have detailed guidelines, including, “Of course we want stories about your dogs and cats, but we are expanding to include stories about all kinds of pets. From backyard to barnyard; from couch to coop; from aquatic to aerial; from indoor to outdoor; from fins to fur to feathers – we want to hear about all your pets.” The deadline is 14 June 2025. See their general guidelines here (also see the ‘How to submit’ tabs on the page). They have other themes too, with later deadlines, including Grandmothers, and Funny stories; see all the themes here.
Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She can be reached here.