Kitchen Table Quarterly amplifies work that lays history bare— cultural, political, geographical, medical, personal— and explores how the ways in which these histories weave together to create the way we live. We know that each of us is an amalgamation of all the things that came before. We are made of our elementary schools, our diagnoses, our religions, our former lovers, the injustices both that we have endured and that we have inflicted. We are looking for work that spills secrets and wipes the dust off of old memories. We want honesty. We want an education.
History is a complicated thing, and too often, people's stories are erased because of who they are, how they look, what they believe, and/or where they come from. At Kitchen Table Quarterly, we believe in amplifying the voices of those whose histories are lessened, altered, and outright denied. As such, we encourage submissions from writers who are Black, Indigenous, people of color, disabled, LGBTQIA+-identifying, immigrant, international, and/or otherwise from communities underrepresented in U.S. literary magazines and journals.
We are an all volunteer organization, doing this because we love it. If you are able, please consider adding to our tip jar to help us cover costs. It will not impact our decision making, but it will support independent publishing and garner lots and lots of gratitude.
Basic Guidelines:
Please only submit to one category, once per reading period.
We only print previously unpublished works. For our purposes, personal blogs and/or social media posts do not count as previous publication; however, we do ask that you take down anything you plan to submit to us for consideration.
At this moment in time, we do not print translations.
Please include a brief cover letter, as well as a short (50 words or fewer) third-person biography and links to any social media/websites you may have, when sending your submission.
Simultaneous submissions are encouraged! But please let us know as soon as possible if your work is accepted elsewhere.
For our full guidelines, please visit kitchentablequarterly.org/submit
For poetry:
- Please submit up to five poems (with a maximum of ten pages) as a single .doc, .docx, or .pdf attachment in a standard font (.doc or .docx preferred).
- Each poem should begin on a fresh page
- Note the number of poems in your cover letter and in the title of your submission
- Please make sure that no identifying information is included in your submission document, including in the file name
- Full guidelines can be found on our website.
For artworks:
- Please submit up to five pieces (diptychs and triptychs count as a single piece) as high quality .jpgs or .pngs.
- Be sure to include the title and material of each artwork in your cover letter.
- Yes, we count photography as artwork.
- For full guidelines, please visit our website.
For Nonfiction:
- Please submit a stand-alone piece of up to 3000 words as a double-spaced .doc or .docx attachment in a standard font.
- The word count of your piece should be included in both your cover letter and in the title of your submission
- Though we understand there may be unavoidable references within the work itself, please be sure that the attachment does not incude any identifying information, including in the filename.
- For full guidelines, please visit our website.