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We only print previously unpublished works.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
Kitchen Table Quarterly is always looking for volunteer readers to join our reader pool, and we accept applications on a rolling basis.
Poetry readers commit to reading 10-15 submissions per week in the lead up to new issue releases.
Nonfiction readers commit to reading 5-7 submissions per week in the lead up to new issue releases.
Readers are not eligible to be featured in Kitchen Table Quarterly until they are no longer involved with the magazine.
Experience is not necessary, but an understanding of our editorial focus and aesthetic is.
We encourage readers of all backgrounds, identities, and histories to join! We are a magazine focused on history as human experience, and we cannot do that without diversity in our readers.