Submission Guidelines

Poetry, Flash, Short Fiction & Nonfiction:

We welcome unpublished original poetry, flash, short fiction and literary nonfiction in English from established and emerging writers 18 years and older. For the Spring 2025 issue submissions will be accepted from anyone currently residing in the United States regardless of citizenship, and U.S. citizens residing anywhere.

• Reading periods are July 1-31 for the Fall issue and January 1-31 for the Spring issue or until we have reached 300 submissions in a period. Charlotte Lit members are not subject to the cap but receive no other preference regarding acceptance.
• For All Submissions: Start each piece on a new page inside a single .doc, .docx, or .rtf file, using Times New Roman or another readable font.
• Category-specific Guidelines:
  • Poetry: Submit up to five poems, ideally topically, thematically, or stylistically related, as we prefer to showcase multiple pieces as a set from each selected contributor.
  • Flash (Fiction and Nonfiction): Submit up to four pieces (no more than 500 words each), preferably stories or essays that speak to each other in some way as we prefer to showcase multiple pieces as a set from each selected contributor.
  • Fiction and Literary Nonfiction: Submit a single piece (up to 5000 words).
• Do not include name or other contact information in your uploaded file so we can read without bias. Your name and contact information will be obtained through Submittable.
• Submissions must be previously unpublished, including in blogs or social media, and must be entrant’s original work. AI-generated/assisted work is prohibited.
• One submission per writer per period across all categories.
• Simultaneous submissions acceptable. If any of your pieces are accepted elsewhere please contact us immediately through Submittable’s “Message” (not “Notes”) function to withdraw or partially withdraw your submission.
• We’ll let you know as soon as humanly possible, but no longer than 30 days, if we’d like to publish your work.
• There is no submission fee. We pay $50 for each accepted poem or flash piece and $100 for each accepted short fiction and nonfiction piece for first electronic rights and non-exclusive archival rights. Copyright remains with the author.

Art:

Please note: the artist for the Spring 2025 issue has already been selected from submissions for the most recent issue. Art submissions will reopen for the Fall 2025 issue, with the guidelines below.

• We review submissions between July 1-31 for the Fall issue and January 1-31 for the Spring issue.
• All art must be entrant’s original work. AI-generated/assisted work is prohibited.
• We feature a single visual artist/photographer every issue, pairing individual pieces of artwork with selected poems and stories; we’ll also showcase artwork on a separate artist gallery page. We’ll let you know as soon as humanly possible, but no longer than 30 days, if we’d like to publish your work.
• Please upload ten representative images of topically, graphically, or thematically related art in one of the following formats: .gif, .jpg, .png, and .tif.
• There is no submission fee. We pay $250 for each set of 15-30 images for non-exclusive online and archival use. Copyright remains with the author.

Questions? editor@charlottelit.org