PLEASE DON’T SEND…

• Pandemic stories
• Gratuitously violent pieces
• Horror that uses neurodivergence or mental health as the horror element
• Comedy that punches down
• Stories that are “speculative” because a non-marginalized group suddenly experiences what it’s like to be a marginalized group (e.g. a man “has to live with sexism”, a white woman is suddenly “treated like a woman of colour”)
• Anything that minimizes sexual trauma/any trauma as a plot device (eg. A woman is assaulted in order to motivate a man, without dealing with her story or experience)
• Casual or blatant misogyny/bigotry/racism/etc.
• Otherwise insensitive pieces
• Reprints
• Stories longer than 5,000 words for Augur Magazine, or longer than 2500 words for Tales & Feathers Magazine
• Pieces you’ve submitted before (unless they’ve undergone a significant rewrite)

A NOTE ON TRANSLATIONS

We welcome submissions of speculative works translated from any language into English.

We especially encourage submissions from BIPOC translators and translators working with the literatures of the Global South, along with translations from languages underrepresented in white Anglophone publishing. We welcome translated works written in various styles, structures, and speculative genres.

Please provide the following information when you submit translations:

• A short cover letter introducing your background as a translator, your relationship with the source language and the translated work, and any literary, cultural, and other context that you think may be helpful.
• A short bio of the author in English, including information on their publication history in both the original language and in translation.
• A letter from the rights holder (generally the author or the publisher) confirming that the translator has received permission to translate, and that the work’s English translation rights are available
• A PDF of this letter should be emailed to [email protected] for Augur Magazine submissions, or [email protected] for Tales & Feathers submissions.
• Translated poetry should include the original poem alongside the translation.
• All submissions must still follow the applicable Augur or Tales & Feathers guidelines. 

A NOTE ON INTERSECTIONALITY

If you are comfortable with it, we encourage writers to indicate their intersections in their cover letter. We pay attention to whose voices we publish, and this information helps us be self-aware as we construct issues.

However, we acknowledge marginalized individuals are not often safe when they disclose their identities. Disclosure is not a requirement to submit.

Any information disclosed will be treated as confidential.

What does “intersections” mean? Any intersection of identity that you sit at. For example, a POC trans settler, or an allocishet white woman. Everyone sits at intersections of identity and privilege—please do not write that you have “no intersectional identity” in your cover letter.

Some intersections might include:

• LGBTQ+
• Black, Indigenous, and/or POC
• Marginalized genders
• Settler
• Disabled
• Neurodivergent
• Citizenship status
• Religious minority
• Class

Although this is by no means an exhaustive list. We also encourage folks who aren’t marginalized to get into the practice of self-identifying, to normalize the practice across the board.

Please note that our editorial preference will always skew towards intersectional/marginalized/under-represented/diverse, Canadian and Indigenous/Native/First Nations creators.

A NOTE ON CITIZENSHIP DECLARATION FOR INDIGENOUS CREATORS

Canadian granting bodies require us to keep track of who we’re publishing—we need to know that we’re hitting the required Canadian quotas. So, as a result, we ask folks to identify as from Canada/Turtle Island or as International. However, we recognize that this complicates the submissions process for folks who live within Canadian settler borders but who resist/refuse Canadian identity.

We welcome all of our Indigenous authors and creators to self-identify their citizenship however feels most comfortable and accurate. If you prefer, you are welcome to exempt yourself from the CND/TI and INT requirements—we just ask that you also let us know if you are situated within Canadian borders, so we can keep track of what the Canadian government will recognize as a part of our quota.

A NOTE ON CONTENT WARNINGS

We do not require submissions to include content warnings, but we encourage you to include them when you submit to us!

This helps mitigate harm for our all-volunteer reader team and staff.

Please include your content warnings beneath the title of your piece, within the manuscript itself. This ensures the content warning reaches your reader, since cover letters are kept anonymous in the first round of reading.

A NOTE FOR PREVIOUS CONTRIBUTORS

Hello, Augurian friends! We adore you and your work, and we can’t wait to read some more. However, because we have so few spots each year and are probably super predisposed to your work, here’s how we ask that you submit to us:

If you’ve been published by us once, please wait for the submission period after the issue you’ve been published in comes out. (aka. If you’re published in Issue 2.1, Don’t submit until the submission period after Issue 2.1 is published). Please note that you will not be published by us until a full year has elapsed from the issue you were published in (if you’re published in Issue 2.1, the next one you’ll be considered for is Issue 3.1).

If you’ve been published by us 2+ times, please wait until a year after the last issue you’ve been published in. Eg. If you’ve been published in Issue 1.2 and are slotted for Issue 2.2, please wait until the submission period after Issue 3.2 to submit again.