General Submissions Guidelines

Submitters do not need to be SWANA- or Arab-identifying, but work submitted should be mindful of Mizna’s aesthetic and the social realities of our audiences, as well as be a contribution to ongoing conversations in and beyond our communities. Submitters may also decide to expand these social realities altogether. We encourage submitters to read back issues of Mizna before submitting work for consideration.

Mizna focuses on debut writing; please submit previously unpublished work. We do not accept visual art submissions. Simultaneous submissions are permissible, though we ask to be notified as soon as possible if the submission is accepted elsewhere. There are no submission fees. Selected contributors receive a $200 honorarium, a one-year subscription to Mizna, and five copies of the issue.

Please include a short cover letter (200 words or less), with a brief overview of the work you are submitting and why you are submitting to Mizna. Include a note disclosing any simultaneously submitted works.

  1. Poets should list the poems they are submitting. 
  2. Prose submissions should include a brief, 1–2 sentence overview of the submission (e.g., a synopsis if it is a story or narrative essay, or an overview of the argument for more expository essays). Keep in mind that we are a literary magazine.
  3. Include a brief (50 words or less) author bio. 
  4. Add a maximum of one sentence for any additional information you would like the editorial team to know about the work. 
  5. Include contact information: email, phone number, and mailing address.

Please submit as .doc or .docx files. Submitting pdfs is allowable only for pieces with complex layouts. We do not accept other file formats (e.g., .pages). Prose submissions should be double spaced and limited to 5000 words. Please do not send us your term papers or thesis manuscripts for consideration. Poetry submissions should be limited to four poems of any length. Verses exceeding our page width will be treated with a run-over indent.

Submissions that do not adhere to these guidelines will NOT be considered. Unsolicited submissions sent to our email will be discarded.

Submit your work

Submissions are closed. Please check back for our next call for submissions. Subscribe to our newsletter to be the first to know about Mizna opportunities!

Unsolicited submissions sent to our email will be discarded.

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