Cagibi accepts and reads submissions year round through our submissions manager, provided by Submittable. This is for our online and print journal issues. There you will see guidelines specific to each category. Other general guidelines and answers to common questions are provided below.
Cagibi does not consider work that has previously appeared in print or online. We encourage writers to submit their work to multiple journals (referred to as “simultaneous submissions”). Because Cagibi is open for submissions year-round, our editors are reading nonstop. Every submission is read and carefully considered. Though we aim for sooner, a decision should be made within six to eight months. If you haven’t heard from us within that time, it simply means that your submission is still under consideration; for the amount of submissions we receive, we are a small team. Please wait until you have heard back from us to submit again, and please only submit one piece at a time. We thank you for your patience.
You can sign up for our newsletter without submitting. When you submit to Cagibi, you’re also signing up for our newsletter. We will never give out your e-mail to anyone else.
What We Are Looking For
Bold and fearless subject matter. Memorable phrasing. Unique perspectives. Compelling characters. Surprising storylines. Immersive imagery. Authentic dialogue. Tight narratives. Creative structures. Astute observations. Clarity and precision. The truths of humanity—heart, body, mind—reflected on the page. We are solely interested in literary work and do not publish genre fiction, such as hard sci-fi or romance, though we welcome stories with speculative elements. We also seek to publish and represent voices from around the world. Please read our issues to get a sense of our tastes.
A word from Cagibi readers and editors:
Poetry Editor Jeanne-Marie Osterman suggests: In a narrative poem, don’t simply tell what happened. Enact it. Put the reader there. Avoid the temptation to summarize or conclude. Let the reader discover, along with the speaker, its significance. Translations Editor George Franklin adds: I look for poems or stories that create a reality, one that I can believe. I’m old-fashioned; I like language that is transparent, that doesn’t seek to draw attention to itself as language. I’m also looking for voice, genuine emotion, and serious thought.
Fiction reader Scott Hunter seeks narrative strategies that are purposeful, not just convenient and generative for the writer, but the best (maybe only) way to tell a particular story. Tightly written stories with urgent pace, surprises, and zero expository dialogue. Sentences that reveal deep yearning. Fiction reader Karen Laws adds that words and sentences have to be engaging in and of themselves, irrespective of plot and character. That said, when I’m reading I want to be aware that what I’m reading is a story. It needs to be going somewhere.
Nonfiction Editor Carrie Schneider is looking for smart writing that packs a punch, quiet or dramatic, and lands one for literature, while Nonfiction reader Mickey Greaves urges memoirists to ground the reader in the older narrator’s point of view rather than delivering a vague retelling.
Works in Translation
The editors welcome English translations from any language of both prose and poetry. Before submitting translations of works that are not in the public domain, translators should identify the rights holder and obtain a statement that the rights to publish an English translation are available. Include the original text if possible, as well as a short biography of the writer, a short biography of the translator, and a statement or concise paragraph introducing the work. If there are extenuating circumstances that prevent you from including a copy of the original text at the time of your submission, please note that in the cover letter.
To Withdraw Your Submission
Do not email the editors to withdraw your submission. If your work is accepted elsewhere (awesome!), please use the Withdraw function within Submittable. This will withdraw your Cagibi submission; nothing more needs to be done. Please only use this function if you intend to remove all poems or your entire submission from consideration. See also Submittable’s instructions on how to withdraw.
To Withdraw a Poem, or Only Part of Your Submission
Do not email the editors to withdraw a portion of your submission such as one of the poems. If you need to withdraw a poem or partial, send us a message within the submission record: First log into Submittable and go to your Submissions queue. Find your submission to Cagibi in your list, and click on the title of your submission. When you do, it opens up the submission’s detail page, and the “Activity” tab is the default tab: the top field has “Add message…” in it, and a big SEND button. In that field, leave a note detailing which poem(s) should be withdrawn. When you hit SEND, be assured that your note will be seen during our editorial workflow.
Rights
Cagibi acquires first serial publication rights of accepted work. Copyright is asserted on behalf of the author, and all reprint rights revert to the author upon publication. We ask that if your piece is published in an anthology or collection, you indicate that it was first published in Cagibi.
In the case of a work’s selection for the annual print anthology: The author grants non-exclusive anthology rights to reprint, in electronic and hardcopy forms, the original work first published here.
Print Issues & the Omnibus! Anthology
Works published in Cagibi‘s online issues are eligible for publication in an annual print anthology. (This has been put on hold since the pandemic.) Each year, a guest editor curates the anthology. Jonathan Galassi was the inaugural 2019 Omnibus! Anthology guest editor, selecting works from the previous year’s issues. (Read his Cagibi interview: “Jonathan Galassi // The Cagibi Express Interview.”) For 2019 and 2020, the anthology and Macaron Prize winners appeared together in a special print issue. Contributors whose works are selected for reprinting in the anthology will receive one complimentary copy as compensation.
