Submissions
Submissions are currently closed.
We are looking for your best multilingual poetry and short prose for the next issue of the AMWP.
We are also looking for artwork that engages with themes of language mixing, language learning, moving between languages and modes of speech. If you read the work published here and think your art would work with it, we want to see it.
Submission criteria and process
Submissions are open to all multilingual people living in Australia regardless of visa status or citizenship. Multilingual Australians living abroad are also welcome to contribute.
We particularly want work from Indigenous writers and writers from under-represented, marginalised and minoritised communities.
Once you have read the submission guidelines below, please send your
cover letter,
submission, and,
if possible, an audio recording
to submissions [@] australianmultilingualwriting.org (take out the spaces and square brackets).
Multilingual poetry and prose
We are looking for poetry and prose that mixes English with at least one other language*.
There is no set rule regarding how much linguistic mixing makes a piece of writing ‘multilingual’, nor an upper limit on the number of languages that can be used. The most important thing is that the languages be used with intention and purpose and contribute something specific to the piece.
Here are some examples of multilingual poetry.
* For the purposes of this project, dialects, vernaculars, and variants of any language (including English) unique to specific ethnic groups and communities can be considered as separate from their ‘standard’ counterparts. As many of these are often not documented or formalised, it is up to the writer to claim them.
Artwork
We want artwork that addresses themes of language, language learning, language loss, language mixing, moving between languages, codes, heritage, identity, multiplicity, and similar. If you’ve read through our past issues and think your work speaks to it in some way, send it in!
Payment
Thanks to the support of the Australia Council for the Arts, we can pay contributors AU $200 per published piece.
Copyright
The Australian Multilingual Writing project seeks first publication rights for all work published.
Authors and creators retain copyright of their work. Samples of work published on this site may be used by the AMWP to promote the edition in which it is published and the project as a whole, but will always be attributed to the author in question.
If the author chooses to publish the work in another format, we ask that the AMWP’s first publisher status be acknowledged.
Unsuccessful submissions
We are unable to offer feedback on unsuccessful submissions.
We will not publish work that is racist, misogynistic, queerphobic, transphobic, ableist, appropriative, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic, or defamatory.
Submission guidelines
1. Poetry or prose
Email all submissions to submissions [@] australianmultilingualwriting.org (take out the spaces and square brackets).
Make sure the subject of your email reads: ‘AMWP6 Prose’, ‘AMWP6 Poetry’, or ‘AMWP6 Art’.
Prose pieces should be no more than 2,000 words.
Poetry should not exceed 150 lines in total. These lines can be divided into up to 5 poems.
If you have a longer piece you really want to send us, don’t butcher it for submission. Get in touch via email (editor [@] australianmultilingualwriting[ . ]org) and discuss it with us first.
Submit your work as Word or RTF files. Do not paste your work directly into your email to us. If your piece requires specific formatting and you wish to preserve its appearance, please submit a PDF in addition to the editable file for our reference.
All submissions must be your own original work and previously unpublished.
Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please let us know asap if your work is accepted elsewhere.
There is no restriction on the font size or line spacing. Please use the page however you need to. Do note, however that we publish using the Noto font family on this site as it supports many non-Roman scripts, and very fiddly formatting can be difficult to accommodate. Our previous issues should give you an idea of what we can accommodate. When in doubt, ask!
Please include a transliteration and glossary for the editors to review. This glossary and guide will only be published if you want it to be.
Please include a translation of the piece if there are entire paragraphs, lines or stanzas in languages other than English. This is to help out the editors and will also only be published if you want it to be.
For languages that use a non-Roman script, please try to use a free and downloadable font wherever possible. We will be using the Noto font family to publish in, but are open to using your preferred font if it is freely available, so do include a note about your preferences in your cover letter. If all else fails, we can publish it as an image. (Note that this is easier to manage with poetry than prose.)
2. Artwork
Your artwork should be submitted as a JPG, PNG, or GIF file and should be no larger than 3MB.
Artwork should be 72 dpi and between 1200 – 2400 pixels on its longest side.
If your work is selected, we will ask you for higher resolution files if you have them.
Please include an artist’s statement of approximately 300 words to be published along with your artwork. (You are welcome to make this statement multilingual, specially if you are responding to a concept that comes from a language other than English, but this is not a requirement.)
If your work is selected, we will ask you to record an audio version of this statement and a description of the work.
3. Cover letter
The ‘cover letter’ can appear in the body of the email and must include:
Your name
Your pseudonym, if you happen to be using one
The title of your submission
The languages you are using and what your connection with them is (you can combine this with your bio if you wish)
A brief bio (no more than 100 words) written in third person (take a look at the bios in our previous issues)
Optional: A link to your author blog or site
Optional: Links to any social media profiles that you would like shared with our readers
3. Audio recording
If possible, please also send us a link to an audio recording of yourself* reading the work in full (please include the title) in a clear voice. Use whatever recording device you have on hand – your phone, your laptop mic, anything and save the file as an MP3 (or AAC/M4A if you use an iPhone) – and don’t worry about audio quality. It just needs to be audible to the editors so that we can get a sense of the cadences involved. If we decide to publish your poem, we will work out a new recording that will appear on the website.
* If you prefer to have someone else to read the poem for you, you are welcome to do so. Just please secure their permission to use their voice if your piece is published. If this is not possible, get in touch.
After submission
What to expect after you have submitted your work
You will receive an email acknowledging receipt of your submission.
4-6 weeks after the submission closing date, you will be contacted by the editor regarding the success of your submission.
If your work is accepted, we will work with you on any edits we think might be needed. While the aim of editing work is to hone its vision and most edits are optional, you are always at liberty to withdraw your work if you do not agree with the edits. If you are uncomfortable with the idea of having your work edited, please do not submit your work to us.
Once the piece is finalised, we will advise you of the easiest way to create or update the audio recording.
When the piece and issue are ready to go, we will ask you to invoice us for the relevant amount and we will pay you.
Questions?
If you have any questions or concerns about any of the above, please get in touch at editor [@] australianmultilingualwriting [.] org (take out the spaces and square brackets). Please do not send your submissions to this address.