ARTSCO: A Southern Illinois Literary Magazine
Issue 1: Identity
To be published in Spring 2025
Submission Deadline: December 31st, 2024
For this inaugural issue, we’re looking for stories, poems and art that connect the concept of “identity” to Southern Illinois. By definition, identity is the set of qualities, beliefs, personality traits, appearance, and/or expressions that characterize a person or a group of people.
This can be - and should be - widely interpreted!
Fiction
Full-Length Fiction (4 per issue)
Word count: 1,200–6,000 words
Please submit one short fiction piece at a time. Stories shorter than 1,200 words should be submitted under Flash Fiction. Texts should be double-spaced in 12pt Times New Roman or a similar serif typeface.
Flash Fiction (2 per issue)
under 1,200 words
Please submit no more than three flash fiction pieces per submission. These pieces will be evaluated and published in a dedicated section apart from other full-length fiction submissions. Texts should be double-spaced in 12pt Times New Roman or a similar serif typeface.
Culture
Word count: 1,200–6,000 words
Memoir/Personal Essay (2 per issue)
Please submit a single piece of nonfiction personal essay or memoir to this category.
Texts should be double-spaced in 12pt Times New Roman or a similar serif typeface.
Journalistic works, criticism and commentary, and texts containing substantial background research should be submitted under Cultural Conversation.
Cultural Conversation (2 per issue)
Please submit a single piece of cultural commentary or critique. We accept both casual and academic-style manuscripts for this genre. These may be essays regarding Southern Illinois culture that tie to the issue’s theme.
Texts should be double-spaced in 12pt Times New Roman or a similar serif typeface.
Memoirs and personal essays should be submitted under that category.
Poetry (10 per issue)
Length guidelines: 5 poems, 10 pages max
Please submit no more than five poems per submission, up to ten pages, as a single document. We can publish poetry featuring complex enjambment and indentation, but please be reasonable with longer poems, as each work must be carefully typeset, line-by-line, to show up as the artist intended on a web page.
ART
We are accepting visual art to add to the aesthetic of the magazine. High priority to photography of Southern Illinois and pen and ink drawings. All mediums will be considered.
Submit low-res images via the submission box. Upon acceptance to the publication - we will reach out for hi-res images!