What We Publish

Diagonals Literary Festival is all about diversity and inclusivity.

That’s why we aim to publish all sorts of literary works across all sorts of genres, subgenres, topics and styles.

Our main categories are short fiction (up to 1,500 words), short non-fiction (up to 1,500 words) and poetry (no word/line limit).

A few useful things to remember:

We don’t require exclusive publication rights.

We don’t own your work.

We accept translations.

And, yes, submitting and publishing is completely free.

Fiction

We accept pretty much any kind of fiction, any style, genre and subgenre, big and small, known and unknown.

Click the button below to go to the Submission Form for Fiction.

Non-fiction

We publish narrative non-fiction; critical, personal, picture, documentary and experimental essays; philosophy; investigative works; true crime; biographies; travel literature; articles; reviews and analyses of literary works, films, photography, music, art and more.

All of these can be on any topic.

Click the button below to go to the Submission Form for Non-fiction.

Poetry

“Standard” poetry, prose poetry and song lyrics all qualify for this category.

Just like with all the categories on this festival, we aspire to publish works that resist easy categorization and venture into strange and uncharted territories—and poetry is no exception.

If your poem doesn't really look or feel like a “poem” and is more experimental in nature, then congratulations. You've come to the right place.

Click the button below to go to the Submission Form for Poetry.

Whatever your work is, Diagonals Literary Festival poses no restrictions on format, style or content and how it “should” appear. Your work can be anything you like and look like anything you like.

There are no limits on how graphic, explicit or bizarre a work can be. If it contains mature elements, we will put a “Mature Content” label or, if it contains more graphic depictions of, for example, sex, drug use or violence, a “Mature/Explicit Content” label.

One thing to remember: Diagonals Literary Festival is not “Diagonals Literary Police.” You will never see or hear “that's not how it's done” coming from us. We value experimentation. If you can imagine it—and write it well—we publish it. We will never judge your work by how “standard” or different it is, but by how well you have done it—how well you have achieved what you intended to achieve—and whether it's suitable for the festival. Rest assured, our margins are rather wide.

That being said, there are certain things that we don't publish. Among them are:

– poorly written works with unintentional grammatical errors and typos;

– any work intended for little children. We focus on writing intended for adults and young adults;

– religious texts as well as texts with strong religious undertones;

– standalone summaries of stories and books;

– news;

– how-to tutorials;

– self-help guides;

– mental health advice.

It should be clarified that any of these can be part of other works (for example, a story containing news coverage).

If you're not sure whether your work is something we publish, contact us before submitting.