Voiceworks is now open for submissions to issue 120 'Divine'!

‘Hell is a prison. Hell is separation from your divine, whether that divine is God or your children or your land. We’ve made enough of these hells on earth; our work now is to dismantle those, not to imagine more.’ —Kaveh Akbar, On Fasting

The Holy Rosary, as it is prayed today, requires for the Hail Mary to be prayed 53 times. And on streets all over the world in the first week of June, people marched many kilometres chanting, NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE over and over. And Carly Rae Jepsen sings the word, ‘really’ 67 times in her E•MO•TION lead single, ‘I Really Like You’.

To pray is to commune with the divine. To pray, also, is to recognise one’s own humanity and the humanity of others. To make art is to express that humanity.

To borrow from Vijay Seshadri: what is left to say when there are children in cages? What, then, is the use of prayer? What is the point of any god?

Some spaces in the world are sacred because they hold the divine’s patient shapes. When the world shrinks, sacred spaces become more sacred, or makeshift sacred spaces are created. Two-hour walks in the morning. Walking on roads to leave snails unharmed. A lover’s last breath right before she dips into sleep, a land to dream inside of. A name to live inside of. Night lights, movie nights, dance parties, tangerine fields, dinner in a car.

What is the divine? What may be dismantled to bring one closer to the divine?

What, if anything, is left to say?

~Thanks to EdCommers Darlene Silva Soberano and Alison Tealby for the blurb~

Remember, you don’t have to stick to the theme! Our themes are a prompt more than anything else—a springboard to get the creative ideas flowing. Most of all, we just want good work.

Print Guidelines

Voiceworks accepts fiction, poetry, nonfiction, art and comics, but before you send your work our way, here are some rules:

We are only able to publish writers and artists who are under the age of 25 (that is, 24 and under) at the time of submission.
We only accept work by people living in Australia (including international students) or by Australians living overseas.
We only consider previously unpublished work.

Each category has its own submission page with specific guidelines, but here are the basics:

Fiction: send no more than two stories, each no more than 3,000 words.

Poetry: send no more than three poems, each no more than 100 lines. We recommend reading our poetry guide here before sending us your work.

Nonfiction: we recommend that you pitch your nonfiction work before sending it to us. Head here for advice on how to construct your pitch and write good nonfiction. For completed work, send no more than two pieces, each no more than 3,000 words.

Art and comics: please keep in mind, we print in duotone (only two colours of ink) and our page dimensions are 170 x 245 mm. We recommend you pitch your comics before sending them to us. For advice on how to pitch your comics, check out our handy guide here. Please send no more than three artworks or comics.

We encourage you to submit across genres, but please send us no more than four submissions in total (excluding comics and art).

Deadlines

Nonfiction pitches—Sunday 5 July, 11:59pm AEDT

Fiction, completed nonfiction and poetry—Deadline Extended, submissions now due Sunday 19 July, 11:59pm AEDT!!

Art, comics and comic pitches—Sunday 26 July, 11:59pm AEDT

Rates of pay

$100 for written work and art

$150 for multi-page comics or suites of art

You’ll find further details and submission guidelines here. Please read the information carefully and contact Voiceworks Editor Adalya Nash Huseein if you have any questions or concerns.

NormalVoiceworks19 June 2020

Voiceworks is now open for submissions to issue 120 'Divine'!

‘Hell is a prison. Hell is separation from your divine, whether that divine is God or your children or your land. We’ve made enough of these hells on earth; our work now is to dismantle those, not to imagine more.’ —Kaveh Akbar, On Fasting

To pray is to commune with the divine. To pray, also, is to recognise one’s own humanity and the humanity of others. To make art is to express that humanity.

To borrow from Vijay Seshadri: what is left to say when there are children in cages? What, then, is the use of prayer? What is the point of any god?

What is the divine? What may be dismantled to bring one closer to the divine?

What, if anything, is left to say?

~Thanks to EdCommers Darlene Silva Soberano and Alison Tealby for the blurb~

Remember, you don’t have to stick to the theme! Our themes are a prompt more than anything else—a springboard to get the creative ideas flowing. Most of all, we just want good work.

Print Guidelines

Voiceworks accepts fiction, poetry, nonfiction, art and comics, but before you send your work our way, here are some rules:

We are only able to publish writers and artists who are under the age of 25 (that is, 24 and under) at the time of submission.

We only accept work by people living in Australia (including international students) or by Australians living overseas.

We only consider previously unpublished work.

Each category has its own submission page with specific guidelines, but here are the basics:

Fiction: send no more than two stories, each no more than 3,000 words.

Poetry: send no more than three poems, each no more than 100 lines. We recommend reading our poetry guide here before sending us your work.

Nonfiction: we recommend that you pitch your nonfiction work before sending it to us. Head here for advice on how to construct your pitch and write good nonfiction. For completed work, send no more than two pieces, each no more than 3,000 words.

We encourage you to submit across genres, but please send us no more than four submissions in total (excluding comics and art).

Deadlines

Nonfiction pitches—Sunday 5 July, 11:59pm AEDT

Fiction, completed nonfiction and poetry—Deadline Extended, submissions now due Sunday 19 July, 11:59pm AEDT!!

Art, comics and comic pitches—Sunday 26 July, 11:59pm AEDT

Rates of pay

$100 for written work and art

$150 for multi-page comics or suites of art

You’ll find further details and submission guidelines here. Please read the information carefully and contact Voiceworks Editor Adalya Nash Huseein if you have any questions or concerns.