VOLTA publishes poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and visual art. We welcome submissions from both emerging and established writers and artists.

Deadlines

We are currently closed for submissions. 

VOLTA only accepts submissions during our biannual reading periods: the Winter Reading Period (February – March) and the Summer Reading Period (June – July).  Please submit your work to us using our Submittable platform.  Submissions received outside of these reading periods or through e-mail will not be read.

Response Time

We aim to respond to all general submissions within 2-3 months. We respond to every single submission, so an extended delay in response time means your work is still under consideration by our editorial team. If you haven’t heard from us within 3 months, you may query. 

Submission Guidelines

We accept submissions in the categories of Poetry, Fiction, Nonfiction, and Visual Art. Submissions that do not adhere to these guidelines will not be considered.  Submissions that are not received through our Submittable platform will also not be considered.  Please do not e-mail us your submissions, as they will not be read.

Fiction: We publish fiction under 7,500 words. Please send only one piece at a time, unless the pieces are very short (under 1,000 words), in which case send up to three. We welcome excepts from longer pieces, so long as they are under the word count and can stand alone.

Poetry: We publish poems of any length. Please send no more than six poems at once. If you need to withdraw part of your submission, please simply send us an email.

Nonfiction: We publish a broad range of nonfiction, including personal essays, literary criticism, cultural criticism (art, film, etc.), travel writing, and environmental writing. The word limit is 3,000 words. 

Translations: We are looking for original, unpublished translations of literary works from any language into English. Please include the text in the original language with the submission, as well as the source of the original non-English piece, no more than 6,000 words of prose or 6 poems.

Visual Art: VOLTA welcomes all art mediums including; photography, illustration, printmaking, paintings, comics, drawings, and mixed media works. Please submit no more than 10 pieces. Additionally, please include a 150 word artist statement with your visual art submission. 

Simultaneous Submissions

We accept simultaneous submissions, but please specify them in your cover letter and notify us immediately if your submission is accepted by another magazine.

Rights

VOLTA reserves first electronic rights. All rights revert to the author upon publication. Unfortunately we are not able to offer any fiscal compensation for authors at this time, but we hope to change this model in the future.