Metachrosis Literary is a creative arts magazine based in ireland. Metachrosis was founded to create a space for interdisciplinary experimentation. Encouraging creative collaboration among people from diverse disciplines and experience levels.

The magazine is a large-scale annual issue with a perfect-bound print version and a free online version available.

Each issue is comprised entirely of art and writing from practitioners who've shared their work in our open calls.

Our submission process is free and open to everyone, and every piece in the magazine is taken from this open call. We provide a complimentary copy of the print issue to all accepted contributors. 

Welcome to Metachrosis Literary! We're a literary and creative arts magazine that celebrates the arts. sciences, and humanities.

We welcome exploration and experimentation across all forms of art and writing.

We're accepting art, poetry, prose, fiction, non-fiction, reviews, and any hybrid forms of those media.

If you're submitting a piece that falls outside of those categories, we would love to see it. You can submit under the label that you think is closest, and if you're unsure, you're welcome to send us a message.

• A prose piece written in computer code? Great
• A poem about the process of carbon dating? Love it
• A series of photos of interpretive dance inspired by 80s sci-fi? Sounds incredible
• A critical essay on the art of erotic scrimshaw? Fabulous

We love the passionate, the critical, and the humorous. If you want to get a feel for what we publish, you can read all of our previous issues for free on our website, and we have a page with suggested reading and a few artworks for anyone interested.

All submissions are free. We cannot afford to pay people at the moment, but we will provide a copy of the issue to each contributor.

All contributors will receive a copy of the publication in which they are published.

We ask for the first British and Irish rights as well as the first electronic rights. After publication, all rights will revert to the creator.

Upon acceptance for the publication, the contributor will receive a contract outlining their rights and the process moving forward. The contributor is more than welcome to decline the contract.

The contract can also be amended upon discussion and agreement with the publisher.

Publication and publicity:

Metachrosis has received incredible support from artists and writers around the world, with readership and contributors from Australia, Mexico, South Korea, Germay and Pakistan amongst many other countries.

Our international readership is an aspect of metachrosis that we take particular pride in, as we wish to cultivate a varied and nuanced publication that encourages discussion and collaboration.

We have a significant following amongst creative practitioners, academic staff and publishers as well as our general readership.

Our digital issues see an average of 890 readers per issue, alongisde our print edition which is sold at zine fairs around Ireland and at the Dublin Art Book Fair.

We also publish excerpts from each piece on our social media pages which have a substantial following. currently we have 1'300 followers on Insagram, 960 followers on Bluesky and 200 followers on threads. 

These social media pages are updated regularly with news and pieces from each issue of Metachrosis, presented in a clear and consistent house-style.

General:

We prefer unpublished work, but we’ll consider published pieces if you specify the fact that it was published and give all credit details to the original publisher. (If the publisher is defunct or you have withdrawn your work, we can discuss it and come up with a tailored solution upon acceptance.)

The subject headline in the submission should be – ‘Subject’, ‘Name’, ‘Titles’

Documents should include your name and/or the titles of your piece (Don’t worry, we’re not strict on this, so long as we can identify it, there’s no problem)

Include a 50-word biography, which will be featured at the end of the issue.

If you want to send a 150 - 200 word cover letter, I’d be delighted to read it, but it’s not required and won’t affect my opinion of your work.

I’m not interested in reading/seeing anything bigoted/pornographic/gratuitously violent. (mentions of sex and violence are fine; if you’re not sure about whether a piece is suitable, feel free to send an email)

Any submissions sent outside reading periods will not be read. If our submissions are open, it will say so at the top of the page and on our social media.

These are all guidelines, not rules. As long as everything is presented clearly, I am happy. Word counts and genres are also flexible; if your piece is a little too long or doesn’t strictly fit a defined category, that’s absolutely fine. It’s purely for the sake of keeping track of submissions.

Formatting and editorial decisions are left to the editor.

Poetry:

Please send a maximum of 3 poems, each under 40 lines.

If your poem is over 40 lines, please only send 1 piece.

Send via PDF or docx using Times New Roman, 12pt, 1.5 spacing.

I’m using an editing app to check grammar/spelling, so please specify if your work purposefully avoids specific grammar/spelling rules.

All forms of poetry are accepted.

Keep the title length reasonable; paragraph-long titles are difficult to format, and I’m only human.

Prose/Fiction:

Please send 1 piece of a maximum of 1000 words.

Send via Word doc or .docx; I’m using an editing app to check grammar/spelling, so please specify if your work purposefully avoids specific grammar/spelling rules.

Times New Roman, 12pt, 1.5 spacing.

If you are using an experimental/visual layout, specify that in the email and send both a PDF copy and a doc/docx copy.

Non-Fiction:

Please send 1 piece of a maximum of 1000 words.

cite your sources, using MLA format.

Send via Word .doc or .docx; I’m using an editing app to check grammar/spelling, so please specify if your work purposefully avoids specific grammar/spelling rules.

Times New Roman, 12pt, 1.5 spacing.

If you are using an experimental/visual layout, specify that in the email and send both a PDF copy and a doc/docx copy.

Art/Hybrid

Please send between 1 and 5 high-quality images in a medium of your choice.

Please don’t send me images if you don't want them to be published. (This includes sketchbook work supporting images)

No AI-generated/stolen art.. (Art that uses computer simulations based on first-hand data collected by the artist or where AI was designed by the artist is fine; we have several such pieces in our catalogue.)

Include titles, mediums, and dimensions (if applicable) in both the application’s body and the attachments’ title

Reviews

Please send 1 piece of a maximum of 800 words

Send via doc or docx; I’m using an editing app to check grammar/spelling, so please specify if your work purposefully avoids specific grammar/spelling rules.

Include indented quotes, aligned with the centre of the page.

Times New Roman, 12pt, 1.5 spacing.