smoke and mold is invested in the narrative possibilities trans lives bring to our changing nature-culture. we publish nature writing, broadly defined, by trans and Two-Spirit writers.
smoke and mold accepts submissions twice a year:
September 1-30, for publication the following spring
March 1-31, for publication the following fall
smoke and mold does not believe in reading fees, and we’ll never make you pay us money to read your work.
Submissions for Fall 2026 are currently open! Please read below for instructions to submit.
smoke and mold is looking to add to our team of volunteer readers and editors. Click here to see what opportunities are open to help shape the next 5 years of editorial operations before we go extinct.
If this notice is still here, then we’re still looking and would love to hear from you.
Instructions to Submit
The work we publish varies widely, but we encourage writers to review past issues to get an idea of our vibes. In general, smoke and mold seeks to spotlight work that transcends categories of genre, place, and time. Don’t worry about whether or not you think you’re trans enough or enough of a “nature writer” in order to submit. If the journal speaks to you, then you’re in the right place and we want to read your work.
Please include a short bio in your cover letter. Prior publications are not a requirement, and we are proud of frequently being the first publication for many of our contributors.
All contributors are paid $100USD upon publication. Specific genre requirements for submissions are listed below:
- Prose: Up to 7,000 words, double-spaced. Please submit either a Word doc or PDF.
- Poetry: Please submit ONLY 2 poems at a time in a single Word doc or PDF. If you submit more than two poems despite this recommendation, we will only consider the first two poems of your submission. (Note that this doesn’t mean two pages, we love really long poems.)
- Hybrid work: Hybrid work is welcome! Follow the specifications above that most closely match your piece(s). Please submit either a Word doc or PDF.
- Comics and Visual Work: Submit a PDF or JPGs either as an attachment to your email or in a Dropbox link.
- Interviews: Submit a single Word doc, including bios for both the interviewer and interviewee. Transcripts should include a brief introduction, and should be copyedited. Up to 4,000 words.
Send your work following the specifications above to smokeandmoldjournal@gmail.com. Please include a brief bio/cover letter including any information you’d like us to know about yourself.
Smoke and mold publishes two issues per year, per our original editorial mandate, roughly in spring and fall, but just like the edges of these seasons are changing, becoming less predictable, we also sometimes stretch the edges of these seasonal timelines. Usually at least one of these issues has a theme. If we feel like it, we reserve the right to also occasionally publish special issues outside of this timeline, such as our Trans Writers in Translation Issue from summer 2023.
Currently, we receive all submissions via email, and for the foreseeable future, we see no reason to change over to an automated submissions system. Every submission will be acknowledged with an email within a day or two. Please be patient with us, and please do not submit work outside of our submission windows. If you have not received a response acknowledging your submission within 48 hours, please feel free to follow up. Submissions sent outside of submission windows will not be considered, nor responded to, though you’re welcome to email us for other reasons and we will probably respond.
Our issues are small, featuring 5-10 authors/artists at a time, so that we can give individualized editorial attention to each piece, and so as to encourage readers to engage with the whole issue. We read and respond to all submissions in a timely manner.
Please include a short bio in your cover letter. Prior publications are not a requirement, and we are proud of frequently being the first publication for many of our contributors. We do not read submissions anonymously; readers who are close friends with a specific submitter recuse themselves from offering an opinion.
We do accept simultaneous submissions; just please let us know if the work you’ve submitted has been accepted elsewhere.
Interviews
In addition to our regular open submission periods, we also accept pitches for interviews to be published on a rolling basis. Check out examples of interviews we’ve published here. We are especially excited by interviews that ponder method and craft, that poke holes in the ways we think about nature-culture, and that creatively expand on what an interview can be.
Submit either a pitch in the body of an email, or a single Word doc, including bios for both the interviewer and interviewee. Transcripts should include a brief introduction, and should be copyedited. Up to 4,000 words. Send to smokeandmoldjournal@gmail.com. Pitches will be reviewed by our interviews editor, Luke Sutherland. Interviewers and interviewees both receive $100 upon publication.