Art and Literature for Africa and the World

Submissions

We are currently open for submissions of poetry and flash fiction. We will close on 20 January 2024, or sooner, if we have a surplus of high quality submissions.

We enjoy a wide range of styles, including speculative work, as long as it has literary merit. Slipstream and fabulist works are definitely welcome. We don’t want to see work in the horror genre, and no explicit violence or erotica please.

 

Work from women and marginalized groups is especially encouraged, and we are happy to receive contributions from anywhere in the world (or even from other worlds). Your writing must be mainly in English, but we don’t mind a bit of code-switching.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: if we’ve published your writing, please wait one year from the publication date before you submit something to us again, and, of course, only when submissions are open.

Submission Guidelines

We do not consider multiple submissions, so please send manuscripts in only one genre at a time. Simultaneous submissions to other journals are acceptable as long as they are identified as such, and we are notified immediately upon acceptance elsewhere.

All submissions must be previously unpublished, in print or online. If we want to feature your previously published work, we will contact you directly. 

Translations are welcome if all the necessary permissions have been granted. We accept no responsibility for copyright infringement by any of our contributors. 

In the subject line of your submission email, kindly provide Your Name as You Want It Published, Genre of Submission, Title, or Titles (in the case of poetry).

The body of your email should include a biographical statement of no more than 60 words. Submit your work as an attachment, and as a .doc, .rtf, or .docx file only. Do not paste your work in the body of the email. We will not read .pdf files, and we don’t read work on Google Docs; work sent in these formats will be deleted.

Manuscript Guidelines

  • Times New Roman, point 12, double-spaced for fiction and single-spaced for poetry.
  • Flash Fiction: Submit only one story of fewer than 501 words, not counting the title. We’re looking for stories, not descriptions, so your flash fiction should have a discernible plot, showing characters doing something. Please don’t confuse flash fiction with prose poetry. We like Rosemary Roysten’s explanation: “Prose poetry is driven by image and emotion whereas flash fiction is driven by narrative.” You can read more of what she says here: https://nancystohlman.com/2013/04/28/ask-a-flash-fiction-editor-is-this-flash-fiction-or-a-prose-poem/.
  • Poetry: Submit up to three poems at a time, with each poem beginning on a new page. Poems should be no longer than 30 lines. Prose poetry and experimental poetry are welcome, as long as they do not require complicated formatting. Prose poetry should also be fewer than 501 words, excluding the title. 

We cannot accommodate revisions after submissions have been made unless the revisions have been requested by the editors.

Some Additional Information

Do not send us AI-generated texts. Keep it real, please. We want to delay the time when we’re all replaced with robots.

Response Time

Expect to wait three to six months for a decision. We accept queries after four months have passed. Queries, as well as withdrawal notifications, should be sent via email. They should include:

  • Your name.
  • The date of submission, along with the genre and title.

If you are withdrawing a piece, please include the word WITHDRAWAL in you subject line.

 

Rights

Hotazel Review requests first serial rights, except in the rare instances of our publishing previously published work. All rights revert back to the author upon publication, although we will curate your work in our archives. If you want your work removed from our archives, contact us and we will oblige. If your work is republished after it has appeared in our journal, we request that you acknowledge its initial publication in Hotazel Review

No Payment
We are a non-profit organization, so we do not offer payment. We nominate for Best of the Net, however. We’re writers too, and we mostly don’t get paid either. The good news is that you can send your writing to us for free.

And now that you’ve read all that, take another sip of coffee and submit your work, queries, and withdrawal notices, to editorhotazel@gmail.com

 

 

 

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