Call for Submissions! THE PLAZA [Closed for now!]

It's a zine!

Edit as of Oct 6: I’m way behind and am still getting submissions so I’m going to put a pause on accepting subs for now. What my foreseeable future looks like: polishing up my next novel, doing some travelling later in the month, and then I’m working on this in Nov.

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Remember this bit from my post the other day?

I Want To Write A Zine With You

and I’m real super serious, despite never having done this before. Anyway, here’s the deal: I want your gritty, grimy, hometown, lowdown, lighthearted, scumbag poems. I want your surreal flash fiction, tell me about some weirdos, a lowbrow vignette, some strange encounters, something bizarre. But whatever you conjure, it better sing. There’s beauty everywhere, even in our darkest places. You're finding beauty in the grotesque, or you’re making me laugh about it. It doesn't have to be gross or filled with cuss words. Maybe it’s just a piece about someone you saw in a grocery store.

Genre: meaningless. It can have swords and dragons or alien scum, or totally here in contemporary reality—but it must be poetry, or “poem-adjacent” bits of prose. Keep submissions to under 1500 words—and, I’m not an editor, so please have the typing be as clean as possible. (PS: If you have multiple poems or flash pieces to submit, 1500 words TOTAL. Zine here, not magazine.)

I don’t even have a title for this thing yet, all I know is my desire to work with all you lovely folks has been keeping me up at night.

Deadline: When I call it quits.

I’m also accepting artwork for this, if you feel like it!

This is for fun, not profit, labour of love, etc.

Send your stuff to: lisakuznakbooks (at) proton (dot) me, and include the words “zine submission” in the subject line. Somewhere in the body of the email, include your Substack handle, if you have one.

I decided it would probably be smarter to make it an individual, more easily shareable, post. And, I need to clarify some things, since folks have asked:

1. “Flash fiction” just means a very short story.

2. It can be a poem, or prose, or even a prose poem. So long as it’s under 1500 words, and it fits the vibe I’m looking for. Which, I admit, is rather loosey-goosey, so just be weird and send it to me.

3. There is a chance I reject an entry. Anything political is a no-go. The rest is down to my subjective judgement.

4. I would prefer if it hasn't already been shared on your Substack, but this is submission-dependent.

5. If your poem needs to be formatted a specific way, please inform me.

Why THE PLAZA

I once knew a guy who, in his younger days, hooked up a stolen tow truck to an ATM, yanked it from the wall, went to jail. Fast forward 20 years, no more ATM thefts for him, he roots through trash at the dump for fun and brings home cool shit. He’d say, “I’m heading to the plaza.” Then he’d come back with a wax cylinder player, or a piano, or old paintings.

So, yeah. I thought it would suit.

SUBMIT VIA EMAIL OR DM PLEASE

because I might forget about random comments! Sorry I have goldfish brain! (Email preferred over DM for this reason, too!)

To remind:

lisakuznakbooks (at) proton (dot) me

Include “Zine submission” or “the plaza” in the subject line.

As of today (July 6) I have received some submissions but I haven't responded to anyone yet. I will! So don’t fret. I’m waiting a bit before I make any decisions.

Physical prints will be very limited but I have ideas.

Artists: please send your images at 300dpi for best print quality no matter what size I print the zine.

Cheers!