Calling All Writers (and Artists)

photo by Hayden Teachout
photo by Hayden Teachout

Hi SOU artists,

I’m Eric Ghelfi, and I’ve recently begun working to integrate creative writing into our school paper, The Siskiyou. You may have seen me in class or running around town with our cross country team. In my spare time I play the drums and imagine how much better life would be with a fulltime masseuse/cook/therapist living in my room.

But this is about you and your work. Did you write a scathing story in high school about something monstrous your ex did? Polish it up and send it in. How ’bout a notebook of cutesy haikus about Facebook stalking your college sweetheart? We want that, too. And yes, visual artists, we accept paintings, graphic designs, and fine art photography. SOU has a lot of talented, innovative undergrads, and we’d like to showcase them in our paper. After all, we’re supposed to be “the voice of SOU students.”

Plus, publishing your work (aside from the ego boost) can work wonders on your growing resume. Talk to any professor, especially one who’s worked on an admissions board, and he/she will tell you that publications in your name, regardless of their subject matter, speak loads about your creativity and follow-through. Applying for a job, a sought-after spot in grad school, or trying to convince your family you’re not too much of a screw-up, a published story, poem, or picture looks good.

So please please please, for me and you and everyone, submit your stuff to ghelfie@sou.edu. Review the official submission guidelines and editing process below.

Best, Eric

 

 

Submission Guidelines 

Deadlines: To publish in the Wednesday addition of the paper, you must submit to ghelfie@sou.edu by 11:59 PM on the previous Sunday. We’ll consider late submissions for the next week. Deadlines by theme:

Love & Hate: February 22

Here we’re looking for stories, poems, and visual art that deal with people navigating their love, hate, and/or love-hate relationships. We won’t be super-strict, but make sure at least a half baked lawyer could convince us your submission’s on topic. We’ll focus on this theme for the whole month of February.

Before submitting, please review the following:

How many pieces should you submit and how long can they be?

We ask that you limit your submissions to five poems, two stories, and/or two pieces of visual art, and we ask that your stories don’t exceed 2,000 words (please include a word count in your email/cover letter). Stories of exceptional quality may exceed 2,000 words, but you’d better be able to make a case  However, each week we’ll feature an artist, publishing a larger selection of his/her work with a brief interview. If you would like to be featured, please say so in the subject heading of your submission email.

Do we accept simultaneous submissions?

Absolutely we do. But please let us know quickly if another publisher picks up your piece before we publish it.

What should you include in your submission email?

The work you want to publish in the form of a word document for written work and a .jpeg file for visual work. Include a word count and anything you’d like us to know about your piece(s). We’d also dig it if you sent us a headshot and a brief bio (academic year, major, hobbies, etc.). Also, if you have artwork to go with your stories or poems, we’d love to have those, too.

If you publish in The Siskiyou, can you publish the same work elsewhere?

We give full permission to republish all artwork. However, many venues will require never-published submissions.

 What can you expect from the editing process?

Since we publish SOU students’ work exclusively, we can put a lot of energy into the editing process. Shining submissions we’ll publish as they are, correcting, if necessary, for minor typos or formatting issues. For submissions that could use more work, we’ll suggest changes to the writer and, when he/she improves it, publish it then.

 Are there any limitations on subject matter?

We refrain from publishing over-the-top violence or erotica. Please focus on story and aesthetic, not on shock value. That said, edgy is fine as long as it seems in healthy proportion to the rest of the piece.

What about comics?

If you have comics to submit, send them to estillman13@gmail.com or akinsj@sou.edu We publish comics in a different column and ask that they contain politically relevant content.

 

Submit short stories, poems, visual art, or any questions to: ghelfie@sou.edu

 

Submit comics or inquires about journalism articles to: estillman13@gmail.com orakinsj@sou.edu