The Ex-Puritan seeks submissions all year round, from anywhere in the world.
Our current publication rates (as of Fall 2022) stand as:
- $100 PER INTERVIEW
- $200 PER ESSAY
- $100 PER REVIEW
- $150 PER WORK OF FICTION
- $50 PER POEM, OR $100 PER POET IF MULTIPLE POEMS ACCEPTED
- $50+ PER EXPERIMENTAL OR HYBRID WORK, AT AN INCREASING SCALE DEPENDING ON THE NATURE OF THE PIECE
Check back with the magazine regularly; The Ex-Puritan is working ever assiduously to increase these figures.
Please note that we can ONLY issue payments using etransfer, PayPal or a cheque in the mail. We also pay in CAD. If you cannot accept payment via etransfer, PayPal or cheque from a Canadian bank, we cannot accept your submission.
Regular submissions to the magazine are free of charge and should fall under one of six categories: fiction, essays, poetry, interviews, reviews, and experimental/hybrid work. To submit to the experimental/hybrid section of the magazine, please email our section editors at hybrid.experimental@ex-puritan.ca. All other submissions must go through our Submittable. Unless we are soliciting your work, all submissions must be previously unpublished (this includes self-publishing, publishing on blogs, and in chapbook format). The entry fee for the Austin Clarke Prize in Literary Excellence is $20; winners in fiction and poetry each receive $1,000 in cash prizes and runners-up are awarded $200.
Please note that in order to diversify the voices we publish, we have a limit on how frequently we will publish the same writer: you may publish with us once per year in up to two sections of the magazine.
All submissions received by March 25 will be considered for the spring issue, published in May. Those received by June 25 are considered for the summer issue in August. Those received by September 25 are considered for the fall issue, published in November. Those received by December 25 are considered for the winter issue, out in February. All submissions will receive a decision within four months of the submission date.
If you haven’t heard back from us in four months or for any other query not answered here, get in touch with us at editors@ex-puritan.ca. Please note that we CANNOT accept email submissions. They will be discarded.
We are open to simultaneous submissions for all regular submission categories, but no simultaneous submissions are permitted for the Austin Clarke Prize in Literary Excellence. If your work is accepted elsewhere, please contact us immediately at editors@ex-puritan.ca to withdraw the piece.
Feel encouraged to push boundaries, play with form, and explore genre elements. Consider reading the fiction in our last few issues to familiarize yourself with work we've published. Please do not submit stories over 10,000 words, flash fiction (under 1,000 words), or novel excerpts. Please only send one story at a time. Note that all submissions must be previously unpublished and that we will not publish the same author more than once per year. We are especially interested in work by LGBTQ2S+ writers, BIPOC writers, and writing from other marginalized folks.
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This is our fee submissions category for fiction. All of our submissions are considered equally. So why pay a fee when you don’t have to? You’re leaving space open for someone without the means to pay. Submittable is not free to use, and even with the subscription fee we pay, we can only accept a limited number of no-fee submissions. By submitting to this category, you’re also helping us pay to use Submittable and supporting the magazine. We appreciate your donation!
The Ex-Puritan remains committed to accepting no-fee submissions. If our no-fee category isn’t working right now, you are welcome to use the fee category or wait until the 1st of the next month, when we reopen again to no-fee submissions.
Open until Sept 25.
We’re looking for poems of any length (including sequences and long poems). Once again, please familiarize yourself with our last two issues. Send up to four poems at a time. We are especially interested in work by LGBTQ2S+ writers, BIPOC writers, and writing from other marginalized folks, along with poetry in translation.
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Please Note: All Austin Clarke Prize in Literary Excellence entries must be accompanied by a payment of $20; however, this category is free of charge! You also have the option of giving The Ex-Puritan a tip of $3, should you wish to contribute to the overall costs of running the magazine. But thanks for your submission regardless!
If submissions have been disabled on this category, it's because we've reached our monthly limit. We can only accept a limited number of no-fee submissions each month. You can either submit to one of our fee submissions categories or wait until we reopen on the 1st of the next month. All of our submissions are considered equally.
Open until Sept 25.
We’re looking for poems of any length (including sequences and long poems). Once again, please familiarize yourself with our last two issues. Send up to four poems at a time. We are especially interested in work by LGBTQ2S+ writers, BIPOC writers, and writing from other marginalized folks, along with poetry in translation.
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This is our fee submissions category for poetry. All of our submissions are considered equally. So why pay a fee when you don’t have to? You’re leaving space open for someone without the means to pay. Submittable is not free to use, and even with the subscription fee we pay, we can only accept a limited number of no-fee submissions. By submitting to this category, you’re also helping us pay to use Submittable and supporting the magazine. We appreciate your donation!
The Ex-Puritan remains committed to accepting no-fee submissions. If our no-fee category isn’t working right now, you are welcome to use the fee category or wait until the 1st of the next month, when we reopen again to no-fee submissions.
Open until Sept 25.
Essays must be original and unpublished.
Please double-space your work, make the font 12 point, add page numbers, and include the word count on the first page. Maximum word count is 5000 words. Submissions that do not adhere to these guidelines will be rejected.
Please ensure you are submitting to the correct category. Please only submit your creative non-fiction essays to this category. Please do not submit poetry or fiction.
We are looking for:
- Essays that play with structure, POV, and chronology. Hermit crab essays are particularly encouraged.
- Essays that use a powerful metaphor to serve as a through line for theme and plot.
- Essays that explore the liminal spaces, the overlooked, and the marginal.
- Essays that use fiction techniques like characterization, dialogue, and scenes to create narrative tension.
- Essays that use alternative forms to explore theme and build layers of meaning.
We are not looking for:
- Service journalism
- Essays that primarily review a film, book, or artwork
- Academic essays
- Essays written for a class
- Travel essays
- Opinion pieces or argumentative essays
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Please Note: All Austin Clarke Prize for Literary Excellence entries must be accompanied by a payment of $20; however, this category is free of charge! You also have the option of giving The Ex-Puritan a tip of $3, should you wish to contribute to the overall costs of running the magazine. But thanks for your submission regardless!
If submissions have been disabled on this category, it's because we've reached our monthly limit. We can only accept a limited number of no-fee submissions each month. You can either submit to one of our fee submissions categories or wait until we reopen on the 1st of the next month. All of our submissions are considered equally.
Open until Sept 25.
Essays must be original and unpublished.
Please double-space your work, make the font 12 point, add page numbers, and include the word count on the first page. Maximum word count is 5000 words. Submissions that do not adhere to these guidelines will be rejected.
Please ensure you are submitting to the correct category. Please only submit your creative non-fiction essays to this category. Please do not submit poetry or fiction.
We are looking for:
- Essays that play with structure, POV, and chronology. Hermit crab essays are particularly encouraged.
- Essays that use a powerful metaphor to serve as a through line for theme and plot.
- Essays that explore the liminal spaces, the overlooked, and the marginal.
- Essays that use fiction techniques like characterization, dialogue, and scenes to create narrative tension.
- Essays that use alternative forms to explore theme and build layers of meaning.
We are not looking for:
- Service journalism
- Essays that primarily review a film, book, or artwork
- Academic essays
- Essays written for a class
- Travel essays
- Opinion pieces or argumentative essays
---
Please Note: All Austin Clarke Prize for Literary Excellence entries must be accompanied by a payment of $20; however, this category is free of charge! You also have the option of giving The Ex-Puritan a tip of $3, should you wish to contribute to the overall costs of running the magazine. But thanks for your submission regardless!
If submissions have been disabled on this category, it's because we've reached our monthly limit. We can only accept a limited number of no-fee submissions each month. You can either submit to one of our fee submissions categories or wait until we reopen on the 1st of the next month. All of our submissions are considered equally.
Open until Sept 25.
Books! Books! Books!
We publish reviews of CanLit books (1200-3000 words), especially by marginalized & debut authors. We love reviews of chapbooks; we love reviews both experimental and traditional. We are especially interested in work by LGBTQ2S+ writers, BIPOC writers, and writing from other marginalized folks.
Reviews doesn’t require a full draft; a pitch is acceptable as long as it is fully thought out and justified. If you are submitting a draft, please submit it double-spaced in 12 point font. Please only send one review at a time; note that it must be previously unpublished and that we will not publish the same author more than once per year. We do our best to respond to all submissions within 4 months. If you don't receive a response within that time, feel free to follow up!
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Please Note: All Austin Clarke Prize for Literary Excellence entries must be accompanied by a payment of $20; however, this category is free of charge! You also have the option of giving The Ex-Puritan a tip of $3, should you wish to contribute to the overall costs of running the magazine. But thanks for your submission regardless!
If submissions have been disabled on this category, it's because we've reached our monthly limit. We can only accept a limited number of no-fee submissions each month. You can either submit to one of our fee submissions categories or wait until we reopen on the 1st of the next month. All of our submissions are considered equally.
Open until Sept 25th