Submit to Wasafiri
For 40 years, Wasafiri has published the very best international contemporary writing, placing critics alongside leading novelists, poets, and playwrights to generate exciting cross-genre and inter-regional conversations. We welcome innovative creative and critical writing that, in form, focus, or theme, seeks to expand the boundaries of global literary culture.
Fiction, non-fiction/life writing, and poetry: Closed
We are currently closed for creative submissions.
Interviews: Open
We invite submissions of interviews. Word count and fee are shown below. All submissions must be submitted via our online submissions portal.
Critical academic articles: Open
We invite submissions of critical academic articles year-round. All submissions must be submitted via our online submissions portal.
Wasafiri is a peer–reviewed journal and listed in the Clarivate Analytics’ Arts & Humanities Citation Index. We are seeking conceptually rigorous, substantially researched, and accessibly presented articles and essays engaged with any genre of contemporary literature. The magazine particularly welcomes articles that position new critical perspectives within one or more broader contexts. The use of assistive software and/or technology is permitted. Articles formed of AI-generated content, or which have been produced through the use of machine translation are not permitted and will be treated as plagiarism.
We aim to make a decision within nine to twelve months, allowing time for mutually-anonymous double peer review.
Reviews: Open
If you are a publisher, please post review copies to the address below, or email details to wasafiri.reviews@qmul.ac.uk. Unfortunately we cannot guarantee that we will be able to review every title we receive.
Please post review copies to: Reviews Editor, Wasafiri c/o School of English and Drama, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London, E1 4NS, UK
If you'd like to pitch a review, please email our Reviews Editor, Farah Ali: wasafiri.reviews@qmul.ac.uk
Word Length
| Critical academic articles and essays | 6,000 – 9,000 words |
| Fiction, life writing | 3,000 – 5,000 words |
| Interviews | 4,000 – 5,000 words |
| Book reviews of one or two titles | 900 – 1,100 words |
| Poems | Maximum of 3, totalling up to 6 pages |
Payment
Wasafiri pays for all creative submissions and reviews. The below fees are an indication only of a typical fee offered for publication in the magazine.
| Fiction and life writing | £150 |
| Interviews (transcribed and edited) | £150 |
| Poems | £50 |
| Book reviews | £50 |
| Review essays | £150 |
Inclusivity
Wasafiri is committed to publishing work that represents the world and creating an inclusive global community of writers and readers. Central to this is our unwavering commitment to equality and advocacy for underrepresented and marginalised voices. We do not discriminate on the grounds of age, gender, nationality, race, or sexuality. While we welcome a diversity of opinions and topics in our pages, the validity of the identities of our writing and reading community is not up for debate. In particular, we affirm and support the rights and dignity of transgender, non-binary, and gender diverse people the world over. We seek to publish writers with compatible core values.
If you have queries about the submissions process, you can contact us here. All submissions must be submitted via our online submissions portal.
