What we publish
We publish fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, hybrid works, translations, book reviews & visual art. We are a biannual online publication. We love a wide range of genres and styles, especially writing that is innovative in form and progressive in content.
This year, we wanted to bookend our Fall issue with the Spring issue. And so, after Issue 35: First Words, comes Issue 36: Last Words. We want you to send us your writing that has all the charge and desperation and absolute importance of the last words you'll ever write. We want the last words between lovers, the utterances that eek out of the cracks of a broken heart or perhaps the lines that break the heart of another. We want the last words before everything went sideways, before everything ended and perhaps began anew in that ending. What are the words you would share with us if they were the only things we'd remember you by? How do your characters want to be remembered? What is the secret you need us to know before you go or the truth that comes out, that slips, that last thing you wish we'd ever hear but can't take back anymore now that it's out? If you had one last thing to give us, one last thing to say, one last thing part of yourself that needed a voice before the silence, what would it be? We want that. But more important than any theme, we welcome all submissions as long as they're honest and authentic - what we want most of all is your best work. Work must be original, created without the use of AI, and previously unpublished (with the exception of translations - see genre guidelines).
Not sure if your work is suited to our magazine? Find out what we like by reading our current issue.
We acknowledge that literary spaces traditionally have centered the white, heterosexual, cisgender male experience at the expense of other voices. We want to break from that tradition and are therefore especially interested in reading work from those who are often marginalized in literary spaces, including Black, Brown, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC); all women, including but not limited to, trans and cis women; LGBTQIA+ people; agender, gender non-conforming, and nonbinary people; people with disabilities; and people who live at the intersections of identities.
Limits
Fiction: 5,000 words (or 3 pieces of up to 1,000 words)
Creative Nonfiction: 5,000 words
Poetry: 3 poems per submission
Hybrid: 5,000 words (may include up to 5 images, B&W only)
Translations: 3 poems or 5,000 words of prose (must include original piece)
Book Reviews: 500-750 words (books must have been published within the past year)
How to submit
Please submit your work through submittable.
No submissions through email or mail unless you have an invite to do so from the editors. (For example, prisoners may request to do this.)
Include a bio of up to fifty words along with your cover letter.
We do our very best to respond within 6 months, but due to the volume of submissions, it can sometimes take longer.
Guidelines
-Reading fee of $3. (For a fee waiver, reach out to the editors).
-International submissions are welcomed, but English only this year.
-Multiple submissions are welcome at $3 per submission, but please, no more than one submission per genre at a time.
-Simultaneous submissions are fine as long as you notify us if it’s accepted elsewhere.
-No submissions from current FIU students.
-Submissions accepted from FIU alums two or more years after graduation.
Copyright Info
We hold first serial rights for the material we publish, with the copyright reverting back to the author upon publication.
Reviews & interviews
No unsolicited submissions or requests, please.
Contact
If you have reached this page, it should be because you know us and like us and we like you. Hi—we miss you and miss LA already and we hope you had a safe trip home and a wonderful time at AWP. We certainly had a lovely time meeting you. Let's do it again sometime, yeah?
In the meanwhile, we want to read your work and we don't want to wait till the Fall. We're still locking in our Summer issue, Last Words, so anything you have that fits that theme, please send it along. If you don't have anything that could be a good fit, don't fret—we still want to see your work and will keep it in mind for the next issue if we love it but it doesn't really track with what we're putting together for this one. But know that if it's not for this issue, it's going to need to really stick with us for us to hang onto it for the next few months, so we hope you'll send us your best.
Genre limits and general guidelines can be found on our main submissions landing page so make sure to check that out before you submit. Just make sure to also punch in the password we gave you at the booth, as submissions that are sent without the magic word will not be considered. If you arrived here by accident or are confused at all by this cloak and dagger business, feel free to shoot us an email at gulfstreamlitmag@gmail.com or check back in the fall when we open up for general submissions again for issue 37.
See you in Baltimore <3