Submissions

Spring 2024 submissions are now closed. Fall submissions will reopen in August/September.

Due to our conditional review process, submissions will be handled on a rolling basis. Pieces will be reviewed in the order in which they are submitted. Review will begin in early February, prior to the submission window closing. Submitters will receive notice of their acceptance, conditional acceptance, or rejection as soon as it is ready. Please be advised that not all submitters will hear from us in the same week.

Our board members evaluate each piece anonymously to select a diverse range of high-quality works. Submissions go through several rounds of consideration. Due to the high quantity of submissions, we cannot return feedback on every piece submitted to Calliope. However, written feedback will be sent to all art and writing pieces that make it to the second round of consideration but not selected for publication.

Regarding written submissions, in addition to traditional acceptances and rejections, we will grant a select number of pieces conditional acceptance. The authors of these pieces will be given the opportunity to revise their pieces according to our requested edits and resubmit to be considered for publication in the same issue. Publication is contingent upon a review and acceptance of the revisions by the board.

General Requirements

Who Can Submit

Anyone who is a member of the Chapman community may submit. This includes Chapman students (undergraduate or graduate), staff, faculty, or alumni.
If a piece has more than one contributor, only fill out the submission form once, but be sure to list the names and emails of all creators. Additional creators will be contacted for contributor bios should the piece be accepted.

What to Submit**

You may submit up to two entries per semester. (i.e. two writing pieces OR two art pieces OR one writing piece and one art piece).
Calliope does not accept previously or simultaneously published material. If your piece has been published on social media, through any self-published materials, or in another literary or art journal, whether these formats are print or digital/online, please do not submit it for our consideration. Simultaneously submitted works are also disallowed.

*View additional content guidelines for written and art works at the bottom of this page.

How To Submit

All work must be submitted through the provided form. No email submissions will be accepted. The form will go live on September 1st, 2024.
Submit your works separately. Do not submit two pieces in one document or the second piece will not be considered. Submit each piece in a separate file in the place indicated on the submission form
Remove all identifying information from all submitted documents. The title of your file include be the name of the piece alone, with no quotations or additional information (ex: The Albatross.docx. or Red.jpg.)
Refrain from titling pieces “Untitled.” If you are uncertain about a title for your art or written work, please use the first line in the piece as the title.
Include a short contributor’s note. This must be written in the third person and can describe you or your work in general, as well as your major and class level. This will be published alongside your work if it is accepted.

Please direct further questions to calliope@chapman.edu.

Writing Guidelines

Genre

We accept the following genres of work:

Experimental fiction
Experimental poetry
Fiction
Fantasy
Flash fiction
Nonfiction
Poetry
Prose
Prose poetry
Satire
Science Fiction
Screenplay
Stage play
Other

When submitting your work, be sure to pick the genre you feel best reflects your piece as the labeled genre will affect the literary conventions by which our board evaluates your piece. If you are unsure about which genre works best, please make a note of it in the additional details section.

File Type

Writing must be submitted as one of the following file forms:

.doc
.docx
.txt
.rtf.

With the exception of screen and stage plays, we do not accept .pdf or .pages. If an exception must be made for the formatting of your piece, contact calliope@chapman.edu prior to submitting your work.

Format

Calliope requires that all literary submissions must be in Eb Garamond font, size 12. Some formatting adjustments may be made between you and your editor during the revision process. Our book is 9″ x 6″ and text is printed single-spaced.

Anonymity

For nonfiction works or works where your name or nickname is used in the body of the text, please use a pseudonym with asterisks to indicate a placeholder (ex: *Jane*) Should your piece be accepted, we will add your name back in prior to publication. Please remove any headers with identifying information as well.

Length

Written submissions have no minimum word count required and can be up to 3,000 words maximum. Pieces that exceed the maximum word count will not be considered.

Art Guidelines

Medium

We accept submissions for the following mediums:

Collage
Comic
Digital art
Graphic design
Mixed media
Painting
Photography
Sculpture
Traditional art
Other

Please note that we do not accept work generated with AI programs, such as Midjourney or Stable Diffusion, due to the risk of potential copyright infringement.

When submitting your work, be sure to pick the medium you feel best reflects your piece, as the labeled medium will affect the artistic conventions by which our board considers your piece. If you are unsure about which genre works best, please make a note of it in the additional details section. We will not edit your piece itself, so be sure that your submission is in its best and final form.

Each submission may include additional details (no more than 10 words) describing the mediums used, where the photo was taken, and/or the original dimensions of the work.

File Type

Art must be submitted as the following image file types:

.jpg
.jpeg
.png.

If an exception must be made for the formatting of your piece, contact calliope@chapman.edu prior to submitting your work.

Formatting:

The minimum digital image size we accept is 1600x1200px. If submitting traditional/physical artwork, ensure that the image is either scanned or captured with a high-resolution camera.

It is preferred for art submissions to be in 300dpi resolution. Note: All art submissions will be converted to CMYK.