Welcome
to the Botsotso Literary Journal
Submissions Page
Submissions Window for the Forthcoming Botsotso E-Journal
Vol. 21: Issue 1 (2023)
“Light up the Night”
June 1 – June 30
We are inviting submissions for a Botsotso e-journal, which will publish poetry, short stories, creative nonfiction, flash fiction, personal and critical essays, reviews, and all forms of visual artwork – (visual ‘artivism’ is especially encouraged).
There is no theme. Botsotso does however encourage art that bears intellectual witness to its time, to history, and possible future(s), rather than . . .
Guidelines for Submission
Failure to follow submission guidelines will result in immediate disqualification and no correspondence will be entered into.
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All submissions are welcome.
Please also send original, unpublished work, in any South African language (as long as it is accompanied by a reliable translation).
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Literary submissions must be sent as a Word Document or PDF file, in any font, 12pt., and 1.5 line spacing (except poetry which may be single spaced).
All irregularly spaced work must be sent as a PNG or JPEG file, and the text needs to be in bold.
Visual Artwork must be sent as a PNG or JPEG file only.
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Ensure your submission has a cover letter in the body of the email, with your name, the title(s) of the work being submitted, and word count (prose) / line count (poetry), as well as a short bio note.
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Do not place your name anywhere in your attached submission document as our editorial reads double blind.
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We do not consider multiple submissions.
A simultaneous submission is acceptable, as long as we are given withdrawal notification immediately, if the work is accepted for publication elsewhere.
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Work that has been previously published is not eligible, whether in print or online.
Provision is made for the visual arts, where the artwork has been published online, but no artwork that has been licensed to a third-party publisher / publication / platform, whether in print or digital, is accepted.
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We do not have a strict word limit for any submissions, though longer work may be declined, due to its unsuitability for the journal format.
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Submit in one category only.
You may submit only one prose piece.
Two short stories maximum.
Poetry and visual artworks (up to three)
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Notification of the status of your submission will be sent by July 15.
If you have not received an acceptance / decline after this date, you are free to be in contact.
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Copyright remains with the creator of the work of art.
By publishing with this issue of our journal, you are granting us the non-exclusive first electronic right, to publish the work in digital form.
We ask that Botsotso always be credited with first publication.
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As an independent non-profit, we are unable to pay contributors at this time (but we believe strongly that all artists should be remunerated for their hour-intensive, creative labour, and therefore absolutely would pay contributors . . . if it were at all possible for us).
However, we do always submit qualifying work published with Botsotso, and on behalf of poets and authors, to various international, continental, and national prizes. Visual artwork published with Botsotso will be invited to form part of our forthcoming online gallery.
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We certainly do not charge submission fees.
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All submissions to: botsotso@artslink.co.za
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