Guidelines

Unwoven Literary & Arts Magazine is committed to publishing original work that represents a wide aesthetic range, from the traditional to the experimental.

​We're looking for authors with an awareness of diverse points of view. We welcome voices from BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and neurodiverse communities that have been underrepresented in literature.

​We do not accept:

  • AI generated work
  • Plagiarism ​
  • Previously published 

What we are looking for

Fiction

We’re looking for hybrid forms—stories that explore the spectrum of the human experience, stories that take risks and live in our imaginations long after the last printed word, stories that invite us into private rooms and into worlds of the writer’s own creation.

Creative Nonfiction

We believe the most effective way of connecting to others is through storytelling. Stories are critical for communication, learning, and they frame the human experience. Creative Nonfiction focuses on story. We welcome stories that reorient identity in narrative and time. The only strict parameter is that the writing is based in truth.

Poetry

We’re looking for poetry that reveals truths. Poetry that excites, challenges, grieves, and uplifts through lyric and narrative potency. We appreciate classical form and invite experimentation. This is a reassembling space, where diverse perspectives are valued and prioritized.


AI Statement 

At Unwoven Literary & Arts Magazine, it is our mission to lift up the voices of writers and artists who have been traditionally underrepresented in the literary arts. 

While we acknowledge that AI has created new questions about the creative process, it cannot fulfill our mission — to contribute to an evolving story of writers and artists who pull at the common threads in our lives through storytelling.

We do not accept AI-generated content because we want to experience our shared humanity through the art of storytelling. Join us in honoring and celebrating art and the written word. 



Ends on $3.00
$3.00
Submit to Issue 3: Open Genre Submissions (Poetry, CNF, Fiction)

Issue 3: Open Genre Submissions (Poetry, CNF, Fiction) 

"...no stone rolled back but the bodies are gone, the names cannot bring them back and they shake as if mourning, and I am made to shake with them, can see the seams of now snapping open, the scene behind the scenes where vision remakes and obscures time and place, the seams popping where thumbs and timelines work swiftly to keep them shut..."

- Phillip B Williams

Phillip B Williams' poem transcends time and collapses the space between the poet-- alive and breathing in the present-- and the past when the deaths he addresses took place. "... [the names] shake as if mourning and I am made to shake with them..." Here, the names of the past are joined with Williams. In the mourning. In the shaking. The past and the future disappear and  "the seams of now [snap] open." 

 Unwoven is a call to this thread. These seams. Unwoven Literary & Arts Magazine is a place where the poetry, creative nonfiction, and fiction shared in our issue, have a ribbon haloing the heads of our readers and transporting them to unique experiences that they themselves may not have lived, but can nonetheless understand when they pull on the threads of similarity between the writing and the experiences in their own lives.

In that vein, we invite both established and emerging writers to submit their thread to issue 3 by submitting their best work. 

Submissions are open March 15, 2026 May 15, 2026. 

We look forward to reading your submission. 

Unwoven Guidelines: 

  • All submissions must be in a single document. 
  • Do not include any identifying information in the body of your document.
  • Please submit unpublished poems only.
  • We welcome simultaneous submissions, but please notify us immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere.
  • Use standard fonts (e.g., Times New Roman, 12 pt) and include your name and contact information on the first page.
  • Please provide a brief cover letter that includes a short, third-person bio with your publication history and any applicable content warnings.
  • We will not accept AI-generated work for this contest.
  • Acceptable file formats: PDF, DOC, or DOCX.

Genre Guidelines: 

  • Fiction - Submissions for short stories should be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and double spaced. Please submit only one story per submission period.
  • Creative Nonfiction - Submissions should be between 1,000 and 3,000 words. For shorter essays, 
  • Poetry - Submit up to 3-5 poems per submission (maximum of 10 pages).​
Unwoven Literary & Arts Magazine