Submission Guidelines

Submissions are currently closed. We will announce in 2013 when we will reopen submissions. At that time we encourage writers and artists who submitted work within the last 6 months of 2012 to resubmit following the below guidelines. Thanks, everyone!

We accept work from all over the world, but please do tell us if you are in the Chicago area and want to become further involved with Two With Water. We host readings and fundraisers, and are always happy to have help with marketing, advertising, DJ-ing, or really anything else you kindly would like to offer us gracious literary leeches.

FICTION/NONFICTION

•    All material submitted must be original and previously unpublished. All work to be considered must include the author’s name and a current email address.
•    We don’t need to see a bio. In fact, we probably won’t even read it if you send one along with your submission. We accept work from writers of all backgrounds and experience levels. We don’t care if you have an MFA or a PhD, have a long list of previously published work, or have just learned how to type/hold a pencil. Once we accept your work for publication, then we’ll ask for your bio.
•    Prose should be under 5,000 words. Ideally 500-3,000 words.
•    Please notify us if something you submit has been accepted for publication elsewhere.
•    We read each submission thoroughly, and we respond to writers whose work best fits our style.
•    Revisions are encouraged. Often, we send comments and suggestions when we are interested in a piece but think it could use some sprucing up. An official offer of publication will be sent once the writer and editors feel the piece is ready.
•    Contributors receive a copy of the print issue of Two With Water featuring their work.
•    Send to: submissions(at)twowithwater.com. Please include the word “submission” somewhere in the subject line, as we get a lot of “submissions” from Viagra and Pfizer and don’t want to accidentally discard the wrong thing.

POETRY

Send 1-3 poems, following the same basic guidelines above, to submissions(at)twowithwater.com

Take a look at our previous issues. We mainly publish prose and creative non-fiction.

ARTWORK

Please select 1-5 pieces that you feel could compliment the literature in Two With Water rather than just sending a link to your online portfolio. Work should be suitable for print in B&W (if we could afford color, we would…) and currently unpublished. Judging art can be incredibly difficult and furthermore kind of ridiculous for us literary folk, so let’s keep it as simple as possible, as in, if we like it… then we’ll probably publish it.

EVERYTHING ELSE

We love work that lies outside the boundaries of the above categories, such as comics, short plays, satire, interviews, and other undefined creative genres. If you have an idea you’d like to run by us, please do! Send submissions to submissions(at)twowithwater.com or contact the editors with any questions: amy(at)twowithwater.com and becca(at)twowithwater.com.