We are a magazine that showcases compelling, accessible, and culturally relevant work--anything the mainstream is ignoring we are likely into. We seek to offer an authentic reflection of the contemporary, and most importantly, to uplift marginalized peoples in a fascinating and brutally honest way. Bring us your pain, your strength, your passion.
Things to Note:
Please note that Defunkt Magazine requires First Serial Rights on all submissions /all mediums.
We accept simultaneous submissions, but please message us through submittable letting us know immediately if a piece is accepted elsewhere.
Please submit 1-3 pieces for consideration. Make sure that your file names represent the title of each piece, please don’t leave them as just arbitrary numbers (unless that’s the title of each piece of course!). This issue, our art editor is interested in texture, of feeling like you can reach out and touch. They’re also interested in taste and your ability to capture food, drinks, mouths, tongues, teeth, etc. Make us feel hungry, or uncomfortable, or intrigued in the work that you submit. Send us something sharp and supple that we won’t be able to stop returning to for another look.
Art chosen for the cover will be in color, art chosen for the interior will be printed in black and white. Please consider these options when choosing what to submit.
Field Notes is a place for play. Here, we’re saying we don’t care about the confines or expectations of a genre. We want you to blend them, break them, defy them completely. You have something to say and the only way you can say it is by making something uniquely your own and we are all ears. If your project relies heavily on prose (large blocks of text or several paragraphs) we ask that you keep it around 5,000 words. If your project is several pages, we ask that you keep it under ten. We will never ask you to make major cuts or changes to a hybrid project like this, so please submit something you believe is 100% ready to be published. Please don’t include any identifying information on the file you submit, save that for the cover letter. However, depending on the format you’re using, please consider using page numbers just for editorial reference. We know that the intersection of so many identities is a murky place that needs a new space, a new language, a new way of thinking, and that’s what Field Notes is for.
Please submit up to 5,000 words for this category. Do not leave any identifying information on your document, save that for your cover letter, but don’t forget to include page numbers.
We are not currently interested in literary criticism or journalism. We’re looking for that sweet spot of Creative Nonfiction that feels well crafted with careful attention to language, even lyrical in its composition, but that shares a unique experience of the author. We love essays that capture a very specific event in the author’s life, rather than sprawling memoirs truncated into just a few pages. We don’t necessarily need a moral or a lesson to your story, but rather a snapshot of something that you think was meaningful or impactful. This is a slice of the author’s life, experiences, and how they view the world. We read CNF so that we can connect to stories that feel both similar and vastly different from our own, to cultivate a culture of empathy and understanding, to bridge gaps between the personal and the universal. No one can look out at the world and see what you see other than you! We’re excited for you to show us.
Please send up to 7,000 words for this submission. Flash fiction is acceptable and you may submit up to 3 pieces for consideration, but make sure they do not total more than 7,000 words. Of course, if your submission is a little over, we might still consider it, but within reason. Don’t include any identifying information on the document itself, and please include page numbers.
The work we’re looking for hits like a gut punch. We want stories that go there and the thing that’s going to make this unique to you is where you take us. We want a raw, unflinching inspection of what it is to be human. We’re looking for authenticity, not necessarily realism, so feel free to veer into the surreal. Give us work that exhibits purpose and feelings and Bonus points if you bring us something we haven’t seen before—especially from voices too often pushed to the margins. POC, LGBTQ+, disabled, neurodivergent, working-class–if your perspective has been overlooked, we want to amplify it.
Simultaneous submissions are totally fine, please just let us know if your work has been accepted somewhere else by sending us a message through submittable.
We’re looking for 1-3 poems that reflect your best work right now. We’re interested in whatever you’re interested in at this exact moment, because we know that whatever you can’t stop thinking about it is going to haunt us on the page too. On a technical level we’re not really interested in strict form, shape poems, rhyme schemes, or gimmicks. We’re interested in something that feels compulsive, authentic, and unique. These poems should be undeniably your voice in a way that no one else can muster. Give us poems that subvert expectations and cliches, that feel like intimate dinner parties or delve into your own personal folklore. We love confessional poetry, poetry about poetry, poetry about places like the swamps of Florida, where the mountains touch the ocean on the northwestern coast, or the desserts of New Mexico. Bask in the specificity of your own mind and experiences, make them feel like they’re our experiences too. Show us something that feels maximalist, if that’s what you’re into. Or, if you’re going to be sparse with your words, make those the coolest combination of words we’ve ever seen. Take something familiar and make us look at it, really look at it, as if we’re seeing it for the first time.
Please do not include any identifying material on your packet, save that for the cover letter, which doesn’t have to be long but includes your third person bio.
Simultaneous submissions are totally fine, just let us know if your work has been accepted elsewhere by shooting us a message through submittable.