What We Publish

Basilinda accepts submissions in the form of poetry, letters, and mixed media art. We are most interested in genre-bending works exploring personal truths and identities through strategic subversion with fine-tuned tactic. To win this round, be less preoccupied with epiphany and more focused on curling our toes. Focus on pushing traditional boundaries through the exploration of risky, confessional, transgressional, and challenging subject matters. Like we said, this is a whole new level—so don’t be afraid to break create the rules, challenge our expectations and, most importantly, make us think.

GENERAL GUIDELINES

• Please use the portal below for all text and image submissions. For video etc. submissions, or if for any reason you are unable to upload your text or image via the submissions portal, you can email your work to basilindasubmissions@gmail.com.
• Do not include any personal information such as name, email, or any other contact info on your submitted documents.
• If you’re unsure under which category your work would be published, email it to us and let us figure out the details.

Poetry

We are interested in confessional, identity-driven poetry that pushes the boundaries of genre and language. Poems that tackle risky subject matter and explore the physical experience of the body are especially welcome. We love work that challenges expectations, builds complex structures of sound and thought, and creates a new set of rules by which to play.

• You may submit up to five poems at a time in a single document.
• We welcome long-form poetry.

Letters

At Basilinda, we are interested in inherently risky, collaborative, and vulnerable works—what better form than a letter? Letters are a uniquely communicative and intimate art form: what begins as a conversation between two people can transform into a prism that reflects and refracts—directing one back to the self, out to the community, and to even greater networks spanning time and space. The letter has a long history among women and queer people in particular. Take Emily Dickinson’s envelope poems, for example. Though not always explicitly letters themselves, the forms they take, as the critic Mark Ford writes, are “telling emblems of [Dickinson’s] urge to communicate, and her almost equally strong urge to withhold communication.” We want to see work that straddles that inner conflict. For more information on the letter form, see The Magic and Risk of a Handwritten Letter by Meghan Forbes.

• You may submit up to three letters at a time.
• Letters can be fictional, non-fictional, experimental, traditional, or anything in between.
• Letters can be handwritten or typed. If handwritten, please send a clear black and white scan in .pdf format.

Mixed Media

Art is not just a painting, a song, or a film—it is all of these media and every combination, destruction, and dissection of them. We are seeking to amplify those voices most inclined to bend these artistic forms, and those least afraid to challenge the structures wishing to constrain them. Queer voices have long been at the forefront of art and culture for their willingness to go beyond what has already been seen or heard, into unknown and uncharted territories. We encourage queer creators to submit their art of any medium, to break the rules, and continue this tradition of visionary art.

• Images may be submitted as individual pieces or as a gallery.