Submissions
HDJ’s submissions period is currently closed. Please stay tuned for more.
High Desert Journal is a forum for literary, visual, and journalistic artists to contribute to a deeper understanding of the landscape and people of the interior West. We pay $25/poem, $50/essay or story, and $150 to our featured artist.
We accept work only from residents of the interior West (they can be working with any theme) or from anyone living outside of this region creating with an element or theme relevant to the interior West.
Where is the “high desert” and “interior West?”
Simply put, we consider the high desert and interior West to cover eastern Washington, eastern Oregon, all of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, west Texas, and California east of the Sierras. Sorry, but the Pacific coast—San Diego, L.A., San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, etc., are not part of our region. Our map looks something like this:
What are we looking for?
We accept poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, memoirs, books reviews, essays, interviews and visual arts. You may submit up to three poems; a maximum of 5,000 words of fiction or nonfiction; up to 3,000 words of interview, memoir, and essays, and up to 10 slides or digital images of artwork.
We encourage submissions through Submittable with a $3 processing fee. However, in the spirit of inclusion and fairness, and a knowledge of the widening technological gap for many, HDJ will also happily accept fee-free submissions through the postal service so those who are incarcerated, suffering economic hardship, or without easy access to the Internet are still able to send work.
All manuscripts and all correspondence regarding submission should be sent to our physical address and accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope (SASE) for a response. As with emailed submissions, we will adhere strictly to posted dates and any mailed submission postmarked outside the listed submission periods will be recycled unread. Submissions sent within the United States may be posted to the editor of the appropriate genre during open submission periods.