Apogee is a journal of literature and art that engages with identity politics, including but not limited to: race, gender, sexuality, class, ability, and intersectional identities. We are a biannual publication featuring fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and visual art, as well as a digital platform for reviews, interviews, flash, and more. Our goals are twofold: to publish fresh work that interrogates the status quo, and to provide a platform for underrepresented voices, prioritizing artists and writers of color.

We often receive work from over-represented perspectives whose primary goal is to interrogate its privilege or come to terms with the “other.” Please note: this is not the work we seek to elevate at Apogee. We look for work that centers the experience of marginalized perspectives. We want to foster work that addresses the politics of identity, such as migration, diaspora, multiculturalism, privilege, hierarchy, oppression, though these themes are not a requirement for publication. We believe the exploration of perspectives and voices that are mostly unheard and ignored is a political act itself. To read our mission statement, please visit this page.

Guidelines for Submission

• All work must be previously unpublished.
• Cover letters are optional.
• Please include a current bio.
• We accept simultaneous submissions. Please notify us if your work has been accepted elsewhere.
• Submitting to Apogee is free. We pay contributor fees of $50-$100, and are always fundraising to increase these rates.
• The process for submitting to our biannual publication differs from that for submitting to our digital platform, Perigee. Please navigate to this page to learn about our reading period for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for our next issue.

Flash

We define flash as any prose piece under 1,000 words. Please send up to two flash pieces for consideration at a time (submit each separately) and we will aim to get back to you within 6 weeks—we may take longer as we are currently working towards launching the flash section in summer 2023. Submit flash via our submission manager here. The contributor fee for flash is $65 per piece.

Book Reviews

We are currently closed for review submissions. Please pitch us at reviews@apogeejournal.org. In your pitch, include the name and publisher of the book you’d like to review, its anticipated release date, and what makes you want to review this particular work. Your pitch should be 3-5 sentences in the body of your email, with the subject line of the email stating: “Review: [Name of Book] by [Name of Author]”. Please include 1-2 samples of your writing, published or unpublished, as links at the bottom of your email or as an attachment.

We accept pitches for two kinds of book reviews: books published anytime in the past that you think should be unearthed now, that are calling to you at this specific moment, and that you think deserve (more) attention; and books set to be published in the near future, especially debuts or works by emerging writers with marginalized identities. For the latter, we can support you in obtaining an advance review copy!

If you’re seeking inspiration, see this list of books that we are especially excited about reviewing. We pay $90 for reviews.

Interviews

We are currently closed for interview submissions. Please pitch us at reviews@apogeejournal.org. In your pitch, tell us a little bit about why you want to interview this writer/artist/editor/organizer. We are excited about all different kinds of interviews—a back and forth between the founding editors of two small presses, a q&a with a public librarian working in outreach, and of course, interviews with writers who have books coming out in the near future. For the latter, we can support you in obtaining an advance review copy.

Please submit a pitch of 1-2 paragraphs in the body of your email, with the subject line of the email stating: “Interview: [Name of Artist]”. Please include 1-2 samples of your writing, published or unpublished, as links at the bottom of your email or as an attachment. We pay $90 for interviews.

Check out our past issues and browse our reviews, interviews, and folios to get a sense of the journal before sharing your work with us. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and Instagram, and if you have any questions about publication on our digital platform, email us at perigee@apogeejournal.org. We look forward to reading your work!