We accept unpublished Short Fiction, Poetry and Essays only. (Please for Book Reviews see House Style and Calendar: We have a regimented approach and follow specific guidelines.)

It is not what, but how said. If it is conventional or academic it may not be it. If it is unusual and confounds, sure, it'll take us there. We scour for surprises and the highly imaginative in style and technique. It is our opinion that good fiction flows from a free imagination, uninhibited by the rules of 'academic' narrative conventions-- others may have their opinion. Be free, be experimental.

We don't recommend books on 'how-to-write-short-stories' because they usually do not have what we are looking for. We'd rather suggest you familiarize yourself with our fiction ...and, yes, also this: rejection--we are very strict in assessing submissions. We particularly ask that your submissions are of a high standard and of good taste.

We have a distaste for writings that are sexually graphic. We think that the beautiful and the enduring are works of fiction with creative colourings. Also, we abhor racist and anti-Semitic writings. Our position is that everyone, irrespective of race and colour, is equal before God.

All submissions must be by email, as an attachment (Microsoft Word only). We do not accept submissions by post. Please send accordingly:

Short stories:  fiction@dublinquarterly.com
Poems:  poetry@dublinquarterly.com
Essays: features@dublinquarterly.com

We do not accept simultaneous submissions. All submissions must be in English (we are strongly biased towards the standard form of British spellings), and accompanied by a brief biography written in the third person. We accept only one submission at a time: one short fiction (or essay) of not less than 3,000 words; or one Book Review of not more than 1,000 words; or five poems of any length.

Usually, it takes 3 months for us to let you know if your submission has got what we are looking for (poetry submission will take a longer time due to backlog). Sorry, we do not return submissions--we delete them! So we advise you to save a copy of whatever you are submitting to us.

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