Cagibi accepts and reads submissions year round for quarterly online issues. Each issue features original prose and poetry, most of which have been selected from unsolicited submissions. Cagibi considers original, unpublished poetry by poets in all stages of their writing careers. We are open year-round, with rolling deadlines to facilitate our editorial workflow.

We’re currently accepting poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and translation submissions on the theme of Entanglement for Issue 24. In quantum physics, entanglement is described as “a bizarre, counterintuitive phenomenon” in which “two subatomic particles can be intimately linked to each other even if separated by billions of light-years of space…a change induced in one will affect the other.” Entangled particles, on the quantum level, are not therefore separate but parts of a whole; to know one is to know the other. On a macro, human level, we can become similarly entangled, caught in complex, intense dynamics nearly impossible to escape. As a heightened form of attachment, romantic or otherwise, entanglement blurs the boundary between “where I end and you begin” (to borrow from Radiohead).

For Issue 24, we want you to play with and explore the multifaceted nature of entanglement on the macro, micro, and yes, quantum level. Show us your quagmires, confusions, and fated connections. Weave us tangled webs and puzzling paradoxes. Tie your characters into knots. We are here for it. 

GUIDELINES

• We welcome works in translation. Also, we welcome submissions from outside the United States.
• TO WITHDRAW, IN WHOLE OR IN PART: For help on how to withdraw a partial of your submission, or the whole submission, see our Submission Guidelines page.
• Simultaneous submissions are accepted as long as you notify us immediately should your piece be accepted elsewhere.
• Previously unpublished work only. Cagibi does not consider work that has previously appeared in print or online.

See below for additional Prose and Poetry guidelines.

PROSE GUIDELINES

• In fiction, the editors welcome short stories, flash fiction or short-shorts, and lengthier stories. There is no word count limit; use your best judgment. For flash fiction, up to 3 flash pieces under 1000 words each.
• In nonfiction, Cagibi is literary in focus, which includes personal narrative essays; but to be clear, we do not consider academic papers that are limited to a particular audience or that are footnoted/in-text referenced.

POETRY GUIDELINES

• You may submit up to 3 poems at once, depending on the length; use your best judgment.
• Place your poems in one document.
• If your poem is a book-length epic, then you should think about excerpting.