Spring 2025 Submissions: Open Until March 1!
It’s time again to submit your creative work to Unearthed, the literary and art journal produced by SUNY College of Environmental Sciences and Forestry. We invite writers, poets, artists, and creatives of all kinds to submit to our upcoming Spring 2025 issue.
As the long winter begins to loosen its grip on Upstate New York, the first signs of spring emerge—daffodils breaking through snow, the subtle lengthening of daylight, and the promise of warmer breezes. There is profound beauty in the difficult work of seeking light in the darkness, a journey both nonhumans and humans undertake. For our upcoming issue, “Searching for Light,” we invite submissions of creative work (poetry, prose, visual art, photography, graphic essays, sound art, etc.) that capture this act of seeking.
In “Searching for Light,” we are looking for small moments of illumination that break through the haze of the everyday; we hold space for the quiet flicker of strength that sustains us; we reach for the hope that guides us toward climate and environmental justice; and we honor new ways of connecting with human and more-than-human others. We also hope you will interpret the theme broadly, surprising us with your own vision of what “Searching for Light” might mean.
Submission Deadline: March 1st 2025.
Submission Guidelines
All submissions must include a cover letter and artist statement (guidelines below), and all text submissions must include all materials submitted as one document.
Cover Letter & Artist Statement: Please include a short cover letter (.doc, .docx, or .pdf.) that includes:
1. A short biographical statement of 100 words or less, written in third person;
2. A brief artist statement of 150 words or less in which you briefly describe any or all of the following: what inspired the piece, what you hope audiences take from it, how your work fits into (or chafes against) the theme. If your submission is chosen for publication, we will publish your bio and your artist statement alongside your piece.
Genre: Open to fiction, non-fiction, poetry, visual art, and any creative expression.
* Poetry: up to five poems (one poem on a page), submitted as .doc, .docx, or .pdf.
* Fiction: up to 4500 words (double-spaced), submitted as .doc, .docx, or .pdf. Include a title and page numbers.
* Creative and critical non-fiction: between 800-4500 words (double-spaced), submitted as .doc, .docx, or .pdf. Include a title and page numbers.
* Visual Art: up to ten items, formatted as .jpg, .tiff, .png, or .pdf with a minimum resolution of 300 dpi. Include titles for each piece.
* Video: up to two video products submitted in .wav, .wmv, .avi, or .mov. or a link to a previously unpublished vimeo, etc.
How to Submit
Email your submission to [email protected] with the subject line: “Spring 2025 Submission – [Your Name].” We allow simultaneous submissions but please notify us if your work is accepted elsewhere.
Featured image: “The Sun is Rising” by François Morin