A Common Place

Submissions

General Guidelines

  • Send all submissions as a doc, docx, or pdf (jpeg if sending visual art) attachment to acommonplacelitmag@gmail.com
  • Ensure that your name does not appear anywhere on your submission
  • Please include the genre of your submission in your email’s subject heading (e.g., “Fiction Submission”)
  • In the body of your email, feel free to include a cover letter briefly introducing yourself and your writing experience
  • All work submitted to A Common Place must be previously unpublished
  • Simultaneous submissions are acceptable, but please let us know right away if your piece is accepted by another journal
  • Submissions for our Spring 2027 issue are currently open; please send your submission before 11:59 PM on November 30, 2026
  • A Common Place publishes work exclusively from Longwood undergraduate students
  • Please submit through your Longwood student email
  • Each accepted author/artist will receive a $50 honorarium

Fiction and Essays Guidelines

  • Please send fiction and essays of no more than 5,000 words  
  • We also welcome flash pieces (under 1,000 words)  
  • Novel excerpts are welcome as long as they stand alone 
  • Limit of three prose pieces per submission  
  • There are no topic or genre restrictions 
  • Please double space your work and use size 12 standard font (such as Times New Roman) 

Poetry Guidelines

  • Please submit poetry of any form, subject, or theme that moves you 
  • Submit up to five poems in one submission (maximum 20 pages)  
  • Please use size 12 standard font (such as Times New Roman) 

Drama Guidelines

  • Please send short plays of no more than 15 pages  
  • Plays should be typed in standard playwriting format  
  • Please use size 12 standard font (such as Times New Roman) 

Visual Art Guidelines

  • Please submit paintings, drawings, photographs, comics/graphic narratives, or other genres as a jpeg attachment 
  • The name of each file attachment should be the title of the piece 
  • Professional photos are not required for initial submissions
  • If your work is accepted, we will require a high resolution image for the final printing (300 dpi)
  • Feel free to include a brief (no more than 1 paragraph) artist statement describing your artistic ambitions, processes, materials, etc.
  • Limit of five art pieces per submission 

Inclusivity Statement

As our name suggests, A Common Place seeks to be a welcoming community for all people. We will not accept submissions that promote racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, xenophobia, or prejudice of any kind. These submissions will be rejected immediately. At the discretion of the editors, and at any point, an author may be banned from submitting future work, and any previously published works may be removed from the journal.

Photo credit: Kaitlyn Helsel