Full Bleed, an annual print journal devoted to the intersection of the visual and literary arts, seeks submissions for its seventh issue on the theme of home.

We publish portfolios of visual art, belle-lettres, art criticism, fiction, poetry, and graphic essays. We are always happy to feature innovative projects combining word, image, and design; collaborations between writers and artists; ekphrastic creations; and groundbreaking critical essays.

We are excited to announce that for Issue Seven, Full Bleed will partner with Pen Parentis, a literary nonprofit dedicated to supporting writers who are also parents. With the help of a Challenge America Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, Pen Parentis will sponsor the publication of the issue and compensate all writers and artists whose work is included in its pages (100 USD per prose piece or art portfolio; 50 USD per poem). According to the terms of the grant, contributors must identify as parents or grandparents, and one third of the publication is to address rural, non-urban themes or subject matter.

Please note that, though this call is open exclusively to parents, submissions need not address parenting or related topics. Also, we will accept and consider submissions from non-U.S. citizens.

For issue seven, we are especially, though not exclusively, interested in work that explores the meaning of home (or habitat), for human and non-human life, at a time of rapid ecological change, and in an era of acute, ongoing refugee and humanitarian crises. We'd also welcome work that considers the aesthetics of home, the discovery or creation of new homes, homesickness, working from home, chosen families, home-in-exile, housing insecurity, and any other angles on the theme that attract your curiosity.

The deadline for completed submissions is January 10. Final selections will be made by March 15 by the journal’s editor and board members in close consultation with participants in Publishing Culture, an upper-level, spring-semester course at the Maryland Institute College of Art, which publishes Full Bleed. Each contributor will receive an honorarium and a complimentary copy of the issue.

Before submitting, please review past issues of our journal and the guidelines below. (Print copies of our most recent issues may be ordered here.) As a general rule, we do not publish reprints of writing that has previously appeared in other journals, on social media, or in book form. (We have made a few exceptions to this policy in the case of excerpts from artist books with very small print runs and limited distribution.)

Essays and Criticism – In addition to feature-length essays of up to 7000 words, Full Bleed publishes shorter, recurring columns of approximately 1000 to 2000 words. These include "Close Looks", in which writers offer in-depth critiques of individual artworks; “Studio Visit”, in which the writer visits with and interviews a contemporary artist; and “Reading List”, in which artists discuss books and articles that have influenced their studio practice and thinking about a particular topic.

Graphic Essays and Texts – Full Bleed is always glad to publish innovative texts combining word, image, and design. We also have an active interest in comics and graphic essays.

Art portfolios – Send all images in a single file (PDFs preferred); no more than 10 images per submission. Please also provide a detailed artist’s statement about the work.

Poetry – Send no more than five poems in a single PDF or Word file. Each poem should appear on its own page.

Fiction – Full Bleed typically publishes one to two pieces of short fiction in each issue. Given the dearth of journals that consider long-form fiction, we will consider submissions up to 7000 words in length, though our tendency has been to select stories under 3000 words. We are not interested in genre fiction.

We expect to have responded to all submissions by March 15, 2024, if not earlier. If you have not heard from us by that date, please feel free to send us a note. Simultaneous submissions are welcome, but do notify us immediately via email (fullbleedjournal@gmail.com) if your work is accepted elsewhere.

We are excited to review your work and thank you in advance for sharing it with Full Bleed.