Submission Guidelines

We accept poetry, essays, creative non-fiction, short fiction, photography and visual art. Every submission must relate to ecology, botany, the environment, conservation and wilderness areas — think about rivers and bodies of water, insects, wildlife, fungi, plants, forests, mountains… we want to hear your stories.

Submissions must be sent to contact@rivermargin.com following the guidelines below. Please also read our rules of submission.

Submissions close 1st November 2026.

  • Poetry

    Submit up to seven poems in a single PDF or DOC file, each with a title and each on a separate page. Please put ‘Poetry Submission’ as the email subject.

  • Creative Non-Fiction

    Submit one piece of creative non-fiction or a non-fiction essay of up to 10,000 words in a single PDF or DOC file. Include the title and your name. Please put ‘Non-Fiction Submission’ as the email subject.

  • Short Fiction

    Submit one piece of short fiction of up to 10,000 words in a single PDF or DOC file. Include the title and your name. Please put ‘Short Fiction Submission’ as the email subject.

  • Photography and Visual Art

    Submit up to seven files as an attachment or via a file sharing service (eg. Google Drive) sent to our email. Digital and film photography accepted. For visual art, we accept everything except digital art and AI-generated art. Please put either ‘Photography Submission’ or ‘Art Submission’ as the email subject depending on what you are sending. Please do not use WeTransfer.

Rules of submission

We receive hundreds of submissions, and consequently we must ask that — out of respect for the amount of work involved in giving each submission the time and attention it deserves — you follow the simple guidelines outlined above. When work does not follow these guidelines, it cannot be considered and will not be responded to, so please read the guidelines and submit your work accordingly.

  1. Please do not send us emails asking for a receipt of your submission, and please do not send follow-up emails asking if we received it. This journal is run by one person. Submissions sent after the listed closing date will not be considered. While we view every submission, due to the extremely large volume we receive, we can now only respond to successful submissions: if you have been accepted, you will hear from us within two months of making a submission.

  2. Please stick to the number of submissions outlined in our guidelines — for example, do not send us more than seven images for photography or art submissions, as these will not be reviewed.

  3. Please do not use WeTransfer. These links generally expire before we can access them. You can send your submission as an email attachment, or via Google Drive. If you send us something via WeTransfer, we cannot consider it.

  4. Please respect our theme and the concept behind our journal. For example, please do not send us your dark fantasy short fiction — that would be better suited to a different publication. We are only looking for work that directly relates to the natural world.

  5. Submissions must be in English, but are welcomed from anywhere in the world.

  6. If possible, please include a short third-person bio in the body of your email, as well as a link to your website or social media. This is not mandatory, but it is helpful.

  7. You are allowed to submit to multiple categories, but please follow the guidelines for each.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Yes, we accept submissions from around the world.

  • Email your submission to contact@rivermargin.com

  • While we view every submission, due to the extremely large volume we receive, we can now only respond to successful submissions: if you have been accepted, you will hear from us within two months of making a submission.

  • You can reach us at contact@rivermargin.com, or send us a message via our Instagram.

  • At this time, we are not in a position to pay contributors. We do not charge a fee and we aim to platform, celebrate and provide a wide audience for contributors. You retain all rights to your work.

  • Submissions close for our first issue on 1st November 2026.