Guidelines for Contributors

Geist is a mag­a­zine of ideas and cul­ture made in Canada with a strong lit­er­ary focus and a sense of humour. The Geist tone is intel­li­gent, plain-talking, inclu­sive and off­beat. Each issue rep­re­sents a con­ver­gence of fic­tion, non-fiction, poetry, pho­tog­ra­phy, art, reviews, little-known facts of inter­est, car­tog­ra­phy, and the leg­endary Geist cross­word puzzle.

Before sub­mit­ting work, please read an issue of the print mag­a­zine, or dig deep into the archives at geist.com. While you’re at it, why not read (or reread) George Orwell’s per­ti­nent essay “Politics and the English Language”? You may also want to check out the tips in our Writer’s Toolbox.

Non-fiction: We pub­lish short non-fiction, usu­ally per­sonal nar­ra­tive, in the Notes and Dispatches sec­tion. Longer non-fiction pieces are pub­lished as Features. We are espe­cially inter­ested in pho­tographs and sto­ries about fam­ily his­tory (see Julia L. Star’s “The Patio”) and in his­tor­i­cal nar­ra­tive (see Stephen Osborne’s “Signs and Portents”). Send a max­i­mum of one longer piece or two shorter pieces.

Fiction: We pub­lish short sto­ries in the Features sec­tion. Send one story at a time. We also hold con­tests, includ­ing the annual Geist Literal Literary Postcard Story Contest for short-short sto­ries. Winning entries and hon­ourable men­tions appear in the mag­a­zine and at geist.com.

Poetry: Send a max­i­mum of 5 poems.

Photography/Art: We look for art and pho­tog­ra­phy to accom­pany writ­ten work in the mag­a­zine, and we also pub­lish art and photo essays with text by the artist. The best way to sub­mit your work is by reg­u­lar post, but you can also send an email to artsubmissions@geist.com with a brief intro­duc­tion and low-res jpeg files or a web­site link. When sub­mit­ting art­work by mail, send dig­i­tal media or pho­to­copies only — no originals.

Reviews: Endnotes are writ­ten by Geist staff and cor­re­spon­dents. We do not pub­lish unso­licited reviews, but we will always read and con­sider crit­i­cal essays deal­ing with issues of the imag­i­na­tion as reflected, for instance, in the work of one more authors. (See Alberto Manguel’s “I Believe Because It’s Impossible” in Geist 71.) 

Findings: We reprint excerpts from pub­lished work and works-in-progress in the Findings sec­tion, along with doc­u­ments and inter­est­ing items found on the web, or any­where in the real world. We appre­ci­ate sug­ges­tions from writ­ers, artists and publishers.

Naturally, these cat­e­gories are flex­i­ble. We like work that crosses gen­res or that sur­prises us in other ways.

We do not accept e-mail sub­mis­sions, except for art and pho­tog­ra­phy. Please send man­u­scripts by mail to:

Editorial Board, Geist
#200 — 341 Water Street
Vancouver, B.C.
Canada V6B 1B8

Include a sase with Canadian postage or irc. Simultaneous sub­mis­sions are okay, but please note it in your cover let­ter and let us know if your sub­mis­sion is accepted else­where. We buy first North American ser­ial rights for most orig­i­nal work, and sec­ond or third ser­ial rights for pre­vi­ously pub­lished work (includ­ing work pub­lished on the internet).

Please wait at least two months before e-mailing to check on the sta­tus on your submission.