SUBMISSIONS GUIDELINES

We are open for submissions for two reading periods a year: 

Feb. 15 to May 15 

Sept. 15 to Nov. 15

WHO WE ARE

Pangyrus is a literary magazine that is dedicated to art, ideas, and making culture thrive. Our name is a portmanteau of pangea (the world continent) and gyrus (the folds on the cerebral cortex of the brain). Pangyrus is about connection. We bring readers to make unexpected connections across a wide range of ideas, genres, and geographies. The name’s echo of “papyrus” is deliberate: we engage with political and social issues, but edit for writing that will stand the test of time. 

Our hybrid publishing model — two to three posts per week online and two print editions a year — allows us the flexibility to publish topical opinion pieces and reviews alongside poetry, comics, memoir and fiction.

We're looking for work with a strong point of view — stories with remarkable narrators, poems that challenge us, essays that argue for positions we haven't considered, and comics, painting, drawings, and mixed media that complicate the act of viewing.

CATEGORIES

For the categories, please see below. If there is a link, then that category is open for submissions.

• Fiction
• Poetry
• Nonfiction — Including our special categories of Zest! (food writing), Schooled (education), In Sickness and In Health (health), Field Notes (science), Generations (family), and Sounding Board (politics). 
• Comics/Art
• Special Call for Zest! Food Writing Collection (to publish in early 2026)
• By Prior Arrangement (only open to use if you have permission from an editor; tell us who has referred you, please)

WHERE WE PUBLISH

We are proud to feature all accepted work on our website, pangyrus.com. In addition, we select some work to feature in our annual print anthology. Our 13th print issue (2026) has as its theme THE I OF THE BEHOLDER. We welcome creative art that gets at challenges of seeing and perspective, the tensions that exist among viewpoints, and the inherent unreliability of the subjective gaze. 

WHAT TO EXPECT

We accept simultaneous submissions, asking that you notify us immediately if a work is accepted elsewhere. 

We pay all our authors, with a current rate of $30 per accepted piece. (We only use PayPal for payments.) All accepted work will appear online. Selected work will also appear in our print editions. Upon acceptance of your work, we send a contract.

All submitted work must be wholly original and previously unpublished. We do not accept work created with AI software. Please DO NOT send revisions of your work after you've submitted it.

All messages from Pangyrus about your submissions will come to you via Submittable. Please make sure they aren't going into your spam folder. Here's what Submittable suggests:

https://submittable.help/en/articles/3221476-how-can-i-safelist-notification-emails-from-submittable

Thank you for submitting!