Thank you for your interest in Callaloo and for the opportunity to review your work. Callaloo is a journal devoted to creative work by and critical studies of the work of African Americans and peoples of African descent throughout the African Diaspora. We accept original submissions of scholarly articles, book reviews, interviews, nonfiction essays, short fiction, poetry, and visual art. Studies of life and culture in the Black world are also published regularly in Callaloo, as is wide-ranging cultural criticism. Callaloo is a quarterly journal. We accept submissions through Submittable during our open reading period.

General Submissions Reading Period:

General submissions are now open.

General submissions are open from September 1, 2025 - May 1, 2026.

Submit your work on Submittable.



General Submissions

Callaloo 44.4: Southern Voices 

Callaloo seeks submissions for a special issue to commemorate the journal’s 50th anniversary. In 1976, Callaloo was founded to create a space for writers from the US South whose voices had been overlooked or excluded from mainstream American literature. The issue, guest edited by our co-editor for Poetry Tyree Daye, will feature pieces by Southern writers or those living in, working in, or observing the South from another regional vantage point. We seek poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, scholarly articles, book reviews, interviews, and artwork for a survey of the contemporary arts and letters landscape in the South. 

The deadline to submit your work is February 14, 2026. 

Submit to Southern Voices

Submission Requirements


All manuscripts must be double-spaced (except poetry) and submitted only as a Word document (.doc or .docx). Identifying information, including names of authors, addresses, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses, should not be included in the manuscript. 


Poetry submissions are limited to no more than six poems at a time (all in a single document) with a maximum of twelve poems by an author per calendar year. Additional poems (unless requested by an editor) will automatically be declined. 


Fiction and creative nonfiction manuscripts should not exceed 6,000 words. Prose submissions are limited to one manuscript per submission with a maximum of three submissions by an author each calendar year. Additional prose submissions (unless requested by an editor) will automatically be declined.


Scholarly articles should not exceed 6,000 words (excluding the required title page, abstract, and references.) CLICK HERE FOR SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS FOR SUBMITTING SCHOLARLY WORK.


Callaloo's Style Guidelines can be downloaded here.


IMPORTANT NOTE: All submissions made to the journal are considered final drafts. In order to honor our publisher's production schedule, manuscripts accepted for publication in Callaloo must be forwarded to our Production Editor immediately, allowing contributors no time to make revisions. Before submitting your work, please be sure that the manuscript being uploaded is the version you wish to ultimately see in print.


Throughout the calendar year, authors who have submitted manuscripts to Callaloo may track the status of their submissions at any time in our submission management system.


Authors will be contacted after the review process, which takes four to six months.


Submissions are accepted via Submittable