The Fiddlehead's regular submission period via Submittable is currently open! Our reading periods are January 1 - March 31 and September 15 - November 30.
Due to overwhelming submission volume we will not be accepting poetry submissions from international authors during the January 15 - March 31 period. We will politely decline all international submissions received during this reading period.
We accept poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. Due to overwhelming submission volume, once your work has been submitted, we cannot process substitutions or modifications. Mailed submissions in any category are accepted and considered throughout the year.
We have three writing contests:
- Creative Nonfiction: opens March 1. 2024 Deadline June 3. Winning piece to be published in fall issue.
- Short Fiction: opens June 1. 2024 Deadline September 2. Winning story to be published in winter issue.
- Poetry: opens September 1. 2024 Deadline December 2. Winning poem to be published in spring issue.
*Deadlines are midnight Pacific Time. Mailed submissions must be postmarked.
* * *
The Fiddlehead is open to good writing in English or translations into English from all over the world and in a variety of styles, including experimental genres. Our editors are always happy to see new unsolicited works in fiction, including excerpts from novels, creative nonfiction, and poetry. We also publish reviews, and occasionally other selected creative work such as excerpts from plays. Work is read on an ongoing basis; the acceptance rate is around 1-2% (we are, however, famous for our rejection notes!). Apart from our annual contest, we have no deadlines for submissions.
We particularly welcome submissions from Indigenous writers, writers of colour, writers with disabilities, 2SLGBTQIA+ writers, and writers from other intersectional and under-represented communities. If you are comfortable identifying yourself as one or more of the above, please feel free to mention this in your cover letter.
The Fiddlehead does not publish work that is ableist, misogynistic, queer-phobic, or racist. Strong writing treats identity categories with nuance.
If you are serious about submitting to The Fiddlehead, you should read an issue or two to get a sense of the journal. Consider subscribingor contact us to order sample back issues ($12 or $16 for Summer Issues, plus postage).
General Guidelines for Unsolicited Submissions
• As of 2024, pay is $65 CAD per published page, plus two complimentary copies of the issue with your work. Contributors may purchase additional copies of an issue at a discount.
• The Fiddlehead buys first serials rights; copyright is retained by the author at all times, and authors are free to resell the work, though we do ask for a 90-day exclusive from our first publication of the work.
• Writers may only submit once per calendar year per genre. (This does not include our contests).
• Please wait for an editorial response before submitting again. We try our best to respond in a timely matter, but due to volume of submissions, a response may take 6 months or more. Please wait 6 months before querying.
• We only consider unpublished work. Please do not submit work that has been previously published or accepted for publication, including in anthologies, chapbooks, blogs, Facebook pages, or online journals.
• For online submissions, please submit one file containing your creative work (.doc, .docx, or .pdf). Log back in any time to check the status of your submission.
• For hard copy, mailed submissions, all submissions should be typed/word-processed, spell-checked, and paginated. Please use white paper, print on one side only, and put your name on every page of your submission.
• In Submittable, please copy and paste your cover letter and biographical statement in the appropriate fields.
• Tell us in your cover letter whether your submission is exclusive to The Fiddlehead or whether you have submitted it to other magazines simultaneously. If another magazine accepts your work for publication that you have also submitted to us, then please advise us immediately.
$2000 CA for Best Poem!
Good luck to all entrants. This year's contest deadline is Monday, December 2, 2023 (postmarked for mailed entries and 11:59 pm Atlantic Standard Time for Submittable entries). Our judges this year are Meghan Kemp-Gee, D.M. Bradford, and Colleen Coco Collins.
Meghan Kemp-Gee
Meghan Kemp-Gee is the author ofThe Animal in the Room (Coach House Books, 2023),Nebulas (Coach House Books, forthcoming 2025), and three poetry chapbooks (What I Meant to Ask,Things to Buy in New Brunswick, andMore). She also co-created the graphic novelOne More Year. She is a PhD candidate at the University of New Brunswick and currently resides in North Vancouver.
D.M. Bradford
Darby Minott Bradford is a poet and translator based in Tio'tia:ke (Montreal). They are the author of Dream of No One but Myself (Brick Books, 2021), which won the A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry and was a finalist for the Griffin Poetry Prize and Governor General’s Literary Awards. House Within a House by Nicholas Dawson (Brick Books, 2023), Bradford's first translation, won the VMI Betsy Warland Between Genres Award, the John Glassco Translation Prize, and was a GG finalist. Bottom Rail on Top is their second book.
Colleen Coco Collins
Colleen Coco Collins [she/they] is an interdisciplinary artist of Irish, French, and Odawa descent, working in songwriting, performance, poetry and visual arts. Her writing, music, and art practice centers on temporality, presumptions of sentience, subversion, rhythm, gesture, geographies, biophonies, frequencies the ouroboric, the peripatetic, love and the polyglottic. She lives littorally in rural Port Greville, Mikma'ki/Nova Scotia amidst crows, coyotes, grackles, bees, humpback, lichen and fox.
Colleen Coco Collins [elle/ils] est une artiste interdisciplinaire d'origine irlandaise, française et odawa, qui travaille sur l'écriture de chansons, la performance, la poésie et les arts visuels. Son écriture, sa musique et sa pratique artistique sont centrées sur la temporalité les présomptions de sensibilité, la subversion, le rythme, le geste, les géographies, les biophonies, les fréquences, l'ouroborique, le péripatéticien, l'amour et le polyglottique. Elle vit dans la région rurale de Port Greville, Mi'kma'ki/Nouvelle-Écosse, au milieu des corbeaux, des coyotes, des quiscales, des abeilles, des bossus, des lichens et des renards.
Contest General Rules and Information:
- Entries must be original and unpublished. No simultaneous submissions and no previously published (or accepted for publication) submissions. This means that an entry must not be under consideration elsewhere for publication, nor accepted elsewhere for publication, nor entered in any other contest. Work that has appeared on the internet (e.g., online magazines, blogs, or social media sites) is considered published for the purposes of this contest and is ineligible.
- An entry must be the original work of the person who is submitting it and the name and contact information provided must be the author’s. Contest entries should be submitted under the author’s real name. If you use a pseudonym for your published works, you will have a chance to inform the editor of this should your work be selected by the judges
- All entries must be submitted by mail or via Submittable. This year's contest deadline is Monday, December 2, 2024 (postmarked for mailed entries and before 11:59 pm Atlantic Standard Time for Submittable entries). No faxed or emailed submissions are allowed.
- The Fiddlehead will not read work that is ableist, misogynistic, queer-phobic or racist.
- No revisions or changes may be made to an entry once you have submitted it. So please carefully check your entry before you enter it into the contest.
- Judging for the contest is anonymous. Do not put your name or contact information or other identifying information (e.g., publishing pseudonyms) anywhere on your actual entry. For mailed entries place your name and contact information on an accompanying cover page along with information about the submission requested below. For Submittable entries, there will be a place on the Submittable form for your name and contact information.
- One poetry entry is up to 3 poems; no more than 100 lines per poem. If a poem is longer than one page, please make sure that each page is numbered and has the poem’s title in the header. Each poem should start on a new page. Poems may be single spaced. For mailed entries the title and the number of lines for each poem should be noted on the cover page. For Submittable entries, the title and the number of lines for each poem should be noted in the Submittable form.
- The entry fee for your first entry depends on where you are living. If your address is in Canada, then the fee for first entry is $35 CAD. Additional entries after that first contest entry are $10 CAD. If you do not live in Canada, then the fee accounts for the exchange rate and is $50 CAD (approximately $40 USD) for the first entry and $10 CAD for additional entries.
- You must submit a first entry (and pay the first entry fee) before submitting an additional entry. If you submit an additional entry without first submitting that first entry, your entry may be disqualified, and the entry fee will not be returned.
- You will receive a one-year subscription to The Fiddlehead with your first entry. New subscriptions will start with the next issue published after the contest closes. Already a subscriber? — you'll receive a one-year extension to your current subscription. Additional entries do not receive an additional subscription or subscription extension.
- The Fiddlehead occasionally swaps its subscription list with other literary organizations. If you don't wish to be included in such exchanges, please state this on your entry's cover page.
- The contest winner will be contacted directly (by either email or telephone) 2-3 months after the contest deadline. Other entrants will not be individually contacted about the results. Authors’ names and the titles of the works that make a shortlist of 10-15 will appear on The Fiddlehead website. The winner will be announced on the website and on The Fiddlehead social media spaces at a later date.
- The winning entry will be published in issue #303 of The Fiddlehead and on our website. There is a publication payment in addition to the contest prize. The current publication payment rate is $65/page.
- The winner will be interviewed. The interview will be published on The Fiddlehead website when the issue featuring the winning piece is published.
- An entry will be disqualified (no matter at what stage in the contest process it is at), if it is discovered that an entry has violated the contest rule on simultaneous submissions, prior publication, or original authorship. The entry fee will not be reimbursed; however, the entrant will still receive the one-year subscription if the entry was an initial entry.
- An entry may be disqualified (no matter at what stage in the contest process it is at), if it is discovered that the author entered that entry as an additional entry and never submitted and paid for a first entry. The entry fee will be not be reimbursed; and if a subscription was started in error, it will immediately be cancelled.
- You can only upload ONE file when entering via Submittable, (pdf, doc or .docx preferred; rtfs acceptable). Do not include a cover letter or bio as part of that file. Cover letters and bios will be deleted from any entry file.
- Remember only use the additional entry category IF you have already submitted and paid for a first contest entry.
For mailed entries:
Please send mailed submission to:
The Fiddlehead
Campus House
11 Garland Ct
University of New Brunswick
PO Box 4400
Fredericton NB
E3B 5A3
Canada
Please make cheque payable to The Fiddlehead.
A poetry submission should be single-spaced. Please submit no more than 6 poems per submission and no more than 12 pages total. No more than one poem on a page, and all poems should be included in one file. This form will be open January 1 - March 31, and again from September 15 - November 30. Mailed submissions are accepted year-round. We at The Fiddlehead love hearing that you appreciate the comments we offer, but unfortunately, given the volume of submissions we get, we can’t respond to further emails or inquiries. And please remember that you can only submit once a year.
***Please note, due to overwhelming submission volume we will not be accepting submissions from international authors during the January 1 - March 31 period. We will politely decline all international submissions received during this reading period. Please think of The Fiddlehead during our next submission period in the fall.***
Please submit one piece of short fiction only and wait for a response before you submit again. Your story should be double-spaced and max. 6000 words. Please specify at the top of the first page the number of words in the story. This form will be open January 1 - March 31, and again from September 15 - November 30. Mailed submissions are accepted year-round. We at The Fiddlehead love hearing that you appreciate the comments we offer, but unfortunately, given the volume of submissions we get, we can’t respond to further emails or inquiries. And please remember that you can only submit once a year!
Creative nonfiction submissions should be double-spaced and maximum 6,000 words. Accompanying images may be considered. This form will be open January 1 - March 31, and again from September 15 - November 30. Mailed submissions are accepted year-round. We at The Fiddlehead love hearing that you appreciate the comments we offer, but unfortunately, given the volume of submissions we get, we can’t respond to further emails or inquiries. And please remember that you can only submit once a year!
For Canadian addresses, the price for this single issue is $17 CAD
Please email fiddlehd@unb.ca if you would like to order an earlier back issue or if you would like to bundle several back issues together.
Prices include $5.00 shipping and handling.
For Canadian addresses, the price for this single issue is $17 CAD
Please email fiddlehd@unb.ca if you would like to order an earlier back issue or if you would like to bundle several back issues together.
Prices include $5.00 shipping and handling.
For Canadian addresses, the price for this single issue is $23 CAD
Please email fiddlehd@unb.ca if you would like to order an earlier back issue or if you would like to bundle several back issues together.
Prices include $5.00 shipping and handling.
For Canadian addresses, the price for this single issue is $23 CAD for American addresses and $28 CAD for all other International addresses
Please email fiddlehd@unb.ca if you would like to order an earlier back issue or if you would like to bundle several back issues together.
Prices include $5.00 shipping and handling for American addresses and $10.00 for International addresses.
For Canadian addresses, the price for this single issue is $17 CAD
Please email fiddlehd@unb.ca if you would like to order an earlier back issue or if you would like to bundle several back issues together.
Prices include $5.00 shipping and handling.
For US addresses, the price is $17 USD, and outside of North America, the price is $22 USD.
Please email fiddlehd@unb.ca if you would like to order an earlier back issue or if you would like to bundle several back issues together.
Prices include $5.00 shipping and handling.
Your subscription will be mailed to the address on your Submittable account. Please email us at fiddlehd@unb.ca if there is a change of address.
Your subscription will be mailed to the address on your Submittable account. Please email us at fiddlehd@unb.ca if there is a change of address.
Your subscription will be mailed to the address on your Submittable account. Please email us at fiddlehd@unb.ca if there is a change of address.
Your subscription will be mailed to the address on your Submittable account. Please email us at fiddlehd@unb.ca if there is a change of address.
For Canadian addresses, the price for this single issue is $17 CAD
Please email fiddlehd@unb.ca if you would like to order an earlier back issue or if you would like to bundle several back issues together.
Prices include $5.00 shipping and handling.
For US addresses, the price is $17 USD, and outside of North America, the price is $22 USD.
Please email fiddlehd@unb.ca if you would like to order an earlier back issue or if you would like to bundle several back issues together.
Prices include $5.00 shipping and handling.
For Canadian addresses, the price for this single issue is $17 CAD
Please email fiddlehd@unb.ca if you would like to order an earlier back issue or if you would like to bundle several back issues together.
Prices include $5.00 shipping and handling.
For US addresses, the price is $17 USD, and outside of North America, the price is $22 USD.
Please email fiddlehd@unb.ca if you would like to order an earlier back issue or if you would like to bundle several back issues together.
Prices include $5.00 shipping and handling.
For Canadian addresses, the price for this single issue is $23 CAD
Please email fiddlehd@unb.ca if you would like to order an earlier back issue or if you would like to bundle several back issues together.
Prices include $5.00 shipping and handling.
For US addresses, the price is $23 USD, and outside of North America, the price is $28 USD.
Please email fiddlehd@unb.ca if you would like to order an earlier back issue or if you would like to bundle several back issues together.
Prices include $5.00 shipping and handling.