Submissions

The Great Margin is now closed for submissions.

We truly cannot believe the breadth and innovation of the work that has been submitted to The Great Margin. Although we only had a limited number of slots to fill, we could have published many, many more, such was the standard of the submissions. We’ve had the pleasure of publishing some people’s very first pieces, as well as submissions from award-winning novelists and poets.

Thank you to everyone who has submitted, shared the word, and generally supported this project. We will continue to publish pieces across September and October, culminating in an online showcasing event at the 2020 StoryTown Corsham festival on 16th-18th October. The StoryTown programme will be released in the coming weeks, including more information about the showcasing event.

This will be a fantastic session, featuring a selection of writers that have appeared on The Great Margin. Invitations to read will be going out by the end of September. We hope you can join us to celebrate these wonderful writers.

How to Submit

Please note that submissions closed on Monday 31st August and links below may not be functional past this date.

Please submit your stories via the following forms:

1. Fill in this form* to submit stories for Writers at Home and in Isolation; Stories, Books, and Words; Distraction Corner and Stories About Change.
2. Fill in this form to let us know if you would like to be interviewed for Writers and Readers in Conversation.

For further information about The Great Margin, head to our Feature Page. To read about what you stand to gain by entering, read the rewards for writers and writing groups PDF below.

*Please note that some email addresses may be incompatible with our submission form. If you find this is the case, please fill in this Word Document form and return it to us at writers@papernations.org

We are looking for prose pieces of up to 750 words. You may submit up to three pieces, as long as your combined word count does not exceed 750. Poetry should be up to 30 lines.

Your submission should be of a standard you are happy to see published, although it will be assessed on content and story rather than solely on technical proficiency. Writing may be subject to some minor edits and proofreading, but these will be agreed with you before publication.

We are happy to accept previously published pieces, provided you retain the copyright. However, please don’t submit a piece of work to us which is currently still under consideration elsewhere.

Multimedia submissions: We are keen to see hybrid and multimedia responses to our themes. You may submit your writing in the form of an image (if artwork), video, or audio file. For videos, please upload this to YouTube and provide us with the link. If you are not able to do so, we will need the file in a form compatible with uploading to YouTube and will need the full transcript to ensure accessibility. Depending on the file size or format, you may need to fill in the submission form and then also email us at writers@papernations.org with your multimedia submission.

Pieces should be accompanied by a short bio of 20-50 words in the third person and can also be accompanied by a photograph of yourself if you wish. Please include any weblinks or social media accounts in the word limit. If your piece is by multiple authors, please include a bio for each author.

We aim to respond to submissions within four weeks but this is liable to shift in response to the quantity of submissions and developments in the Covid-19 pandemic.

Who Will Read the Submissions?

The Great Margin has an editorial board. Each member will read the submissions which best reflect their area of expertise.

Experimental, multimedia, digital, hybrid, and audio content - Bambo Soyinka

Bambo Soyinka is an award-winning writer, director and curator, and is Executive Development Producer of Paper Nations. With more than a decade’s experience in multi-platform storytelling and production, she has initiated and directed projects across the UK and internationally. Bambo is a Professor of Story at Bath Spa University.

Non-fiction - Lily Dunn

Lily Dunn is an author, teacher and mentor. Her first novel, Shadowing the Sun is published by Portobello Books, and her creative nonfiction is published by Granta, Aeon, Litro and The Real Story. She is project manager and co-editor of A Wild and Precious Life, an anthology of recovery stories from addiction and beyond, which will be published by Unbound in 2021. She is an Associate Lecturer Bath Spa University.

Prose - Michael Loveday

Michael Loveday is a writer and writing facilitator. He currently lives in Bath, and works with writers one-to-one as a freelance editor / mentor and as a tutor of creative writing in Higher Education.

Michael was shortlisted for the 2019 Saboteur Best Novella Award for his hybrid novella-in-flash Three Men on the Edge (V. Press, 2018). He has been winner, runner-up, shortlisted and longlisted in several other major writing competitions.

General Editor, Writing by and for Young People, and Miscellany - Elen Caldecott

Elen Caldecott is a writer for children and young people. She has published with Bloomsbury, Hodder and OUP. Her next book, The Short Knife was written as part of her PhD-by-practice and will be published in July 2020 by Andersen Press. Elen is the Series Editor for Transnational Literature, and she teaches creative writing in schools, in community settings and at Cardiff and Bath Spa Universities.

Series Editor and Poetry - Joanna Nissel

Joanna Nissel is a Brighton-based poet and nonfiction writer. She was the runner up for the 2018 New Poets Prize and has been published widely, including Tears in the Fence, The Fenland Reed, Eyeflash, and Atrium. She is Social Media Editor at Tears in the Fence and Engagement Manager for creative writing incubator, Paper Nations.