WELCOME TO THE BRIDGE SUBMISSIONS INFO PAGE

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS PAGE DOES NOT INCLUDE INFO ON SUBMITTING FILM & VIDEO. PLEASE VISIT OUR FILMFREEWAY PORTAL FOR SUBMISSION INFO ON THESE CATEGORIES

ABOUT THE TIP LINE & FREELANCING FOR BRIDGE

WHILE THE HARD BOUND PRINT BRIDGE JOURNAL serves as both a site of public scholarship and opinion about and place for artistic experimentation, as well as an archive of the work of the artistic collective, Bridge Magazine serves as a more topical site for analysis of its editorial subjects, art criticism & cultural reporting produced by the journal and written by a paid freelance staff of writers. Usually updated Mondays.

We invite readers to call into the Bridge TIP LINE at 224-307-5479 to share your voice with info on upcoming must-see art that’s not commercially announced or advertised, or you can email the Editors. Interested in writing for us? Please fill out our freelancer intake form, and we’ll be in touch.

ABOUT SUBMISSIONS TO EVERYTHING ELSE

We only accept submissions to the Bridge Journal through our Submittable submissions portal. We do NOT accept email submissions and materials sent via email will be immediately discarded unread.

Thank you for your interest in Bridge, Chicago's independent, intersectional not for profit organization for art and public scholarship. We welcome submissions in poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction, visual art, cultural criticism, design, and hybrid work from established as well as emerging writers and artists. We also have editorial departments for music, dance, architecture (unless design) and philosophy, couture and others that we do not accept submissions for here -- please pitch ideas for these departments to us directly at bridge.editors1@gmail.com.

We are especially interested in work that embraces the world and continues, however subtly, the ongoing global conversation about culture and society that Bridge has championed from its beginning in 1999. We also accept reviews and interviews, which we publish throughout the year at our online magazine, bridge-chicago.org.

Back issues are available in our member's area archives. A free membership is required for access.

How to Submit: We accept all submissions through Submittable, an online submissions system. There is no charge to create a Submittable account, but please note that we do charge a small reading fee to help cover the costs of the software and some operating expenses. We do not accept mailed or emailed submissions. As a periodical, we publish when we have sufficient material to justify it, and accept submissions year-round.

The deadline for submissions to be considered for the next volume of the Bridge Journal (V27 N1) is 11:59pm on November 30, 2026. This is for our regular "annual" journal, organized by members of the Bridge artistic collective, who also serve as section editors. This is also the deadline for open submission categories that may be published prior to this deadline, such as in our weekly seasonal magazine, the member's area of our website, or through our Bridge Books division.

CURRENTLY ACTIVE CATEGORIES

- For Poetry submissions to the Bridge Journal:

Please include in your cover letter the title, year, author and any other information, including a short bio on the poet or author. Submissions are read by their respective Bridge section editors and collective members and, in the case of editors at-large, by the Editor-in-Chief. We do also accept poetry in translation, so long as copyright from the original poet, their estate, or current rights holder has been obtained, and written proof can be provided. If accepted, payment is one contributor’s copy of the journal.

Please refer to the Poetry sectionfor details on submission requirements for each individual category.

- For Literary Fiction submissions:

How to Submit: We accept all submissions through Submittable, an online submissions system. There is no charge to create a Submittable account, but please note that we do charge a small reading fee to help cover the costs of the software and some operating expenses. We do not accept mailed or emailed submissions. As a periodical, we publish when we have sufficient material to justify it, and accept submissions year-round. If accepted, payment is one contributor’s copy of the journal.

The deadline for submissions to be considered for the next volume of Bridge (V26 N1) is 11:59pm on November 30, 2025. This is for our regular "annual" journal, organized by members of the Bridge artistic collective, who also serve as section editors.

For Fiction, please include in your cover letter the title, year, author and any other information, and a mailing address for your contributor copy if accepted. We do also accept literature in translation, so long as copyright from the original author or poet, their estate, or current rights holder has been obtained, and written proof can be provided. For literary fiction submissions, we generally look for work in the 2,000 to 5,000 word range, though we’re open to considering slightly longer pieces if the length serves the story.

Please also include a mailing address and 250-word or less bio with your submission.

-For Bridge Books 2027 submissions: our book publishing division encompasses three distinct presses: Bridge Books, its specialty imprint StepSister Press, and Hurm Editions, a transgressive pulp fiction press. For submissions to these presses:

Please include in your cover letter which press you are submitting for, the title of your submission, year and any other information, including a short bio. Other specific criteria as listed within the submission form are also requested. Categories within this submission include:

BRIDGE BOOKS

- Artist's Monographs

- Book-Length Monographs of Literary or Poetry Criticism / History / Theory

- Book-Length Poetry Collections

- Book-Length Literary Fiction

- Arts Practice & Theory for the following focus areas:

- Essays for an anthology exploring the history & present of cinepoetry

- Essays / short book-length titles on dance and performance art

STEPSISTER PRESS

- Book-Length Monographs on Museum Studies & Art Educational Topics

- Book-Length Young Adult Fiction

HURM EDITIONS

- Graphic Novels

- Transgressive literary and pulp / genre fiction

An independent imprint founded in 2023 as a press to release artist’s editions from Michael Workman Studio, including his graphic novel Biography of a Villain, due out in 2026, Hurm Editions also seeks to fill a void in the current international publishing landscape. In a culture increasingly sanitized by the infringements on art of corporate norms as community standards, that helps fosters a culture of mass shootings by refusing to depict the aftermaths of our national obsession with gun violence, and that claims to celebrate sexual identity while outlawing any depictions whatsoever of sex or eroticism, Hurm Editions seeks to support work that challenges convention, pushes boundaries, and that revels in the grotesque, incoherent, offensive and obscene.

While many independent presses and publishers of transgressive literature have faded from view in recent years, or otherwise gone out of business, Hurm Editions recognizes that much original, intelligent, genre-busting and groundbreaking new work goes unpublished and unnoticed. We will publish original titles in literary fiction and graphic novels, poetry, occult and witchcraft, nonfiction, erotica, memoir, and the unclassifiable. As well, we seek essays, scholarship and writing that expands and works to preserve underrepresented histories and voices, including crip lit, LGBTQIA, Black arts, writing by sex workers, and the incarcerated, and that explore taboos in drug use and addiction, sex and pornography, violence (societal and otherwise), and other controversial subject matter that would otherwise be deemed illicit and unsupportable, often because of its implicit critique of societal norms. We seek to give voice to the poor, the disenfranchised, the disabled, outcast and delinquent, and some of our favorite writers (whose work would likely otherwise slip through the cracks today) include such critical voices as: Georges Bataille, John Rechy, Hubert Selby, Virginia Woolf, James Baldwin, Kathy Acker, Anaïs Nin, Louis-Ferdinand Celine, Maquis de Sade, Italo Calvino, Jorge Luis Borges, Dennis Cooper, Jean Genet, J.G. Ballard, and Fyodor Doestoevsky.

Hurm Editions is currently building its mailing list, which you can join by singing up here. All new publication announcements and calls for submissions will be announced through this mailing list. Currently, we do not accept open submissions but feel free to query your work by emailing us here

Please refer to the Bridge Books page for details on submission requirements for each individual category.

-For submissions to Bridge Magazine - Online @ bridge-chicago.org & Print Magazine:

Bridge magazine is excited to announce an open call for submissions for both our online and print editions. The print edition, launching in late fall 2025, will complement the spring 2026 online edition and, after distribution, will be released in stages as flip books in the members' area of the Bridge website. The print version will be distributed to select cultural destinations in New York, through subscriptions, and to curated outlets in Chicago and throughout the Midwest. We are particularly interested in book reviews, interviews, timely reviews of exhibitions, and coverage of new art and cultural releases as well as original visual art and visual poetic "drop-ins" that we would like top present throughout each issue.

Contributors may query submissions to this call only for review and interview ideas by emailing bridge.editors1@gmail.com. Additionally, we are seeking select contributions for our special comics end section of the print edition, as well as large-scale page prints that can serve as story illustrations or dynamic design elements suited to our distinctive 10.5” wide by 13.5” tall print magazine format.

Our print magazine is distributed twice annually through an expanding national and regional network, reaching more than 100 locations across Chicago and the Midwest, with extended distribution to over 22 states in the U.S. and select international points. Copies are placed in bookstores, museum shops, galleries, cultural centers, and independent arts venues, alongside direct subscription distribution to artists, writers, and institutions. This growing footprint supports Bridge’s role as a visible platform for interdisciplinary work emerging from the Midwest while maintaining national relevance.

We look forward to showcasing the voices and perspectives that shape contemporary culture through this expanding print platform, continuing Bridge’s commitment to serving as the independent voice of Midwest art and culture.

For Visual Art, Comics & Visual Poetry submissions, please include with your cover letter an itemized list of submissions and an explanation of the included content. ALL submissions must be print quality images, minimum 300 dpi, minimum 4x5", and must include all relevant caption information, including: artist name, year, materials, and all relevant credits for those pictured, as well as any photographer credit. Please also indicate if the work has been shown in public previously.

For Design submissions, please include in your cover letter the title and your design submission, OR a summary of the idea (maximum 300 words), and any other relevant information, including a short bio. Please note that for any essays or other writing requiring permissions to produce or reproduce any images or supporting materials are entirely the responsibility of the author. Confirmation of permissions must also be provided prior to publication.

Please also include a mailing address and 250-word or less bio with your submission. Freelancers to the magazines are paid $35 per contribution.