email submissions to:
submissions.otherside@gmail.com

We admire, respect, and are friends with writers and poets from all walks of life. However, the other side of hope exists to serve, bring together, and celebrate the refugee and immigrant communities worldwide. To help promote and showcase writing from these communities, fiction and poetry are open to refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants only. We consider non-fiction submissions by everyone on the theme of migration. We no longer publish book reviews or author interviews. Please see categories below. 

From 2024 all issues will be published both in print and online.
​
Payment: We offer payment to all accepted contributors. Each year we have to apply for funding. If our funding bid is unsuccessful, we offer £50 per published author; if successful, we offer £200. Contributors will also receive one complimentary copy of the issue in which their work appears.

Payment method: Please note that we can only pay via PayPal (worldwide) or into UK bank accounts. Due to high international transaction fees, we cannot transfer fees into non-UK bank accounts.  

Please submit completed, previously unpublished work only. 

Artificial Intelligence (AI): We do not consider AI-generated works.

Response time: It can take us up to 7 months to get back to you. Apologies for slow responses.

Pitches: No, sorry. Please send us complete work only.

Multiple submissions (i.e. poetry and prose): Yes, but it will help us if you send us everything in one email. After sending us your work, please wait for a response before submitting again.

Groupwork poems: We consider poems from refugee/asylum seeker writing groups.

Please send us your work in Word only. No online or PDF files, please.

We welcome works in English, from anywhere in the world, but please see individual categories below for eligibility.

Simultaneous submissions: Yes, just let us know if your work was accepted elsewhere. We will be happy for you.

Cover letter: Include your name, short bio, country of origin and (if you have moved) the country you currently live in. Indicate whether your submission has been simultaneously submitted elsewhere. 

Translations: No, sorry.
​​​
Copyright: After we publish your work on the other side of hope, all rights revert to our authors. Published authors do not need our permission to reprint, though we appreciate an acknowledgement of first publication. 
​
Submission fee: We do not and will never charge submission fees.​ 

Submissions guidelines

Fiction

Open to refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants only.

There is no theme; you don’t have to send us work that relates to the refugee or immigrant experience. Up to two short stories or stand-alone chapters from unpublished novels (1,000 to 8,000 words) are welcome. Or you can send us up to four pieces of flash fiction.
Email us your work at submissions.otherside@gmail.com
​When you send us fiction, please tell us whether you are (or had been) a refugee, asylum seeker, or whether you are an immigrant (a writer living in a country other than that of your birth). We will not question you on this.

Poetry

Open to refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants only.

There is no theme; you don’t have to send us work that relates to the refugee or immigrant experience. Please send up to four poems in a single Word file. 
Email us your work at submissions.otherside@gmail.com 
When you send us poetry, please tell us whether you are (or had been) a refugee, asylum seeker, or whether you are an immigrant (a writer living in a country other than that of your birth). We will not question you on this.  ​

Non-fiction

Open to everyone. Theme: Migration.

We accept narrative non-fiction, short essays, creative ethnography, memoir, criticism, reportage, and travelogue. The suggested word limit is between 1,000 to 5,000 words. Please send us up to two pieces in a single file. Academic submissions are highly discouraged. 
Email us your work at submissions.otherside@gmail.com 

Cover artwork

Open to refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants only.

We accept illustrations, collages, drawings, photography, comics and anything else that we can use in our covers. Please send us a minimum of five artworks or links to your work. If your artwork is accepted, we will ask you to write a very short piece on your works, and additional black & white artworks that we will use as dividers in our print issue. 
​Email us your work at submissions.otherside@gmail.com
When you send us your work, please tell us whether you are (or had been) a refugee, asylum seeker, or whether you are an immigrant (an artist living in a country other than that of your birth). We will not question you on this.  ​ 

Join our mailing list 

---

supported by

awarded