The comics section at The Rumpus welcomes a wide range of artistic and narrative styles of varying lengths. Currently, we are only considering standalone, complete comics submissions. This means we are not currently accepting pitches for comics (although we hope to in the future!), scripts with incomplete artwork, or chapters/sections of larger works. While we’re interested in what short-form comics can accomplish artistically, we do not typically accept single-panel “New Yorker-style” cartoons or cartoon strips you’d find in the newspaper. The best way to get a sense of what we love is to look through what we've previously published: therumpus.net/sections/comics. 

While we’ll accept submissions in whatever legible file you can upload to Submittable, we’ll expect the final file to be 72dpi and 1,000 pixels wide.

We can only consider work that is previously unpublished—this includes personal blogs, websites, and social media. Please only submit once to any given category of the magazine. When you've received a decision, you are welcome to submit again.

We receive a tremendous amount of Comics submissions, and we appreciate your patience in waiting to hear from us. If you haven't received a decision within eight months of submitting, please feel welcome to query regarding submission status.

We do allow simultaneous submissions; please let us know if your work is accepted elsewhere by withdrawing your submission through Submittable.

If you are interested in submitting a review of a poetry collection, please only do so in our Poetry Book Reviews category on Submittable. Do not submit poetry reviews here.

We're interested in thoughtful, engaging cultural criticism between 1200-5000 words. Please submit a finished draft rather than a pitch.

For book criticism, please provide the following information at the top of your review: Title of book, author's name, name of press, and publication date. 

For theatre criticism, please include the name of the show, the theater where it is playing, and the dates of the show's run. If it's open ended, please list the start date - present. 

For music criticism, please include the name of the album, the musician(s), the label, and release date.

For art criticism, please include the name of the artist(s), the gallery/museum where the work is being exhibited, and the dates of the exhibition. 

We welcome all kinds of cultural criticism. We believe criticism is meant to be critical, but we aren't interested in a tear down without substance.  We aren't interested in uncritical fan service, book reports, or summaries. We want thoughtful engagement with interesting cultural artifacts. We want your writing to reflect your distinct point of view. We want to understand the context into which the cultural artifact(s) being reviewed has been created, the ideas with which it engages, and what the cultural artifact reveals about our culture.

Please note that we do not accept work where a conflict of interest exists.

All work must be previously unpublished—this includes personal blogs, websites, and social media.

We welcome essay submissions up to 5,000 words in length. In addition to personal voice-driven essays we are interested in non-traditional forms of nonfiction. Essays should explore issues and ideas with depth and breadth, illuminating a larger cultural context or human struggle. Regardless of topic, we are looking for well-crafted sentences, a distinct narrative voice, compelling scenes, and thoughtful reflection. Surprise us! Intrigue us! Delight us! We want work we cannot put down or soon forget after reading. 

Please submit work that is evergreen because, given our publication schedule, we cannot respond, explicitly, to the news cycle. That said, we are very interested in work that engages with the current sociopolitical climate. 

Essays must be previously unpublished. This includes personal blogs and social media. Please submit only one essay for consideration at a time; we ask that you wait until a decision has been made on that essay to submit again.

A cover letter is also welcome. Tell us a little bit about yourself,  where your work has appeared if you're previously published, or anything else you think might be important for us to know. You do not need to explain your work as we trust it will speak for itself. Simultaneous submissions are fine, but do withdraw your submission if your essay is picked up elsewhere and congratulations on that placement.

Thank you for taking the time to proofread your submission. If you have not heard a decision from us after 3 months, feel free to check in. Please submit your work as a Microsoft Word file.

The Rumpus Original Fiction series features original short fiction of a wide variety.

Please submit a short story of up to 5,000 words as a Microsoft Word file, accompanied by a brief cover letter and third-person bio. If you are sending flash fiction (1000 words or fewer), you’re welcome to submit up to three pieces for consideration as one submission.

Please only send one submission at a time, and if you have a submission pending, please wait to submit again until you've received our decision on the pending submission. Work must be previously unpublished; this includes personal blogs/websites and social media.

At The Rumpus, we are interested in stories that have layers, with elements of surprise and unexpected stakes and points of tension running beneath. Rumpus stories have an edge and feature unique, indelible voices. They tackle emotional depth while not being at all sentimental. We love it when a story's language, plot, and characters feel palpable and dynamic on the page, and a strong sense of place goes a long way. Show us something new, bold, brash, alive.

We encourage simultaneous submissions but if your submission is accepted elsewhere, please withdraw it through Submittable, promptly. Also, congratulations on the acceptance!

We look forward to reading your work!

We are looking for thoughtful interviews (the kind that go beyond say, process) with the most interesting writers, artists, thinkers, musicians, and excellent humans around. Submit pitches and interviews here. 

Please submit 4-8 poems (up to 12 pages) in one Word .doc accompanied by a brief cover letter and third-person bio. Please only send 1 submission at a time and if you have a submission pending, please wait to submit again until you've received our decision on the pending submission. 

Work must be previously unpublished; this includes personal blogs/websites and social media.

While we embrace and consider poems with diverse page presentations, there may be situations where we are unable to accommodate poems with special formatting as seen on the page.

We encourage simultaneous submissions but request that this be noted in your cover letter. If poems in your submission are accepted elsewhere, please notify us through Submittable.

We look forward to reading your work!

The first scary story I remember obsessing over was from the Bible (or maybe the Book of Mormon). I was probably seven years old and at Sunday School our teacher taught us about the signs and prophesies that would let us know the second coming of Christ was imminent. These signs include bangers like the moon turning to blood, the earth being cast into darkness, wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes, secret combinations, and the separating of the wheat and the tares. For a young kid who always identified more with the sinners than the saints, my dad’s assurances that I had nothing to fear if I obeyed God’s commandments did little to ease my anxiety.

I dealt with a lot of that fear and anxiety by seeking out stories that made me scared. In elementary school it was Goosebumps and Are You Afraid of the Dark? In middle school I got hooked on all of Lois Duncan’s books (author of I Know What You Did Last Summer, Killing Mr. Griffin, Down a Dark Hall, etc.) and watching horror movies with my friends like it was some kind of endurance test. The rush I would feel from purposely scaring myself, and the relief of knowing I was not in any real danger, kept me enthralled.

As an adult, I still gravitate toward the sinister and macabre. Even though I left my spiritual fears behind, stories that made me feel unsettled or addressed current anxieties still seemed to soothe and entertain. In college I wrote my capstone paper for my English major about how the concept of eternal existence is horrific, and used stories from Poe and Borges to analyze and explain that fear of mine.

The current literary horror landscape is robust and more popular than ever. Have you been sitting on your own scary stories? We’re looking for original, unpublished work (this includes personal blogs and social media) that uses the genre to confront some of our biggest or most secret fears. Please submit your work (5,000 words max) via Submittable. 

–Kaitlyn Adams, Sunday Scaries editor