Tint showcases the original work of writers for whom English is a second or non-native language.
Submissions for our biannual literary issues (categories: short stories, creative nonfiction, flash fiction, flash nonfiction and poetry) are only accepted by writers who have learned or acquired the English language after being fluent in another language and within an open call for submissions.
Submissions for our In Conversation section (reviews, interviews, and profiles focusing on ESL writing) are welcome year-round by writers of all linguistic backgrounds.
We also welcome art submissions to accompany the literary texts features in our biannual issues. These are only accepted within an open call for submissions.
Submissions which do not follow the following guidelines will not be considered.
Please review our call for submissions to find out whether we are looking for submissions responding to a certain theme for the upcoming issue.
We accept original fiction and nonfiction creations by ESL writers (= all writers who have learned or acquired the English language after being fluent in another language), including short prose, flash as well as poetry. For text examples, see our current issue or visit our archive.
Please submit only previously unpublished pieces. If you have a previously published piece that fits our mission, please contact us via info@tintjournal.com.
Translations will not be accepted. Your text has to be an original creation in English. However, the work can feature words or passages in other languages.
We only consider submissions that have been exclusively created by human individuals; we do neither consider AI-generated texts nor AI-modified texts.
Please only submit one piece per category (short story, creative nonfiction, flash fiction, flash nonfiction, poetry) at a time.
For creative prose (fiction and nonfiction), please submit a piece (short story or personal essay) between 1,000 and 4,000 words.
For flash (fiction or nonfiction), please submit a piece that does not exceed 800 words.
For poetry submissions, please submit one poem only. If the poem has subsections, mark them clearly in your document. A poem should not exceed four C4, A4 or Letter pages in length.
For our biannual literary issues, we exclusively accept creative writing and art submissions which reach us within the period of an open call for submissions.
Please name your document [Category*]_[Last Name]_[Title], e.g. Poetry_Miller_The Rose.
Provide your submission with a title page, indicating your
name,
first language/mother tongue(s),
second or foreign language(s),
nationality (state(s)/region(s) you associate yourself with),
category*,
title of your piece,
word count,
contact information (your email address), and
day of submission.
Put page numbers on all pages following the title page.
All submissions should be sent to submissions@tintjournal.com. If this form of submission presents an obstacle to the writer, please contact the journal at info@tintjournal.com.
We prefer doc and docx files. In case your submissions requires special formatting, we also accept pdf files.
Allow for a time period of up to 20 days between the end of a call and an answer.
*categories: fiction, nonfiction, flash fiction, flash nonfiction, poetry.
There is no submission fee.
We do not have the financial resources to compensate the contributing writers to our literary issues at this point, but hope to be able to do so some time in the future.
Donations of any amount are highly appreciated and will help to ensure quality and quantity of our work as well as to increase the range and impact of the journal. Find out more about how to support Tint here.
If your work is accepted elsewhere, please let us know by sending us an e-mail at info@tintjournal.com.
Submit one piece per category at a time only. Feel free to approach us in the future with new work.
We ask the writers who we publish to record their story, essay or poem at the end of our editing process. This audio recording is published along with their piece on our website.
Files should be in mp3, FLAC, WMA, or wav formats.
We prefer full-length recordings. However, if the work being read aloud is particularly long, you may choose either a section or the entire piece. If you choose a section only, let us know in advance.
Make sure your recording is clear and you are reading at an appropriate rate of speech. Begin by stating the title and your name.
For all audio submissions, please send the file via wetransfer.com to submissions@tintjournal.com.
Submit hi-resolution files of your visual art (paintings, illustrations, drawings, photographs, ...) to accompany our ESL stories, poems and essays.
Please review our call for submissions to find out whether we are looking for submissions responding to a certain theme for the upcoming issue.
We only consider submissions that have been exclusively created by human individuals; we do neither consider AI-generated artworks nor AI-modified artworks.
Give each artwork a title. The file should be named [Artist's Last Name]_[Title], e.g. Munch_The Scream.
We prefer PNG, JPG or JPEG files.
Submit up to three pieces at a time, but feel free to approach us in the future with new work.
All submissions should be sent to submissions@tintjournal.com or submitted via Submittable. If this form of submission represents an obstacle to the writer, please contact the journal at info@tintjournal.com.
For review, interview, and profile submissions, please submit one piece between 700 and 1,500 words at a time. It must focus on work by ESL writers or the ESL writers themselves. Accompanying photo material (with source of photo included) is highly appreciated.
Reviews should discuss original, published work by an ESL author: a novel, short stories, poems, memoir, or other literary creations. Reviews can either focus on one or multiple pieces.
Interviews should be submitted in the form of a Q&A and should be conducted with a published ESL writer. They can include comments of the interviewer about surroundings, situation, and anything else. ESL writing does not have to be the focus of the interview.
Profiles should focus on one published ESL writer. The goal of profiles is to portray the life and work of the writer in question and give our readers a good understanding of the writer. As with interviews, profiles do not have to focus on ESL writing exclusively.
We also welcome text types besides reviews, interviews and profiles if they are on ESL writing. Be creative!
We exclusively publish texts that have been created by human individuals. You may involve AI applications for research, translation, spelling and grammar consultation; however, any AI usage has to be indicated upon submission of a draft. Please note that you as author are responsible for the verification of any AI-informed modifications. For clarification, please contact our editors at inconversation@tintjournal.com.
We can remunerate In Conversation contributers with € 25,- upon publication of their text, two Tint Journal bookmarks of their choosing, access to all full-length audios and assistance in claiming a free press copy from the publisher (in the case of a review).
Please contact our In Conversation editors Chiara and Andrea at inconversation@tintjournal.com to propose your idea and for the further submission process.
Submissions which do not follow these guidelines will not be considered. Accepted submissions will be edited for clarity and content in consultation with the writer.
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