Submissions

The procedure for submitting texts is described below.

Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.
  • The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines.

Author Guidelines

We welcome submissions from students, faculty, alumni, and the wider literary community—especially those drawn to the gothic in its many forms.

Since we are interested in literary resonance, we are also open to work that challenges genre boundaries or speaks from unexpected places.

While we retain editorial discretion to prioritize student voices, we warmly welcome select external contributors, including alumni and invited writers.

Polish Gothic is accepting submissions of fiction (short and short-short stories) and non-fiction (personal essays), essays, and reviews 3 times a year – for the Fall, Winter, and Spring issues.

Submissions of art and photography are open year round.

Prose submissions for Flash Fiction are between 450 and 580 words; for Fiction, 1800 words is the starting point; Personal Essays begin at 600 words. For all submissions 6000 words is the limit.

For all review types (book, film, movie series, visual and performance art, as well as internet culture) a pitch of 150 words is preferable. We welcome marginalized subjects and unique perspectives.

Please read what we have already published before submitting.

Standard formatting, Times New Roman 12 p. font preferred.  

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Issue 4 (2/2026) – Call for Submissions

Polish Gothic – Special Issue: Domestic Gothic

What we’re looking for

  • Short stories
  • Personal essays
  • Prose excerpts
  • Reviews (books, films, haunting exhibitions)

Theme: DOMESTIC GOTHIC

Explore the shadows lurking inside the home. We invite work that delves into:

  • Gothic interiors and uncanny domestic spaces 
  • The Female Gothic and domestic confinement
  • Marriage, family, motherhood
  • Domestic violence and psychological terror
  • Suburban and contemporary Domestic Gothic
  • Haunted households
  • Memory, repression, and trauma

Reimagine the home through a Gothic lens. Turn familiar rooms into sites of haunting, secrecy, and unease. Reveal the tensions, ghosts, and buried histories that cling to everyday family life.

Deadline: May 5
Submit to: editor.polishgothic@ug.edu.pl
More info: polishgothic.ug.edu.pl

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