Geist is the Canadian magazine of ideas and cuture—every issue brings together a sumptuous mix of fact + fiction, photography and comix, poetry, essays and reviews, and the weird and wonderful from the world of words. The Geist tone is intelligent, plain-talking, inclusive and offbeat. At the heart of our enterprise is the imaginary country that some of us inhabit from time to time, and which often has something to do with Canada.
Please read our updated submission guidelines before submitting.
Contests: We accept contest submissions from outside of Canada, with or without a Canadian connection.
Please format your manuscript as follows:
Word Count: insert word count at the top of the first page
Font: 12 point Times Roman
Line Space: 1.5
Margins: 1.25 inches
Page Numbers please, at the bottom right corner on every page
Include your street address in your cover letter.
Thank you for following these guidelines.
–The Editorial Team
It is our mandate to publish writers and artists from across Canada.
- Please submit once and wait to hear back from us before submitting more work.
- Your cover letter should include your name, complete mailing address and email.
We seek art and photography to accompany written work in the magazine. You may attach up to 5 samples and should include a link to your online portfolio (if you have one) in the cover letter.
The majority of our artwork is to accompany written pieces. This means that artwork is usually kept on file until it can be matched with a written piece, and we may keep submissions on file for up to one year.
Work submitted to the Art & Photography category that does not follow the guidelines will not be considered and will be automatically declined.
What we look for:
Send us your collages, photography, mixed media, cartography and art, whether it be traditional, digital or hybrid!
Geist is a magazine of ideas and culture with a strong literary focus and a sense of humour. The Geist tone is intelligent, plain-talking, inclusive and offbeat. Each issue represents a convergence of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, photography, comics, reviews, little-known facts of interest, cartography and the legendary Geist crossword puzzle.
The writing in Geist is often grounded in a sense of place. We publish historical narrative, essays on art, music and culture, profiles of ordinary people with extraordinary stories, fascinating fields of work, practices or hobbies, and everyday occurrences that show the humour and strangeness of life.
We look for art that is weird, funny, unexpected or experimental.
Geist offers no-fee general submissions for Black artists, Indigenous artists, and artists of colour.
- It is our mandate to publish writers and artists from across Canada.
- Please submit once and wait to hear back from us before submitting more work.
- Work submitted to the Art & Photography category that does not follow the guidelines will not be considered and will be automatically declined.
- Your cover letter should include your name, complete mailing address and email.
We seek art and photography to accompany written work in the magazine. You may attach up to 5 samples and should include a link to your online portfolio (if you have one) in the cover letter.
The majority of our artwork is to accompany written pieces. This means that artwork is usually kept on file until it can be matched with a written piece, and we may keep submissions on file for up to one year.
What we look for:
Send us your collages, photography, mixed media, cartography and art, whether it be traditional, digital or hybrid!
Geist is a magazine of ideas and culture with a strong literary focus and a sense of humour. The Geist tone is intelligent, plain-talking, inclusive and offbeat. Each issue represents a convergence of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, photography, comics, reviews, little-known facts of interest, cartography and the legendary Geist crossword puzzle.
The writing in Geist is often grounded in a sense of place. We publish historical narrative, essays on art, music and culture, profiles of ordinary people with extraordinary stories, fascinating fields of work, practices or hobbies, and everyday occurrences that show the humour and strangeness of life.
We look for art that is weird, funny, unexpected or experimental.
Geist offers no-fee general submissions for Black writers, Indigenous writers, and writers of colour.
- Please note: It is our mandate to publish writers and artists from across Canada.
- Please submit one piece and wait to hear back from us before submitting more work.
- Geist buys First North American Serial Rights. We only accept work that is ORIGINAL and PREVIOUSLY UNPUBLISHED. Copyright reverts to the author after publication.
- If your piece is selected for publication, you can expect to work with the editor-in-chief to revise and edit the piece in a manner consistent with the Geist house style, audience, as well as the author’s intention for the work. The editorial process may consist of several drafts and revisions until the piece is ready for publication.
- Your cover letter should include your name, complete mailing address and email.
NON-FICTION: We publish short (under 2000 words) non-fiction, usually personal narrative, in the Notes and Dispatches section. Longer (up to 5000 words) non-fiction pieces are published as Features. Send one piece at a time.
COMICS: We publish shorter comics in the Notes & Dispatches section, and publish longer comics as features, max. 8 pages. Send up to three strips or one longer comic at a time.
FICTION: We publish short stories (up to 5000 words) in the Features section. We usually publish one story per issue, so please send only your best work. Send one story at a time.
POETRY: Send a maximum of 5 poems, all in the same document. We publish 1-2 poems per issue.
HYBRID FORMS: We like work that crosses genres or that surprises us in other ways. Send us your photo essays, maps and poetry comics! Your interdisciplinary forms and your visual-textual mashups!
We publish short (up to 2000 words, flexible) non-fiction, usually personal narrative, in the Notes and Dispatches section. Longer (up to 5000 words) non-fiction pieces are published as Features. Send one piece at a time.
Please note: It is our mandate to publish writers and artists from across Canada.
Geist buys First North American Serial Rights. We only accept work that is ORIGINAL and PREVIOUSLY UNPUBLISHED. Copyright reverts to the author after publication.
If your piece is selected for publication, you can expect to work with the editor-in-chief to revise and edit the piece in a manner consistent with the Geist house style, audience, as well as the author’s intention for the work. The editorial process may consist of several drafts and revisions until the piece is ready for publication.
Your cover letter should include your name, complete mailing address and email.
We publish shorter comics in the Notes & Dispatches section, and publish longer comics as features, max. 8 pages. Hybrid forms, e.g. poetry comics, are welcome. Send up to three strips or one longer comic at a time.
Please note: It is our mandate to publish writers and artists from across Canada.
Geist buys First North American Serial Rights. We only accept work that is ORIGINAL and PREVIOUSLY UNPUBLISHED. Previously unpublished also means that the comic cannot appear on a personal blog, website or on social media.
Copyright reverts to the author after publication.
If your piece is selected for publication, you can expect to work with the editor-in-chief to revise and edit the piece in a manner consistent with the Geist house style, audience, as well as the author’s intention for the work. The editorial process may consist of several drafts and revisions until the piece is ready for publication.
Your cover letter should include your name, complete mailing address and email.
We publish short stories (up to 5000 words) in the Features section. We usually publish one story per issue, so please send only your best work. Send one story at a time.
Please note: It is our mandate to publish writers and artists from across Canada.
Geist buys First North American Serial Rights. We only accept work that is ORIGINAL and PREVIOUSLY UNPUBLISHED. Copyright reverts to the author after publication.
If your piece is selected for publication, you can expect to work with the editor-in-chief to revise and edit the piece in a manner consistent with the Geist house style, audience, as well as the author’s intention for the work. The editorial process may consist of several drafts and revisions until the piece is ready for publication.
Your cover letter should include your name, complete mailing address and email.
Send a maximum of 5 poems, all in the same document. We publish 1-2 poems per issue.
Please note: It is our mandate to publish writers and artists from across Canada.
Geist buys First North American Serial Rights. We only accept work that is ORIGINAL and PREVIOUSLY UNPUBLISHED. Copyright reverts to the author after publication.
If your piece is selected for publication, you can expect to work with the editor-in-chief to revise and edit the piece in a manner consistent with the Geist house style, audience, as well as the author’s intention for the work. The editorial process may consist of several drafts and revisions until the piece is ready for publication.
Your cover letter should include your name, complete mailing address and email.