The Kiss of Our Latin Culture

Blog Series Submissions

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In the midst of an ever-evolving wave of prejudice in American politics against Latin American communities, Polyphony Lit is curating a blog series dedicated to Latin voices. These personal works reverberate the traditions, community, and warmth that colors Latin American culture with a unique kind of love and beauty-- something we need more than ever.

 

This is an open call for poetry, fiction, CNF, and nonfiction articles written by Latino/a/e creators! Selected works will be featured in the blog series, which will launch in 2026.

 

This submission opportunity is separate from Polyphony Lit's Latin Heritage Contest.

 

To read some works from our previous blog series, please check out "Love in the Time of Banned Books" and "Wake Up, the War Is Here."

 

Submission Guidelines​

• Submissions will open on September 28th and will remain open until December 31st or until we reach our submission cap of 200 submissions.

• Please note that this is a separate submission category from Polyphony Lit's Volume 20 and Polyphony Lit's seasonal contests.​ Constructive critique will not be provided for submission to this blog series.

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Writer Qualifications​

• High school students who identify as Latinx or Native American are eligible to submit. For ease of reference, we roughly define this as writers of Hispanic, Latinx, or Spanish origin (for example: Mexican or Mexican American, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Salvadoran, Dominican, Colombian, etc), writers who identify as Central / South America Indigenous Peoples (for example: Amerindian, K’iche’, Yucatec, Miskitos, Quechua, Chibcha, etc), and writers who identify as North American Indigenous Peoples (Eg: Navajo nation, Blackfeet tribe, Native Village, Nome Eskimo Community, First Nations, etc). However, we understand that people of Latin American and Indigenous descent often come from many different backgrounds, so we hope that you will not be limited in any way by these categories.

• Works may be written in English, Spanish, or Portuguese. If your piece is written primarily in one of these languages, but also features brief words or phrases written in another language, then we will certainly consider multilingual pieces like this, but please keep in mind that our contest readers will only be able to provide English translations for the languages listed above. For multilingual words and phrases, you are welcome to provide English translations of your own as footnotes or as part of the context in the piece.

• Submit a maximum of three pieces.

• If submitting multiple pieces, please upload as separate submissions. Multiple pieces submitted in a single document may be withdrawn, and you may be asked to resubmit your pieces separately.

• We accept simultaneous submissions and work that has been published elsewhere. If submitting previously published work, please send a message in Submittable noting where and when your work has been published, and if it is eligible for republication. If it is accepted for publication elsewhere after submitting to Polyphony Lit, please notify us immediately but do not withdraw your submission if you are still interested in publication at Polyphony Lit. If we accept a previously published submission for publication, we will acknowledge the place of the original publication.

• Submissions for the blog series are not eligible for the Claudia Ann Seaman Awards.

• Previously published pieces are not eligible for the Claudia Ann Seaman Awards.

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Length

• Poetry must be 80 lines or less.

• Fiction and creative nonfiction must be 1,800 words or less.

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Formatting

• Do not put your name on the piece, as all work is blind juried.

• Submissions longer than one page should have the page number inserted at the top (right or left side) of every page, as it would help our Judge specify the location for their commentary.

• We accept submission in .doc, .docx or .rtf formats.

• We prefer common conventions:

  • Color: Black & white

  • Font Size: 12 pt throughout, including titles

  • Font Type: Times or Times New Roman

  • Margins: 1-inch at the top and bottom, and 1.25 inch at the left and right. One space after periods. There should be no extra returns after paragraphs unless you have a meaningful reason for the extra space.

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Using Submittable

• Please upload submissions through Submittable. We do not accept email submissions or hard copies via mail.

• Upload only one piece per submission file; to submit more than one piece, make more than one submission file.

• Submissions are free

• There is a submission cap of 200 submissions, so we may close submissions for the this opportunity before the deadline if we receive 200 submissions. We recommend submitting early, to ensure that you do not miss the deadline.

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