OUR AESTHETIC: Eleventh Hour Literary has no restrictions on subject matter. We accept literary prose (fiction, creative nonfiction or essays) and poetry. We also accept ephemeral works, including artwork and photography, for our e-phemeros project.
Eleventh Hour Literary is the journal of perseverance. Our only requirement is that a piece has been previously rejected and revised since it was initially sent out. Nor should Eleventh Hour Literary be the last place the writing is sent! We want the work of writers who have faith in what they have put on paper and will keep revising and submitting until that work finds a home.
We invite participants to submit their highest-quality short stories, flash fiction, creative nonfiction, essays, poems and art.
HOW TO SUBMIT: Simultaneous submissions are permitted, but notify us if your work is accepted elsewhere. We do accept submissions from current Binghamton University students, faculty, staff, or alumni. We DO NOT, and will not, ever accept stories written by AI. Please save those for someone else! Also, please send us only unpublished work.
SUBMISSION PERIODS: FEB. 1-MARCH 15; AUG. 1-SEPT. 15
ART AND PHOTOGRAPHY: Eleventh Hour Literary is happy to accept art and photography to serve as cover art or “installations” in our e-phēmeros project. However, we cannot currently offer honoraria to this type of published work.
PROSE: Creative nonfiction, essays, or fiction submissions should be no longer than 16 pages or about 5,000 words. Diverse voices and hybrid or experimental forms are encouraged. Accepted stories will be well-worn and well-loved. We’re looking for narrative-driven tales that engage and grab us, whether edgy, fanciful, or immersive. Most of all, they should be memorable. As long as it’s high-quality, genre and speculative work are always invited.
We DO NOT, and will not, ever accept stories written by AI. Please save those for someone else!
POETRY: Please submit 1-3 poems in a single document. Title your submission with the names of each piece you are submitting, followed by the total number of poems. For example: Title #1, Title #2 (2 Poems). We read both free verse and traditional forms. International submissions are accepted, so long as the piece is written primarily in English. We’re looking for poems with the grit to grow in the face of each rejection. Why does this specific piece have the heart for perseverance? What is it saying that needs to be heard?
Submissions are open until March 15, or when we hit our cap of 200 poems. Please note: In past issues, we have received well over 200 poems, so submitting early is your best bet.
While we seek unique content and are open to different forms, we appreciate a Times New Roman 12-point font. We won’t ever publish something written by AI. Unless it serves a particular purpose, we won’t publish something with explicitly sexual content and will never accept pieces with racist or prejudiced agendas. We WILL NOT READ submissions that don’t clearly list a rejection history.