The Turning Leaf Journal

SUBMISSIONS ARE CLOSED.

In the meantime, review our guidelines below. Submissions are always free.
Submissions are open twice annually: March 1-May 1, and September 1-November 1.

What We Publish

The Turning Leaf Journal is founded upon the message of change. We want essays, poetry, and hybrid works that explore the turning over of a new leaf through life’s entrances, exits, seasons, formation, and destruction. What happened when you left the religion you grew up in? When you broke generational tradition? When you confronted addiction? When your human rights are under attack? Embrace the uncomfortable and send us the work that was written with tears and through gritted teeth.

Our community is a safe and inclusive space. We’re loudly committed to publishing work that further our goals for diversity, equity, and inclusion. As such, we do not tolerate bigotry or hateful speech, especially against marginalized/oppressed groups.

We are also looking for art submissions, to be paired with our written publications. We are interested in art that evokes strong emotional reactions through landscapes, collages, sketches, still life, and abstracts. Please view our previous issues and instagram account to get a better sense of our visual aesthetic.

For more information, you can also review our FAQ page.

If you are looking to submit a craft essay, or book review, follow this link.

General Submission Guidelines

Please carefully review the following guidelines. Submissions should be emailed to theturningleafjournal@gmail.com with the following subject line adjusted to your submission: [Genre–Nonfiction/Poetry/Hybrid/Art]–[Your Name]

Example: Nonfiction–Jane Doe 

  • Name your submission file “Genre-FirstNameLastName.” For example, “Nonfiction-JaneDoe.docx”
  • Send only one submission per genre per submission period (you may submit work for each genre during the same period). 
  • Simultaneous submissions are allowed. If your work is accepted elsewhere, notify us via email as soon as possible so we can celebrate your success and withdraw your submission.
  • We do not accept previously published material, including on personal blogs and social media.
  • We do not consider work created in full or in part by artificial intelligence (AI). 
  • If you submit derivative work (ekphrastic, found/blackout, works written “after” some existing inspiration), please include a link or copy of the source material. 

We may reject submissions that do not follow the guidelines as outlined.

Questions are always welcome! Please email us at theturningleafjournal@gmail.com.

Genre Guidelines

Creative
Nonfiction

  • Submit only one piece of creative nonfiction per submission window, or up to 3 flash nonfiction pieces. 
  • Please limit your submissions to 5,000 words total.
  • Format your document into .doc or .docx

Poetry

  • You may include up to 3 poems in one submission. This category includes visual and found poetry.
  • Include all poems in one document with page breaks between poems.
  • Format your document into .doc or .docx

Hybrid

  • Hybrid works can be loosely defined as: visual work, genre-bends, something existing beyond a label, experimental work, etc. Sometimes this means lyric, speculative, or even script work, but should generally be some combination/genre bend of nonfiction and poetry.
  • You may include up to 3 hybrid pieces in one submission, totaling no more than 5,000 words.
  • Format your document into .doc or .docx, or .pdf

Art/Photography

  • Submit up to 5 art pieces per submission window.
  • Please provide a unique title for each piece. 
  • Format your art into .pdf, .jpeg, or .png

Response Time

Our response time averages at 27 days, but may take up to twelve weeks during an open submission period. If more than twelve weeks have passed without a response from us, assume something has gone wrong. Please reach out to us and we’ll do our best to resolve the situation! We are currently trialing an auto-responder for submissions, however we expect things to occasionally go awry. If you did not receive receipt of submission, let us know.

After Publication

With the exception of special edition issues, if your work is selected for publication, we ask that you help us ensure a fair-chance opportunity for all contributors and please wait two years before submitting new work to us. Artwork contributors need not comply with this rule. 

We hope to someday have the funding available to financially compensate our contributors, but unfortunately, we cannot do so at this time. From us, contributors can expect social media promotion, visibility on our website, and other efforts to help connect them to the writing and publishing community. We also nominate contributors for Best of Net and the Pushcart Prize. Our 2025 nominations will be selected from Volume 1.2 and Volume 2.1. Nominations are announced in the fall.

Revisions

You may request a few minor edits to your piece once we have accepted it, but we ask that you please submit work that is already in its finalized state. Additionally, we may request a few minor edits from you, but do not generally make many editorial revisions. We reserve the right to refuse revisions if we believe they are unnecessary. 

Once your piece has been published to the website, we will refuse any new revisions to your piece. However, if there is an error in our upload of your piece, we will make the necessary correction. Please inform us ASAP of any such error! 

Publication Proofs

You will be sent an unsolicited proof two weeks prior to publication.

Name & Pronoun Changes

As a TTLJ contributor, you are always welcome to reach out with requests to change your name or pronouns, no explanation or documentation required. Please email us with these requests and we’ll update your publication. 

Author’s Rights

All rights return to the author upon publication. We ask that if your piece is re-published elsewhere, you credit The Turning Leaf Journal for first publication. We reserve the right to nominate works published by us for prizes such as Pushcart and Best of Net. Authors will be informed of nominations via email. 

Publication Removal

While we certainly hope this never happens, if we believe there are grounds for retraction we will remove your publication from our website. Behaviors such as bullying, harassment, degradation, homophobia, transphobia, or any otherwise harmful action directed towards any member of the masthead, contributor, or reader of The Turning Leaf Journal may lead to this consequence. We care greatly about the safety and security of our contributors, and will do everything in our power to protect this space.

Should you ever feel we have in any way mishandled your work, you can request that we remove your work from our website. We hope to work together to resolve the issue without removing your work, but understand this might not always be possible.