Submission Guidelines

Submissions are now CLOSED. Future submission opportunities TBD. Thank you so much for sending us all your lovely work!

Suggested content includes (but is not limited to):

• Darkly humorous short stories in the vein of Gorey’s picture books
• Poetry, limericks, and rhyming verse (though we tend to avoid anything resembling The Gashlycrumb Tinies, as it has been done so many times before, and never as well as the original!)
• Creative nonfiction/essays about Gorey, his influence on artists and writers, or the themes of his work
• Illustrations inspired by his style and themes
• Related visual artwork, including comics and graphic novels, short films, animations, puppetry, performance, and music

Only work that is clearly inspired by Edward Gorey – either through themes, tone, visual elements, or otherwise – will be considered for publication. 

Please keep in mind that we are asking for your own original work inspired by Edward Gorey. Please refrain from using copyrighted elements of stories, titles, names, and/or imagery originally created by Gorey himself. (All illustrations by Edward Gorey used on this website © The Edward Gorey Charitable Trust. All rights reserved.)

Please submit only two short stories/essays (or combination thereof) and five poems at one time. Essays and short stories should be no more than 5,000 words each. If in doubt, keep it under 3,000. Please submit only two illustrated images at one time. Please submit only one video at one time. If you have any questions about submitting a combination of visual formats at once, please contact us at: goreysubmissions@gmail.com.

Cover letters should include a word count and indicate whether the submission is fiction, nonfiction, poetry, artwork, etc. Submit work either within the body of your email or in a Word (.doc or .docx) file.

We do accept simultaneous submissions. Please let us know immediately if the work has been accepted for publication elsewhere before we publish it. We will place strong preference on previously unpublished work. Reprints will be considered on a case by case basis.

We will do our best to respond within three months. If you do not hear from us within that time, feel free to send an email inquiry.

Unfortunately, we are not able to offer compensation for published pieces. This labor of love is a collaboration between writers, artists, students, and faculty, meant to honor the work of Edward Gorey. We hope you understand and will be willing to join our community.

Submissions will only be accepted via email at: goreysubmissions@gmail.com.