This issue's guest poetry editor is heidi andrea restrepo rhodes, who is a queer, non-binary, crip/disabled, brown, writer, artist, scholar, educator, cultural worker and creature of the Colombian diaspora. They are poetry co-editor at Apogee Journal and their previously published works include: The Inheritance of Haunting (University of Notre Dame Press, 2019), Ephemeral (Ecotheo Collective, 2024), Afterlives of Discovery: Speculative Geographies in the Settler Colonial Imaginary (Duke University Press, 2025), Wayward Creatures (Host Publications, 2025), and the forthcoming Ampersand Organ: a more-than-human lyric (Milkweed editions, 2026). They live in southern California.
 

Submission must adhere to the following guidelines:

• Submit a maximum of 5 pages 
• Poems can be longer than one page, but the entire submission cannot exceed 5 pages. 
• Each new poem must start on its own separate page.
• Include all poems in a single Word document (and put the titles of your poems, separated by commas, in the title field).
• For grant purposes, we cannot consider submissions that do not include a completed demographic survey with their submission.

Foglifter aims to reflect the vibrant diversity of the LGBTQ+ literary community in our award-winning journal. Fill out our anonymized Demographics Survey to be considered for publication—then take a screenshot of the thank-you screen at the end and attach it along with your submission.

This issue's guest fiction editor is Charlotte Kidd, a writer of all kinds of prose and public librarian based in Toronto, Ontario. She is Associate Prose Editor over at chestnutreview.com. She is most interested in stories about complex familial, romantic, or platonic relationships, unique and thoughtful prose, and original treatment of topics like climate change and economic injustice — but she is also a literary omnivore who can find something to love in almost any piece of prose. She is excited to read your work. She can be found @charjoycek on instagram for writing updates and occasional pictures of treasures from the stacks.  

• Please send a single Word document with up to 7500 words of fiction (up to three flash fiction pieces). Make sure it is in standard double-spaced formatting and a readable font.
• For grant purposes, we cannot consider submissions that do not include a completed demographic survey with their submission.
• Because of the high volume of submissions that we receive in this genre, we are capping our fiction submissions at 250, so please submit sooner rather than later!

Foglifter aims to reflect the vibrant diversity of the LGBTQ+ literary community in our award-winning journal. Fill out our anonymized Demographics Survey to be considered for publication—then take a screenshot of the thank-you screen at the end and attach it along with your submission.

As Foglifter revitalizes our website and digital production, we are interested in creating and holding space for works that may not fit within the constraints of our print edition. We are now accepting submissions for our new  Online Exclusive Issue dedicated to showcasing queer voices across a wide spectrum of creative forms. 

As always, we are seeking art that aligns with our mission of promoting queer, transgressive, and original work. The themes will change from issue to issue. For 1.1, our theme is Body Politics. Bodies are sites of power, protest, pleasure, oppression, transformation, and resistance. They are legislated, labeled, liberated, and loved. In a world where bodies are constantly scrutinized, marginalized, and controlled—especially queer, trans, fat, disabled, racialized, and reproductive bodies—we want to create a space for work that responds, reclaims, and reimagines.

Please submit work that engages with themes that may include gender expression and transition, reproductive justice, disability and chronic illness, surveillance and censorship, body modification culture, fat liberation and anti-ableism, queer desire and sexuality, the racialized body, and performance and protest. We invite works that grapple with the political, personal, and cultural dimensions of the queer body. 

Pieces must be original, unpublished work in genres including, but not limited to: poetry, fiction, nonfiction, drama, comics, visual art, scripts, and multimedia (video, audio, music, interactive pieces, experimental work, etc.) that align with the current issue’s theme.

This online exclusive issue will be published as a winter issue on our website. We’re especially interested in pieces that experiment with form, push boundaries, and reflect the complexity, joy, rage, beauty, and multiplicity of the queer experience.

Why Online Exclusive?

Our print publication has limits—page counts, dimensions, ink. This digital issue is a space without borders. We want to uplift work that can’t—or won’t—fit in print: multimedia projects, audio pieces, visual art, and performance pieces  that demand to be seen and heard in digital space.

General Submission Guidelines:

• We accept only first rights to publication.
• We do accept simultaneous submissions, however please withdraw pieces that have been accepted elsewhere.
• Please include a short bio, description of your work, any past publications, and applicable trigger warnings in your cover letter.
• Visual and [multi]media work must be web-viewable—please include links or uploads through Submittable and include content warnings if applicable

Genre Specific Guidelines

• Please submit up to 5 pieces
• For video and audio submissions, please limit to 5 minutes
• We accept art created via all mediums (except AI -- no AI art submissions). This includes, but is not limited to, photography, painting, digital, ink, pencil, collage, etc.
• Acceptable file types: .jpg, .jpeg, .gif, .tif, .tiff, .png, .svg, .pdf, .doc, .docx, .txt, .rtf, .odt, .mp3, .m4a, .wav, .mp4, .mov, .avi, .mpg, .3gp, .wmv
• All applicable artworks submitted will be considered for cover art for the online exclusive issue
• We love experimental work, feel free to submit hybrid forms that blend genres
• For grant purposes, we cannot consider submissions that do not include a completed demographic survey with their submission

Foglifter aims to reflect the vibrant diversity of the LGBTQ+ literary community in our award-winning journal. Fill out our anonymized Demographics Survey to be considered for publication—then take a screenshot of the thank-you screen at the end and attach it along with your submission.

This issue's guest nonfiction, hybrid, and drama editor is Edgar Gomez (he/they), who is a queer NicaRican writer born and raised in Florida. He is the author of the memoir High-Risk Homosexual, winner of the American Book Award and a Lambda Literary Award. Their sophomore memoir, Alligator Tears, was released February 2025 and called "triumphant, dazzling, and unfailingly stylish" by Publisher's Weekly. Gomez lives between New York and Puerto Rico and across social media @OtroEdgarGomez. 
 

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Please label your piece as nonfiction or hybrid & drama in your cover letter!

NONFICTION

• Please send a single Word document with up to 7500 words of nonfiction (up to three flash nonfiction pieces). 
• Please make sure it is in standard double-spaced formatting and a readable font.
• For grant purposes, we cannot consider submissions that do not include a completed demographic survey with their submission.

HYBRID & DRAMA

• Send up to 20 pages of cross-genre work, text-image hybrids, or drama. 
• PDFs are accepted in this category.
• For grant purposes, we cannot consider submissions that do not include a completed demographic survey with their submission.

Foglifter aims to reflect the vibrant diversity of the LGBTQ+ literary community in our award-winning journal. Fill out our anonymized Demographics Survey to be considered for publication—then take a screenshot of the thank-you screen at the end and attach it along with your submission.

In response to rapid gentrification and displacement of QTBIPOC+ literary artists in the San Francisco Bay Area, and in celebration of these communities’ revolutionary history, Foglifter Press and Still Here San Francisco joined forces to create a poetry chapbook prize for local emerging queer and trans Black writers, indigenous writers, and writers of color. Each year, one chapbook author is awarded publication, a $3,000 prize, and $1,000 to support their book tour/promotion.
 

Judges:

• Grayson Thompson, author of 2024 Start A Riot! winning chapbook Sand Bodied Florida Boy
• Dani Putney
• Zara Jamshed
   

Eligibility:

• Submitter is a QTBIPOC+ literary artist
• AND is a current resident of the larger San Francisco Bay Area (Alameda, Napa, Santa Clara, Contra Costa, San Francisco, Solano, Marin, San Mateo, Sonoma counties)
• AND does not have a previous full-length poetry book publication

Manuscript Details:

• Poetry (Literally anything that falls under the verse genre—prose poetry, hybrid, etc. We want all your wild experiments!)
• 25 pages max; 15 pages minimum
• Remove all identifying information, including acknowledgments. There should be one title page with the name of the chapbook only.
• Microsoft Word doc preferred; PDF also accepted

Important Dates:

• Submissions: September 1 to December 1, 2025
• Results Announced: January 2026
• Chapbook Release: June (Pride Month) 2026

Foglifter is looking for a Print Production Manager! The responsibilities are as follows:

• The Print Production Manager collaborates with the production assistant and the web team to design print publications. They liaise with print/digital contributors, managing publication content; procuring bios, contracts, final agreements from contributors; and confirming final versions of pieces with contributors. They manage the copy-editing of print publications and work with our copy-editor. A portion of this role also requires working with the managing editor and current Start A Riot! winner by producing the annual print chapbook. 

This role requires familiarity with Adobe Photoshop and InDesign (access provided).

This role requires familiarity with print production and design. Strong adherence to deadlines is a must.

The estimated time commitment for this role is 2–4 hrs per week during non-production times, and 8–10 hrs during production times. It includes a yearly honorarium of $5,000 (half to be paid in the spring and half in the fall). 

Residence is the San Francisco Bay Area is not required, but would be ideal. 

Multi-marginalized individuals are encouraged to apply.