L’Esprit Literary Review accepts short fiction, creative non-fiction, novel extracts, literary criticism, autotheory, and book reviews. Pieces incorporating research, footnotes, and/or a works cited page are especially welcome.
Please include the following with each submission:
- A third-person bio, to be used as the contributor’s note should your work be accepted.
- Social media handles (Twitter and Instagram), if you’d like to be promoted online.
- An optional cover letter to introduce the work, yourself, or provide some context to your submission; please note that this in no way impacts the likelihood of publication.
- Finally, we would appreciate knowing how you found the journal (social, ad listing, database search, reference, etc).
L’Esprit does not discriminate based on the background, education, or identity of those who send work to us. All work is evaluated solely on merit, without regard for any other consideration whatsoever. We encourage those of all backgrounds and experiences to send in their work, and look for writing exploring the range of the human condition.
Both simultaneous and multiple submissions (across genres or within the same genre; no more than two at a time) are welcome; please do let us know if a piece is under consideration elsewhere, and if it is accepted. We welcome work in translation; it is the translator’s responsibility to secure all necessary permissions before submitting. Similarly, we accept previously published work, so long as the author has full rights and informs us of the original publisher so that we may credit them. Please only submit once (up to two pieces) before hearing back. To ensure we remain equally open to all, we must limit contributors to one publication per issue, but are happy to feature further work by past contributors in future issues.
We aim to reply to all submissions within six weeks. All entries are judged by the editorial staff. L’Esprit reserves all publication rights for each issue’s design and content, as well as for first North American publishing rights. The journal also retains rights to use works for promotional and publicity pieces. We nominate for the Pushcart and other literary awards. Authors and artists retain their rights for future publication and use, but we ask that L’Esprit be credited with original publication.
Edits will be done collaboratively, between the editorial staff and the author. All final decisions are at the discretion of the author. We accept pieces on an intermittently rolling basis. Submissions will open and close at the discretion of the Editor, and these announcements will be made both here and on social media. We currently offer a modest honorarium of $10 per published work as payment. Issues are published online in April and October. We encourage work to be read in the order in which it appears on the table of contents, as each issue is put together with consideration to theme, rhythm, and an overall narrative-stylistic progression.
We look for ambitious, voice-driven literary fiction and criticism that emphasizes consciousness and interiority in the Modernist tradition. Please no genre work. We seek writing that takes risks on the sentence level and is propelled by dynamic, poetic language. We also look for criticism that engages literary work on a critical, technical, mechanical, and/or theoretical level, including book reviews and essays. For an overall indication of what we seek, see previous issues and the essay “100 Years of Modernity”, originally published here and reprinted in Issue Zero, which serves as our aesthetic manifesto.
The Clarissa Dalloway Prize for Short Prose
L'Esprit Literary Review
Guest Judged by Lucy Ives
L’Esprit seeks short prose of exceptional vision and skill, now sponsored by Chill Subs’ Contest Transparency Program. See full guidelines and prize information below.
The 2026 Clarissa Dalloway Prize for Short Prose will be awarded to the best piece of fiction, nonfiction, or hybrid work under 5,000 words. There are no other requirements; we’ll simply be looking for the best writing we can find, true to the journal’s mission of publishing risk-adept, language-driven writing crafted in a revolutionary spirit. We welcome pieces that challenge convention in form, style, and/or content, and which invite us to think differently about the world.
While we are inspired by Virginia Woolf and Mrs Dalloway, submissions do not need to relate to Woolf or the novel directly.
All entries will receive one free month of any Chill Subs Membership. Additionally, Chill Subs will provide the Grand Prize Winner with 5 years (worth $1000) of Membership. Second and third place will receive 2 years ($400 value), while finalists will receive 1 year ($200 value). These are in addition to the monetary prizes and publication from L’Esprit, as follows:
$500 and publication to the Grand Prize winner; $150 and publication to Second Place; $100 and publication to Third Place; $50 and publication to two (2) Finalists. Shortlist, Finalists, and any Honorable Mentions will be announced permanently on the journal website. See the previous results–and read all five Finalist stories in the 2025 Prize–here.
All entries receive a digital copy of Issue Eight and are considered for paid publication in the journal.
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In the first round of judging, the L'Esprit team will assemble a shortlist based on technical-mechanical skill, acuity in blending verisimilar narrative elements with robust narrational architecture, and prosody. Shortlist announcements will be made on a rolling basis. At the close of submissions, the L'Esprit editors will select from the shortlist a group of five finalists to be sent to the Guest Judge. Shortlist, Finalists, and any Honorable Mentions will be announced permanently on the journal website. All entries will be considered for paid publication in the journal.
The Grand Prize Winner, Second Place, and Third Place will be selected, via blind read, from this pool of finalists by Guest Judge Lucy Ives.
We have two options for entry. A $10 fee includes a complimentary digital copy of L'Esprit Issue Eight, featuring writing from Maggie Armstrong, Jennifer McMahon, Miah Jeffra, and more. Issue Eight also features the Grand Prize Winner, Second Place Award, and Finalists from the 2026 Leopold Bloom Prize for Innovative Narration. This high-resolution version is optimized for reading on tablets and other devices, allowing the issue to be experienced as designed, immersive and rich.
A $15 fee includes the digital copy of Issue Eight plus an Expedited Response; we will prioritize your submission and reply with a decision about the shortlist phase within three days. This option may be ideal for those who are planning to submit their piece elsewhere and would especially benefit from a quick response.
We accept simultaneous submissions; please let us know right away if a piece has been offered elsewhere. Likewise, multiple submissions are welcome, with an individual submission and payment for each piece.
All proceeds help support the journal and pay contributors.
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L'Esprit does not discriminate based on the background, education, or identity of those who send work to us. All work is evaluated solely on merit, without regard for any other consideration whatsoever. We encourage those of all backgrounds and experiences to send in their work, and look for writing exploring the range of the human condition.
Please include the following with each submission:
- A third-person bio, to be used as the contributor’s note should your work be accepted.
- Social media handles (Bluesky and Instagram), if you’d like to be promoted online.
- An optional cover letter to introduce the work, yourself, provide some context to your submission; please note that this in no way impacts the likelihood of publication.
- Finally, we would appreciate knowing how you found the journal (social, ad listing, database search, reference, etc).
See our complete guidelines on our website.
Thank you for your support of fearless writing.
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Lucy Ives is a novelist and critic. Her most recent books, both from Graywolf Press, are Life Is Everywhere: A Novel and An Image of My Name Enters America: Essays, winner of the 2024 Vermont Book Award in Creative Nonfiction. Her work has appeared in Harper’s, The New York Times Book Review, The Paris Review, and Vogue, among other publications.
A recipient of an Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant, she has taught at Brown, Cornell, and New York Universities. In May 2026, siglio press will release Ives’s three six five: prompts, acts, divinations, a year-long daybook of philosophical exercises for writing and other forms of creative practice.
Indirect Books is pleased to announce the J. Alfred Prufrock Prize for Poetry, open to full-length collections in any style or form.
The Prize—which includes $1,000 USD, twenty-five (25) author copies, and publication & promotion with Indirect Books—will be given to the manuscript which best demonstrates command of language and style alongside a sustained commitment to formal innovation and thematic depth. Generally speaking, in poetry, we are more inspired by focus and technique than expanse and discourse.
We’re interested in poetry that presents unique voice, engages in formal play, and which centers a palpable delight in language as its engine. We love being surprised by a line break, an errant word choice, and poetry that isn’t afraid to subvert our expectations.
As with all our published work, we seek risk-adept, language-driven writing that pushes the boundaries of form and rests comfortably beyond convention.
Guidelines
- Submit a previously unpublished, full-length poetry manuscript, in English.
- The Prize will be open from March 1-May 31, 2026.
- The entry fee is $25. We have a limited number of fee waivers we can offer; if the fee is a genuine barrier to entrance, please email us.
- We anticipate that shortlist announcements will be made by mid-June; finalists by the end of June; and the winner by the end of August.
- There are no length requirements; full-length collections of poetry typically run between 48-100 pages.
- Material in your manuscript may have been published previously in a chapbook, magazines, journals, or anthologies, but the work as a whole must be unpublished.
- For a modest additional fee, we offer expedited feedback: your submission will be given a prioritized read, and we will notify you with a shortlist determination within two weeks.
- Do not include your name or identifying information on the manuscript itself. However, please do include this information–including a third person brief bio–in the cover letter on Submittable.
- Translations of complete, preexisting manuscripts already published in another language and/or previously self-published books are not eligible.
- You may submit multiple manuscripts, but each must be treated as an individual submission, submitted separately and with a separate fee.
- Please let us know immediately if your manuscript is accepted elsewhere.
- We consider using AI to generate your manuscript, in whole or in part, as disqualifying. Such manuscripts will be rejected outright and no refund will be offered.
See full rules, terms, and conditions on our website.
Indirect Books will source the majority of our published work from the slush pile, building relationships with talented authors and championing their work at all stages. We are open to submissions of novels, story collections, essay collections, memoirs, and hybrid projects. We will gladly consider translations accompanied by all necessary rights. We do not consider genre work.
Above all, we are seeking risk-adept, language-driven writing that pushes the boundaries of form and rests comfortably beyond convention.
See our website for more detailed guidelines. We are seeking risk-adept, language-driven writing that pushes the boundaries of form and rests comfortably beyond convention.
Substantive Guidelines
Please send us sample pages from a section of your manuscript, beginning with the opening, up to 5,000 words. To accompany your submission, please include a brief author bio, including publication history, alongside a query letter with the following information:
- Word count
- 1-2 sentence pitch
- 2-3 paragraph synopsis
- Comp titles
We respond to all submissions, and we work to do so within six weeks. If you need to edit your submission (query letter or sample pages), please use the 'request edit' feature on Submittable. Minor errors and typos will not affect the result of your query.
If we feel your submission may be a fit with our acquisition interests and production capacities, we will request a full manuscript. At that stage, we will do our best to read and reply to material within 1-2 months. We estimate a publication timeline of 1-2 books per year.
Formatting Guidelines
- All submissions should be in Times New Roman, 12pt font, double spaced, one-inch margins.
- Please include page numbers.
- We can only consider work written in or translated into English, but welcome (and do not alter) British, Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand English in addition to American English.
- Please proofread and only send us polished, completed work.
We look forward to reading your work. Thank you for your support of fearless writing.
Virginia Woolf Anthology
Indirect Books seeks submissions for an anthologized collection responding to the work of Virginia Woolf. Focused on works of literary criticism and autotheory, we are interested both in writing that engages playfully and seriously with Woolf’s fiction and nonfiction. The anthology will be published in Spring 2027.
Traditional scholarship offering fresh interpretations and innovative essays detailing personal readings will equally be considered. We hope to curate a selection of critical and autotheoretical work that puts forth an expansive, insightful, and erudite understanding of Woolf’s oeuvre in pieces that are willing to take risks artistically, formally, or substantively.
With submissions opening in 2025 and publication scheduled for 2027, the anthology will span the 100th anniversaries of Mrs Dalloway and To The Lighthouse. Contributors will receive a complimentary copy.
Word count 7,000, loosely conceived. We accept simultaneous submissions; please let us know right away if a piece has been offered elsewhere. Likewise, multiple submissions are welcome, with an individual submission and payment for each piece.
Please include the following with each submission:
- A third-person bio, to be used as the contributor’s note should your work be accepted.
- An optional cover letter to introduce the work, yourself, provide some context to your submission, or mention how it celebrates narration; please note that this in no way impacts the likelihood of publication.
- Finally, we would appreciate knowing how you found the press (social, ad listing, database search, reference, etc).
Indirect Books does not discriminate based on the background, education, or identity of those who send work to us. All work is evaluated solely on merit, without regard for any other consideration whatsoever. We encourage those of all backgrounds and experiences to send in their work, and look for writing exploring the range of the human condition.
Thank you for your support of fearless writing.
L’Esprit Literary Review accepts visual art to accompany stories in print, digital, and online.
This form is for artwork and photography only.
Images should be high-resolution, 300+ DPI images, in black-and-white. Both landscape and portrait orientation accepted.Please see past issues (beginning with Issue One) for a sense of the type of work we seek.
Please include the following with each submission:
- A third-person bio, to be used as the contributor’s note should your work be accepted.
- Social media handles (Bluesky and Instagram), if you’d like to be promoted online.
- An optional cover letter to introduce the work, yourself, or provide some context to your submission; please note that this in no way impacts the likelihood of publication.
- Finally, we would appreciate knowing how you found the journal (social, ad listing, database search, reference, etc).
Thank you for your support of fearless writing.