As ceaseless jingles play over the radio, a family drives toward yet another rental inspection. A woman, spoon held hovering over her plate, counts the macros in her microplastics. Politicians argue via 15-second video loops. Meanwhile, over on a dying planet, nostalgia is the only fuel that remains.
While the foundations of everything are shaking, Splinter follows the rising tone of laughter (or is that the wail of a siren?) to discover an escape (NB: not escapist) route via the short stories, poetry, and essays in its fifth issue, which (loosely) redefine progress for the polycrisis era.
While the foundations of everything are shaking, Splinter follows the rising tone of laughter (or is that the wail of a siren?) to discover an escape (NB: not escapist) route via the short stories, poetry, and essays in its fifth issue, which (loosely) redefine progress for the polycrisis era.
233mm x 153mm
21 writers
47,667 words
278,299 characters
1 description of a brain as “like pasta floating in a cream sauce”
Andrew Roff, Andy Jackson, Caroline Hung, Colleen Baran, Dave Drayton, Denise Sivasubramaniam, Emily Thornton, Hajer Requiq, Helena Tang, Ian Gibbins, Jack Minungka, Jo Case, Joemario Umana, Kelsey Hutton, Linda Atkins, Linda Shiers, Nicholas Jose, Patrick Eades, Rochelle Humphrey & Aunty Suzanne Haseldine, Ruby-Rose Pivet-Marsh, Yves Rees
$60
Annual subscription includes:
- Issues 4 and 5 delivered to your letterbox.
-
Editions also delivered in accessible digital format (PDF/UA)
- Occasional digital newsletters from Splinter between issues, including reading recommendations
- Early access to Splinter events
Australian subscriptions cost $60 AUD per year, with free shipping.
*International subscriptions cost $80 AUD per year, with free shipping.
$30
Purchase includes:
- One print edition delivered to your letterbox
-
Editions also delivered in accessible digital format (PDF/UA)
Delivery added at checkout.
About
Splinter is a new
literary journal that is
interested in the gaps between
perception and reality and what
happens when we get stuck in those
gaps. It is published twice a year from
Tarntanya (Adelaide, Australia).
Our fourth issue was released
in May 2026.
Contact
hello@splinterjournal.com
Editor
Farrin Foster
Advisory Committee
Alex Cothren
Ali Cobby Eckermann
Annie Waters
Benjamin Madden
Chris Best
Dominic Guerrera
Jane Howard
Jessica Alice
Jessica White
Katherine Tamiko
Kylie Maslen
Publisher
Splinter is published by Writers SA and supported by Creative Australia, Adelaide University, and Flinders University.
Design
Tyrone Ormsby
Studio Work Office
Fonts
Article Text by Matter of Sorts
Walter Neue by Dinamo
Distribution
Splinter is distributed by Simon & Schuster
via Pink Shorts Press.
Submissions are closed
Submissions are currently closed and will open again in late 2026.
We believe diverse and intersectional voices make for a better publication and warmly invite submissions in English (or in other languages with English translation) from writers across Australia and the world.
Splinter does not publish themed editions. We are always looking for writing that considers how reality is made and how it can be broken. We are particularly keen on writing that acknowledges that existence is silly and absurd and also, somehow, really serious.
Our long-term goal is to mill around in the endless circles of these questions:
- - How did we get here, into the middle of this chaos?
- - Where are we? What does this place and time mean?
- - And, where do we go from here?
You don’t need to address these ideas directly in your writing, but please think about how your work brushes up against these prompts.
Submission guidelines
We only accept one submission per writer, with the exception of poetry. We will accept three stand-alone poems per writer, or one collection comprising up to four poems. Please only submit new, original work that has not been published before.
Submissions will only be accepted via the Writers SA Submittable page. Before submitting, please read the full submission guidelines found there, which include additional information about what we’re looking for, terms for commissioning, and detail on the formats.
If you still have questions, please contact us on hello@splinterjournal.com
We pay writers
These are the formats we are looking for and their associated pay rates:
- Profiles - $900
- Essays - $900
- Memoir - $600
- Criticism - $700
- Fiction - $900
- Poetry - $250/poem
- Poetry collection - $450/collection
- Writing about writing - $500
- Experimental work - Paid (rates dependent on the nature of the work)
For profiles, essays, writing about writing, and criticism, we are looking for pitches of ideas (rather than completed works).
For memoir, poetry, and fiction we are looking for submission of completed works.