Call out


Submissions are open for our First Nations issue from June 23 until August 3, 2025. 

Whether you’re Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, Māori, Sámi or belong to another first peoples community, we want to hear your voice.
For the First Nations issue, we are looking for writing that speaks to the weight and wonder of living as First Nations people — where past, present and future aren’t separate but walk together.

  • Give us the stories that sit in your body. 
  • The ones passed down. 
  • The ones that keep you up at night. 
  • The ones you’re still trying to understand.

We’re interested in the fractures and the fight, the moments of stillness, the ridiculous. What does it mean to carry culture, to carry knowledge in a world that wants us to forget? What does survival feel like today — and what does joy look like in the cracks?

We’re not looking for permission, politeness or performance. We want truth. Weirdness. Rage. Love. The absurdity of life in the colony. Connect us to Country. To memory. To each other. Make us laugh, make us ache, make us pause.

The First Nations issue is being led by guest editor Jannali Jones and will be published in November, 2025. 

We warmly invite writers to submit their work via the Writers SA submittable page. 



Submissions


We accept two submissions per writer, with the exception of poetry. For poetry, we will accept three stand-alone poems per writer, or one poetry collection comprising up to four poems. 

Submissions are only 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.