Submissions call out


Submissions are open for issue five from December 17, 2025 until January 19, 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 is 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. 

While we don't want writers to feel limited by the below list, these are some themes and voices we are particularly interested in for issue five:

  • Regional First Nations voices 
  • Housing and homelessness
  • The climate crisis (and its more optimistic cousin climate justice)
  • The fate of progressive politics (if it exists?) in so-called Australia
  • Literary criticism that engages with the above themes

You don’t need to address these themes directly in your writing, but please prioritise submitting work that 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 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.