We publish lyrical philosophy, experimental fiction/poetry/non-fiction, dark humor, classical forms, and innovations in craft. Our goal is to support underrepresented styles of writing, specifically within a genre that we imagined, which we call otherworld realism. 

Lazuli Literary Group is a platform dedicated to fostering the delight of the literary imagination through a small publishing press, writing contests, and an online/print literary journal, AZURE: A Journal of Literary Thought. We are a two-person editing team with diverging tastes (one classic and one contemporary) that harmonize in a third, uncharted space. We are particularly drawn to writing that broadens the concept of "literary" to one that pulls from a global pedigree of storytelling technique. We seek authors who revel in the rhythmic possibilities of the poetic line, who contemplate the flavor, the shape, and the history of every word they use; who are so committed to the pyrotechnics of the written word that they comprehend the beauty of classical forms and yet feel compelled to constantly re-invent their craft. Our goal is to support underrepresented styles of writing, specifically within a genre that we imagined, which we call otherworld realism. We like work that generates an eclectic mix of literary, lyrical, experimental and witty reading experiences; as such, we publish works that may not be suited for mass consumption, due to their raw yet polished innovations in content and form. ​​
Every piece published in AZURE appears alongside a customized black & white sketch that is devised and executed by our in-house illustrator, Evgenia Barsheva.

Azure: A Journal of Literary Thought

General call

We publish lyrical philosophy, experimental fiction/poetry/non-fiction, dark humor, classical forms, and innovations in craft. We do not publish contemporary realist fiction. If you think your work is a good fit, please read on for more details.

A Journal of Literary Thought" (Response time: 1 week)

We love work that is linguistically, intellectually, and emotionally demanding of the reader.  We want art that grows in complexity upon each visitation; we enjoy ornate, cerebral, and voluptuous phrases executed with thematic intent. Some writers whose work we admire are Virginia Woolf, Toni Morrison, Jorge Luis Borges, Charles Dickens, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Thomas Mann, Marcel Proust, Robert Musil, T.S. Eliot, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, John Milton, Aphra Behn, Herman Melville, and Italo Calvino.
Read more about our aesthetic inclinations here.
LOGISTICS
Deadline: August 17, 2026 (midnight ET)
Submission fee: $15
AESTHETICS
Fiction, non-fiction, poetry, essays, philosophical ruminations, experimental pieces, stage plays, fragments, and excerpts are all acceptable. We are not concerned with genre distinctions—send us the best you have; we want only for it to be thoughtful, intelligent, and beautiful. All writers tend to develop a scrap heap of brilliant writing - sharp dialogue that has been cut in service of a plot, a philosophical tirade that can't quite be couched in a narrative, a stunning imagistic landscape of linguistic pyrotechnics that deserves an audience... Literary beauty exists in more than the conventional narrative, we believe, and the most cerebral moments cannot necessarily be expressed in more than bursts and fragments. We would love to provide a space for those portions of works that have been cut away through no fault of their own.
SUBMISSIONS
You may submit multiple pieces as long as each is accompanied by a separate entry fee. One poetry submission may include up to 5 unrelated (or related) poems.
Page limit for any type of submission: 150 pages.
We may choose to award the prize to all or part of each submission (that is, we might choose one poem from a submitted set or one chapter of a novella, for example). The selected portions of the winning entry will be published online in AZURE: A Journal of Literary Thought and will be considered for publication in our print anthology. An excerpt from this piece will appear on the contest page.
We will award as many first place prizes as the top submissions warrant--that is, if multiple pieces dazzle us equally, each chosen entrant will receive $500. To us, the contest is not about awarding a "winner"; it is about paying writers whom we wish to publish, using a "contest" as an avenue to do so.
ELIGIBILITY
Both previously published and unpublished works are eligible, provided that potential publication in AZURE: A Journal of Literary Thought does not infringe on previously held rights.
Simultaneous submissions are fine, even encouraged--your work deserves its due! If your work is published elsewhere before the end of our judging period, you are still eligible for the prize money, so you may choose to leave your work under consideration provided that you will allow us to publish a short excerpt from your piece on our website (we are also happy to link to the publication where the entire work can be found).
Works previously published in AZURE: A Journal of Literary Thought are not eligible, but an author whose work we have previously published may submit a new work for consideration.
If you have previously been the winner of a Lazuli Literary Group Writing Contest, you are not eligible to submit.
You may not submit pages that have been workshopped (or the product of pages that have been workshopped) with an editor of AZURE, but you CAN submit other pages from the same piece (for example, if you workshopped only Chapter 1 of a novel, you may still submit Chapter 8 to the contest; in this case, you MUST remove Chapter 1 from the submitted document).
We DO NOT accept translations or work that has used generative AI (ChatGPT, etc.) for any part of the process, including grammar. (If you have questions about the eligibility of your piece on this count, please contact us before you submit.)
JUDGING
All submissions are read blind (without knowledge of the author's name or background information). Please do not include any identifying information on your submission document. You may share this information in your cover letter.
The winning submission(s) will be selected by Sakina B. Fakhri, the editor of AZURE: A Journal of Literary Thought.
A formal cover letter is not required and will not affect the success of your submission, but please include a short third-person bio that we can use in the event of publication.

Azure: A Journal of Literary Thought

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Azure: A Journal of Literary Thought