English department at the University of Albany, SUNY

Barzakh is a multi-genre journal with an internationalist stance seeking work that transcends genre.

"Barzakh” is a word/concept that names the connecting link, the “between” of something, such as different spheres of existence. 

As a temporal concept it can be, and historically was, considered an interval of time. 

For the great Arab mystic & poet Ibn Arabi, Barzakh is a kind of purgatory—the temporary and yet historical place which makes up this world where we live, love and labor, aware that what we need most to find our way through is what the poet John Keats called “negative capability,” i.e., the ability “of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason.” The Arabic word has the literal meaning of “barrier,” “veil,” and “curtain.”

Publications with narratives under 1,000 words selected for this anthology series. These journals consistently identify short-short fiction, exemplifying the artistry possible in compact narratives.

Lit Mags Featured in Best Small Fictions Anthologies

Barzakh Magazine

Belonging, safety, reciprocity—these are words we think define community. Or maybe you have other thoughts. Does reciprocity come with conditions? What happens when we question our communities? What strains these relationships? Can community sustain critique? For this issue, send us your best work focusing on community, and show us what community means to you.
Please upload one text file (DOCX, PDF, RTF, etc.) including up to 6000 words total (one long piece or multiple shorter pieces up to 3000 words).
Multigenre/ Hybrid/ Digital Work – If the submission is text-based, please upload one text file (DOCX, PDF, RTF, etc.) including as many as three hybrid pieces (no more than 3000 words). If the submission is image-based, please upload as many as six image files (IMG, PNG, TIF, etc.). If you'd like these pieces to be considered for our visual-art section, please include an image list that includes the title, size, medium, and year of each piece you submit.
For other guidelines, including information about copyright and submitting through snail mail, please see our submission page.

Prose - Fiction

Prose - Nonfiction

Belonging, safety, reciprocity—these are words we think define community. Or maybe you have other thoughts. Does reciprocity come with conditions? What happens when we question our communities? What strains these relationships? Can community sustain critique? For this issue, send us your best work focusing on community, and show us what community means to you.
Please upload one text file (DOCX, PDF, RTF, etc.) including up to 3 poems.
Multigenre/ Hybrid/ Digital Work – If the submission is text-based, please upload one text file (DOCX, PDF, RTF, etc.) including as many as three hybrid pieces (no more than 3000 words). If the submission is image-based, please upload as many as six image files (IMG, PNG, TIF, etc.). If you'd like these pieces to be considered for our visual-art section, please include an image list that includes the title, size, medium, and year of each piece you submit.
For other guidelines, including information about copyright, please see our submission page.

Poetry

Belonging, safety, reciprocity—these are words we think define community. Or maybe you have other thoughts. Does reciprocity come with conditions? What happens when we question our communities? What strains these relationships? Can community sustain critique? For this issue, send us your best work focusing on community, and show us what community means to you.
Please upload up to six image files (IMG, PNG, TIF, etc.). Please include an image list that includes the title, size, medium/ materials, and year of each piece you submit.
Multigenre/ Hybrid/ Digital Work – If the submission is text-based, please upload one text file (DOCX, PDF, RTF, etc.) including as many as three hybrid pieces (no more than 3000 words). If the submission is image-based, please upload as many as six image files (IMG, PNG, TIF, etc.). If you'd like these pieces to be considered for our visual-art section, please include an image list that includes the title, size, medium, and year of each piece you submit.
For other guidelines, including information about copyright, please see our submission page.

Barzakh Magazine

Highlights

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Featured Call

Prose - Fiction

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