Logo of Hot Knife literary magazine
"a new digital lit mag all about/in convo with music; we luv experimental creative nonfiction + music criticism with a personal bent (think hanif abdurraqib vibes). we're sponsored by the kelly writers house @ upenn. for/by students (undergrad + grad)."
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Open for submissions

Table of contents

Introduction

a new digital lit mag all about/in convo with music; we luv experimental creative nonfiction + music criticism with a personal bent (think hanif abdurraqib vibes). we're sponsored by the kelly writers house @ upenn. for/by students (undergrad + grad).

Vibe

Send us your best but less intimidating

Response Time
1 week
Average acceptance rate
?

Types of Submissions Accepted

7 genres

A general comment from the editor [coming soon]

nonfiction genre icon

Nonfiction

Max words: 5000

Max pieces: 2

No hard word limits. Up to 5000 words (for a very longform piece); but our sweet spot is anywhere from 600-2000 words. The more experimental, undefinable, audacious, personal, inchoate, the better. We want nonfiction that plays with form and merges music writing/criticism/journalism with a personal essay; vignettes accompanied by photographs; an annotated playlist.

hybrid genre icon

Hybrid

No specific limitations

review genre icon

Review

No specific limitations

anything genre icon

Anything

No specific limitations

art genre icon

Art

For photographers and artists: please send us your stuff! We regularly need people to create art for specific written pieces, or to take photos of certain concerts; send us an email at hotknifemag@gmail.com if you’re interested in being on staff.

photography genre icon

Photography

For photographers and artists: please send us your stuff! We regularly need people to create art for specific written pieces, or to take photos of certain concerts; send us an email at hotknifemag@gmail.com if you’re interested in being on staff.

poetry genre icon

Poetry

We will consider poetry but this is primarily a nonfiction magazine, so we’ll only accept it if we really truly love it and can envision it alongside the other pieces.

nonfiction genre icon

Nonfiction

Max words: 5000

Max pieces: 2

No hard word limits. Up to 5000 words (for a very longform piece); but our sweet spot is anywhere from 600-2000 words. The more experimental, undefinable, audacious, personal, inchoate, the better. We want nonfiction that plays with form and merges music writing/criticism/journalism with a personal essay; vignettes accompanied by photographs; an annotated playlist.

hybrid genre icon

Hybrid

No specific limitations

review genre icon

Review

No specific limitations

anything genre icon

Anything

No specific limitations

Need to know for submitting

Read carefully, it will save from dead rats in the mailbox

  • 01

    Details

    Read more about the topic plus sign
  • 02

    How to submit 🏗️

    Read more about the topic plus sign
  • 03

    Cover Letter and Bio 🏗️

    Read more about the topic plus sign
  • 04

    Awards

    Read more about the topic plus sign
  • 05

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    Demographics & Eligibility

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  • 06

    Formatting requirements 🏗️

    Read more about the topic plus sign
  • 07

    Rights for published work 🏗️

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Magazine

Founded in 2022 | United States

Masthead

We currently list only main editors, more will be added later! If you are an editor, you can edit your masthead in our admin panel :)

Sofia Sears
Editor-in-Chief
Chill Stats (note: this is not exactly accurate...)

Total tracked

2

Average acceptance rate

-

Average response time

-

Average acceptance/rejection time

-/-

Fastest response time

-

Slowest response time

-