Indirect Books

We publish consciousness-forward fiction and thought. Send us short stories, creative non-fiction, critical essays, autotheory, and novel extracts in the revolutionary spirit of High Modernism. We want the most fearless, risk-adept writing we can find.

L’Esprit was founded in February 2022, the centenary month of the publication of Ulysses. The journal was thus born in celebration of the literary revolution of consciousness represented by High Modernism, and seeks to publish work in that spirit.

L’Esprit is a sister publication of Indirect Books. Follow our Substack (@indirectbooks) for more.

We have grown considerably over the past few years and are fortunate enough to have published work by several outstanding new and established writers and critics, including Lucy Ives, Michael Nath, Diane Josefowicz, Violeta Sotirova, Jaclyn Gilbert, Christopher Linforth, Ella Baxter, Rebecca Fishow, Kat Meads, and, in translation, Hormoz Shahdadi and Paul Verlaine. 

We always prioritize emergent work from talented authors, and source the vast majority of each issue from unsolicited material via the slush pile.

We place an emphasis on promoting our authors’ work. This includes hosting Zoom launches for each issue; regularly holding in-person readings in New York and Chicago; having a table and off-site events at AWP; listing recent publications from other journals by past contributors in our Quarterly newsletters; and nominating for major literary awards. We aim to build a community around our mission to champion fearless writing, and as such are honored to support our contributors as they develop their careers.

L’Esprit searches for fearless, audacious, innovative writing that takes risks at the sentence level and immerses itself in the slippery, wondrous underworld of the mind. Interior-focused, character-driven, language-first work is core to our aesthetic principles, writing that eschews convention and experiments at both the technical and formal levels.

The rendering of consciousness via advanced literary techniques allows fiction to portray the human experience across disparate cultures and societies, and discuss important realities of the modern world by shedding light on the universal nature of diverse lives. 

We asked, you guys answered. Here are the community's spring 2026 favorites for you cool kids, weird kids, very serious adults, etc. 

Want to check out Parts 1 & 2? We've un-paywalled them for you guys, so get them before they're gone.
Part 1: https://www.chillsubs.com/lists/cool_kids_3
Part 2: https://www.chillsubs.com/lists/Cool_kids_2

Where The Cool Kids Are Submitting Their Writing: Part 3

These mags publish novel excerpts, novelist interviews, and are generally interested in lending a hand to those of us who spend our precious hours and months and years grinding at just one long story.

Where to Publish Novel Excerpts

Online publications putting forward exceptional short stories for Best of the Net.

Fiction Magazines That Nominate for Best of the Net

A targeted resource for short story placements with potential for Pushcart recognition.

Fiction Magazines That Nominate for the Pushcart Prize

Looking for balance between prestige and accessibility? These magazines are competitive but attainable for poetry, fiction, and nonfiction writers.

Literary Magazines in the Sweet Spot

Identifies publications that put forward outstanding online work for this respected digital anthology established in 2006.

Literary Magazines That Nominate for Best of the Net

Publications that nominate work for this respected anthology series founded in 2015 by Tara Masih to celebrate fiction under 1,000 words.

Literary Magazines That Nominate for Best Small Fictions

A comprehensive guide to journals that regularly nominate work for the Pushcart Prize.

Literary Magazines That Nominate for the Pushcart Prize

These magazines have the fastest response times, so you won't be left hanging for months. No more endless waiting. Just, you know, regular waiting.

Literary Magazines with the Fastest Response Times

All-time most competitive literary magazines. Getting published in these is a significant achievement for any writer.

Most Competitive Literary Magazines of All Time

Explore the most popular literary magazines of all time. These long-established publications are a staple in the literary world for writers of all genres.

Most Popular Literary Magazines of All Time

Digital publications nominating outstanding essays and creative nonfiction for Best of the Net.

Nonfiction Magazines That Nominate for Best of the Net

Highlights publications that regularly put forward essays, memoirs, and other creative nonfiction for Pushcart consideration.

Nonfiction Magazines That Nominate for the Pushcart Prize

Online journals that specifically champion poetry for Best of the Net consideration.

Poetry Magazines That Nominate for Best of the Net

Focuses specifically on poetry journals with established histories of Pushcart nominations.

Poetry Magazines That Nominate for the Pushcart Prize

L'Esprit Literary Review

The Leopold Bloom Prize for Innovative Narration
L'Esprit Literary Review 
Judged by Michael Nath
We are excited to announce that we've partnered with Chill Subs through their Contest Transparency Program. Because the Bloom Prize meets their standards of transparency & fairness, Chill Subs is offering several additional prizes.
Find the contest score on Chill Subs' calculator here.
L'Esprit seeks short fiction exhibiting exceptional ingenuity and vision in narration. $500 and publication in the journal awarded to the winner; $150 and publication to Second Place; $50 and publication to three (3) Finalists. All entries include a digital edition of our next full issue.
In a short story or novel excerpt of up to 5,000 words, we are searching for risk-adept narration that challenges the conventions of prose and composition. All excerpts must stand on their own. Both first- and third-person work will be considered. Pieces with emotional depth and urgency that take sophisticated narrative risks in terms of both sentence and story will be in the strongest contention. We are drawn above all to voice and style. Surprise us. We look for fiction that accelerates form irrevocably into content.
All entries will receive one free month of any Chill Subs Membership. Additionally, Chill Subs will provide the Grand Prize Winner with 5 years (worth $1000) of Membership. Second and third place will receive 2 years ($400 value), while finalists will receive 1 year ($200 value). These are in addition to the monetary prizes and publication from L’Esprit. All Finalists and Shortlist nominees, as well as a potential longlist, will be announced permanently on the journal website. See the previous results–and read all five Finalist stories in the 2025 Prize–here.
In the first round of judging, the L'Esprit team will assemble a shortlist--and potentially a longlist--based on technical-mechanical skill, acuity in blending verisimilar narrative elements with robust narrational architecture, and prosody. Longlist announcements will be made on a rolling basis.
At the close of submissions, the L'Esprit Editors will select from the longlist a group of finalists to be sent to the Guest Judge. Shortlist, Finalists, and any Honorable Mentions will be announced permanently on the journal website. All entries will be considered for paid publication in the journal. Our most recent contest received 238 total submissions.
The Grand Prize Winner and Second Place Award will be selected, via blind read, from this pool of finalists by Guest Judge Michael Nath; see more on Michael's background and interests below.
We have two options for entrance. A $10 fee includes a complimentary digital copy of L’Esprit Issue Seven, featuring writing from Kathleen Rooney, Christopher Linforth, Art O’Connor, Kat Meads, Robert Cunningham, and more. Issue Seven also features the Grand Prize Winner, Second Place Award, and Finalists from the 2025 Clarissa Dalloway Prize for Short Prose. This high-resolution version is optimized for reading on tablets and other devices, allowing the issue to be experienced as designed, immersive and rich.
A $15 fee includes the digital copy of I7 plus an Expedited Response; we will prioritize your submission and reply with a decision about the longlist phase within three days. This option may be ideal for those who are planning to submit their piece elsewhere and would especially benefit from a quick response. If the fee presents a genuine difficulty, please email us about a waiver.
 
We accept simultaneous submissions; please let us know right away if a piece has been offered elsewhere. Likewise, multiple submissions are welcome, with an individual submission and payment for each piece.
 
All proceeds directly help support the journal and pay writers; contests are vital to help us offset costs such as promoting our contributors at AWP, hosting live and virtual reading events, and paying for print copies for each issue. These expenses are never fully covered by contest proceeds--our editors pay for much of the journal's operating costs out of pocket--but are a significant help.

 
L'Esprit does not discriminate based on the background, education, or identity of those who send work to us. All work is evaluated solely on merit, without regard for any other consideration whatsoever. We encourage those of all backgrounds and experiences to send in their work, and look for writing exploring the range of the human condition.  
Please include the following with each submission:  

  A third-person bio, to be used as the contributor’s note should your work be accepted.
  Social media handles (Twitter and Instagram), if you’d like to be promoted online.
  An optional cover letter to introduce the work, yourself, provide some context to your submission, or mention how it celebrates narration; please note that this in no way impacts the likelihood of publication.
  Finally, we would appreciate knowing how you found the journal (social, ad listing, database search, reference, etc).  

See our complete guidelines on our website.  
Thank you for your support of fearless writing.

 
Michael Nath is a British author and academic. His first novel, La Rochelle (Route, 2010), was shortlisted for the James Tait Prize (2011). His second British Story (Route, 2014) was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. His third novel, The Treatment, was published by Quercus (Riverrun) in 2020. Michael's fiction and articles have also appeared in Stand, New Welsh Review, Critical Quarterly, and various anthologies. Extracts from British Story were translated into Spanish (Argonauta 3, 2016). As an academic, he teaches at the University of Westminster, London, specializing in Creative Writing, Modernism, Shakespeare, and the Renaissance.

2026 Leopold Bloom Prize for Innovative Narration

The 2025 Clarissa Dalloway Prize for Short Prose will be awarded to the best work of prose–fiction, nonfiction, or hybrid work–under 5,000 words. There are no other requirements; we’ll simply be looking for the best work we can find, inspired by the exceptional writing of Virginia Woolf in this, the 100th anniversary of Mrs Dalloway.

$500 and publication to the Grand Prize winner; $100 and publication to Second Place. All entries receive a digital copy of Issue Six and are considered for publication.

2025 Clarissa Dalloway Prize for Short Prose

General Submissions to Issue Nine
&nbsp;
Publication Date: October, 2026

L’Esprit Literary Review publishes writing that is fearless, risk-adept, and revolutionary. We accept short fiction, creative non-fiction, novel extracts, drama, literary criticism, autotheory, and book reviews. Pieces incorporating research, footnotes, and/or a works cited page are welcome.

We invite simultaneous submissions and work in translation. Please do let us know if a piece is under consideration elsewhere, and if it is accepted, it is the translator’s responsibility to secure all necessary permissions before submitting.

L'Esprit does not discriminate based on the background, education, or identity of those who send work to us. All work is evaluated solely on merit, without regard for any other consideration whatsoever. We encourage those of all backgrounds and experiences to send in their work, and look for writing exploring the range of the human condition.
&nbsp;
Please include the following with each submission:
&nbsp;

  A third-person bio, to be used as the contributor’s note, should your work be accepted.
  Social media handles (Bluesky and Instagram), if you’d like to be promoted online.
  An optional cover letter to introduce the work, yourself, or provide some context to your submission; please note that this in no way impacts the likelihood of publication.
  Finally, we would appreciate knowing how you found the journal (social, ad listing, database search, reference, etc), and your answer to the following: What is the most overlooked novel of all time?


All submissions will be considered for both Issue Eight--to be published in print, digital, and online formats--and upcoming Quarterly Features, which will appear online only. Accepted pieces will be placed in one of these releases, with all such decisions made at the sole discretion of the editors.
&nbsp;
See our complete guidelines, including genre-specific notes and details about personalized feedback options, on our website.
&nbsp;
Thank you for your support of fearless writing.

Issue Nine

L’Esprit seeks short fiction exhibiting exceptional ingenuity and vision in narration, now sponsored by Chill Subs’ Contest Transparency Program.<div><br></div><div>$500 and publication in the journal awarded to the winner; $200 and publication to Second Place; $100 and publication to Third Place; and $50 to two (2) Finalists. All entries include a digital edition of our next full issue and are considered for publication.</div><div><br></div><div>In a short story or novel excerpt of up to 5,000 words, we are searching for risk-adept narration that challenges the conventions of prose and composition. All excerpts must stand on their own. Both first- and third-person work will be considered. Pieces with emotional depth and urgency that take sophisticated narrative risks in terms of both sentence and story will be in the strongest contention. We are drawn above all to voice and style. Surprise us. We look for fiction that accelerates form irrevocably into content.</div><div><br></div><div>All entries will receive one free month of any Chill Subs Membership. Additionally, Chill Subs will provide the Grand Prize Winner with 5 years (worth $1000) of Membership. Second and third place will receive 2 years ($400 value), while finalists will receive 1 year ($200 value). These are in addition to the monetary prizes and publication from L’Esprit.

The Grand Prize Winner and Second Place Award will be selected, via blind read, from this pool of finalists by Guest Judge Michael Nath; see more on Michael’s background and interests below. L’Esprit is a proud member of CLMP and abides by the CLMP Contest Code of Ethics.

L’Esprit does not discriminate based on the background, education, or identity of those who send work to us. All work is evaluated solely on merit, without regard for any other consideration whatsoever. Please find our full guidelines on our website.</div>

2027 Leopold Bloom Prize for Innovative Narration

Indirect Books will source the majority of our published work from the slush pile, building relationships with talented authors and championing their work at all stages. We are open to submissions of novels, story collections, essay collections, memoirs, and hybrid projects. We will gladly consider translations accompanied by all necessary rights. ​We do not consider genre work.
Above all, we are seeking risk-adept, language-driven writing that pushes the boundaries of form and rests comfortably beyond convention.
See our website for more detailed guidelines. We are seeking risk-adept, language-driven writing that pushes the boundaries of form and rests comfortably beyond convention.
Substantive Guidelines
Please send us sample pages from a section of your manuscript, beginning with the opening, up to 5,000 words. To accompany your submission, please include a brief author bio, including publication history, alongside a query letter with the following information:

  Word count
  1-2 sentence pitch
  2-3 paragraph synopsis
  Comp titles

We respond to all submissions, and we work to do so within six weeks. If you need to edit your submission (query letter or sample pages), please use the 'request edit' feature on Submittable. Minor errors and typos will not affect the result of your query.
If we feel your submission may be a fit with our acquisition interests and production capacities, we will request a full manuscript. At that stage, we will do our best to read and reply to material within 1-2 months. We estimate a publication timeline of 1-2 books per year.
Formatting Guidelines 

  All submissions should be in Times New Roman, 12pt font, double spaced, one-inch margins.
  Please include page numbers.
  We can only consider work written in or translated into English, but welcome (and do not alter) British, Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand English in addition to American English.
  Please proofread and only send us polished, completed work.

We look forward to reading your work. Thank you for your support of fearless writing.

Indirect Books General Submissions

L’Esprit Literary Review accepts visual art to accompany stories in print, digital, and online. 

 This form is for artwork and photography only.
Images should be high-resolution, 300+ DPI images, in black-and-white. Both landscape and portrait orientation accepted.Please see past issues (beginning with Issue One) for a sense of the type of work we seek.
 
 Please include the following with each submission:
 

  A third-person bio, to be used as the contributor’s note should your work be accepted.
  Social media handles (Bluesky and Instagram), if you’d like to be promoted online.
  An optional cover letter to introduce the work, yourself, or provide some context to your submission; please note that this in no way impacts the likelihood of publication.
  Finally, we would appreciate knowing how you found the journal (social, ad listing, database search, reference, etc).

Thank you for your support of fearless writing.

Artwork and Photography

General Submissions to Issue Eight
 
Publication Date: Mid-April, 2026

L’Esprit Literary Review publishes writing that is fearless, risk-adept, and revolutionary. We accept short fiction, creative non-fiction, novel extracts, drama, literary criticism, autotheory, and book reviews. Pieces incorporating research, footnotes, and/or a works cited page are welcome.

We invite simultaneous submissions and work in translation. Please do let us know if a piece is under consideration elsewhere, and if it is accepted, it is the translator’s responsibility to secure all necessary permissions before submitting.

L'Esprit does not discriminate based on the background, education, or identity of those who send work to us. All work is evaluated solely on merit, without regard for any other consideration whatsoever. We encourage those of all backgrounds and experiences to send in their work, and look for writing exploring the range of the human condition.
 
Please include the following with each submission:
 

  A third-person bio, to be used as the contributor’s note, should your work be accepted.
  Social media handles (Bluesky and Instagram), if you’d like to be promoted online.
  An optional cover letter to introduce the work, yourself, or provide some context to your submission; please note that this in no way impacts the likelihood of publication.
  Finally, we would appreciate knowing how you found the journal (social, ad listing, database search, reference, etc), and your answer to the following: What is the most overlooked novel of all time?


All submissions will be considered for both Issue Eight--to be published in print, digital, and online formats--and upcoming Quarterly Features, which will appear online only. Accepted pieces will be placed in one of these releases, with all such decisions made at the sole discretion of the editors.
 
See our complete guidelines, including genre-specific notes and details about personalized feedback options, on our website.
 
Thank you for your support of fearless writing.

Issue Eight

The Clarissa Dalloway Prize for Short Prose
L'Esprit Literary Review
Guest Judged by Lucy Ives
L’Esprit seeks short prose of exceptional vision and skill, now sponsored by Chill Subs’ Contest Transparency Program. See full guidelines and prize information below.
The 2026 Clarissa Dalloway Prize for Short Prose will be awarded to the best piece of fiction, nonfiction, or hybrid work under 5,000 words. There are no other requirements; we’ll simply be looking for the best writing we can find, true to the journal’s mission of publishing risk-adept, language-driven writing crafted in a revolutionary spirit. We welcome pieces that challenge convention in form, style, and/or content, and which invite us to think differently about the world.
While we are inspired by Virginia Woolf and Mrs Dalloway, submissions do not need to relate to Woolf or the novel directly.
All entries will receive one free month of any Chill Subs Membership. Additionally, Chill Subs will provide the Grand Prize Winner with 5 years (worth $1000) of Membership. Second and third place will receive 2 years ($400 value), while finalists will receive 1 year ($200 value). These are in addition to the monetary prizes and publication from L’Esprit, as follows:
$500 and publication to the Grand Prize winner; $150 and publication to Second Place; $100 and publication to Third Place; $50 and publication to two (2) Finalists. Shortlist, Finalists, and any Honorable Mentions will be announced permanently on the journal website. See the previous results–and read all five Finalist stories in the 2025 Prize–here.
All entries receive a digital copy of Issue Eight and are considered for paid publication in the journal.
*
In the first round of judging, the L'Esprit team will assemble a shortlist based on technical-mechanical skill, acuity in blending verisimilar narrative elements with robust narrational architecture, and prosody. Shortlist announcements will be made on a rolling basis. At the close of submissions, the L'Esprit editors will select from the shortlist a group of five finalists to be sent to the Guest Judge. Shortlist, Finalists, and any Honorable Mentions will be announced permanently on the journal website. All entries will be considered for paid publication in the journal.
The Grand Prize Winner, Second Place, and Third Place will be selected, via blind read, from this pool of finalists by Guest Judge Lucy Ives.
We have two options for entry. A $10 fee includes a complimentary digital copy of L'Esprit Issue Eight, featuring writing from Maggie Armstrong, Jennifer McMahon, Miah Jeffra, and more. Issue Eight also features the Grand Prize Winner, Second Place Award, and Finalists from the 2026 Leopold Bloom Prize for Innovative Narration. This high-resolution version is optimized for reading on tablets and other devices, allowing the issue to be experienced as designed, immersive and rich.
A $15 fee includes the digital copy of Issue Eight plus an Expedited Response; we will prioritize your submission and reply with a decision about the shortlist phase within three days. This option may be ideal for those who are planning to submit their piece elsewhere and would especially benefit from a quick response.
We accept simultaneous submissions; please let us know right away if a piece has been offered elsewhere. Likewise, multiple submissions are welcome, with an individual submission and payment for each piece.
All proceeds help support the journal and pay contributors.
*
L'Esprit does not discriminate based on the background, education, or identity of those who send work to us. All work is evaluated solely on merit, without regard for any other consideration whatsoever. We encourage those of all backgrounds and experiences to send in their work, and look for writing exploring the range of the human condition.
Please include the following with each submission:
A third-person bio, to be used as the contributor’s note should your work be accepted.
Social media handles (Bluesky and Instagram), if you’d like to be promoted online.
An optional cover letter to introduce the work, yourself, provide some context to your submission; please note that this in no way impacts the likelihood of publication.
Finally, we would appreciate knowing how you found the journal (social, ad listing, database search, reference, etc).
See our complete guidelines on our website.
Thank you for your support of fearless writing.
*
Lucy Ives is a novelist and critic. Her most recent books, both from Graywolf Press, are Life Is Everywhere: A Novel and An Image of My Name Enters America: Essays, winner of the 2024 Vermont Book Award in Creative Nonfiction. Her work has appeared in Harper’s, The New York Times Book Review, The Paris Review, and Vogue, among other publications.
A recipient of an Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant, she has taught at Brown, Cornell, and New York Universities. In May 2026, siglio press will release Ives’s three six five: prompts, acts, divinations, a year-long daybook of philosophical exercises for writing and other forms of creative practice.

Short Prose Contest

Indirect Books is pleased to announce the J. Alfred Prufrock Prize for Poetry, open to full-length collections in any style or form.
The Prize—which includes $1,000 USD, twenty-five (25) author copies, and publication & promotion with Indirect Books—will be given to the manuscript which best demonstrates command of language and style alongside a sustained commitment to formal innovation and thematic depth. Generally speaking, in poetry, we are more inspired by focus and technique than expanse and discourse.
We’re interested in poetry that presents unique voice, engages in formal play, and which centers a palpable delight in language as its engine. We love being surprised by a line break, an errant word choice, and poetry that isn’t afraid to subvert our expectations.
As with all our published work, we seek risk-adept, language-driven writing that pushes the boundaries of form and rests comfortably beyond convention.
Guidelines
Submit a previously unpublished, full-length poetry manuscript, in English.
The Prize will be open from March 1-May 31, 2026.
The entry fee is $25. We have a limited number of fee waivers we can offer; if the fee is a genuine barrier to entrance, please email us.
We anticipate that shortlist announcements will be made by mid-June; finalists by the end of June; and the winner by the end of August.
There are no length requirements; full-length collections of poetry typically run between 48-100 pages.
Material in your manuscript may have been published previously in a chapbook, magazines, journals, or anthologies, but the work as a whole must be unpublished.
For a modest additional fee, we offer expedited feedback: your submission will be given a prioritized read, and we will notify you with a shortlist determination within two weeks.
Do not include your name or identifying information on the manuscript itself. However, please do include this information–including a third person brief bio–in the cover letter on Submittable.
Translations of complete, preexisting manuscripts already published in another language and/or previously self-published books are not eligible.
You may submit multiple manuscripts, but each must be treated as an individual submission, submitted separately and with a separate fee.
Please let us know immediately if your manuscript is accepted elsewhere.
We consider using AI to generate your manuscript, in whole or in part, as disqualifying. Such manuscripts will be rejected outright and no refund will be offered.
See full rules, terms, and conditions on our website.

L'Esprit Literary Review

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