a multicultural lesbian literary and art journal

Sinister Wisdom is a multicultural lesbian literary & art journal founded in 1976. Sinister Wisdom works to create multi-class, multicultural, multi-gender, multi-racial, world-wide intergenerational queer and lesbian spaces. Through publishing quarterly issues, a Sapphic Classics book series, and offering educational programs, Sinister Wisdom nurtures lesbian communities. Sinister Wisdom is a living archive that celebrates the multiplicity of lesbian identities across races, classes, genders, abilities, and lived experiences. Sinister Wisdom recognizes the power of language and art to create radical, empowering, resilient, and joyous sanctuaries that build and sustain vibrant lesbian futures.

About Sinister Wisdom the Organization
Sinister Wisdom, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Sinister Wisdom publishes lesbian and queer literature, including four issues of the journal every year; a vital community newsletter twice a month; the Wild Shrew Literary Review of queer and lesbian books; a lesbian art calendar; and the Sapphic Classics series, reissuing beloved, out of print titles by iconic lesbian writers including Minnie Bruce Pratt, Cheryl Clarke, Beth Brant, Tatiana de la tierra, Joan Nestle, and Pat Parker. Sinister Wisdom also hosts lively, dynamic events throughout the year online and in-person, including book clubs, issue launches, discussions with authors, and more. Sinister Wisdom provides free subscriptions to women in prison and mental institutions and offers reduced price subscriptions for lesbians/queer women with limited or fixed incomes. Subscribe today, and join our brilliant lesbian and queer galaxy!

For Pride Month this year, we're featuring 20 of our favorite LGBTQ+ literary magazines. (Psst... if you're seeing this in June 2026, they're open right now, so don't miss out!)

LGBTQ+ Lit Mags We Love

Sinister Wisdom

What does butch-femme mean in lesbian and queer communities today?  What does it mean to live the pandemic, the surge in anti-trans and  anti-LGBTQ legislation, and the start of a second Trump presidency  through the lens of butch-femme? What are butch-femme communities doing  locally, nationally, to shape lesbian and queer lives? What sort of  butch-femme future are we building together? 
Sinister Wisdom’s Butch-Femme Renaissance issue is interested in all  genres and styles of writing and visual art from butch-femme identified  lesbian, dyke, queer, gender non-conforming and trans folks. If you live  a butch-femme lifestyle or see yourself in butch-femme dynamics — or  have something to say about why you don’t — we want to hear from you.
We are especially interested in reported work — interviews with local  community groups, Q&As, grassroots organizing features, essays, sex  and dating topics, photography and other visual arts. Here are some  ideas:

  Interviews and oral histories with butch-femme movers, shakers, organizers, community leaders, thinkers and lovers
  Profiles on local organizations, grassroots movements or  justice-seeking initiatives led by and for butches, femmes, studs,  stemmes, trans and gender non-conforming people
  Intergenerational dialogue on butch-femme culture
  Writing on butch-femme sex, love and dating (bonus points if you talk about OFOS dating, stone tops, pillow princesses or kink)
  Essays (including personal essays) on gender presentation, identity,  and “finding your own” (Example: the butch boxing class that changed my  life, how my wife and I planned our wedding as a butch-femme couple,  getting top surgery as a butch, t4t butch-femme dynamics, how you  organized and threw a butch-femme book club or fundraiser etc.)
  Any work that explores power and identity in critical and unexpected  ways — especially work that deals with politics, legislation, and  systems of oppression explicitly. We’re especially interested in  thinking about local and federal anti-LGBTQ legislation, anti-DEI and  anti-education initiatives, incarceration, student protests,  reproductive rights, healthcare, ID access and much much more. We are  particularly interested in hearing from butch-femme identified folks who  live rurally and/or in red states.
  Any work that questions, tests or maps the boundaries of butch-femme  culture. Where does butch-femme thrash and upend patriarchal  expectations, heteronormative social scripts, boredom? Or do you see  butch-femme as restricting? As exclusionary along race or class lines?  Sing it! The praise and the criticism. We want to hear from you.

The above ideas are primarily for written submissions — but we want  your illustrations, your photo journalism, your comics, your  photography, your genre-bending and gender-bending best in all  categories of art! 
We are particularly interested in hearing from BIPOC butch-femme  identified folks and from those who live rurally and/or in red states.  International submissions are strongly encouraged and will be  prioritized. 
Don’t go to the archives for this issue — get out on the street.  Think fresh. Think on-the-ground. Think about how you’d talk to your  best friend, not your professor. This issue is not overly interested in  the academic, the formal, the historical. So much of being lesbian,  queer, and trans is looking back, towards the past, to excavate traces  of yourself and your community. That is vital, necessary work. But  that’s not the work of this issue. 
Submissions are accepted from July 1 to December 31, 2025 through the Sinister Wisdom Submittable.  Please submit one document, even if you are submitting multiple pieces,  up to 15 pages. Please include a brief bio and any social media links  as well.
Written submissions can be in any language — but must include an  English translation. You are welcome to use a pseudonym if you are  concerned about privacy. Submissions are open to writers and artists of  all experience levels, no previous publication required.
Please share this call widely on social media! And direct any questions to sara.gregory91@gmail.com 
Editor Bio
Sara Youngblood Gregory (she/they) is an  award-winning lesbian journalist, editor, and author. She writes about  power, identity, health, and culture. Sara is currently a Contributing Writer and Editing Fellow for Yes! Magazine,  covering LGBTQ equity, politics, and culture. Formerly, she was a  wellness staff writer for PS. Their work has been featured in The New York Times, the New Republic, Vice, New York Magazine, Teen Vogue, Cosmopolitan, The Guardian, and many others. Read more here! 
Sara serves on the board of the lesbian literary and arts journal Sinister Wisdom, having lent a hand most recently on Sinister Wisdom 128 Trans/Feminisms.  As a poet, Sara has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Best of the  Net, and Best New Voices. Her debut, speculative poetry collection DEAD  BOYS IN SPACE won the 2023 Pamet River Prize from YesYes Books and is  forthcoming Fall 2026. Her chapbook RUN. is out now.

Butch-Femme Renaissance

Lesbian Writing (General):  
	Material may be in any style or form, or combination of forms.
 	Maximum: five poems, two short stories or essays, OR one longer piece of up to 5,000 words.
 	Please proofread your work carefully; do not send us changes after the deadline.
 	Please send a short contributor biography between 25 and 125 words with your submission.
Sinister Wisdom acquires first North American serial rights for all work that we publish. By acquiring first North American serial rights, authors guarantee that publication in Sinister Wisdom will be the first publication in North America. That is, the work has not appeared previously in another journal, in a book, online, or in other forms of publication. In rare instances, Sinister Wisdom will reprint work that has been previously published. Authors should discuss with the editor and publisher PRIOR to submission. 
Many questions about rights are answered here: https://www.pw.org/content/copyright 
Upon publication, all rights revert to the author.

Writing Nonfiction

Sinister Wisdom uses three pieces of full-color visual art each year for the cover of the journal. We invite visual artists to submit .jpg or .tif files of their work for consideration through Submittable.
In addition, Sinister Wisdom selects 12-14 works of full-color visual art for our annual calendar. Submit .jpg or .tif files here as well for consideration.
If your work is selected, you will have to provide us high-quality .tiff files to print the cover.
We print black and white images in the pages of the journal and invite artists to submit black and white images as .jpg or .gif files for consideration. Again, if work is selected, you will have to provide us with high-quality.tiff files to print inside the pages of the journal.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
This Sinister Wisdom issue aims to explore a new term – ecolesbianism – and what it can offer us 
in this climate crisis. As guest editors who share resonant but different experiences with ecology 
and lesbianism, we want to connect with people interested in, identified by, and/or provoked by 
the ecolesbian concept, while advancing the depth of the ecolesbian conversation as we explore 
the futures it prompts us to imagine and work towards. In this issue, we are asking: what is 
“ecolesbianism” and what can its future/s hold?
This call welcomes non-essentialized takes on gender and lesbianism and a diversity of queer 
identities exploring the concept of ecolesbianism. We welcome submissions of fiction, 
non-fiction, poetry, interviews, visual art (e.g. illustrations, photographs, collages), and 
genre-non-specific work, up to 5,000 words. We expect submissions to have an informed 
understanding of intersectionality across issues (eg, disability and racial justice), and to 
incorporate such perspectives where possible. For thematic guidance, authors can approach the 
ecolesbian concept broadly, or take inspiration from these further questions:

  What does it take to be an ecolesbian? What is the scope of ecolesbianism, and can it 
  move us beyond gender-essentialized views of lesbianism?
  How is climate change affecting lesbian practices and perspectives? Can we be informed 
  by lesbian experiences from areas facing extreme climate change?
  How might distinct lesbian niches (e.g. trans lesbians, Black lesbians, butch culture) 
  inform the ecolesbian concept and movement?
  Building upon established concepts such as ecofeminism, ecosexuality, and queer 
  ecologies, what new insights can ecolesbianism or lesbian ecologies offer to our activism, 
  relationships, writing, thinking, and being?

INSTRUCTIONS FOR SUBMISSION
Expected timeline:

  By 1st February 2026: Contributors to submit final drafts to the editorial team for 
  review. Details on what is expected of each submission is listed below and clarifications 
  can also be found in the journal’s submission guidelines page. Editorial process may 
  involve communication with authors throughout upon submission, potentially including 
  but not limited to revision requests.
  By 1st August 2026: Editorial team to send final confirmation of acceptance for 
  inclusion in the journal.
  2027/2028: Issue published.

Please direct inquiries to the Sinister Wisdom Guest Editorial team at: 
isabella.b.nunez@gmail.com, 
yasmin@u.yale-nus.edu.sg, and 
maxlopez@nus.edu.sg with the 
subject line “Sinister Wisdom Special Issue – [Title of your piece]”. Submissions can be made on 
the Sinister Wisdom Submittable page.

  Submissions in non-English and/or multiple languages are welcome. The editorial team 
  speaks English, Spanish, and Cantonese, and will work to understand submissions in 
  other languages. Translations are welcome but not required.
  Written submissions files should be in a clearly legible font type and size. These may be 
  changed by the editorial team should the contribution be included in the final journal 
  issue.
  Written submissions should be in an editable WORD file format. Submission in other 
  types of file should be accompanied by a strong reason for it, and cooperation for 
  re-formatting may be required if the submission is incompatible with tools used to edit 
  the issue.
  Visual art submissions should be submitted in the highest quality possible, in a widely 
  downloadable format, e.g. PNG, JPEG, PDF.
  Written submissions have a 5,000 words limit.
  Submissions of previously published work will not be accepted.
  Contributors should indicate if they are comfortable with any part of their submission 
  being re-formatted into a creative product (e.g. magazine, poster, etc.). The issue will 
  primarily be published in a standard text and image format, and editors will explore 
  further presentation formats once all submissions are finalized.

FURTHER INTRODUCTION TO ECOLESBIANISM
Why are we putting together this issue, and why now?
Remaining hopeful amidst the state of global affairs necessitates work. Between climate change 
and a global swing towards an androcentric, (cis)heteronormative and techno-fascist far-right, the 
future of our intimacies seems far from guaranteed. The libertarian identity politics that promised 
freedom once upon a time now feel like a distracting façade, breaking our issues into digestible 
bites without apparent connections between one or the other. The time for solidarity is long 
overdue – both across queer groups and across species. We cannot risk the mistake of 
understanding our mutual struggle as a human issue exclusively. The taxonomization of life into 
species is a colonial impulse which has produced hierarchical boundaries between the human and 
the ‘sub-human’ that have hurt us collectively. The same logic governs the ideology of 
transphobia for example, imposing a prescriptive taxonomy of gender onto human life. Our 
queer ontologies, and more specifically our lesbian ontologies, will not find a breakthrough for 
as long as we remain operating as humans for humans, neglecting our other-than-human kin with 
whom political, personal, and communal horizons are yet to be built. As ecolesbians, we want to 
see what could happen if we apply the unique passion, voracity, and thrill of lesbian love to our 
relationship with the Earth.
This Sinister Wisdom issue emerges from a Singapore-published zine “The Anthropussy: an 
ecolesbian manifesto” (2024) which introduced ecolesbianism as an extension of our lesbian 
principles and gender-marginalised intimacy onto our relationships with the environment and 
more-than-human kin. The idea of the ‘Anthropussy’, playing with the scholarly term 
‘Anthropocene’, alludes to the erotic and utopian potential we carry within this era of 
unprecedented anthropogenic climate change. It combines an environmentalist recognition of the 
climate crisis with a feminist and queer theory analysis of the vulva as a symbol for vast 
potential, pleasure, intimacy, and expansiveness that a lesbian experience of interspecies 
relationships might involve, while seeing kinship with the non-human as a way to transgender 
(verb) the cisgender body.
We are also particularly interested in futures, or futurity, in this issue. For the queer body, the 
concept of ‘the future’ is laden with uncertainty – we are not guaranteed the political rights, 
health care, and social acceptance that we need, but still we move forward. Our climate future is 
of course marked with uncertainty as well. What places are becoming uninhabitable, and for 
whom? What will become of what we call ‘nature’? And where can we find what Anna Tsing 
(2015) calls a “third nature”: that which lives despite capitalism? We hope this issue will call 
back to connections made in Sinister Wisdom 77 “Environmental Issues/Lesbian Concerns”, with 
an updated political landscape and concern for futurity. We are inspired by scholars like Donna 
Haraway, Gloria Anzaldúa, José Esteban Muñoz, and Kim Tallbear, and by our own queer 
communities, persisting on this uncertain earth and living despite capitalism. And we want to be 
inspired by more – by you! We want to collect stories, perspectives, visions, and all sorts of 
explorations of our Ecolesbian Futures.
GUEST EDITORIAL TEAM
Isabella Blea Nuñez (they/she)

Colorado, USA

isabella.b.nunez@gmail.com

Izzy is a community organizer based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and a co-author of “The 
Anthropussy.” Izzy’s understanding of ecolesbianism has evolved in recent years through 
experiences in small-scale agriculture, healing justice, and food systems work.
Yasmin Sani (they/he)

Singapore

yasmin@u.yale-nus.edu.sg

Yasmin is a writer and researcher currently based in Singapore. They received their B.A. with 
Honours in Environmental Studies from Yale-NUS College. Drawing from the environmental 
humanities and political ecology, Yasmin works across archival research, critical theory, and 
site-specific inquiry.
Max D. López Toledano (they/she)

Singapore

maxlopez@nus.edu.sg

Max is an anthropologist based at the NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, with 
particular interest in queer sports scenes across the world, transgender issues, and in how ‘the 
future’ is defined, experienced, anticipated, negotiated, claimed, and challenged by different 
communities. This includes but is not limited to the consequences of anthropogenic 
environmental change, epidemiological notions of ‘preparedness’, or the gendered politics of 
reproductive futurity. As a trans lesbian, Max wonders how untethering lesbianism from 
prescriptive ideals of the body may expand our understanding beyond the realm of gender and 
sexuality, possibly even across species lines.

Ecolesbian Futures

Sinister Wisdom is excited to announce a special issue dedicated to reproductive justice (RJ) and
  lesbianism1/queerness. This issue seeks to answer: what is the role of lesbians in the RJ movement?
  We want to explore the ways in which RJ matters to our community. Reproductive justice is a framework
  that was coined by women of color in the 1990s from the intersections of reproductive rights, social
  justice, feminism, and the broader struggle for liberation. The National Black Women’s Reproductive
  Justice Agenda2 defines RJ as the “human right to control our sexuality, our gender, our work and our
  reproduction.” It is a framework that addresses not just the legal right to access reproductive health
  services, but also the social, economic, and political conditions necessary for individuals to have the
  resources and support to make autonomous reproductive choices.2 RJ encompasses not only
  reproductive rights like in vitro fertilization, abortion and contraception, but also intersections between
  healthcare access, family-building options, the ability to make informed choices about our reproductive
  health and bodily autonomy.
This issue embraces a non-essentialized understanding of lesbianism. We expand this understanding to
  represent the diversity of lesbian lives and experiences. We do not seek to create further exclusion in the
  process. Lesbians are not exclusively cisgender women, and we are excited about and encourage
  submissions that hold and explore the nuances of trans and nonbinary lesbian experiences within
  reproductive justice. We hope to broaden, rather than constrain, both the lesbian label and the RJ
  movement.
We invite contributors to this issue to explore diverse topics within the umbrella of reproductive justice.
  These are the six tenets of reproductive justice we will explore in this issue. Tenets three, four, five and
  six were inspired by the women of the global majority who gathered at the International Conference on
  Population and Development held in Cairo, Egypt in 1994. We hope these are a good starting point to
  inspire submissions at the intersection of reproductive justice and queer/lesbian lives.

   Right to access affirming, affordable health care
 
    
      Affirms & supports our diverse genders and sexualities (e.g. high quality menopause
        care, access to safe and affordable gender-affirming surgeries)
      Prevents illness and supports us to be well throughout our lives (e.g. accessible and
        appropriate preventative screenings, access to healthy food)
      Research that is reflective of our communities
      Centers the most marginalized (e.g. disabled lesbians, trans lesbians, lesbians living with
        HIV, young lesbians)
    
      
 1. Right to tools/skills that promote bodily autonomy
 
    
      Access to comprehensive & inclusive knowledge about anatomy and how bodies work
        (e.g. how to perform self examinations; cervix angles, how to and why track
        menstruation cycles)
      Access to comprehensive, sex-positive, pleasure based, queer and trans-centered sex
        education
      Freedom from shame & violence around the complexity of our bodies (e.g. disability,
        fatness, transness, woman-ness, menstruation, old age)
    
      
 2.  Right to have children, decide how many, and under what conditions to give birth.
 
    
      Access to queer-affirming, culturally competent fertility care
      Queer birthing justice: second parent adoption, addressing racial politics of sperm
        donation (i.e. Black lesbians access to Black sperm donors)
    
      3. Right not to have children
 
    
      Access to abortion services, contraception, non-coercive sex
      Dignity for family structures that do not include children
    
     4.  Right to parent one’s own children in safe & healthy environments
 
    
      Equitable and affordable access to necessities like childcare, shelter, food and education
      Genocides and famine in Haiti, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Palestine: “The
        current colonial genocide of Palestinians by Israel draws direct parallels to reproductive
        injustice under and after colonialism, with the treatment of Palestinian mothers
        comparable to the way that [people of the global majority] in the U.S., especially
        Black and Indigenous people, are disproportionately affected by reproductive
        injustice.”3
    
  

5.  Right to be free of reproductive coercion and violence

  Centering self-determination for queer, lesbian, bisexual, trans & non-binary sex workers.
    
      Decriminalizing sex work and combatting stigma & discrimination against sex workers in our
        communities.
      Healthcare providers assuming you desire pregnancy
    
    Submission Guidelines and Timeline
  

Submissions are accepted from September 15, 2025 through March 31, 2026 through the
  Reproductive Justice Sinister Wisdom Submittable. Please submit one document, even if you are
  submitting multiple pieces, up to 15 pages. We encourage essays up to 5000 words, poems, photography
  (especially of lesbians and queer people involved in reproductive justice!!!), visual art (.jpg or .gif), and
  oral histories. If there is something you’d like to submit in a format not listed, please email Leonne Tanis at: otherwisecnm@gmail.com.
Written submissions can be in any language — but must include an  English translation. You are welcome to use a pseudonym if you are  concerned about privacy. Submissions are open to writers and artists of  all  experience levels, no previous publication experience required.  Visit Sinister Wisdom Submission Guidelines for more information. Be sure to include a brief bio and any social media links with your submission!
And please share this call widely through your network!
Direct any questions to Leonne Tanis at: otherwisecnm@gmail.com
Team Bios
Leonne Tanis, CNM, WHNP-BC, is a midwife and reproductive health nurse practitioner, who practices
  in New York City. She identifies as a Black, Haitian-American lesbian and her interests include building
  intergenerational queer communities and practicing reproductive justice in marginal communities.
Drewe Haddox is an artist and abortion doula based in Detroit. They love couchsurfing with queers
  all over the world and dancing in zumba class.
Izzy Nuñez is a Colorado (eco)lesbian who loves growing food, singing karaoke, and basking in
  queer community.
Margaret Zanmiller is a lesbian living and writing in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Additional team members: Kelsey McGarry, Eira Iris Lipkin, Claudia Vargas, Yemi Combahee


1 Lesbianism defined as intimacy between people of marginalized genders. 
2 https://blackrj.org/our-causes/reproductive-justice/. 
3 https://pressbooks.claremont.edu/gws183transfemtheories2024/chapter/sydney-mcgonigal-coloniality-and-reproductive-justice-in-palestine/

Reproductive Justice & Lesbianism

Writing Fiction

Writing Poetry

Since 2012, Sinister Wisdom has published a Sapphic Classics Series. You can see our Sapphic Classics here: https://www.sinisterwisdom.org/SapphicClassics
Sinister Wisdom welcomes book proposals and complete manuscripts for full-length book projects. Sinister Wisdom is looking for full-length book projects for both future Sapphic Classics (reprints of lesbian and feminist books) and contemporary books of interest to lesbian and queer women. Sinister Wisdom is especially interested in projects that draw from archival materials like Sister Love and Acts of Resistance.
Please note:
Thank you for considering Sinister Wisdom for your book project!

Sinister Wisdom

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Featured Call

Writing Nonfiction

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