We publish work by Lesbians. We are particularly interested in work that reflects the diversity of our experiences: as Lesbians of color, ethnic Lesbians, Jewish, Arab, old, young, working class, poverty class, disabled, and fat Lesbians. We welcome experimental work. We will not print anything that is oppressive or demeaning to Lesbians or women, or that perpetuates stereotypes. We keep an open and critical dialogue on all the issues that affect our lives, joy, and survival.
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.
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:
- Book proposals should include substantive information about the marketing and promotional efforts that the author or editor plans to undertake to support the book.
- Authors or editors must provide a thoughtful paragraph about why the proposed book fits within the publishing programs of Sinister Wisdom and how the book is of interest to contemporary lesbians and queer women as well as how it builds on the cultural traditions of lesbian and lesbian-feminist writing.
- Please include a realistic timeline for delivering the full manuscript and recognize that the time from the date of delivery of the full manuscript until the final publication date is usually at least two years.
- Books published by Sinister Wisdom are distributed through IPG and reach a broad trade audience.
- Book publishing is a slow art form. It will take us at least 6 months to respond to your submission.
Thank you for considering Sinister Wisdom for your book project!
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.
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.