Submissions wanted (essay, prose, poetry) | $150 per piece

COMPANY/PUBLICATION: TACO BELL QUARTERLY

Deadline: 31 August 2025

TBQ8 Call: Bring Us Your Stacks of Pages

My kids make books all the time for fun. Both of them want to be writers and artists when they grow up. I feel like this is my fault. I’ve made it look too fun. They bring me their stacks of pages, begging for the stapler, as if the stapler contains magical powers, as if the act of binding together the book is what makes it real. I staple three neat clicks and I’ve made it look real. Something more real to pretend with, at least.

We are back, pretending to make our literary magazine again. We are the Taco Bell Quarterly, a Prestigious Literary Magazine.

We are looking for prose, poetry, art, and beyond for our eighth issue, which will be available to read for free online, and to buy in print in the late fall. We will pay $150.

What are we looking for: works of literature that intersect with Taco Bell

Does it have to be about Taco Bell? Does it have to mention it? It’s the Taco Bell Quarterly. The joke is that it’s our only guideline. Also, we do not have any guidelines. We have no rules. You can say whatever you want. We have an aesthetic. We have a vibe. Read our last 3 issues especially to get a sense of the direction we’ve been going in.

But also, yes, it can and should be about Taco Bell too, because that is the joke of the literary magazine, in which every piece has a recurring product placement. Because life might happen in a Taco Bell, or with a Taco Bell logo in the background for a moment. That moment of product placement may be chosen sincerely, sarcastically, however you see fit to tell your story and land in The Taco Bell Quarterly. Why that moment? Why are you telling that story? It’s probably not the Taco Bell. And we’re not Taco Bell. We’re just the strangers in the background listening in on your conversations. Tell us a good story.

We are interested in presenting pieces that are in conversation with one another, and often the mention of Taco Bell is the tiny thread that connects these larger stories.

What are we interested in promoting alongside Taco Bell? The gender ideology, trans rights, Free Palestine, Black Lives Matter, etc.

Send us your war plans, stories, poems, art, comics, scientific research banned by the government, manifestos, Spanish language pieces, sea shanties, deep dives, recipes, games, and other things that would scare the Dandy and make him puke in his top hat.

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CONTACT INFORMATION:

Submissions: Via Submittable

Website: https://tacobellquarterly.org/

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