Pitches/submissions wanted (Appalachia) | $250 to $500 per essay

COMPANY/PUBLICATION: MERGOAT

Deadline: 1 June 2023

Writers: new magazine alert! This exciting project out of Knoxville seeks essays and poems, and they pay. Mergoat Mag is a publication dedicated to investigating the contemporary ecological situation of Southern Appalachia and the cultures shaped by it. Rates: $500 for feature piece (3,000-6,000 words), $250 for secondary piece (1,000-2,500 words) $50 per poem (each selected poet gets 4 poems published, so $200 total). Submissions to submissions@mergoat.com, pitches and inquiries to hello@mergoat.com. Pitches or completed pieces both welcome!

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS FOR ISSUE NO.3

Deadline June 1st.

Email art + writing/abstracts + projects to submissions@mergoat.com.

No fee to submit. For general inquiries, email hello@mergoat.com.

The public discourse on trans existence in US society is misrepresented and fraught at best, and violent and genocidal at worst. Despite this, we believe there is something spectacularly queer at the heart of nature—something erased by colonial and industrial society. Accordingly, we seek insight from the voices of our Appalachian trans siblings as we work to reshape our collective understanding of nature and society.

Bodies weakened and minds foggy from the residue of ecological grief, we are nevertheless here. There is a lingering sense of emptiness as we gaze at the bare reality of ecological degradation. betrayed. lost. abandoned. We are immersed in the remainder, the void. Sure, we are here, but what is “here” as the earth becomes uninhabitable? To protect our future, we must find a way to transition. We exist within a transecological junction.

Wild nature — as we once imagined it, distinct from human artifice and society — is no longer plausible. We could ruminate in the freeze of trauma for a lifetime, fearfully waiting on what catastrophic outcomes may befall us. Or we could read the signs like an injunction: “Transition now!” Or we could reframe the old dictum, “Just transition!”

CONTACT INFORMATION (please do not share the email address publicly):

• Questions/submissions: submissions@mergoat.com
• Website: https://mergoat.com

TO HELP YOU CRAFT YOUR PITCH:

• Learn more about the publication: Mergoat is a publication that seeks to explore the intersection of ecological apocalypse and restorative futurity. It provides a collective, interdisciplinary record of the ecological situation throughout Southern Appalachia and the broader Southeast.
• Check out our collection of pitch excerpts on this page and find more sample pitches at The Open Notebook and at SuccessfulPitches.com.
• Do not forget to end your pitch with (1) a short introduction about yourself; (2) a few lines highlighting your writing experience, relevant credentials and publication credits; and (3) links to your strongest work or portfolio, and online profile.

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