Submission Guidelines
Submissions for Backstory Journal Issue Fifteen are OPEN from March 18, 2025
Submissions will close on April 21st, 2025.
Issue 15’s theme is ‘History’. This can be interpreted however the author chooses.
We look forward to reading your works!
Submit to our email:
Submission guidelines
Poetry:
- Please format in Times New Roman, 12 pt, single line spacing, left-justified – unless your piece requires its own specific formatting (see below).
- Please submit the file as: Word, .pdf.
Fiction:
- Please send us no more than two pieces, 1,200 words max.
- All work should be double spaced and in twelve-point font.
- Please submit the file as: Word, .pdf.
Non-fiction:
- Please send us no more than two pieces, 1,200 words max.
- All work should be double spaced and in twelve-point font.
- Please submit the file as: Word, .pdf.
When submitting your work for consideration, please include a page at the front of your submission that states:
- Your name.
- Any notes about the intention, style or genre of the work that you would like the reviewer to take into consideration.
- The word count of the piece.
We will accept no more than two entries per person. Please only submit previously unpublished work. The use of AI generated work is strictly prohibited.
Style Guide
Quotations:
Use single quotes for quotations.
Numbers:
Dates:
Eras: 60s
Years: 1930-1931 (no space around hyphen)
Biographical Note:
Please always include a short biography (100 words) with your submission.
Citation and Bibliographic system:
Articles should be in author-date Harvard style
For example:
(Smith 2008, p. 7)
And under References at the conclusion of the article:
Benjamin, W, Bullock, M, & Jennings, M 1996, Critique of Violence, Selected Writings; Volume 1; 1913-1926, Belknap Press, London.
Davenport-Hines, R 1999, Gothic: Four Hundred Years of Excess, Horror, Evil and Ruin, North Point Press, New York.
Endnotes rather than footnotes:
Avoid footnotes in favour of endnotes. If using endnotes, numbers rather than roman numerals are preferred.
Telling a War That Does Not Speak its Name: Yasmina Khadra’s Noir Novels
(2 hard returns, bold, centred) Mohamed Aït-Aarab
(one hard return, roman) University of Réunion
D.I.R.E. Research Centre (Déplacements, Identités, Regards, Écritures)
Introduction (i.e. 2 hard returns, no tab/indent i.e. flush to the margin, bold)
On the 26th of December 1991, the FIS (Front Islamique du Salut, Islamic Salvation Front) won the first round of the Algerian etc etc etc (one hard return, no tab/indent).
Subheading (i.e. one hard return, no tab/indent i.e. flush to the margin, bold)
Where there were many conflicts etc (one hard return, no tab/indent i.e. flush to margin).
By submitting work, you:
- Grant to Swinburne a permanent, irrevocable, royalty-free, non-exclusive license to reproduce and communicate the Work to the public in Backstory Journal.
- Release Swinburne from any and all claims or causes of action which may be pursued in respect of, or arising from, any exploitation of the Work.
- Agree to have the author’s name and a short biography of the author included in the online publication.
- Warrant that you own the copyright in the Work described above.
- Warrant that you own all necessary rights to enter this agreement.