Are you a writer or artist living on Vancouver Island, Haida Gwaii, Bella Coola, or the Gulf Islands?

Vancouver Island Regional Library (VIRL) is currently seeking literature and art submissions for our new serial digital publication, Sea & Cedar Magazine. The submission deadline to have your work considered for our Summer Issue (July 2021) has now passed. You can continue to submit to us year-round, and we will post deadlines for consideration in specific issues.

Sea & Cedar Magazine is a biannual digital publication dedicated to showcasing exemplary new writing by both emerging and established writers in VIRL’s service area. We also seek to highlight the work of visual artists who are creating at all levels of experience in VIRL’s service area. Our goal is to provide a platform for a diverse range of voices to be heard, to support the many talented and innovative individuals creating literature and art in our communities, and to provide our readership with access to engaging and thought-provoking local content.

We welcome and encourage submissions from BIPOC writers and artists, writers and artists with disabilities, 2SLGBTQIA+ writers and artists, low-income earners, and writers and artists from other intersectional and under-represented communities.

General Guidelines

Submissions will only be accepted from those who currently live on Vancouver Island, Haida Gwaii, Bella Coola, or the Gulf Islands. Email all submissions to seacedarmag@virl.bc.ca.

In the subject line of your email please include your full name and the type of submission you are making (art, poetry, short fiction, or creative nonfiction).

Writing Submissions

We are accepting submissions of poetry, short fiction, and creative nonfiction. 

Before submitting, please ensure that your work is:

  • Typed in readable font (ideally 12 point, Times Roman), and sent in .doc, .docx, or .pdf format
  • Double-spaced for prose, single-spaced for poetry
  • Free of typos
  • If more than one page: numbered with the author’s name and title of the piece in the header.

Be sure to include in a separate .doc, .docx, or .pdf file:

  • A cover letter with all contact information: mailing address, email and phone number, title(s) of each piece you are submitting, and the genre of work (e.g. poetry, short fiction, creative non-fiction) and a total page and word count.
  • A brief biographical note of 60 words or less, including gender pronouns, and written in the third person. Use the form of your name that you would like to see in print.

Please submit to only one genre at a time (choose ONE: poetry, short fiction, creative nonfiction, OR artwork), and do not submit more than once in one submission period. If you have work currently under consideration by us, please do not submit again until you have received a response to that submission. We will respond to all submissions by email following the end of the submission period. Response time will vary depending on volume of submissions.

Poetry

We are looking for previously unpublished poetry in any style and on any subject. You may submit up to 6 pages of poetry. Poems must be single-spaced (dou­ble spaces will be inter­preted as intentional blank lines). If you would like to submit poems with alternate spacing, please mention it in your cover letter and submit a PDF instead of a Word document so formatting is not lost in conversion. Each poem should begin on a new page, and all poems should be in a single file.​

We may accept several poems by the same author; therefore, please do not feel the need to limit your submission to a single poem.

Prose

We are looking for previously unpublished short fiction and creative nonfiction (read the Creative Nonfiction Collective Society’s definition of creative nonfiction) up to 5000 words in length. Your submission must be double-spaced, in 12-point font. Please send only one story at a time.

Art Submissions

We are looking for artists and artisans who reside on Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands, Bella Coola and Haida Gwaii to submit examples of their work and descriptions and images of their workspace to be featured in the magazine. One artist will be featured per issue, with one of the artist’s submitted works to appear on the cover. Remaining images will be showcased throughout the magazine and on the artist feature section.

We may also inquire directly with artists whose work we are interested in highlighting.

To apply please email seacedarmag@virl.bc.ca with the following:

  • Your name, location and a brief bio (3-5 sentences)
  • The primary medium/media you work with
  • 5-6 digital photo examples of your work (please include title, medium and description for each work)
  • Links to your website or social media, if applicable.
  • If possible, include photos of your workspace and, ideally, you at work making art.
  • Please provide images in .jpg, .png or.tiff file formats maximum 1MB size.

Please submit to only one genre at a time (if you have submitted a written piece, do not submit artwork until the next submission period), and do not submit more than once in one submission period. If you have work currently under consideration by us, please do not submit again until you have received a response to that submission.

We will respond to all submissions by email following the end of the submission period. Response time will vary depending on the volume of submissions received. If your submission is chosen, we will email you confirmation and a brief set of interview questions.

Other Details

We are asking for first world electronic rights to publish the work(s) in a digital format. In the event that we create print issues in the future, we will adjust our request. Copyright remains with the author or artist.

Remuneration

  • $20 per published poem
  • $30 per published story for short fiction and creative nonfiction
  • $40 per visual artist feature

Payment will be issued upon publication.