Tidal Lantern is open for submissions to residents of Berkeley, Charleston, and Dorchester counties in the SC lowcountry. We value authenticity over perfection.
We seek poetry, prose, and pictures for print issues plus songs, short films, animated shorts, and other digital art to feature online. You may submit 3x per reading period.
We define 'art' broadly. We are less interested in forty year-olds with MFAs than we are in four year-olds with MFAs (Masters of Fingerpainting Arts). If you think your kid's story is wonderful, we probably do too, and we'd also love those doodles you've kept in your notebook since high school. Tidal Lantern is for all of Charleston's people. We publish children next to computer scientists and call it high art.
Send poems, code poetry, and images in batches of 3-5. We accept photography, paintings, drawings, sketches, even ASCII. Short stories and personal essays, whether fiction, creative nonfiction, or memoir, should be 1500-5000 words. Videos under 25 minutes may be submitted as a link in a text file. Code art may be submitted as an app, HTML file that runs a live script, or a video demo.
Print preference is given to high school and college students. We aim to represent a variety of schools. The digital lit mag will feature writers of all ages and skill levels. Writers from abroad are considered if their work is relevant to the region.
We aim to publish by April 2026 in time to honor our young writers before graduation. Contributors will be compensated with free print copies, and if funds allow, the best two submissions will be rewarded with cash prizes.
We do not require first rights or exclusive rights. We happily consider reprints and self-published material (as long as it isn't enrolled in Amazon KDP Select).
We are not gatekeepers. We are doormen.
E-mail: lantern@crosstheteas.org
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