The Pinch has at least one genre open for submissions year-round. Our publication schedule dictates when we close genres.
We always accept orders for issues of the print magazine and merchandise. Please visit www.pinchjournal.com to read PJO, our sister publication. You'll get an idea of what we publish and more information about submitting.
The Pinch is a literary journal run by the faculty and students in the MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Memphis. We champion emerging writers and you'll find that 90 percent of what we publish comes from unsolicited submissions.
In the last five years, work featured in the Pinch has been selected for inclusion in the Pushcart Prize Anthology three times. In the nearly 50 years we've been publishing, work from our journal has appeared in Best American Nonrequired and Best American Essays.
Several times per year we offer equity submissions free of charge. Please check back for those opportunities.
We strive to respond quickly, however due to the academic calendar we take longer to respond to submissions sent to us during the months of May, June, July, November and December. If you are a subscriber to the Pinch, we will let you know the status of your submission within one month (if you don't hear from us and are a subscriber, please send us an email).
Please note, we rarely publish work over 4,000 words and we do not publish excerpts, translations, dramas, screenplays, and scholarly essays. For other questions, please read our FAQs.
We are a non-profit journal operating under the umbrella of the University of Memphis. All monies collected from Submittable fees are used to print the magazine and support the students in our MFA program.
We will consider up to THREE flash fiction pieces as one submission as long as altogether they are fewer than 4,000 words. Please ensure that the title of your submission is the title(s) of your stories. Prose submitted during this period will be considered for the Spring 2024 issue as well in our sister publication PJO.
Simultaneous submissions are acceptable, but please notify us if any (or all) of your work is accepted elsewhere. We rarely publish excerpts and do not publish translations, scripts, or plays. Please do no submit additional stories before you hear back from us.
We strive to respond quickly, however due to the academic calendar we take longer to respond to submissions sent to us during the months of May, June, July, November and December. If you are a subscriber to the Pinch, we will let you know the status of your submission within one month.
Submission Checklist
- Fewer than 4000 words
- Double spaced, 12 point Times New Roman font, one-inch margins, pages numbered
- Do not include identifying details in the submission itself (such as a cover letter, bio, name)
- The title of the work is the same as the submission title
- Submit documents in a single file
We will consider up to THREE poems as one submission as long as altogether they are fewer than 4,000 words. Please ensure that the title of your submission is the title(s) of your poems. Poems submitted during this period will be considered for the Fall 2024 issue as well in our sister publication PJO.
Simultaneous submissions are acceptable, but please notify us if any (or all) of your work is accepted elsewhere. We do not publish translations. Please do no submit additional poems before you hear back from us.
We strive to respond quickly, however due to the academic calendar we take longer to respond to submissions sent to us during the months of May, June, July, November and December. If you are a subscriber to the Pinch, we will let you know the status of your submission within one month.
Submission Checklist
- No more than THREE poems and total word count is under 4000 words
- Do not include identifying details in the submission itself (such as a cover letter, bio, name)
- The title of the work is the same as the submission title