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).
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 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 We rarely publish excerpts and do not publish translations, scripts, or plays.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
As part of our efforts toward equity and inclusivity, the Pinch offers no-cost submissions to reduce barriers of participation to marginalized populations. Over the last decade, the majority of what we've publish online and in print is from authors and artists who have been excluded from traditional publishing venues.
To further our commitment, we waive our submission fee for writers and artists who face barriers due to:
- race and/or cultural background
- gender
- sexual orientation
- disability or differently abled
- class and/or socioeconomic background
This list is not exhaustive. In your cover letter and/or bio, please include information about why you utilized our equity and inclusion form. We can only offer a limited number of no cost submissions during each submission period.
This form should be used for all types of submissions (you'll choose which genre before you upload your submission). Please adhere to our guidelines. 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 Guidelines
- Prose should be no more than 4000 words
- No more than THREE poems and total word count is under 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
- We accept (and encourage) simultaneous submissions, but ask that you to wait until you've heard back from us before submitting multiple pieces in the same genre.
- We do not accept any AI generated texts unless there is an explicit acknowledgement and explanation of how and why it was used. An excellent example of this type of use is Vauhini Vara's "Ghosts."
- All work is considered for both the print and online journals. Work must be original and not have been published elsewhere. We do not accept translations, interviews, or reviews.