Writers: Journal Submissions
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Submissions are open for Opus II, Issue II of Half Mystic Journal until April 28, 2025.
Our twelfth issue celebrates the theme of sevdah. We’re looking for violin solos, velvet on bare skin, half lights, broken odes, empty airport terminals, redamancy, zinnias at the edge of wilting, damask curtains, clipped swans’ wings, inosculation, heroic crowns, the memory of a late-night lake with a long-gone lover, when the sky and water turned the same colour and met at the edge of the world.
Sevdah is a genre of Turkish and Bosnian folk music evoking sorrowful love and ecstatic, amorous yearning—from the Arabic “sawda,” meaning “black bile,” or a melancholy state of longing. In Issue II of our second opus, desire is holy and heavy as the still before the train comes. Moor us in the unquenchable. We want a begging to believe in.
Half Mystic Journal publishes poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, translations, and hybrid work. We ask that each piece pertains to music and the sevdah theme.
Submit up to five pieces of up to 3000 words each. We don't accept previously-published writing, but we do accept and encourage simultaneous submissions.
In your cover letter, include a brief biographical note and the genre(s) of your submission. For translations, enclose the full text of the original piece and a statement declaring that you have the author’s permission to publish the translation, or that the original text is in the public domain. Translations must be to or from English.
We recommend that you read Half Mystic Journal’s past issues to familiarise yourself with our goals, aesthetics, and style. Thank you for honouring us with your work. We don't take that privilege for granted.
You can expect to hear from us within four weeks. If it's been five weeks and you haven't received a response, please send us a note to enquire!