Writers: Journal Submissions
Submissions are open for Opus II, Issue II of Half Mystic Journal. 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 all genres of poetry, prose, creative nonfiction, translations, and experimental work. We ask that each piece pertains to music and the sevdah theme.
Submit up to five pieces, up to 3000 words each. We do not accept previously-published writing, including on personal blogs and social media. Simultaneous submissions are welcome. We only publish predominantly English pieces, or pieces translated to English.
For translations, please include the full text of the original piece in your submission. Include a statement declaring that you have the author’s permission to publish the translation, or that the original text is in the public domain.
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!