Headland welcomes unsolicited submissions, but we do ask you to read these guidelines thoroughly to ensure that you do not spend your energy on preparing a submission that we will be unable to accept.

We accept submissions year-round, with rolling deadlines. Our next reading period, for Issue 10, closes on 16 June 2017.

We are looking for literary short fiction and creative non-fiction. At this time we are not looking to publish poetry, novel excerpts, scholarly essays, reviews, genre fiction, or art. We will publish what we love. Our process is as subjective as that, so please do not be discouraged if we do not select your writing for Headland.

While we publish a majority of New Zealand writers, we look to include an international writer in every issue, and so we would strongly encourage writers from all over the world to submit their work.

Formatting and other FAQs

Submissions can be made via email to headland.journal@gmail.com. We do not accept submissions by post. Please format both your document name and the subject header of your email with the genre and the title of your piece, e.g. ‘Nonfiction_The House at Pukawa’. Include in your email a very brief writer’s bio.

We ask for pieces up to 5,000 words in length. Please only submit one piece at a time. We are happy for you to submit your piece elsewhere, provided that you advise us immediately if your work becomes unavailable. All work should be previously unpublished; this includes self-publication on a blog.

We want to judge your work on its own merits, so please do not include your name anywhere in the body or file name of your document. Please include in the header of your document:

• Title
• Word count
• Your nationality and country of residence
• And, if relevant, ‘Unpublished Author’

If we are umm-ing and aah-ing over whether to select your piece, it may just tip the balance in its favour if we know that we have the opportunity to introduce a new voice and, hopefully, make someone’s day. If you want to make our day, we’d also love to know how you heard about Headland.

Please submit your work as a .doc or .docx, file. Please note that we do not include any illustrations in the stories we publish.

We aim to accept or decline all submissions within a month of each submission deadline, so please wait at least this long before contacting us. Any delays are merely indicative of our work load, and our desire to make the best decisions possible.

At this stage we are unable to pay writers, but we will be a strong advocate for your work, and all published pieces will be considered for our annual cash prize. We ask for first publication rights, after which all rights revert to the author. We kindly ask that you acknowledge Headland in any reprints.