Guidelines

Submitting to Umbrella

Poetry

• Before deciding which poems to submit, thoughtfully read Umbrella’s Mission Statement.
• Send 1-10 single-spaced poems (we relish more rather than less) in the body of an email (no attachments, no snail mail) to the following address, updated December 2007 and no longer linkable in order to foil the spambots:
  
  
   
• Deadline: May 10th
• Include the words Poetry Sub and your name in the email’s subject line.   
• Clearly include with your submission your name as you wish it to appear in the journal.
• You’re invited to speak freely, to include a cover letter telling us anything at all about you or your poems. If you’d rather not write a cover letter, that’s okay too.
• Include a formal bio written in the third person.  The bio notes we publish limit journal credits to five.   (We love hearing about your publication history but it does not influence editorial decisions.)
• Simultaneous submissions are not permitted; however, if you do not hear from us within 8 weeks, feel free to submit elsewhere.   We don’t want to tie up your work.
• Original English language poetry only; no translations.
• We welcome previously published work provided it doesn’t appear in a book or online (with the exception of online workshopping forums) and provided it isn’t a recent publication (within five years). This assumes you own the copyright and that the work did not appear in a major journal such as Poetry, Paris Review, etc.   For Umbrella special features only (our “extras”), we will consider poems previously published in a book (but not in a recent print journal and not online).  
• Rights revert to you upon publication; however, Umbrella reserves the right to archive your work indefinitely.
• Do not submit more work if we are still considering your previous submission. This is one of those rules that professional writers automatically abide by; if you don’t honor this rule, neither your first nor your subsequent submissions will be considered; we will not respond at all to those who repeatedly break this obvious rule.
• Formatting matters (we are tolerant and understand that not everyone is “up to speed”; however, these simple steps streamline the page creation process for Umbrella’s production staff of one (initials kbb):
  
  1. Single space your submission! (When copying poems from Word, globally replace paragraph marks with manual line breaks; it’s easy and by doing this, you will ensure that poems appear single-spaced in the email.)
  2. If at all possible, use curly quotes (“  ”) and curly apostrophes (’)  and use one-em dashes (—) instead of double dashes (--).  Word is easily configured to format this way via its AutoFormat feature.
  3. Please do not capitalize the titles of your poems, and please do not use asterisks or slashes to denote italics.  Use italics; they show up in our emails just fine.
  4. In the rare cases when Word attachments are solicited, please make sure the poems are typed flush left; don’t center them or indent them on the page the way you might do when submitting hard copy to print journals.

In addition to original literary poetry, poems are sought for the following special features: 

• For Summer 2008 (online June 1), poems and prose on general topics are welcome, and also poems for a planned special section on “hot” poems. What’s a hot poem? It’s tropical or feverish or beachy or scorching or hot-tempered or erotic. As with all Umbrella extras, fresh work is strongly desired though previously published work will be considered as long as it isn’t a recent journal publication (within five years) or readable online (with the exception of online workshopping forums).
• Please don’t let a special call for submissions discourage you from submitting non-themed work We want it!
• Deadline: May 10th    

The Bumbershoot Annual

Bumbershoot, our annual ’zine-within-a-’zine, is now open for submissions and will publish June 1. We are reading in the following general categories:

• A planned special section called “Seriously Funny”—poems that straddle a border between the funny and the not-so-funny. They might be wry, bitter, bittersweet, outrageous, satrical, sardonic, trippy, bitchy. They might take a poke at the human condition or at the narrator him/herself. This is poetry that can laugh at itself even when the subject is weighty.
• Fractured Verse:  Remember Fractured Fairy Tales?  Well, these will be humorous rewrites of classic poems. The content will be the same as the original poem, the rendition will be ridiculous. Limericks welcome here but also more developed “send ups.” 
• Poems “written by” cats and other pets.
• Comedy of Errors:  poems about the hilarious ways things sometimes go wrong. FOR THIS THEME ONLY please put Bumber Sub in the subject line and send your submission to lightverse@umbrellajournal.com by May 10.  Carol A. Taylor is curating this special feature.  (For the themes outlined in red, use the email address in the rectangle below.)
• Please note that we will not be soliciting children’s verse this time around.
• Follow style notes and other general guidelines explained under Poetry, above.
• Include the words Bumber Sub and your name in the email’s subject line.  Send submissions in the body of an email to the following address, updated December 2007 and no longer linkable in order to foil the spambots:
  
  
   

• Deadline: May 10th
• Though Bumbershoot will also consider previously published work, we do not want to raid previous issues of Light Quarterly since LQ is the major publisher of light verse in the US.  As with Umbrella, fresh work is strong desired and submitted poems must not be previously published in an online journal.

Prose

The following features and columns are seeking contributors. Include the words Prose Sub and your name in the email’s subject line. You may query first, or simply send your prose in the body of an email to the following address, updated December 2007 and no longer linkable in order to foil the spambots:


        

• Close Reads:  Essays exploring/appreciating/explicating a single poem, contemporary or canonical. Camille Paglia’s essays in Break, Blow, Burn are the inspiration here.
• Musings:  Personal essays.   Your life in art ...  or something else that might fit the theme of an announced special feature.
• ContraVerse:  Take a stand about poetry, poetic trends, po-biz.
• This Old Book:  It’s an old title or even out of print. In the age of Alibris and browsable used bookstores, it may still be available for purchase. Give life to an old poetry or poetry-related book by writing a summation and appreciation.
• Cinemaphilia:  Essays exploring/appreciating/explicating a movie from a literary perspective.  
• The Umbrella Book Review:  We have changed our policy and are no longer accepting books for review.  However, we are still interested in publishing book reviews!  Writers may submit reviews of poetry books and poetry-related books published within the last few years.  Incisive reviews written in a literary style are what we are looking for.  Please do not review books by your friends, colleagues, teachers, or students.  Please do be bold and review the books of major poets.  Haven’t you always wanted to write for The New York Times Book Review?  Well, when they say no, try here.
• The Umbrella Interview:  In issues that showcase a Featured Poet, there will be an opportunity to interview that person.  If you would like to join the interviewer pool, please send an email telling us about your interests and credentials.   More general interviews of poets or literary figures are also welcome.
• Bumbershoot, our annual ’zine-within-a-’zine, is open to humor pieces and to personal essays about, or by, pets.     
• Formatting matters:  Follow style notes under Poetry, above.
• Deadline: May 10th    

Art

Images featuring umbrellas, in digital format, whether photographs, photographic collages, or photos of artworks, are eagerly sought!  Include the words Art Sub and your name in the email’s subject line. Send your images to the following address, updated December 2007 and no longer linkable in order to foil the spambots:

        

Payment?

We would rain riches on you if we could but, regrettably, Umbrella is unable to pay contributors at this time.