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Issue #6: Open Theme

Any definition of nonfiction will include some variation of the idea that, foremost, literary nonfiction considers what is ‘informative’ and ‘factual’. But are such definitions limiting where many essayists and writers of sustained nonfiction narrative are concerned?

To take the matter further, must an essay, as a subset of nonfiction, entertain ‘thing-ness’ or the empirical world at all? Or is the truth of an essay sometimes the speculative endeavor itself, a literary engagement not with things or facts, but with, in the words of Mary Cappello, “a tidal wave of strange imaginings"? A speculative essay concerns itself with the figurative over the literal, ambiguity over knowing, meditation over reportage.

For SN Issue #6, we're looking for your best speculative essays on any topic. Although we do not have a word limit, we tend to publish essays under 2500 words.

Reading Period: May 20, 2021 - October 15, 2021 (Extended)

We accept craft essays for our Speculations on the Field section as well as Speculative Book Reviews year around.

Note: Speculative Nonfiction will waive the submission fee for writers who make a financial contribution (any amount) to either the NAACP Legal Defense Fund or The Movement for Black Lives. Please send donation receipts to speculativenonfiction@gmail.com. Thank you for supporting these organizations working to dismantle white supremacy.

If, for reasons of financial hardship, you are unable to pay the $3 submission fee, please contact us directly at speculativenonfiction@gmail.com to request a fee waiver.