At Sumou, we look for works that engage in looking inward; in formulating questions of all the possibilities of who we can become, as well as what it means to exist and be part of a community. Send us works that resonate with you deeply—like a poem about your best friend or some artwork from a recent trip! We want all things shiny and unconventional, but also, all things rusty and nostalgic. Anything from the heart. We believe in creating a space that nurtures Arab, Southwest Asian, and North African voices, but we also offer room to anyone who finds comfort in what we do. Currently, contributing to Sumou is all volunteer-work and there is no financial compensation. To help us pay our contributors, please consider donating.
*We are not taking submissions at this time.
Read the terms below and familiarize yourself with the content we publish.
Submission GUIDELINES
We accept original, previously unpublished works—this means simultaneous submissions are fine, but please inform us immediately if your work has been accepted elsewhere.
Email your submission(s) at sumoumag@gmail.com; in the subject line, please specify whether it is a general or themed submission (themed submissions are specific-issue submissions, which may be open by the time you send us your work).
For writing, please do not send more than 3 submissions (this includes poetry), but do send them in a .doc or .docx file. PDFs can get a little wonky once we start editing, so try your best not to send us one.
For art, please send us more than 3 pictures in a .png, .jpg, or .jpeg file, along with a description of 3-10 sentences.
A 3rd-person bio of no more than 100 words along with your social media handles. If you choose to publish under an alias, please let us know.
Interviews: We usually pitch or commission our own interviews, but if you want to interview someone, email us a pitch and we will try our best to make it happen!
What We Won’t Accept
We will not publish any work that has been previously published in another platform, as well as works that include targeted harassment, bigotry, or prejudice towards any race, ethnicity, or group.
Some things to keep in mind
We try our best to get back to our contributors as soon as we can, but please give us a 4-8 week turnaround time. We’re a small team led by youth, mainly students, so please be patient with us as we navigate the high volume of submissions. If you do not hear back from us by the 6th week, kindly follow-up in the same email thread.