SUBMIT – descant

A forum for fiction and poetry, descant seeks high-quality work in either innovative or traditional forms. Fiction is usually 5000 words or fewer, poems sixty lines or fewer. We do, however, occasionally accept submissions exceeding these lengths. descant specifies no particular subject matter or style.

In 2025, our submission policies will be:

We’ll resume our regular reading period from 3/10/25 through 4/30/25.

Please submit only one (1) story to our regular reading period.

We do, however, have a Special Call for Fiction and Creative Nonfiction dubbed Memory Mining:

Memory is a fickle beast—comforting one moment, deceiving the next. It allows us to relive shared experiences, yet it can also blur the lines between what is real and what is fabricated. In our post-truth era, where narratives are shaped by perception and social media algorithms, memory takes on a life of its own.

Have you and someone else experienced the same event but recalled it in completely different ways? Do you find yourself second-guessing what is a fact and what is fiction within the stories you consume? If you could rewrite the past, how would truth transform into fiction? Give us your wildly true tales of memory or distorted tales of fiction that leave us questioning what is real and what is imagined.

We invite you to share your truth, whatever that may be, however memory has shaped it.

Submissions are open for Memory Mining. Please indicate whether your work is Fiction or Creative Nonfiction when submitting.

Writers must confirm that work accepted by descant has not been previously published and that they will credit descant as the original publisher whenever and wherever else the work may be placed.

Other than incarcerated persons, potential contributors should submit via our free online system, Submittable (descant.submittable.com/submit). Submit up to five (5) poems, or one (1) single submission of fiction, up to 5000 words. Please submit no more than twice during each reading period.

Please send online submissions to Submittable:

If you can only send us your submission through traditional mail, you must include a self-addressed stamped envelope with your submissions to guarantee a reply, return, or acknowledgment of submissions.

Please send traditional submissions to:

descant
c/o TCU Department of English
Box 297270
2850 S. University Dr.
Fort Worth, TX 76129

Manuscripts must be time-stamped or postmarked from October 15 through March 15.

Please note: The process for reviewing submissions can take time, and the editors appreciate your patience as we look over your work. Decisions on submissions can take between four and six months. Please do not query before six months have passed.

Please send all questions and queries to descant@tcu.edu.