Consequence Consequence addresses the human consequences of war and geopolitical violence through literature and art. We offer intellectual and emotional access to the realities and experiences of combatants, victims, and witnesses, while providing the public with works and voices from around the world in order to promote a clearer and more nuanced understanding of what’s at stake in choosing to wage war or engage in conflict. We publish in print (Consequence journal), on our blog (Consequence substack), and on our website (Consequence online). We accept work in fiction, poetry, nonfiction, visual art, and translations.We have two main criteria when considering work. It needs to address the human consequences of war or geopolitical violence. This can include not only the experiences and realities of combatants, but also of victims and/or witnesses since, after all, it isn’t only combatants who are affected. It needs to have literary merit, by which we simply mean the piece needs to try to be greater than the sum of its parts. Does it inspire reflection? Insight? Anger? Joy? This is what we mean by literary merit.Finally, all work is considered either for our print journal, our substack, or as an online feature, which is published on our substack and then on our website.Questions about any of this? Please email us at [email protected].Thank you. We look forward to reading your work.*Please note that we have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to AI-generated work. If your sub or parts of it are suspected of being AI generated, a review process will be triggered, including submitting the piece to AI-detection software, that may ultimately result in a permanent ban from submitting to us.Quick Links to Open Calls:Fiction (closing in 8 days) FreeNonfiction (closing in 8 days) FreePoetry (closing in 8 days) FreeThe America Feature: Fiction (closing in 8 days) FreeThe America Feature: Nonfiction (closing in 8 days) FreeThe America Feature: Poetry (closing in 8 days) FreeThe America Feature: Visual Art (closing in 8 days) FreeThe Iran Feature: Translations (closing in 8 days) FreeTranslations FreeVisual Art Free The America Feature: Fiction Free Tip Jar Option OpenCloses on Thursday, October 15, 2026 11:59 PM EDT (in 8 days).The America FeatureIn recent years, our work has focused more on war-torn regions, without emphasizing the geopolitical violence within the US. However, geopolitical violence has always been a part of the country—from the “discovery” of America to the founding of the nation, to colonization of the indigenous people and the enslavement of African people. The continued systemic oppression experienced by marginalized groups in the US allowed police brutality to flourish, including the raiding of gay bars in the ’60s and ’70s, the beating of Rodney King in 1991, the murder of George Floyd in 2020, and more. It is more imperative than ever to create a space where lives and stories—that institutions would rather render invisible—can be documented and preserved.We seek fiction for a special feature on America that documents, illustrates, or addresses geopolitical violence in the United States. Flash Fiction (<1,000 words)Short story (1,000 to 5,000 words)Excerpts (up to 5,000 words)Note: If your work is a translation, please submit it through the Translations portal.Questions? Please contact our Fiction Editor at [email protected]SubmitThe America Feature: Nonfiction Free Tip Jar Option OpenCloses on Thursday, October 15, 2026 11:59 PM EDT (in 8 days).The America Feature In recent years, our work has focused more on war-torn regions, without emphasizing the geopolitical violence within the US. However, geopolitical violence has always been a part of the country—from the “discovery” of America to the founding of the nation, to colonization of the indigenous people and the enslavement of African people. The continued systemic oppression experienced by marginalized groups in the US allowed police brutality to flourish, including the raiding of gay bars in the ’60s and ’70s, the beating of Rodney King in 1991, the murder of George Floyd in 2020, and more. It is more imperative than ever to create a space where lives and stories—that institutions would rather render invisible—can be documented and preserved.We seek nonfiction pieces (up to 4,000 words) for a special feature on America that documents, illustrates, or addresses geopolitical violence in the United States.Note: If your work is a translation, please submit it through the Translations portal.Questions? Please contact our Nonfiction Editor at [email protected]SubmitThe America Feature: Poetry Free Tip Jar Option OpenCloses on Thursday, October 15, 2026 11:59 PM EDT (in 8 days).The America FeatureIn recent years, our work has focused more on war-torn regions, without emphasizing the geopolitical violence within the US. However, geopolitical violence has always been a part of the country—from the “discovery” of America to the founding of the nation, to colonization of the indigenous people and the enslavement of African people. The continued systemic oppression experienced by marginalized groups in the US allowed police brutality to flourish, including the raiding of gay bars in the ’60s and ’70s, the beating of Rodney King in 1991, the murder of George Floyd in 2020, and more. It is more imperative than ever to create a space where lives and stories—that institutions would rather render invisible—can be documented and preserved.We seek poetry for a special feature on America that documents, illustrates, or addresses geopolitical violence in the United States.You can submit up to three poemsNote: If your work is a translation, please submit it through the Translations portal.Questions? Contact our Poetry Editor at [email protected].SubmitThe America Feature: Visual Art Free Tip Jar Option OpenCloses on Thursday, October 15, 2026 11:59 PM EDT (in 8 days).The America FeatureIn recent years, our work has focused more on war-torn regions, without emphasizing the geopolitical violence within the US. However, geopolitical violence has always been a part of the country—from the “discovery” of America to the founding of the nation, to colonization of the indigenous people and the enslavement of African people. The continued systemic oppression experienced by marginalized groups in the US allowed police brutality to flourish, including the raiding of gay bars in the ’60s and ’70s, the beating of Rodney King in 1991, the murder of George Floyd in 2020, and more. It is more imperative than ever to create a space where lives and stories—that institutions would rather render invisible—can be documented and preserved.We seek visual art for a special feature on America that documents, illustrates, or addresses geopolitical violence in the United States.NOTE: if you would like to be considered for either an online or journal feature, please submit eight to twelve images.Questions? Please contact our Visual Art Editor at [email protected]SubmitThe Iran Feature: Translations Free Tip Jar Option OpenCloses on Thursday, October 15, 2026 11:59 PM EDT (in 8 days).Translations Feature—Iran’s Conflicts and Their AfterlivesIran’s modern history has been shaped by decades of conflict—from the eight-year Iran–Iraq War of the 1980s, which left deep social and cultural scars, to repeated regional confrontations, internal struggles, and the current escalating military tensions involving Iran, the United States, and Israel. These conflicts have altered lives across generations, reshaped national identity, disrupted social bonds, displaced communities, and reverberated far beyond Iran’s borders.Consequence Forum invites previously unpublished translations from Farsi into English that examine the manifold human, cultural, psychological, or historical consequences of war in Iran.We seek work that moves beyond the battlefield to explore war’s afterlives: how violence is remembered, inherited, silenced, resisted, or reimagined. Whether through intimate testimony, imaginative engagement, personal reflection, or formally innovative writing, submissions should illuminate how conflict reshapes memory, community, identity, and meaning across time.Please submit a single Word document, including:The translationProse: up to 2000 words.Poetry: up to five poems or up to ten pages total.The original text.Author’s bio and translator’s bio: up to 100 words.A short cover letter explaining how the piece relates to the consequences of war.A statement confirming that you have secured permission to translate and publish the text.SubmitFiction Free Tip Jar Option OpenCloses on Thursday, October 15, 2026 11:59 PM EDT (in 8 days).We welcome any fiction that focuses on the human consequences and realities of war or geopolitical violence. Flash Fiction (<1,000 words)Short story (1,000 to 5,000 words)Excerpts (up to 5,000 words)Note: If your work is a translation, please submit it through the Translations portal. Questions? Please contact our Fiction Editor at [email protected]SubmitNonfiction Free Tip Jar Option OpenCloses on Thursday, October 15, 2026 11:59 PM EDT (in 8 days).We welcome any nonfiction that focuses on the human consequences and realities of war or geopolitical violence. Specific forms would include but aren't limited toInterviewsPersonal Essays (up to 4,000 words)Narrative Nonfiction (up to 4,000 words)Note: If your work is a translation, please submit it through the Translations portal. Also, we are currently not accepting unsolicited reviews.Questions? Please contact our Nonfiction Editor at [email protected]SubmitPoetry Free Tip Jar Option OpenCloses on Thursday, October 15, 2026 11:59 PM EDT (in 8 days).We welcome poetry that focuses on the human consequences and realities of war or geopolitical violence. You can submit up to three poems.Note: If your work is a translation, please submit it through the Translations portal.Questions? Contact our Poetry Editor at [email protected].SubmitTranslations Free Tip Jar Option OpenProse: Up to 2000 words, double-spaced in 12-pt font.Poetry: Up to five poems or up to ten pages total. (We sometimes consider longer pieces but email us first please: translations@consequenceforum.org)We do not consider previously published translations.Also, we view translation as a collaborative practice, so we do not accept self-translations, unless the work is co-translated by the author and another translator.SUBMISSION GUIDELINESPlease read our submission guidelines carefully. Failure to follow the guidelines may result in a significant delay in receiving a response.In a single Word document, please submit the following:A cover letter (see below)Your English translationThe original textThe cover letter must include the following: Word count The date of publication of the original workA note about why you have chosen to translate this piece and how it corresponds to our theme of war and/or geopolitical violenceAuthor’s and translator’s bio (<100 words each)A confirmation that you have permission to translate the textThank you for considering us. We look forward to reading your work!Questions? Please contact our Translations Editor at [email protected]SubmitVisual Art Free Tip Jar Option OpenWe welcome visual art that focuses on the human consequences and realities of war or geopolitical violence. For us, the term "Visual Art" has a broad meaning and would include but certainly isn't limited to painting, drawing, photography, and sculpture, along with photos essays, video essays, and graphic narratives/comics. We're after pieces for our social media platforms, substack, online features, and journal features. NOTE: if you would like to be considered for either an online or journal feature, please submit eight to twelve images. Questions? Please contact our Visual Art Editor at [email protected]SubmitYoung Writers Nonfiction Project 2026 Temp ClosedOpens on Thursday, October 15, 2026 12:00 AM EDT (in 7 days, 15 hours).For this young writers’ project, the journal is looking for nonfiction pieces from writers aged fifteen to twenty-four that in some way connect an experience of the consequences of war or geopolitical violence and food, i.e., a dish, a meal, a recipe, an ingredient, a cooking ritual, a food memory that has endured despite how war, conflict, or displacement has touched your life or your family's. Why food? A recipe is a kind of archive. Food helps us remember. A smell can carry a home life or period of one’s past inside it. Also, writing toward the table lets you approach big experiences like loss, survival, identity, and belonging without having to narrate the hardest parts head-on. It helps you decide how close to the fire you want to write. We’re looking for your reflections on what’s hidden in a recipe, carried across a border, tasted on an anniversary no one names aloud. We hope you'll start with the food, its heat, the hands that made it, and then let those memories open outward. Think about what this dish or that ingredient reveals about your family, your culture, and who you are. What's been lost, changed, or reinvented: a missing ingredient, a shortcut, a new country's version of an old dish? And most of all: what has this food experience taught you? An essay can hold grief and joy at once. Celebration and humor have their places in the pages of Consequence just as much as anything else. This project is about remembering how much the ordinary counts. Along with essays, the issue may include photographs and videos depicting food memories. 12 pt font with 1" margins< 4,000 wordsQuestions? 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