The Brussels Review: Nonfiction Gold Star Program Gold Star Fee: eur €5.00

What we look for

An essay asks a question, offers a hypothesis, or hazards an answer. It begins in doubt, shows its thinking, and is willing to undo its own argument. We don't want assertions dressed as insight, or a search summary with footnotes.

Memoir is welcome when you are a witness: when the subject is an era, a place, or other people, and you are the lens they are seen through. When the subject is you, the piece must confess, not testify. Grievance and self-portrait are not enough. A narrator who only watches someone remarkable and reports on them is not needed.

We are not looking for reportage, travel epiphanies, or real essays about trivial things.

A new view on an older book or work of art belongs here, not in Reviews.

Our test is simple: is our view of the world changed after reading your piece?

Length

One piece of up to 7,000 words, or up to three pieces totalling no more than 7,000 words.

Format

• All pieces in a single document, each clearly titled.
• Your contact details and a short bio at the top, under your real name. Tell us where you live, what you do, and one small fact about your life. No list of publications.
• Plain formatting: no decorative fonts, colour or images.
• English throughout. Beyond a single word or phrase, untranslated passages are not accepted.
• doc, docx, txt or rtf. PDF files are not accepted.

Translations

Include the names and contact details of both the original author and the translator.

Originality

Unpublished anywhere, including personal blogs, websites and social media.

Simultaneous submissions

Welcome. Tell us at once if the work is accepted elsewhere.

Response schedule

Decisions go out in the first week of June and the first week of December.