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The Orange & Bee (Gold Star Program) Gold Star

The Orange & Bee publishes original and contemporary short stories, poems, and essays that explore, expand on, and subvert the rich traditions of international folklore, with a strong focus on fairy tales (though we also sometimes dabble in other forms of folklore, such as fables, myths, and legends). We also publish traditional tales accompanied by annotations, discussion questions, and writing prompts.

But our real and not-so-secret mission is to build a community—a virtual salon—around our shared passion for fairy tales.

Issue Five

Temp Closed

We are seeking original works of fiction, poetry, and non-fiction that engage in a significant way with the long history of fairy tales. We are interested in works that stretch, expand, test, subvert, and challenge the fairy-tale tradition.

We are interested in works that are entertaining, but also in works that matter: that is, in works that are both pleasurable to read and thought-provoking.

We are interested in works in which the relationship between your writing and the fairy-tale tradition is complex and thoughtful. Works that—ideally, though this is a Big Ask—open up our hearts and minds, offering us a new way to think or feel about the fairy-tale tradition as well as broader themes and issues.

We are especially interested in work from or about diverse perspectives and traditionally under-represented groups, settings, and cultures, written from a non-exoticising and well-researched position. We are committed to supporting #OwnVoices work.

Please read the FULL guidelines below for the type of submission you are sending us, and our preferences in terms of format and cover letters. We only accept original, unpublished work. We have a swift turnaround time on submissions (about two weeks), and so ask that you do not submit your work to other markets while it is under consideration for The Orange & Bee.

Things we don’t publish
  • Reprints of previously published work.
  • We are not seeking faithful or near-faithful retellings of traditional fairy tales or other folklore, from your own cultural tradition, or from any other.
  • We are not seeking ‘fakelore’ (works that are presented as if they are traditional tales when in fact they are newly created).
  • Works written by, or with, AI.
  • Works written for very young readers (children!).
  • Works that include gratuitous (and it’s nearly always gratuitous!) non-consensual sexual activity.
  • Anything that’s racist, sexist, queerphobic, ageist, etc etc. (This doesn’t mean we aren’t interested in works that thoughtfully engage with these issues. What we don’t want is work that participates in unhelpful and outdated stereotypes).

After processing more than 800 submissions for our second issue, we wrote more about the kind of creative work we are seeking in the Editorial for Issue Two.

AI Policy

We do not accept or publish work that has been written with, or with the assistance of, AI or AGI writing software such as ChatGPT, PerplexityAI, etc. Please include in your cover letter a statement indicating that you have not used AI to create your work—this will set our minds at ease.

Please note that our contract for publication requires you to legally affirm that you (and not a robot/AI) wrote your work.

If we discover that you have submitted work to us that breaches our AI guidelines, we will block your email address, and will not accept future submissions from you.

Flash & Short Fiction/Non-fiction

The Orange and Bee celebrates all styles and genres when it comes to fairy tale narratives. We are seeking works that stretch between the shadows, and are as likely to accept a radical reimagining of a familiar fairy tale as a unique creation waiting to be added to the rich tradition of the continually evolving literary canon.

Poetry

The Orange and Bee welcomes all styles of poetry including form, free verse, and experimental. There are no hard limits on length or presentation (barring our technical skills/the formatting capacity of Substack!), however, our sweet spot is 50 lines or fewer.

Other

We’re excited about the possibility of experimentation, and so also invite submissions of hybrid or experimental works, including but certainly not limited to works that combine life writing and fiction or poetry.

Formatting and cover letter guidelines

All submissions should follow Proper Manuscript Format (Shunn’s).

Your cover letter should include your bio and a short statement about your submission, including the fairy tale/s or fairy-tale traditions, motifs, or practices that influenced your piece. We also require you to make a clear affirmation that your work was not written by a robot/AI.

Diversity stats

As part of our quest to ensure that our publication is diverse and inclusive, we will be tracking the diversity of our submissions, acceptances, and publications. This aspect of our publishing venture is inspired by the work of two key organisations: the US-based VIDA count and the Australian Stella Count, but also the similar work of the Canadian Women in Literary Arts (CWILA).

To aid us in this quest, we ask that you include in your cover letter any of our diversity tags that apply to you, and let us know your preferred pronouns. We’re starting simple in terms of the tags we’ve set up so far: we welcome you to suggest additions to our very short list of currently-used tags:

  • Gender/pronouns tags: #they/them, #she/her, #he/him
  • #CALD (Culturally and Linguistically Diverse)
  • #LGBTQIA+ (Lesbian, Gay, Trans, Queer, Intersex, Ace, plus!)
  • #BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, Person of colour)
  • #Neurodivergent
  • #Disability (for those living with disability, including chronic illness)

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