Helloooooo, readers, writers, and shark fans! Welcome or Welcome BACK to Lit Shark Magazine! I’m so grateful you’re interested in submitting.

If you’re interested in submitting to Lit Shark’s special edition SHARK DOG Issue, we need submissions in as soon as possible.

In response to XL Bully Ban in the UK and Wales, Lit Shark is releasing a special edition issue to help. We believe that the people and dogs impacted by this ban should be heard and their stories should be told. We are seeking:

– poetry, fiction, and other creative reactions to this ban, as well as depictions of XL bullies and other challenged breeds;
– critical essays, memoirs, and personal connection pieces to XL bully dogs, other challenged breeds, and this ban;
– Artwork and photos;
– Lit Shark will also write tribute poems for any dogs who were sacrificed or rehomed because of this ban. Their family only needs to submit a photo of them and a little information about them that we could use to help us write the poem. We’ll send the family a copy in the form of a lovely digital broadside, along with including it in the issue.

This is a general issue, so we are accepting poetry, short fiction, short nonfiction/memoirs, and plays (as well as hybrid work, like prose poems, microfiction, and pieces featuring multiple genres), and the theme can be anything. Works incorporating marine life are always of interest but are not required for our general issues.

To submit, please see our submission portal page for more details on how to submit.

This is a free-to-submit opportunity. It’s unfortunately also unpaid, but Lit Shark will donate 50% of their proceeds to rescues supporting these dogs, and Lit Shark also plans to compensate their writers as they grow in the future.

If you’re not ready to submit to Issue 5, we have multiple other issues to consider this year:

Issue 6 of Lit Shark Magazine: General Issue

Issue 7 of Lit Shark Magazine: The SHARK WEEK Edition

Issue 8 of Lit Shark Magazine: The SPOOKY (TEETH) Edition