About Us
FLYLEAF – (n.) a blank page at the beginning or end of a book.
Flyleaves represent the possibilities of creativity and imagination as a blank page, and leave room for reflection at the end of a thought-provoking book.
Flyleaf is a literary magazine born out of our love for literature and great storytelling, taking inspiration from books and their role in all aspects of life. We want to support up-and-coming artist, their unique journeys and perspectives through original writing, art, and engagement with contemporary literature.
Flyleaf will produce thematic quarterly issues. For the duration of each issue, we will publish writing and art on a fortnightly basis on this Substack and our website. Flyleaf is free to access online. As we build our archive and accumulate published issues, we would like to publish work in zines and printed formats, enabling us to pay our contributors.
Share Your Work with Us
To send us your work, please email editors@flyleafmag.com with your manuscript (as a Word document) or artwork, a short summary of your work, and a short bio about who you are. Your work must be original and have not been previously published. Your work may be edited for length and clarity, but this will be done with your consent. We aim to respond to all submissions within two weeks. We are currently unable to offer payment for contributors, but will seek to do so in the future.
Issue #1 – New Beginnings
For our inaugural issue, we would love to receive writing around new beginnings – feel free to interpret this in any suitable way. Submissions have now closed for our first issue – please stay tuned for future issues.
Writing
Flyleaf welcomes a variety of writing, whether responding to our theme, reflecting on specific books, or about books in general.
Fiction: up to 3,000 words
What we’re looking for: notes from our editors
Ray is drawn to stories that reflect lived experiences and resonate deeply with the reader. He is equally delighted by writing that has beautiful language and that breaks the conventional rules around storytelling. He is often captured by stories that consider the contradictions and dissonance in characters’ emotions and decisions. His favourite genres are contemporary fiction, queer fiction, historical fiction, and soft sci-fi.
Swamini is drawn to prose-forward stories that explore the twists and turns of language through powerful narratives. She loves reading about messy characters - those who aren’t afraid to get into trouble, who may be haunted by their own desires, and those who reflect the terrible sides in all of us. Her favourite stories focus on abstractions and inner worlds rather than adhering to traditional plot structure and storytelling norms. Her favourite genres are historical fiction, psychological fiction, and biographical fiction.
Essays and Non-Fiction: up to 3,000 words
We want to hear about your experiences, reflections, and opinions. Flyleaf welcomes autobiographical writing, essays on literature, history and contemporary affairs.
Poetry
We like poetry that sustains an atmosphere and packs an emotional weight. We accept submissions of up to four poems per issue.
Book Reviews
We welcome book review pitches for recently published titles (within one calendar year). Reviews can be short-form (less than 500 words) or essay-length (up to 2,000 words), but we are flexible! These are the books that we are particularly interested by right now:
Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq (translated by Deepa Bhasthi)
The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong
All Fours by Miranda July
Ordinary Saints by Niamh Ni Mhaoileoin
Stag Dance by Torrey Peters
Visual Content
We are also open to submissions of visual content, such as photography, illustrations, and original artwork related to each issue’s theme or books in general. We are open to portfolios as well as individual works – please send us your work and a quick description at editors@flyleafmag.com.
Statement on Generative AI
Flyleaf strongly opposes the use of generative AI for artistic purposes, as the development of these platforms was based on the wholesale theft of the intellectual property of artists’ hard work. We therefore ask any prospective contributors to declare that no generative AI was used during the production of their submitted work. We have also set this Substack to be blocked from AI Training.
