We’re accepting submissions for the Winter 2023 Issue of Monkeyshines. The submission deadline for the Winter Issue is Thursday, December 15, 2022. Listen, your art is worth payment, and we’re trying to raise money to pay you for your accepted submission, but for now yours is a voluntary contribution. You keep ownership and copyright over your work, and we don’t charge reading or submission fees.

Where do you send submissions?

Send an email to [email protected]. You can submit a pitch, link, or the actual file(s). If your email attachment is greater than 5MB, it may not get through, but we can send you a link to our Google Drive directory where you can upload much larger files.

What can be submitted?

Any creative endeavor you can email or link to in an email. Seriously. For Monkeyshines, we want to highlight culture and art in all its forms. Obviously, audio or video will not be printed in the zine, but it can be shared on the website. See “How will your submission be used?” below.

“Anything” includes digital artwork, photography, prose, poetry, editorial, journalism, but it also includes painted or drafted artwork, woodworking, collage, floral arrangements, upside-down urinals, etc. If it can be photographed or printed, it can be included in Monkeyshines.

If you have a creative-themed event that will take place in the months after the issue’s deadline, you can submit the event info. If you have artwork for the event, that’d be helpful too.

Is there an age restriction?

Yes! We are not accepting submissions from persons younger than 13.

How will your submission be used?

Monkeyshines is the printed zine, a downloadable PDF, and this website. Your accepted submission will appear on all three. If your submission doesn’t make it into the printed zine, we can discuss whether or not you’d like it to be included as bonus material on the website or possibly in a future issue.

Your printed work will include the title of your work, your preferred pen name, and a mention of your email or social media link that you’d like to highlight. See example below. Artist attribution example: The Carp, by Jonathan Russell, jonathan@macphoenix.com

Additionally, on the PDF and on the website, the social media/email link will be clickable. On the website, we have more room to put biographical information, if you wish.

Regarding watermarks

Please feel free to sign your artwork as you normally would, but we prefer if we can avoid watermarks on the printed pieces of art. Watermarks are perfectly acceptable on the digital copies of your work. Remember, any work submitted and accepted is still your own, and still under your copyright.

Is there a theme to the zine?

Nothing specific in this issue, other than showcasing creativity. We did find that people naturally submitted more fall-themed works for the Autumn issue, and that’s perfectly acceptable.