At its best, writing bottles evocative and intricate ideas into playful experiments of form that encourage novel examinations of lived experience. This core belief drives our selection of work that gleefully wields words, maximising craft and expression.

Varnish discards traditional word limits and encourages longer works, allowing more thematically complex and timeless explorations, aiming to introduce readers to fresh mental frameworks and unexamined connections.

Give us writing that is as vital today as it will be ten years from now.

Play with form, play with length, play with the reader.

This is a home that’s open to extreme prose and poetry.

Submissions are now open. Please send them to:

varnishsubmissions@gmail.com


General Guidelines 

  • No hard limit on word count*.

  • All submissions must be previously unpublished. 

  • We accept simultaneous submissions, but please let us know if your work is accepted elsewhere. 

  • While we are an Australian publication, we welcome and encourage international submissions.

  • Currently, all submissions must be in English.

  • Please specify the submission category in your email.

  • Please send us your submission as a Word or Pages file.

  • By submitting to Varnish, you agree that excerpts of your work may be published on our social media platforms


Fiction Guidelines   

  • Do not be afraid to prioritise narrative.

  • There is no such thing as ‘normal prose’. 

  • Do not be afraid to submit work seen as ‘transgressive’. If you have something to say, don’t be afraid to shock.

  • Please submit no more than two submissions in a six-month period.

  • Please use 1.5 line spacing.

Non-Fiction Guidelines   

  • We encourage inventive essays on any subject, including memoir, review, and cultural criticism.

  • We encourage essays which respond to other published works. 

  • Please submit no more than two submissions in a six-month period.

  • Please use 1.5 line spacing.

Poetry Guidelines 

  • We encourage longer form poetry works.

  • Please submit a maximum of five poems (no more than ten in a six-month period).

  • Please use whatever line spacing is most applicable. 

We guarantee we will read your entire submission.

We are currently unable to provide payment for submissions.

*Works longer than 10,000 words better be good!