A review of contemporary literature, The Bournemouth Journal publishes fiction, flash fiction, and poetry, celebrating a diverse range of voices, themes, and styles. Produced by the staff and students of Bournemouth University’s MA in Creative Writing and Publishing, each issue highlights exceptional work that pushes boundaries and inspires. In addition to our biannual issues, we produce outreach anthologies honouring the work of various creative communities. And working in partnership with The Bournemouth Writing Festival, we judge, edit and produce The Bournemouth Writing Prize.
We Contain Multitudes.
What we publish:
In ‘Song of Myself,’ Walt Whitman wrote: ‘Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself (I am large, I contain multitudes).’ The Bournemouth Journal is a literary review that strives to be as complex as our writers and readers.
Each issue is a study in contrasts, celebrating an extraordinary range of styles, themes, and perspectives. Our goal: to prove that all types of writing can peacefully coexist between the same covers. We love inventive, unconventional works that defy genre boundaries, but we also enjoy a good, old-fashioned yarn with a well-crafted plot.
Please submit pieces written in English, but some code-switching between languages and dialects is welcome. Spelling can be either UK or American English as long as it’s consistent. We are genre-agnostic and stylistically promiscuous. Send us your mutations and your mashups, your first-person memoirs and your completely invented worlds.
Our rotating team of editors ensures our tastes are constantly refreshed, but we are always on the lookout for something unexpected and new, so dazzle us. Do we publish genre fiction? Literary fiction? And poetry? Yes, yes, and yes. Are we willing to consider different formats such as scripts? Song lyrics? And textual hybrids? Please, please, please. How about an excerpt from a graphic novel? A Surrealist grocery list? Some creative nonfiction? Thank you, thank you, thank you. Highbrow? Lowbrow? Horror? Romance? Comedy? Tragedy? Stand-alone novel excerpts? Micro-fiction? Send them all our way!
If you’ve tucked into a creative sweet spot, mine it for all its worth. Or if you’re a shapeshifter, show off your range by sharing a few radically different pieces. As long as your work can appear in print (no media files or interactive apps at this time, sorry) and fits within the word count, we are open to just about anything. We want to make each issue as aesthetically and culturally diverse as possible.
Who we publish:
In addition to showcasing a wide range of writing, we also celebrate a wide range of writers, including–but not limited to–LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, disabled, poor, and working-class writers. Defined by who we include–rather than who we exclude–we are dedicated to spotlighting emerging writers who have never been published alongside well-established authors. We enjoy supporting work from the Southwest of England, but we seek submissions from anywhere in the metaverse.
What we avoid:
Our tastes are expansive, but we’re not merely eclectic, we’re complex. Spare us your one-dimensional heroes and villains, your saints and victims. Self-flagellating confessionals, tales of woe, and bitter invective don’t interest us. We prefer the work of writers who challenge their own preconceptions and biases, breaking with fixed patterns, and discovering new insights about themselves and the world around them.
We’re drawn to anything that reflects the raw, vibrant, fleshy, fleeting, contradictory condition of being human. Do not submit AI generated, or previously published work. No erotica, ultra-violence, or hate-speech. And please include content warnings for anything that might potentially disturb vulnerable readers. Current staff and students working on The Bournemouth Journal and The Bournemouth Writing Prize should not submit to us.
Our readership:
As the journal is still in its infancy, issues are only available in a print-on-demand format and contributions are unpaid. Though our readership is small, it is a dedicated and engaged audience passionate about contemporary literature.