SUBMISSIONS

The Rusty Toque accepts unpublished literary and innovative writing in the following genres: poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, graphic short fiction.

We have a BLIND submission policy, so please don't include your name on your submission document. Instead include a short bio in the cover letter section of the submission form.

Please submit no more than twice in one year.

We only accept electronic submission through our submission manager.

Students in Western University's Program in Writing are not eligible to submit to The Rusty Toque but are invited to submit to Western's student-only literary journal Occasus.


RUSTY TALK
We cannot accommodate requests for interviews. Our interview slate is filled 6 to 8 months in advance. We are run by a small group of volunteers and cannot interview all the writers we would like to.


REVIEWS
Reviews should be a minimum of 1000-2000 words, and should engage in detail with the work in question. We are looking for essays that address the work analytically. They can be of prose (short stories and novels), poetry or otherwise unclassifiable literary works; however, we do not publish reviews of non-fiction. 

If you are interested in reviewing for us, please send writing samples and a bio to our reviews editor, Aaron Schneider.

We pay a small honorarium for reviews.

We are predominately looking for Canadian reviewers of both Canadian and international writing.


RUSTY RECOMMENDS
In the spirit of supporting writing—especially writing that's off the radar or under appreciated—we want to know what you are excited about reading and what you think we should be reading.

Your recommendations should be paragraph length (approximately 250 to 300 words) and should briefly summarize the book and detail why you are recommending it or why you think others should read it.

Send our reviews editor Aaron Schneider your recommendations of Canadian and International fiction and poetry.

Please write "Rusty Recommends" in the subject line. Include your (250 to 300 word) recommendation, name, and a link to your website, blog, or social media site (if you have one).

Selected recommendations will be posted on our website.


RESPONSES
It's a good idea to read through our journal to see the kind of work that we publish.

Please keep in mind that we can only publish a small portion of the work we receive.

This journal is run by a small group of volunteers. We try to respond within three months but may take longer. We cannot offer editorial feedback.

A rejection from The Rusty Toque means that it's not a fit for us but doesn't reflect on the quality of the submission.


SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS
We accept simultaneous submissions but ask that you inform us if your work has been accept elsewhere.


PAYMENT
If your work is accepted, we apply for a small honorarium (approximately $50 per contributor) through a grant from the university. Payment is conditional on the approval of this grant. This is an interim funding solution as we are in the process of securing a more stable financial structure to pay writers.

Thanks for sharing you work with us. We look forward to reading it!