Synaesthesia Magazine

Website

https://www.synaesthesiamagazine.co.uk/

From the Editor

We are a literary and arts magazine run by two passionate editors. Our magazine aims to engage writers and artists in an exploration of the senses, publishing photography, artwork, poetry and short stories. We set a theme for each issue, and encourage a multi-sensory response to each theme. The name and ethos of our magazine came before the idea: synaesthesia – a fascinating neurological condition that involuntarily blurs your senses. Sight becomes touch; sound becomes taste; scent becomes sight. For us, synaesthesia is an incredibly beneficial tool for writing and creating art. We want you to criss-cross your senses – see the world through your ears, hands and nose. We often commission illustrators or photographers to work with us, but more often than not we rely on submissions sent from all over the world. We have grown immensely since 2012 – our first issue came out in January 2013, and, since then, we have had 7 wonderful, rich and vibrant issues, each one entirely different to the last. Each one getting better. We are two editors running the entire magazine. We are the magazine’s voice, designers, editors and marketers. Sometimes, for a particular issue, we will take a sub-editor on board on a voluntary basis, but more often than not, it’s just us. We are based in the UK – but, actually, this makes no difference to the magazine, submissions or to us. We accept English-speaking submissions only. The only way our UK-based location will affect the magazine is if and when we host events, which will be in the UK, until we have enough money to move abroad… Speaking of money, the magazine doesn’t make any (just yet). We love Synaesthesia Magazine – adore it, it is our baby – and when we founded the mag, we knew this was how it was going to stay for a while. It’s something we hope to achieve one day – in order to pay our authors and artists – but until then, all we can offer are occasional monetary prizes (and complimentary gifts) through competitions. Sometimes we offer these on Twitter – keep an eye out! We’re also aware that being online-only can be restrictive to literary magazines, just in terms of being able to read and enjoy the magazine in as enjoyable way as possible. Sometimes computer screens hurt our eyes. Sometimes reading things on a mobile can give us a crook in the neck. We’re constantly working towards being able to provide print versions of Synaesthesia Magazine – but until then, please be patient with us. We want it badly, too, but as we don’t make any money off the magazine at the moment, it will take us a little longer to transfer over into print. Feel free to enquire – we’ll let you know how it’s going! You can find out more about us by reading our magazine – you’ll get a taste for our style, the type of things we love and want more of. Get to know us, the editors – Annabelle and Carlotta – we’re both on Twitter regularly, and we love talking. Come say hi: @AnnabelleCsyn and @1chae

Submissions

Short stories, poetry, flash fiction, photography, illustrations, music. Send us comic strips as well, if you like, or riddles – as long as it relates to our current theme and complies with submission guidelines. We like short stories that come to bed with you and kiss you somewhere you didn’t know you liked. Stories that tease and don’t necessarily give us what we want. We like short stories that are the beginnings of a knock knock joke but not the end. We’re not particularly drawn to poetry that laments, or mourns, or talks about how much it misses its boyfriend. We don’t like poetry that feels sorry for itself. We like poetry that tells us, actually, it’s pretty terrifying being human but y’know what? Here’s a puddle. Look at its rainbow. We like reading that isn’t normal – we like to listen, touch, visualise the words on the page as if they are three-dimensional. Please ensure that you proof your story, poem, piece of flash, as unintentional spelling or grammar mistakes jar – as a writer, you should be painstakingly aware of every single word on your page. If you don’t care about your work, the likelihood that we will is not very high. But, of course, spelling mistakes are not the be all and end all. We look for submissions that break the mould – we’re open to pitches, be they short story pitches, photo essay pitches, illustrations. We’ll get in touch with photographers and illustrators and commission them to work with short stories and poems, or if we think they’ll suit a particular issue theme – illustrators often come back to work with us again, and we love that. We like submissions that are twisted, dark, a play on the norm. While we have a theme for each issue, if you can find a way to break that theme, play with it in a way we haven’t suggested, then, hell, do it. We look for submissions that are aware of the magazine’s style. All submissions are read, considered and read again – but the writers or artists who’ve read our magazine before are the ones that are more likely to be accepted. It can only swing in your favour. Feel free to get in touch with us if you are an illustrator looking to submit your own work. We can provide you with a short story or poem to illustrate, if you want. Email us: synaesthesiamagazine@gmail.com.

Upcoming

At the end of every year, we announce a writing or arts competition. We held our first Short Story Competition at the end of 2013, with guest judge and Sunday Times bestselling author, Adam Marek. Prizes were kindly donated by publishing house Comma Press, and the winner was interviewed in our February 2014 issue. Check back on our website at the end of this year to see what our next competition will be! We are also currently working on our first live event – not your average literary and arts event, either. Something different. We can’t say any more than this right now, but we will certainly publicise the event on our website as soon as we can.

Information

Editors Name Annabelle Carvell and Carlotta Eden
Print publication? No
Circulation 1,000+ per month
Do you take online submissions? Yes
Approx. Response Time? 1-2 months
How often do you publish? Bi-monthly
Year Founded? 2012
Do you pay? No

Contact

Twitter @SynaesthesiaMag
Mailing Address: n/a
Email synaesthesiamagazine@gmail.com