Nonfiction

*We are currently only accepting submissions from undergraduate students of Eastern Washington University. Follow us on social media and we will announce if this changes!

Submitting to multiple genres is accepted and encouraged. Please send each genre submission in a separate email. Make sure to follow the correct guidelines for each corresponding genre.

Formatting Expectations:

One work of 5,000 words or less OR up to three shorter works of 750 words or less

Each essay should be double-spaced in 12-point Times New Roman font.

Page numbers at the top right corner of the document are optional, but appreciated for our convenience.

Email Subject Line

“[First name] [Last name] – [Genre(s)]”

Example: Joan Didion – Nonfiction

Document Type & File Name

Ensure that your nonfiction submission is either a .doc, .docx file and that the document is named: “[Piece title], [First name] [Last name]”

Example: On Self-Respect, Joan Didion

Email Guidelines

Please include a 25-30-word short bio written in third person in the body of your email and NOT in the document containing your work. This may include your pen name, pronouns, previous publications, etc. If you have any questions about the submission process or about Northwest Boulevard, please feel free to include them in your email and we will get back to you as soon as possible. Questions do NOT count towards the word limit of your bio.

Rules for Nonfiction

Nonfiction is a broad genre and we are looking for submissions that fit narrative writing. This can be any form of nonfiction that tells a story about a person, event, or place. It can take the form of essay, profile, short-form or long-form journalism, flash, etc. We ask that you refrain from submitting academic papers and instead only submit creative works.

We understand that your work may include themes that might be off-putting for some audiences, and that’s okay. If your work contains sensitives topics, please include a content warning in the body of your email—something as brief as: “depicts experiences/trauma related to ___” will be fine. Talking about difficult experiences, issues, and/or topics will not disqualify your work from being reviewed and potentially published—however, failure to give our staff the necessary content warning will result in your submission being discarded. Any work that is purposefully offensive/discriminatory to any groups and/or peoples will be immediately discarded.

We want this magazine to be as inclusive, diverse, and accessible as possible for all members of Eastern Washington University’s community. For this reason, we will be excited to include works by diverse groups—regardless of age, sex, gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, etc., but please know that we will be looking at the quality of the work rather than the biographical information of the author when making decisions on what to publish.

We would love to receive works from authors regardless of their major and experience/background in writing. Whoever you are, you are more than welcome to submit to us!

Contact Information

We will reach out to the email you use for your submission in order to contact you about the status of your submission. There is no need to give any additional contact information.

Preferred Names & Pen Names

If you have a preferred first/last name that is not your legal name, please use your preferred name for both the subject of your email and the title of your submission. Clarify in the body of your email which name you would like your work to be published under.

Untitled Works

We sincerely ask that you submit a titled piece. It is our opinion that an untitled piece is an unfinished piece. (This does not apply to other genres. See the other submission guides if you have any concerns.)

Response Time

We assure you that we will do our best to give everyone a timely response on their submission status, however, in order to provide each piece with fair and equal opportunity, this process may take a few weeks or even months. Our staff is working diligently to ensure that we are not rushing your work and we ask for your patience during this process.

We look forward to reading your work!