Submission Guidelines
Raising Mothers publishes experimental and traditional fiction, micro and flash, creative nonfiction, interviews, book reviews, photo essays, and comic/graphic narratives.
Raising Mothers exclusively seeks out and supports submissions by self-identified mothers and parents: biological, non-biological, step, foster, grand, or adoptive that are often marginalized in literary spaces. This includes Black and Indigenous people, and people of color (BIPOC) exclusively; cis women, agender, gender non-conforming, genderqueer, two-spirit, and nonbinary people; LGBTQIA; with disabilities; and especially those living at the intersections of these identities.
We also include the voices of people (there is no requirement here to be a parent) who were un-mothered, under-mothered, have toxic parental relationships; people who are adoptees, and other child-centered perspectives. We are interested in non-heteronormative ideas of parenthood including queer parenting, chosen families, and any other ways not mentioned that reconceptualize “family”.
Raising Mothers reserves the right to remove previously published content for any reason, including but not limited to situations where we believe that doing so will protect the integrity of the publication and its mission.
Fee - Entirely voluntary.
Simultaneous Submissions - Yes - Please notify us immediately if accepted elsewhere.
Multiple Submissions - Members Only - Annual members will receive a special link for submissions. Please use that link when submitting. Become a member!
Previously Published Works - No - We only accept original unpublished work.
Response Time - 3-6 months - Thank you for your patience.
HOW TO SUBMIT
All submissions should have a literary quality: strong, engaging and non-academic.
Work should be submitted in 12 pt font (no fancy fonts, please), double spaced and uploaded as a doc. or docx. file. Comic and graphic narrative submissions should be uploaded as .pdf.
Files should be saved and uploaded as Your Name_Column Name. Include a word count in the document. We no longer accept submissions via email except when noted.
The draft you submit is considered final, excepting suggested changes by our editorial staff.
Include a 100 word bio written in third person.
We do not accept work created by AI. Any submissions not entirely created by a human author will be automatically rejected.
PAYMENT
Raising Mothers is a lean organization, with a fully volunteer staff. Our aim has been to be 100% reader-funded since 2016. With your help, we can get there by 2026.
Paid subscriptions directly contribute to Raising Mothers ability to pay writers.
At 250 paid subscribers, you can help cover operating costs — paying writers, commissioning art, and offer stipend to our editors and a roof over my head.
At 500, we can release two digital issues a year.
At 1000, we can set our sights on starting our anthology project and doing more offline activities.
How our rates work:
$6 a month helps to cover the cost of one interview per year (after 12 payments)
$115 a year covers one essay
$195 a year covers one essay and one flash piece or interview
Our tiers are based on our three most used tiers: $5/ month, $10/month (billed annually with a discount), and $15/month (billed annually with a discount).
We now offer a $50/month tier which grants paid membership to both
RIGHTS
By submitting to Raising Mothers, you’re granting first electronic rights exclusive for the first 6 months upon publication. You grant the right to excerpt portions of accepted work online in order to promote you, your work, and Raising Mothers. You’re also agreeing that if your work is republished in whole or in part digitally or in print, you will credit Raising Mothers as first publication, along with a direct link to the site where applicable. We reserve first world eBook, print and audiobook rights, and non-exclusive anthology rights for our published anthologies. Raising Mothers reserves non-exclusive online rights to publish and archive your work in perpetuity. All other rights remain the property of the author.
Selected pieces might be requested for future anthologies. You reserve the right to decline our offer.
OPEN CALLS
When the Water Was Gone — Hurricane Katrina, 20 Years Later
In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina ripped through the Gulf Coast, devastating New Orleans and surrounding communities, altering the lives of families for generations. The storm laid bare not only the power of water and wind but the deep failures of government response, racial inequity, and environmental neglect. Families were scattered, homes were lost, and children grew up too quickly in the shadow of catastrophe.
Now, 20 years later, we return to Katrina to remember, reflect, and reckon with what remains. Raising Mothers is seeking stories from parents, caregivers, and those who were children at the time of the storm. We want to hear about survival and loss, the homes and neighborhoods you rebuilt or were forced to leave, the ways displacement reshaped family and identity, and the lessons Katrina etched into your parenting or your growing up.
We invite work that:
Honors the resilience of families and communities
Explores intergenerational trauma, memory, and healing
Confronts the systemic injustices revealed and repeated by Katrina
Offers testimony of love, survival, and care in impossible conditions
Submission Guidelines
Deadline: December 15
Word Count:
Essay / Narrative nonfiction, Interview, Short story and Interviews —up to 5000 words;
Graphic Narrative / Comics — no limit;
Flash CNF — up to 1000 words.
Eligibility: Open to anyone writing in English, anywhere in the world.
Restriction: No previously published work.
Evaluation: All submissions are read by us, Sherisa de Groot, Dara Mathis & K E Garland, the editors of Raising Mothers.
Response time: 3 - 6 months.