Submissions

 

We need new stories – especially in our crisis-ridden post-industrialised societies.

Gridlocked is committed to championing new ideas and new voices. We will periodically be open to submissions of non-fiction writing, in the form of op-eds and first-person essays under the broad theme of why the 21st Century is broken and how to fix it.

We especially encourage the submission of essays and opinion spanning culture and public discourse, energy and climate, urbanism … but we are open to more.

Submission Status

We are currently not seeking submissions. When a submissions window opens, details will be provided on this page.

What we are looking for

Authors should keep in mind that Gridlocked is a platform for ideas, but we are not a news outlet, nor are we an academic publication or literary journal. As such, Gridlocked does not respond to news article ‘pitches’, nor do we publish prose fiction, poetry, book reviews or artwork.

We read and review every submission, but we are a small team and may not be able to respond to everyone individually. Unfortunately, we are not resourced to accept large volumes of writing and have to reject many excellent essays and ideas.

We cannot respond to unsolicited submissions outside of advertised reading windows. When windows are open, if you do not hear from us within two weeks of submitting, you should feel free to submit your work elsewhere.

During open reading windows, we encourage submissions that meet the following guidelines:

  • Please only submit work written in English.
  • Send us a completed submission, not a pitch.
  • Please submit as a Microsoft Word .doc attachment
  • Please use double-spacing and font size 12.
  • Please only submit a piece that hasn’t already been published elsewhere, and is not already under review elsewhere
  • While we do not have a rigid maximum length or minimum length, we prefer:
    • op-ed submissions of between 800-1,500 words; and
    • first-person essays of between 1,500-4,000 words.
  • In your email, please include:
    • a line telling us who you are and why you’re (uniquely) qualified to write this piece;
    • a line stating where your work has been published before, if relevant.

Please note that we are not in a position to comment on work we don’t accept. We do fully appreciate the hard work and effort that goes into writing; there is so much great writing out there that is yet to find its home. So, if we do not accept your piece this should not be taken as a rejection of your writing! It just means we consider the submitted piece unsuitable for Gridlocked, however well written.

A note on style

Gridlocked has this guiding principle: stories change people – ideas, data and evidence (alone) don’t.

So, if submitting an op-ed, do ‘commit’ to your core argument from the outset of your piece, provoking the reader to question their assumptions, even on seemingly small things. If submitting an essay, try to present a human-centred story that resonates; to show readers everyday situations portrayed (where possible) by relatable characters.

We are looking for new knowledge and fresh perspectives that inspire readers through, as we say, human-centred storytelling. So, for example, if you have ideas for changing environmental or industrial policy, great! But please try to present your ideas in ways that resonate with the everyday lives of readers. If you are able to turn a seemingly ‘dry’ topic or idea into an immersive, even cinematic, story with a compelling narrative arc, then we are likely going to love it!

We favour first-person narrative voice as far as possible. In his essay, “On the Necessity of Turning Oneself into a Character,” Phillip Lopate asserts that readers will be bored by bland conformists; that in presenting oneself as a character, a good place to start is by bringing to the page quirks, idiosyncrasies or anything else that might set us apart from the crowd.[1] We urge you to follow Lopate’s advice and try to turn yourself into a character if you can, even if only to some small degree

[1] Phillip Lopate, To Show and to Tell: The Craft of Literary Nonfiction, 2013: Pp 19.