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The Taddle Creek Submission Guidelines

Have you heard the news? Taddle Creek is done. Submissions are now permanently closed. DO NOT SUBMIT! Sadly, that means if you haven’t been in the magazine by now, you never will be. Taddle Creek leaves its submission guidelines here simply for entertainment purposes, since so many people seemed to enjoy/be enraged by them. 

Taddle Creek’s most important submission guideline is that anyone submitting work to the magazine must first read the submission guidelines. If you follow only one of the guidelines, please follow that one. You’re here already—just read it.

A few things other things:

  • Taddle Creek only accepts unsolicited submissions of fiction and poetry. If you have an idea for a non-fiction piece of some kind or you are a cartoonist, please contact the magazine with your pitch and/or portfolio.
  • There is no minimum or maximum length required of fiction or poetry submissions, though the magazine’s format usually doesn’t allow for poems of more than ninety lines or for postcard fiction.
  • Unless noted at the top of this page, there are no submission deadlines. Taddle Creek is always reading.
  • All work submitted to Taddle Creek must be previously unpublished and expected to be still unpublished in at least six months’ time.
  • Work submitted to Taddle Creek must not be under consideration elsewhere. Taddle Creek is well aware your submission most likely is under consideration elsewhere, even if you say it’s not. Don’t think you’re fooling anyone. And if it is under consideration elsewhere, just lie.
  • If you’re thinking of asking Taddle Creek what kinds of fiction and poetry it publishes, or what it looks for in fiction and poetry, the magazine does not have a good answer for you, as Taddle Creek really just publishes stuff it likes. The best thing to do is read a few issues of the magazine and decide for yourself if your work is a good fit.
  • Taddle Creek is very interested in submissions from diverse voices. It won’t list every group here, because it would be bound to leave someone out, but you know who you are.

A few requests:

  • Do not submit work if you are unfamiliar with the magazine and what it publishes. Every story the magazine has published is available for free on this Web site.
  • Please do not send more than one piece of fiction or four poems at a time.
  • Please—no earnest stories about your unresolved “daddy issues.”
  • The magazine does not care to read any more stories written from the point of view of a foetus. For that matter, please also do not send stories about the Y2K bug, September 11th, the 2003 Toronto blackout, tsunamis, or the covid-19 pandemic.
  • Three words: no shaped poetry.
  • Taddle Creek has received enough angry letters about this next request to know it’s a bit of a touchy subject for many, but: Leaving two spaces after a period isn’t something that happens in the real world in the twenty-first century. Don’t do it in your submission. Don’t do it anywhere. Everyone’s been laughing at you behind your back, and it’s making Taddle Creek sad.

E-mail is the easiest way to submit to Taddle Creek. But, if you’d like to be among the two annual people who send Taddle Creek a hard copy of their submission, go for it.

Taddle Creek
P.O. Box 611, Station P
Toronto, Ontario M5S 2Y4
editor@taddlecreekmag.com

  • All submissions must include the author’s full name (no pseudonyms, please), address, phone number, and, e-mail address. This information should be included on the first page of every submission, not just on your envelope. A cover letter is not necessary, but e-mails that contain no text at all make Taddle Creek suspicious and it deletes them without opening any attachments.
  • If submitting by e-mail, please include a commonly used file format, such as Microsoft Word. Do not send links to online files. If submitting multiple poems, there is no need to save each one as a separate file. In fact, Taddle Creek would prefer you didn’t.
  • Posted submissions should include an e-mail address or a self-addressed stamped envelope for reply. If you would like your submission returned, the return envelope must be large enough to accommodate it comfortably.
  • When asking a magazine to review your work, it’s always nice if you spell its name correctly. Taddle Creek is just saying.
  • Taddle Creek respond to submissions as soon as it can. Sometimes it takes a while.
  • Sadly, due to the volume of submissions received and the lack of volume of Taddle Creek staff, the magazine cannot provide feedback on your submission. Please don’t make things awkward for everyone by asking.

You may now submit to Taddle Creek. You’re welcome.