To send us a review copy, please reach us at cunningfolkmagazine@gmail.com We won’t ask for review copies unless we intend to interview the author/feature the book in some way.
Contribute to the print magazine
We are open to print magazine submissions. Our next theme is Journeys.
Image © Kaitlynn Copithorne
Pilgrimage, migration, seeking refuge, nomadism, following trade routes, questing. As long as there have been humans there has been a movement of culture, urged by changing environments, shifting politics, marginalisation and persecution, commerce, the desire for power, knowledge, experience or resources. We want to hear about journeys – inner and outer – that contend in some way with our themes: magic, mythology, folklore and/or the occult. Personal journeys, but also the journeys of folk motifs, lore and ideas. Border crossings, ways through the woods, through the underworld, psychedelic trips, orally transmitted tales that travelled far and wide. We encourage people from travelling cultures to submit work, in recognition that they are routinely underrepresented in publishing. We are also interested in hearing from translators.
Submit short fiction and poetry/pitch articles and essays by 1st February 2026.
This issue may be published in a different format to our previous issues. We will inform contributors when we have a clearer idea of what format this will take.
We are committed to paying writers. We will offer £100 per short story or non-fiction article or essay.
Small press
We are also open to general submissions. We are looking for ambitious, insightful and entertaining writing that touches on our themes.
Spiritus Mundi: we accept essays, short fiction and poetry via our online platform Spiritus Mundi. Read more about it here. We are currently closed to submissions. Please read the guidelines carefully. This is a generative prompt, not a thematic one. Plants will probably not appear in your piece. Send short fiction as an attachment, with a short cover letter in the body of the email.
General guidelines
Please note: Successful pitches have a clear sense of narrative, a good balance between specificity and universality, and do not simply repeat the theme. We want to learn something new, or approach a topic from new angles and perspectives. Please send us your pitch in the body of the email, and submissions as attachments.
Please include in the body of your email a short bio of less than 50 words, noting any bylines, with links to 1–3 previous publications, if applicable.
Unfortunately we do not accept reprints.
Submit fiction or poetry but pitch non-fiction ideas.
Genre-wise we are omnivorous, but tend to lean away from high fantasy and crime.
We do accept simultaneous submissions. Do let us know if they get accepted elsewhere.
Please format the subject line of your email like this: Pitch/Submission: (proposed title or headline).
For a clear sense of what we’re after, pick up a copy of our latest issue.
Send your ideas to cunningfolkmagazine@gmail.com
Thank you for trusting us with your work. We are very grateful to have the opportunity to read and consider it. Due to the volume of submissions, we are unfortunately unable to respond to unsuccessful pitches or submissions. We receive many more submissions than we can publish and our final choice is often more about thematic fit. We often have to pass on writing we find exciting, so we encourage writers to keep submitting.