Arc accepts unsolicited submissions from poets at all stages of their writing careers during our Spring and Fall submission periods:
January 1 – March 31
Arc does not accept general submission during this period
April 1 – July 31
The Spring submissions period
August 1 – August 31
Arc does not accept general submission during this period
September 1 – December 31
The Fall submissions period
- Arc accepts previously unpublished poetry in English or previously unpublished translations of poetry into English, on any subject and in any form.
- Poets may only submit once per calendar year.
- Poetry submissions must not exceed three poems or 360 lines of poetry.
- Submissions of more than one poem must be broken up into two or three files and submitted separately on Submittable, along with the poet’s biography. (This allows Arc to respond to poems individually and update submitters on their submission’s status more promptly.)
- Arc only accepts poetry submissions using the online submission manager Submittable, except when otherwise indicated.
- Arc does not accept paper poetry submissions. Submissions received by mail will not be read and will not receive a response.
- Arc aims to respond to unsolicited submissions of poetry within four to six months.
- Poets based in USA must pay a small submission fee of $2 per poem. If this fee is a barrier for anyone wishing to submit, please email us about having the fee waived.
Arc pays for poetry at the rate of $50 per page, with which Arc secures First Canadian Serial Rights (meaning that the poems should not appear in any print or digital publication before being published by Arc). Upon publication, all rights revert to the author and payment is mailed, as well as one free copy of the issue in which the work appears.
Poets are welcome to submit poems that are simultaneously submitted elsewhere. If a poem that has been submitted to Arc is accepted by another publication, it should be withdrawn from Arc immediately via Submittable or by notifying Arc using Submittable’s messaging feature.
- Submissions must be typed and single spaced (double spaces will be interpreted as blank lines).
- Submissions must include the poet’s name, email address, and mailing address on each page.
- Submissions must include the poet’s biography, which should be two to three sentences or approximately 30 words long.
- Submissions of visual poetry or concrete poetry should be submitted as PDFs.