The Account is a biannual online literary magazine publishing poetry, prose and thought. They are open to submissions from May 1st – September 1st and from Nov. 1st – March 1st. You can read all past issues on their site.
I wondered how and why this magazine came to be, so I asked Editor-in-Chief Tyler Mills a few questions to find out. See my interview with Mills and a link to their submission guidelines below.
HOPKINSON: Tell me a little bit about The Account.
MILLS: The Account is an online journal that publishes poetry, fiction, nonfiction, art and criticism that connects the work with the writer (or artist's) "account" of it. We like to think of this as a way of pulling back the curtain and letting the reader see what went on behind the scenes, how the creator of the work approaches form, how their life informs their process, and anything else the work's maker might like to tell us. We love how the online format connects readers with audiences. Works from our journal have been awarded publication in the Pushcart anthology as well as Best of the Net. Important to us is the art that we include in each issue, as well as the criticism that we feature.
We publish two issues a year, one in the fall (November) and one in the spring (May), and we launched in Fall 2013. You can find us online at www.theaccountmagazine.com and on Twitter @TheAccountMag.
We've grown over the years, and it's been exciting. Tyler Mills, Editor-in-Chief, and Brianna Noll, Poetry Editor, are the founding members, and Christina Stoddard is our Managing/Publicity Editor (and Twitter maven!), M. Milks is our Fiction Editor, and Jennifer Hawe is our Nonfiction Editor. Recently, we've been thrilled to share that Sarah Sillin has joined us as Criticism Editor after guest-curating a number of dynamic and thought-provoking critical works for past issues. All of us bring openness to our aesthetic approaches and delight in being surprised by what a work can offer.
HOPKINSON: How/why was The Account originally started?
MILLS: Here is our statement from our "about us" page! Really, the journal began as a conversation about what creative work is and can do. And we still strive to think about how we can contribute to this conversation with each new issue that we publish.
"The Account: A Journal of Poetry, Prose, and Thought originated late one evening in the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago. We were interested in the conversations that could arise when an account was paired with creative work. We imagined a journal where writers could offer such accounts beside their poems and prose, and where artists could offer the same pairing of work and aesthetic statement.
account = history, sketch, marker, repository of influences
An account of a specific work traces its arc--through texts and world--while giving voice to the artist's approach. The literary/art market's tidal wave can tend to engulf the maker's account of the work. We believe that an account can restore the relationship between artist and aesthetic."
HOPKINSON: What type of work are you looking for?
MILLS: We love to read work from a range of perspectives and approaches–from tankas that include hashtags in their titles to poems that operate purely as lists to lyric poems about nature and our contemporary world. Our fiction and nonfiction explores a range of approaches to storytelling and points of view, and we're excited to see what writers can do in these genres. And we actively seek to represent POC and non-binary writers and artists.
HOPKINSON: What do you wish you’d see submitted, but rarely comes in?
MILLS: We love to be surprised: by form, by approach, by method!
HOPKINSON: What are some of your favorite lit mags/journals?
MILLS: We love Entropy, The Kenyon Review, Thrush, South Dakota Review, Brevity, Tupelo Quarterly, The Adroit Journal, Pinwheel, Black Warrior Review' there are so many great journals to list, and this is by no means comprehensive!
HOPKINSON: Where can folks send submissions?
MILLS: We read submissions via Submittable, and we request that writers include a 150-500 word account of their work along with it. (Writers are welcome to revise their accounts after acceptance.) We read work twice a year, from May 1st - September 1st and from November 1st - March 1st. Here is a link to our Submittable page with more information: https://theaccountajournalofpoetryprosethought.submittable.com/submit.
HOPKINSON: If someone has a question, how can they contact you?
MILLS: You are welcome to contact us at poetryprosethought@gmail.com if you have questions!
Click here to read submission guidelines.
DEADLINE: March 1, 2018
SUBMISSION FEE: None
PAYMENT: None
FORMAT: Online
FORMS: poetry, creative nonfiction, fiction
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Categories: Call for Submissions, Interviews
This looks like a fascinating journal I want to get to know better. From what I can see, I love it. That reaction will hold. I’d only mention that I typically look up journals I don’t know much about in New Pages reviews and in Review Review. I didn’t find this journal either place. It also doesn’t have a facebook page, as far as I can tell. None of those alter the fact that I love it.
I love it too! They do have a FB page… it’s here: https://www.facebook.com/TheAccountAJournalOfPoetryProseAndThought