Every so often, a magazine comes along that reminds us why we fell in love with literature in the first place—work that startles, disorients, refuses to behave. iExile has always lived in that territory. Founded in 2007 by Jaia Papitz, they ahve long championed writers and artists working at the edges of language, form, and genre. Now, with its 2026 relaunch, iExile returns with a sharper vision, a renewed quarterly format, and an open invitation to send the kind of work that doesn’t know how to sit still.

Submissions are always open, and they welcome a wide range of forms: poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, essays, plays, screenplays, satire, fragments, hybrid work, translations, and photography/art. There’s no fee, simultaneous submissions are welcome, and contributors receive a PDF copy of the issue. iExile publishes online and in PDF, responds in about 30 days, and continues to build a home for writing that disturbs, seduces, fractures, and surprises.

In this interview, Jaia talks about the magazine’s origins, its affinity for exophonic and boundary?breaking voices, and what he hopes to see in the submission queue—more hybrids, more translations, more pieces that arrive unpolished and alive.

HOPKINSON: Tell me a little bit about iExile. 

PAPITZ: iExile is a literary and art platform for work that refuses to sit politely in one category. The magazine is interested in exile as a condition of language, memory, geography, and imagination, not only as biography, and it has a special affinity for exophonic writers.

HOPKINSON: How/why was iExile originally started? 

PAPITZ: iExile was founded in 2007 as a platform for independent writers and voices that didn’t have a bullhorn. We’re relaunching now because the need has only sharpened: more writing, more gatekeepers, and fewer rooms where strange work is allowed to remain strange. 

HOPKINSON: Who is your target reader audience? 

PAPITZ: Readers who still want literature to disturb, seduce, fracture, translate, misbehave, and surprise them. People looking for new forms, international voices, strange beauty, and writing that hasn’t been washed clean by consensus. 

HOPKINSON: What type of work are you looking for in submissions? 

PAPITZ: Work with a surprise factor. Poems that don’t arrive pre-domesticated. Fiction with pressure in the sentence. Essays that think dangerously. Translations that carry another weather. Visual work with literary voltage. We like pieces that would not know where to sit on a normal bookshelf.

HOPKINSON: What do you wish you’d see submitted, but rarely comes in? 

PAPITZ: More translations, more hybrid work, more literary satire, more fragments that feel alive instead of unfinished, and more work from writers who haven’t traded their voice for approval.

HOPKINSON: What are some of your favorite lit mags/journals?

PAPITZ: Expat Press, Worms Magazine, and any magazine that still treats literature as a living animal rather than a grant category. 

HOPKINSON: What is your favorite part of being on staff with the iExile?

PAPITZ: Finding a piece that arrives from nowhere and immediately changes the room. That moment when a submission does not ask permission, it simply begins to exist. 

HOPKINSON: Where can we send submissions? 

PAPITZ: Submissions are open through our submission portal: https://submit.iexile.com 

HOPKINSON: If someone has a question, how can they contact you? 

PAPITZ: Through the contact form at https://iexile.com 

HOPKINSON: Is there anything exciting coming up you’d like to mention? 

PAPITZ: We are relaunching iExile with a renewed quarterly format, a stronger submission system, new literary/art features, PDF magazine issues, and a sharper focus on translations, hybrid forms, and work that doesn’t behave. 

Click here to read submission guidelines.

• SUBMISSION DEADLINE:  Always open
• FORMAT: Online and PDF for now.
• SUBMISSION FEE: None ($0)
• PAYMENT: Copy of magazine (PDF).
• ISSUE FREQUENCY: Quarterly
• AVERAGE RESPONSE TIME: 30 days
• SUBMISSION METHOD: Website form
• SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS: Yes
• FORMS: Poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, essays, plays, screenplays, satire, fragments, hybrid work, translations, photography/art.
• SOCIAL MEDIA: Facebook, Instagram
• LISTINGS: CLMP, Chill Subs, Duotrope

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