Paper Brigade, the annu­al print jour­nal of Jew­ish Book Coun­cil, pro­vides a snap­shot of the pre­vi­ous year’s Jew­ish lit­er­ary land­scape while also explor­ing the his­to­ry of Jew­ish lit­er­a­ture in Amer­i­ca and abroad. The pub­li­ca­tion is com­prised of arti­cles, inter­views, per­son­al essays, fic­tion, poet­ry, pho­tog­ra­phy, and illus­tra­tions that, togeth­er, high­light the breadth and diver­si­ty of Jew­ish books today.

We are com­mit­ted to giv­ing voice to Jew­ish-inter­est authors of all back­grounds, includ­ing those from mar­gin­al­ized com­mu­ni­ties and writ­ers in trans­la­tion whose work may not oth­er­wise be avail­able in Eng­lish. Paper Brigade also seeks to expand the com­mon­ly held idea of what con­sti­tutes the ​“Jew­ish expe­ri­ence.” We are com­mit­ted to help­ing authors con­nect with as broad a read­er­ship as pos­si­ble by strik­ing a bal­ance between schol­ar­ship and con­tent that will be acces­si­ble to read­ers, Jew­ish and non-Jew­ish, lay and academic.

The 2023 issue will be pub­lished in the fall of 2022, and will pri­mar­i­ly be focused on 2022 books. All authors are paid for orig­i­nal work.

Paper Brigade con­sid­ers orig­i­nal, unpub­lished non­fic­tion between 1,500 and 2,500 words.

Please sub­mit a com­plete man­u­script, not a pitch.

Pieces should involve a 2022 book, and we encour­age authors to be cre­ative about the ways in which they accom­plish this. (We’re not look­ing for straight­for­ward book reviews.) The major­i­ty of our arti­cles fea­ture more than one book, and they often dis­cuss trends in cur­rent lit­er­a­ture or explore books in the con­text of old­er traditions.

Authors are also remind­ed that their pieces will be pub­lished sev­er­al months after they are sub­mit­ted, so ref­er­ences to spe­cif­ic cur­rent events may not be appropriate.

In terms of style, please note that Paper Brigade is a lit­er­ary, not aca­d­e­m­ic, publication.

The non­fic­tion sub­mis­sion peri­od is cur­rent­ly closed. 

Paper Brigade con­sid­ers orig­i­nal, unpub­lished short fiction.

Sto­ries should be between 1,500 and 7,000 words, and we encour­age authors to famil­iar­ize them­selves with Paper Brigade before sub­mit­ting. Sub­mis­sions must be pre­vi­ous­ly unpub­lished, online or in print. Please send only one sto­ry, along with a $3 read­ing fee. Sto­ries will be con­sid­ered for both print and online pub­li­ca­tion on Paper Brigade​’s dig­i­tal arm, PB Dai­ly.

The fic­tion sub­mis­sion peri­od is cur­rent­ly closed.

Paper Brigade con­sid­ers Eng­lish trans­la­tions of fic­tion (up to 2,500 words) and poet­ry. Please sub­mit the orig­i­nal ver­sion along with the trans­la­tion. The Eng­lish trans­la­tion must be pre­vi­ous­ly unpub­lished. The trans­la­tor is respon­si­ble for secur­ing permission. 

The trans­la­tion sub­mis­sion peri­od clos­es on March 1, 2022. Sub­mit through Sub­mit­table here. 

Paper Brigade con­sid­ers orig­i­nal, unpub­lished poet­ry. Please sub­mit a max­i­mum of two poems, along with a $3 sub­mis­sion fee. Poems will be con­sid­ered for both Paper Brigade and JBC’s online poet­ry series, Berru.

The sub­mis­sion peri­od for poet­ry is cur­rent­ly closed.