Sub­mit­ting to Paper Brigade

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 2020 issue will be pub­lished in win­ter 2020, and will pri­mar­i­ly be focused on 2019 and 2020 books. All authors are paid for orig­i­nal work.

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

Please sub­mit a com­plete man­u­script, not a pitch.

Pieces should involve a 2019 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.

Paper Brigade is pleased to announce its first open call for short sto­ry submissions.

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 at a time, 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 clos­es on March 15, 2020. 

Sub­mit through Sub­mit­table here.

Paper Brigade accepts 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.

Please email your sub­mis­sion to publications@​jewishbooks.​org, includ­ing your name and email address on the first page. We only accept sub­mis­sions electronically.

Sub­mis­sions are due by June 1, and accept­ed on a rolling basis. We encour­age you to sub­mit as ear­ly as pos­si­ble. Simul­ta­ne­ous sub­mis­sions are accept­able as long as you imme­di­ate­ly noti­fy us if your piece has been accept­ed elsewhere.

Poet­ry sub­mis­sions will be con­sid­ered for JBC’s online poet­ry series, Berru, as well as Paper Brigade. Please sub­mit no more than five poems at a time.

If your piece is pub­lished in Paper Brigade, you may not pub­lish it else­where with­out per­mis­sion from Jew­ish Book Coun­cil and an approved cred­it line.