Please note: We are currently on an indefinite hiatus and our submissions are closed.
"In a world that doesn't really care
whether we live or die
tell it you do and why" -Steve Scafidi
***
"Addiction is a tunnel that wakes you up in the middle of the night.
Everything else happens out here in the light." -Cheryl Strayed
***
Anti-Heroin Chic is a collective journal of poetry, photography, art work, essays, interviews and more.
'Anti-Heroin Chic' meaning that what is beautiful is what is broken, that our imperfections, our exiles, our exclusions, are what define our humanity most, not the polished surface or the Instagram culture which encourages us to dissociate from who and how we truly are. There is a seat for everyone here at the table. The idea of the commune very much animates this project. This journal strives for inclusion and a diversity of voices, not to disparage others but to lift them up. We also strive to publish those who are being neglected or under-served in the literary or art communities.
This is a space for those who have been left out in the cold in all sorts of ways, this is open to diverse interpretation. 'Chic' was also an aesthetic fashion-style associated with heroin, but in addition to that it was also a clique, a closed circle, so the journal is also a commentary on forms of inclusion and exclusion. Since we come down on the side of the former we try to be as egalitarian as possible in putting people's voices & their struggles/poems/artwork out there.
As in life, there will always be some rejection, but we seek to minimize, as much as possible, what we see as unexamined forms of privilege and bias, editorial, institutional and otherwise. If Jack Micheline and Valerie Solanas were alive today we like to think you would have found them here. We are the boarded up cafe downwind from the Warhol factory where all of the downtrodden and rejected find that they have a seat waiting for them.
Anti-Heroin Chic is also an Anti-Drug-addiction safe space. We believe that drugs are what come easiest to pain but are also what magnifies that pain. We strive to publish those who have either crawled out of that hell or have known or lost those who succumbed to that dark cloud that is addiction.
Part of addiction is an inability to express pain that has become trapped. We want poems that find ways to express that pain. "Not why the addiction, but why the pain" as Dr. Gabor Mate writes. Why the pain. Tell us. Why.
You are not alone. There will be better tomorrow's if you can make it beyond this pain.
If the work is honest and from your heart we will most likely publish it. We may also choose not to, but we are nonetheless floored by the resiliency it takes to create and share that creation with us, and our rejections are heavy hearted. We take it very seriously whenever anyone decides to entrust us with their work.
In conclusion, show the world what you see when you are on the outside, looking in.
Send us your observations.
Send us your heart.
Send us your honesty.
Editor-in-chief,
James Diaz
They/Them
***Please Note: Our issues are best viewed from a pc or laptop. If viewing from a smart phone the original formatting may be lost. We apologize for any inconvenience.
***
Submissions are CLOSED.
Please Note: We are currently on an extended hiatus until further notice.
All Submissions can be sent in a word doc attachment or pasted into the body of the email. We ask that you please refrain from sending PDF's.
We do like cover letters, as we are a very warm and personable publication. Don't be afraid to say hello (there's no right or wrong way to say hello.) We are all about authenticity, kindness and vulnerability here. We strive to make this space a welcoming, safe and friendly environment.
All work should be in a word document (please no PDF's) or pasted into the body of the email.
Please include a short third person bio with all submissions.
Response time within a month, often much sooner. Feel free to inquire after 60 days.
Once your work has been accepted or declined we ask that you please wait a minimum of six months before resubmitting to us.
By submitting to us, you grant us First Serial Rights, the right to publish your work on our site, as well as Archival Rights, the right to archive your work on our website, with credit given to you as the author. Otherwise, upon publication, all rights revert back to the author under the condition that you will credit Anti-Heroin Chic as the original publisher should your work be reprinted.
Simultaneous submissions are allowed but please make mention in your cover letter if they are simultaneously submitted and try to notify us as soon as possible if accepted elsewhere.
Please note: we do not accept previously published work at this time.
Failure to follow these guidelines will be frowned upon but we won't excommunicate you for it, we're not that power hungry.
"Something told me I had to make sense of how I was connected to the world I came from before I could go on to connect to the world at large. You have to start at home." -Kate Campbell
"In a world that doesn't really care
whether we live or die
tell it you do and why" -Steve Scafidi
***
"Addiction is a tunnel that wakes you up in the middle of the night.
Everything else happens out here in the light." -Cheryl Strayed
***
Anti-Heroin Chic is a collective journal of poetry, photography, art work, essays, interviews and more.
'Anti-Heroin Chic' meaning that what is beautiful is what is broken, that our imperfections, our exiles, our exclusions, are what define our humanity most, not the polished surface or the Instagram culture which encourages us to dissociate from who and how we truly are. There is a seat for everyone here at the table. The idea of the commune very much animates this project. This journal strives for inclusion and a diversity of voices, not to disparage others but to lift them up. We also strive to publish those who are being neglected or under-served in the literary or art communities.
This is a space for those who have been left out in the cold in all sorts of ways, this is open to diverse interpretation. 'Chic' was also an aesthetic fashion-style associated with heroin, but in addition to that it was also a clique, a closed circle, so the journal is also a commentary on forms of inclusion and exclusion. Since we come down on the side of the former we try to be as egalitarian as possible in putting people's voices & their struggles/poems/artwork out there.
As in life, there will always be some rejection, but we seek to minimize, as much as possible, what we see as unexamined forms of privilege and bias, editorial, institutional and otherwise. If Jack Micheline and Valerie Solanas were alive today we like to think you would have found them here. We are the boarded up cafe downwind from the Warhol factory where all of the downtrodden and rejected find that they have a seat waiting for them.
Anti-Heroin Chic is also an Anti-Drug-addiction safe space. We believe that drugs are what come easiest to pain but are also what magnifies that pain. We strive to publish those who have either crawled out of that hell or have known or lost those who succumbed to that dark cloud that is addiction.
Part of addiction is an inability to express pain that has become trapped. We want poems that find ways to express that pain. "Not why the addiction, but why the pain" as Dr. Gabor Mate writes. Why the pain. Tell us. Why.
You are not alone. There will be better tomorrow's if you can make it beyond this pain.
If the work is honest and from your heart we will most likely publish it. We may also choose not to, but we are nonetheless floored by the resiliency it takes to create and share that creation with us, and our rejections are heavy hearted. We take it very seriously whenever anyone decides to entrust us with their work.
In conclusion, show the world what you see when you are on the outside, looking in.
Send us your observations.
Send us your heart.
Send us your honesty.
Editor-in-chief,
James Diaz
They/Them
***Please Note: Our issues are best viewed from a pc or laptop. If viewing from a smart phone the original formatting may be lost. We apologize for any inconvenience.
***
Submissions are CLOSED.
Please Note: We are currently on an extended hiatus until further notice.
All Submissions can be sent in a word doc attachment or pasted into the body of the email. We ask that you please refrain from sending PDF's.
We do like cover letters, as we are a very warm and personable publication. Don't be afraid to say hello (there's no right or wrong way to say hello.) We are all about authenticity, kindness and vulnerability here. We strive to make this space a welcoming, safe and friendly environment.
All work should be in a word document (please no PDF's) or pasted into the body of the email.
Please include a short third person bio with all submissions.
Response time within a month, often much sooner. Feel free to inquire after 60 days.
Once your work has been accepted or declined we ask that you please wait a minimum of six months before resubmitting to us.
By submitting to us, you grant us First Serial Rights, the right to publish your work on our site, as well as Archival Rights, the right to archive your work on our website, with credit given to you as the author. Otherwise, upon publication, all rights revert back to the author under the condition that you will credit Anti-Heroin Chic as the original publisher should your work be reprinted.
Simultaneous submissions are allowed but please make mention in your cover letter if they are simultaneously submitted and try to notify us as soon as possible if accepted elsewhere.
Please note: we do not accept previously published work at this time.
Failure to follow these guidelines will be frowned upon but we won't excommunicate you for it, we're not that power hungry.
"Something told me I had to make sense of how I was connected to the world I came from before I could go on to connect to the world at large. You have to start at home." -Kate Campbell
If AHC were a song...
"like an orphan shoe
from the lost and found
always missing the other"
-Mary Chapin Carpenter
from the lost and found
always missing the other"
-Mary Chapin Carpenter
