Contribute
Please read the guidelines below before contacting Maisonneuve.
Guidelines
Maisonneuve considers and publishes primarily long-form narrative journalism and visual art. To get a sense of the sort of work that we publish, we suggest reading some recent back issues before you submit to us, or take a look at the articles featured on our website. Specific information on our regular sections are detailed below.
Unfortunately, due to the volume of submissions received and the capacity of our very small editorial staff, we no longer accept unsolicited submissions of fiction or poetry. Maisonneuve does not accept submissions that have been published elsewhere.
Though we may consider drafts, we strongly prefer well-developed, well-researched pitches. We do ask that you only submit completed drafts if you are open to working with us on edits. If you'd like to get a sense of what we're looking for in a pitch, read Drew Nelles' "How to Write a Magazine Pitch."
Contact
All writing submissions can be submitted by email to nour[at]maisonneuve[dot]org.
We welcome submissions of comics and photo essays, as well as artist portfolios for those interested in future illustration assignments. Comics can be sent to nour[at]maisonneuve[dot]org, please send all other visual submissions to design[at]maisonneuve[dot]org.
It can take us up to three months to respond to submissions.
Maisonneuve content guidelines
Here is a roundup of the kind of articles we frequently publish and a rough guide as to what we’re looking for.
Comment
Comment articles are opinion-driven essays of roughly 1500 to 3000 words. A good comment article will focus on a specific point of view, bringing in both personal experience and research. We want your strong feelings, your hot takes and your unpopular opinions, delivered in a literary style. A couple of examples of great comment articles include:
On Reflection by Angelina Mazza
Rinse and Repeat by Jody Anderson
Self-Checkout by Nicki Wiart
Buying into Belonging by Katia Lo Innes
Read more of our comment articles here.
Open House
Open house articles are thematically varied essays and reported pieces. They tend to fall between 1500 and 3500 words. Our favourite open houses have some kind of unique take on an issue and incorporate some reporting and research. Here are a couple that really worked for us recently:
End Of The Line by Sakeina Syed
The Sum Of Its Parts by Allison LaSorda
An Ugly, Sweet Thing by Chantal Braganza
Where Are the Filipino Restaurants? by Jadine Ngan
After Bubbe by Jess Goldman
Read more Open House articles here.
Features
Our features are all very different from one another in terms of tone and content, but tend to be in-depth explorations of issues that incorporate strong research and reporting. Since we are a quarterly, we love pieces that are evergreen or are otherwise outside of the daily news cycle, but we do need articles to have some kind of relevancy for current readers. The length of features vary, but most fall in the 4000 to 6000 word range. Read some of our recent features listed below to get a sense of what we like:
The Prescription by Fawn Parker
Vanity Fair by Alexandra Kimball
The Path Forward by Ben Libman
Where There's Smoke by Paloma Pacheco
Occult Following by Daniel Allen Cox
Reviews
We love to publish reviews of arts and culture content of practically any type. Books, films, exhibitions, restaurants, museums, galleries, festivals—if you have thoughts about something that you read, watched, attended, or otherwise consumed, then we’re interested in hearing them. Reviews may focus on a specific piece of work or a specific theme. We do need reviews to either have a contemporary connection or to have a very, very strong evergreen angle, and we have a strong preference for the former. Reviews generally run from 1500 to 2500 words. Some good recent reviews include:
Ghost Stories by Justine Smith
No Holds Barred by Jim Burke
Homebound by Adnan Khan
Against the Stream by Brennan McCracken
Comics
Our comics are one to two pages long.
Letters from Montreal
The Letter from Montreal is a uniquely Maisonneuve essay—it’s a short, fun, 700-word essay about the peculiarities of life in this weird and wonderful city. Read a couple of our favourite recent LFMs here:
The Roommate by Daniel Viola
A Little Bit More Fabulous by Cason Sharpe
Peak Performance by Eva Crocker
Past Curfew by Alex Manley
For all other questions and queries, please contact nour[at]maisonneuve[dot]org. We look forward to hearing from you!
