the TONIC is a literary journal affiliated with Lesley University’s MFA Program.
We publish a wide range of prose, poetry, and text-based art and are drawn to provocative, innovative, and experimental writing.
We’re interested in previously unpublished work in the following categories - simultaneous genre submissions are welcome:
- Fiction, including excerpts from larger pieces (up to 5,000 words)
- Poetry (up to 5 poems)
- Literary Non-fiction (up to 5,000 words)
- Critical essays (up to 5,000 words)
- Stage and screen (up to 6,000 words)
- Text-based art (up to 4 pdf pages)
- Young Adult Fiction (up to 5,000 words)
Additional Info:
We’re committed to removing the barriers to publishing access and have a no-fee submission policy for our journal.
Unfortunately, we’re not able to accept any revisions to pieces that have already been submitted once the submission period has ended unless an editor specifically requests corrections.
Contributor confirms that the work is their original creation, accurate, and legally permissible, and the contributor warrants that the submitted work is authored by a human and not generated by AI. We also acquire first serial rights worldwide in English and non-exclusive anthology rights.
If your work has been accepted in another publication, we ask you to please notify us as quickly as possible. You can withdraw your piece via Submittable after notifying us.
Our submission period opens on March 14th and closes on May 14th.