The Seventh Wave is a BIPOC- and queer-led organization. We are committed to meeting folks wherever they may be in their creative journey.
We invite writers, artists, and activists to take part in global conversations that examine the complexities of our deep-seated narratives. In general, there are three ways to work with us: through our 1) annual literary magazine, 2) digital residency program, and 3) Community Anthologies platform. You can see more info about each below:
- Annual Literary Magazine: If you have work that is ready to be edited toward publication, our annual literary magazine may be for you. We publish one issue per year, elevating up to 16 artists and writers. The call for submissions for the magazine opens in November of each year. Is our magazine for you? The short answer is: if our call interests you, then your work will interest us. Read our past issues here. Our calls are open to all writers and artists, as well as all genres and forms. Specific guidelines (length, etc.) may be found on our FAQ page here. Each contributor is paid $100.
- Digital Residency: This process-based program is for folks who are seeking accountability, community, and resources (but not necessarily publication). Our digital residency, Narrative Shifts, is a genre-agnostic, generative writing program that includes seven sessions over seven weeks, centering specific aspects of craft that any writer, reader, or thinker could wield both on and off the page. In 2025, we will be running two intakes — Spring and Fall — each with three cohorts of 12-16 residents. This program costs $895, but payment plans are available, and there are two fully-paid scholarship seats per intake. See more information here.
- Community Anthologies: This cohort-based storytelling platform gives our editorial keys to four editors-in-chief to create their own anthologies on our site. Each Community Anthology publishes 6-8 artists/writers, so 24-32 people in total. Our applications to be an EIC open in March of each year, and our submissions to the anthologies open in June of each year. You can see more info here.
Any open calls/opportunities will be below. For any questions, reach out to submit@seventhwavemag.com.
Our 2025 Community Anthologies — curated by our editors-in-chief Naomi Day, Sanam Sheriff, Emilio Carrero, K-Ming Chang + Hairol Ma, and Jody Chan + Noa Sanders — are now open for submissions.
Prior to submitting, please ensure that you have read about this program in full here, as well as visited our FAQ page here. To call out a few key details:
- Five 2025 Community Anthologies. There are 5 Community Anthologies open for submission, each of which is curated and edited by a different editor-in-chief. Seventh Wave selected our seven 2025 Editors-in-Chief through an application process in March 2025, and our EICs — named above — were selected based on the anthology topic they wished to curate in the world.
- Each Community Anthology focuses on a different topic. Our five 2025 Community Anthologies are On Separation, On Liminality, On Collapse, On Girlhood, and On Repetition. Read the calls in full here. Each Community Anthology has its own call/topic for submission, but there is only 1 submission form for all 5 (as you can only apply to one anthology per year).
- Each EIC will be selecting 6-8 contributors. If you are one of the 6-8 contributors selected by the EIC you submit work to, please note that you will be working directly with that EIC from acceptance to publication. Seventh Wave will host orientation sessions for all accepted contributors in August, but you will then work on revisions with your EIC from September - November. Please note that 4 of our 5 anthologies (as indicated in the form), are open for submissions via a hybrid submission model.
- General guidelines. We only accept previously unpublished work; you may only submit to one Community Anthology per year (when you submit, you will be prompted to choose which anthology you are submitting work to); for prose pieces, we accept submissions up to 5,000 words; for poetry, we accept up to 4 poems; and for art, it depends on the project/form. Each anthology may also have specific requirements or guidelines, so please ensure you've read the calls in full here.
In an era when we’re seeing literary magazines closing their doors, Seventh Wave is dedicated to building more platforms for our communities’ voices. Through our Community Anthologies program, we give our editorial keys to five community curators, who each in turn produce their own mini, digital anthology of voice on our platforms. See our 2024 and 2023 anthologies here.