MadHat (Mad Hatters’ Review), seeks to foster the work of writers and poets: explosive, lyrical, passionate, deeply wrought voices and aesthetic experiments that stretch the boundaries of language, narrative and image, vital and enduring literary voices that sing on the page as well as in the mind. The name of our annual reflects our view of the world as essentially demented and nonsensical, too frequently a nightmare or “non-dream” that needs to be exposed to the light for what it is, as well as what it is not.

We’re particularly interested in risky, thematically broad (i.e., saying something about the world and its creatures), psychologically and philosophically sophisticated works. Humor, satire, irony, magical realism and surrealism are welcome.

We look for originality, surprise, intellectual and emotional strength, lyricism and rhythm. We love writers who stretch their imaginations to the limits and challenge conventional notions of reality and style; we care little for categories. We also adore collaborative ventures, between/among writers, visual artists, and composers.

General Guidelines for all Genres:

Please send us work in only one genre at a time.

We do not accept previously published work unless the editors solicit it or the work is from a print journal, now defunct.  

We do accept simultaneous submissions, but please be courteous and let us know immediately if your work has been accepted elsewhere by withdrawing it from the Submittable queue.

Please upload your submission to the correct genre. Please use the appropriate category for translations and indicate "translation" in the subject line.

Please adhere to ALL guidelines.  If writers do not send work as requested, it will be deleted unread.