Contributing to Westerly

Editorial Policy

Westerly publishes lively fiction and poetry as well as intelligent articles. Westerly is not a specialist academic journal but aims to generate interest in the literature and culture of Australia and its neighbouring regions.

Deadlines for submitting material

Westerly is published semiannually in July and November.

Submission deadline for July edition: 31 March

Submission deadline for November edition: 31 July

How to submit your work

Submissions of previously unpublished material may be sent via post or email.

Please read the following information and the Westerly Submission Guidelines before submitting your work:

• Manuscripts and poems should be single-spaced and typed in a size 12 Times New Roman font with margins of no more than 2.5cm. Please ensure that all titles/headings/textual breaks are clearly marked.
• All pages should include the name, address and email address of the author.
• Please include an email address for all submissions. Note that it may take several months for return correspondence, so please use an email address that will be relevant for this duration.
• If you are submitting a manuscript or an essay, please ensure that it adheres to the style outlined in the Westerly Submission Guidelines.
• No more than three poems or one short story should be submitted at any one time. Please wait for a response before submitting future work for consideration.
• While every care is taken of manuscripts, the editors can take no final responsibility for their return; contributors are consequently urged to retain copies of all work submitted.

Submitting your work via email (Email submissions are preferred.)

Submissions should be emailed as RTF or Word document attachments to westerly@cyllene.uwa.edu.au Please include a brief biographical note and postal address in the body of your email.

Submitting your work via post

Submissions should be posted to:

Westerly Centre M202
The University of Western Australia
35 Stirling Hwy
Crawley WA 6009
AUSTRALIA

Postal submissions should include a covering letter which includes a brief biographical note and email address for correspondence.

If you would like your work to be returned, please include a stamped, self-addressed A4 envelope. (If you are sending your work from outside Australia, you may include an International Reply Paid Coupon. Please do not send cash.) Unsolicited manuscripts not accompanied by a stamped self-addressed envelope will not be returned.

Payment

We are bound by our funding arrangement with the ArtsWA to pay the minimum set fees for poetry and stories/articles. Payment rates for the 2009 edition are:

• Poems: $75 for one page/one poem OR $100 for two or more pages/poems
• Stories: $150
• Articles: $150

Publication time

All submissions are read and considered by a number of people. Consequently, it may take between two to four months from the date you submit your work until we contact you regarding whether or not your work is to be published. If your work is chosen for inclusion in Westerly, it may take a further three to six months before it appears in print.

Type of fiction

We have no rules as to type of fiction we publish.

New writers

We are very keen to publish new writers, but quality of material is our major concern, therefore if new work is good enough we will publish it.

Funding

Westerly is funded by ArtsWA.

Westerly publishes about 1% of the poetry received, with the percentage for fiction a little higher.

We differ from other journals in that our focus is more towards the west coast of Australia and the Indian Ocean region (Asia, India etc).