Submissions for Ache Issue No. 3 are open from Oct 4th-Nov 4th 2019.


Ache is a literary and art magazine dedicated to publishing work by women, trans and non-binary people that explores illness, health, bodies and pain. If you’d like to submit to our third issue, please read our guidelines below.

We are currently accepting submissions of...


  • Essays: 1,000 - 3,000 words

  • Poems: 1-3 poems

  • Short fiction: up to 3,000 words

  • Visual art: in any form

  • Pitches: we are also accepting pitches from writers, if you have an idea you’d like to discuss with us please drop us an email.

For Issue No. 3 we are particularly interested in work that explores ‘abrasion’ in some way.



The story traces the edges of a wound that can only be told around. Words suggest its rawness, but that wound is so much of the body, its insults, its agonies, and losses, that words necessarily fail.’ -The Wounded Storyteller, Arthur Frank

We are interested in ‘abrasion’ as it relates to the body and the mind, and are keen to consider work that explores the act of abrasion, trauma and/or injury in some way:

Abrasion as a pain, a wound, friction, the scraping away of skin, a spot of raw flesh, a badly healed scar, a surgical incision site, a scab, exposure, a trauma. Can an experience be abrasive? Can a relationship? Can an invisible illness inflict a type of emotional abrasion; a tension felt inside, a process that grinds and erodes? Can an abrasion be confronted, articulated, overcome? If not, why?

This theme is open to interpretation and is by no means prescriptive. We will continue to accept a wide range of work that deals with Ache’s core themes of illness, pain, health and bodies.

Submissions should be sent to helloachemagazine@gmail.com  by Nov 1st as Word Docs / PDF attachments with the subject line:

 
“Submission Issue No. 3 (Essay/Poetry/Fiction/Art)”         *please specify what you are submitting*

We will be sure to get back to each submission, and as a small team ask for your patience and understanding while we endeavour to do so. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us.

Thank you for your interest in Ache, we sincerely value your time and interest and look forward to receiving your submissions.