Yolk is a Montreal-based literary journal that publishes fiction, poetry, non-fiction, and visual arts in our print (Canadian citizens and residents of Canada) and digital (Canadian + international) publications. Our mandate is to publish fine work by established and emerging artists. We encourage submissions from all artists and writers, including those from marginalized communities and those generally under-represented in literature, in particular Indigenous writers, writers of colour, LGBTQ+ writers, and writers with disabilities.

Yolk is currently accepting submissions for our Digital Publication, from August 1st–⁠November 30th.

Our annual submission windows is as follows:
–Spring Print: January 1st–⁠January 31st
–Digital: February 1st–⁠May 31st
The Montreal Fiction Prize: May 15th–⁠June 15th
–Fall Print: July 1st–⁠July 31st
–Digital: August 1st–⁠⁠November 30th
–We do no accept submissions of any kind during December and June  (except for The Montreal Fiction Prize in June).

Payment: Yolk believes in paying artists. We offer a $100CAD honorarium for our digital publication. For print, we offer $30 per page up to a maximum of $200. We also pay $200 for our cover art. Prizes are handled separately. All contributors whose work has been selected for publication in our print issues will also receive a free copy of the journal.

There is a nominal $3 submission fee. Yolk is a registered NPO and these charges will go towards sustaining operating costs. We will always have a free submission option available for those for whom the submission fee is preventative. In recognizing the additional cultural and socioeconomic barriers Indigenous people overcome, we are waiving submission fees for submissions by Indigenous people for print and digital publication (see “INCLUSIVE ACCESS” in Submittable).

We submit work published in our journal to the National Magazine Awards, the Best Canadian Anthology series, the Best American Anthology series, Best of the Net, and for Pushcart prizes.

We are now exclusively accepting submissions through Submittable (see button below). You will find the rest of our general and genre-specfic guidelines in Submittable.

For all other general inquiries, please contact us at themail@yolkliterary.ca.

Copyright: Yolk does not accept written work that has been previously published in print or online (we also will not consider work that has previously appeared on social media or on personal blogs). For visual arts, we do not accept work that has been previously published in print. We will consider visual art that has appeared on personal blogs/social media and in galleries/exhibitions. Yolk acquires First Serial Rights and the right to archive your work on our website, though copyright reverts to the author upon publication.