OUR READING PERIOD RE-OPENS 1 SEP 2026

OUR READING PERIOD RE-OPENS 1 SEP 2026


Building a Catalogue

As a non-profit publisher in Singapore, AFTERIMAGE is invested in giving a platform to literary works written by Singaporeans or in Singapore. In addition to this mandate, we’re committed to publishing poets at every stage of their development, and are also set on debuting new voices in print as much as we can across the calendar year of 2025 and 2026.

We’d like to publish across the genres of poetry and creative nonfiction (as well as translations of poetry and creative nonfiction into English) across the following formats:


Submission Guidelines (29 Jun 2026):

Our reading period will re-open 1 Sep 2026 for a 5-month period, ending 31 Jan 2027, 2359 hours. All manuscripts emailed to publishing@singlitstation.com between the aforementioned dates will be considered for publication in 2028 and beyond.

Any manuscripts we receive before 1 Sep 2026 (that we didn’t ask for) will most likely be ignored. As the team is extremely lean and has fully swung into a period of busyness, we won’t be able to provide feedback to previously submitted manuscripts. We invite everyone to re-submit their work if they did not receive a response from us, or were offered partial publication via our newsletter OFTHENOW.

To prepare your manuscript for submission, do take note of the following requirements in your e-mail to us:

  • A subject header using the following format: SUBMISSION ([Genre]): [Title of Manuscript] ([no. of poems / words]). For e.g.: SUBMISSION (Poetry): Lorem Ipsum (10 poems).

  • A working file of your manuscript, formatted in any manner you wish, so long as the work is legible, accessible and editable by the editorial team (do be conscious of the fact that our books are printed in a very standardised format of 5 by 7.5 inches!);

  • A .pdf copy of your manuscript, for use as a backup copy or second reference on any questions / formatting peculiarities we might run into;

  • A cover letter containing 1) a description of who you are and your current literary / artistic plans, 2) a synopsis of your manuscript, 3) a pitch about how your work aligns with our vision and mission as a publisher, and 4) a disclaimer if you are submitting / have submitted the same work elsewhere.

Each manuscript we receive will be first sorted according to its stated genre, and then according to the total length of your manuscript. Here’s a summary of how we’ll do this:

Poetry

Based on the total number of poems¹ you submit to AFTERIMAGE, the editorial team will consider your submission for the following avenues of publication:

  • 5–9 poems: our OFTHENOW magazine

  • 15–19 poems: our ALLTHETIME folio series²

  • 25–30 poems: chapbook³

  • >40 poems: collection

¹ We welcome submissions of poetry in translation, though we will also require you to 1) include the work in its original language in your manuscript, and 2) present proof of permissions secured from the copyright holder to publish your translation.

² An additional requirement for our folio series is that you will have to be (1) a poet without a full-length, standalone collection of poetry already published or forthcoming for publication and (2) contain material that satisfies our current curatorial obsessions… what this means is that anyone submitting these amount of poems will most likely end up in OFTHENOW or be asked to write more for publication in print.

³ An additional requirement for our chapbooks is that they have a clear, conceptual and project-based bent. Anything sounding remotely generalised or broad will not appeal to us for this specific format; we would in fact encourage you to write more poems so that they might qualify for publication as a full-length collection instead.

Creative Nonfiction

Based on the total number of words³ you submit to AFTERIMAGE, the editorial team will consider your submission for the following avenues of publication:

  • 2,000–4,000 words of creative nonfiction: our OFTHENOW magazine

  • 20,000–30,000 words of creative nonfiction: chapbook⁴

  • >40,000 words of creative nonfiction: collection⁴

³ We also welcome submissions of creative nonfiction in translation, with the same additional requirements for submissions of poetry in translation. We will need you to 1) include the work in its original language in your manuscript, and 2) present proof of permissions secured from the copyright holder to publish your translation.

⁴ Like our poetry chapbooks, we also want our nonfiction chapbooks to be clear, conceptual and have a project-based bent. Show us what you got!

Other categories:

  • Fiction: For the time being, we will not be committing any resources to publishing works of fiction in print or in our magazine. Any works of fiction will be automatically rejected by our editorial team.

  • Translations: Bring us something we’ve never seen before. We want our translated titles (in poetry or creative nonfiction) to strengthen community links and deepen our understanding of the human spirit. And of course: they gotta provide an invigorating, entertaining, life-affirming read. Send your submissions via publishing@singlitstation.com; for more info, read our footnotes in the “Poetry” and “Creative Nonfiction” sections above.

  • Anthologies: Open to all genres and all manner of subjects and topics, we envision our anthologies to turn niche topics into necessary reading, and inspire debate and deep thinking through pertinent issues. Pitch us something real via publishing@singlitstation.com with a project proposal instead of a manuscript—this should include a pitch / synopsis, a timeline, a budget and a list of writers / topics. The more detailed you are, the more seriously we will consider it.