We’d like to get to know you and your work. Art, photography, design work, fashion, performance, reviews, event promos, prose, poetry, confessional erotica, artist profiles, collaborative work, fierce theory/manifestos and more are welcome between Chicago IRL‘s pages. We do prefer work either by local Chicagoans or else about the city and/or its residents. We’re pretty loose and welcome diverse voices, so if you have an idea but aren’t sure if it fits, let us know.

The submission deadline for issue four is May 28.
Despite our love of all things IRL, we cannot accept work in physical form. Please send your materials and questions via electronic mail to info@chicagoirl.com. Issue #4 will be arriving sometime in June and is likely to be a very special double issue.

FAQs

How long can submissions be?
One of our pages is about 400 words. We’ve published written work that’s as short as a few line poem to a 7 page interview, ranging from  150–2400+ words. We’re pretty flexible on length, but we do like to break up longer works with visuals if possible.

What should I include with my submission?
Please send a brief bio (3–4 sentences) written in the third person along with a photo or illustration. These will be cropped to a square format. Also, please tell us how you’d like us to credit your work. Pseudonyms are permissible. Also, please feel free to include 1 or 2 links to be included on our site and with your bio.

What file types should I send?
Please attach written works as Word (.doc/.docx) or Rich Text (.rtf) documents. It’s especially important that poetry not be sent directly in the body of your email so we can be certain any line breaks or indentations are intentional. For review purposes, visual work can be sent as .jpg, .gif, or .png, but ideally we want high resolution (300 dpi) CMYK .tifs for print. Images should ideally be between 4″h x 6″w (1800 x 1200 pixels) and 8.5″h x 11″w (3300 x 2500 pixels). While we love browsing through portfolios, it is helpful to send along a few of your favorite pieces so we’re not doing all the digging ourself.

What’s in it for me?
We know artists shouldn’t work for free and offering only “exposure” is bullshit (unless you’re into exhibition). If your work is chosen for inclusion, you will receive a copy of the issue when printed. Unfortunately, since this publication is entirely self-funded and killing trees isn’t cheap, we are unable to offer additional compensation.

Do I have to be queer, transgender, lesbian, bi, gay, etc to submit?
The short answer is no, but do recognize that this is a queer publication and you and your work should be comfortable living along side work of a very queer, diverse, and oftentimes sexual nature.

Do I have to live in Chicago to contribute?
We love seeing work from across the globe, but we do prefer work from outside Chicago to be original and related to our windy city. How exactly the work is related is subject to your and our interpretation. Our second issue included a piece about a techno club in Berlin written by an Irish author. We related it back to the city based solely on the fact that Chicago is home to a club named Berlin. Other possibilities could include reviews of Adventures in Babysitting, sex dreams with Gayle & Oprah, sensual drawings of the Smurfit-Stone building, stories about that guy you hooked up with in Lisbon who you think said he was from Chicago or was it Cincinnati, and more.

Does the work I contribute have to be original / unpublished?
We do prefer original work, especially from non-locals. However, we are committed to capturing important work between our covers, especially if it fits with the mood of a particular issue. Please let us know if work has appeared elsewhere so we can credit it properly.

I’m tired from all this reading. Where should I send you pretty things?
Email your work or additional questions to info@chicagoirl.com!