Orpheus

Orpheus Submission Guidelines

We are Orpheus, California State University, Bakersfield’s creative arts journal. We are so glad you found us! We believe that creativity is limitless and encourage students from all fields of study to submit! Our dedicated student editorial board will thoughtfully review submissions throughout the semester. Selected works will be featured in this year’s hardcopy journal, available for free to contributors in May. We can’t wait to share your creativity!

Submission Details:

• We accept submissions of all kinds!
• Please refer to page limits (below) for each genre before submitting.
• You are welcome to submit to multiple categories.
• Please proofread your work before submitting. However, intentional spelling or grammar choices that are integral to your creative vision are acceptable. Please specify in the body of your email upon submitting. 
• For literary works, please submit your piece(s) in a single Word document.
• For works of art, please submit your piece(s) as a single .pdf document.
• Physical art, like sculptures or pottery, must be photographed.
• Work of any kind generated using AI will not be accepted.

How to Submit:

• Send your submissions to orpheus@csub.edu from your student csub.edu account.
• The submission deadline for the Spring 2026 issue is midnight on March 1st, 2026.
• Include your name as it appears on your school records.
• Please include “Submission” in the subject line of the email.
• If you wish to publish under a pseudonym or anonymously, please indicate this in the body of your email submission.
• Feel free to include social media handles if you’d like readers to connect with you and your work.

Categories:

Poetry: 

Submit up to 80 lines of poetry (this can be spread across multiple poems). Poems of any style are welcome - song lyrics included! 

Short Stories:

Submit up to 12 pages in total. Short stories must be doubled-spaced. Short stories of any genre are welcome. You may submit multiple stories, but the cumulative page count for all stories should not exceed 12 pages.

Chapter(s) from Larger Literary Piece:

Submit your best chapter(s) from any point of your longer work in an excerpt of up to 15 pages total; writing must be double-spaced.

Scripts:

Submit up to 15 pages total. The script may be of a play/screenplay/video game/podcast/etc. Scripts should be submitted in standard script format.

Illustrated Comic Strip/Excerpt from Graphic Novel/Graphic Short Story:

Submit up to 10 pages total, black and white or color, in PDF format.

Art:

Submit up to 5 works of art. All submissions must be scanned or photographed properly and sent in PDF format. We accept all art! This may include, but is not limited to, drawings, photography, paintings, sculptures, illustrations, printmaking, etc. 

Evaluation Process:

The faculty advisor will remove your name before bringing your work(s) to the student editorial board. This is to ensure that the evaluation of your work will be fair and unbiased. Our blind selection process allows for everyone’s voices to be considered and heard! 

Student editors will then review your submission(s) and make a collective decision about your work’s fit for Orpheus. Once all submissions have been reviewed (usually a few weeks after the submission deadline), those who’ve been accepted for publication will receive an email notifying them of their acceptance. Print copies of Orpheus are typically released and available in early May.  

Submit today and let the editing team at Orpheus help bring your creative vision to life!

Check out the gallery of previously published editions of Orpheus by clicking on the links below!