Please note that this call is for writers born and/or residing in Canada and Canadians living abroad.
Submission Guidelines:
Please read the full posting carefully. Failure to follow the Submission Guidelines may result in your work being rejected by Syncopation Literary Journal. We DO NOT accept simultaneous submissions but respond to writers in a very timely manner. Please note that it can be difficult for small journals to publish existing song lyrics. Consider paraphrasing when using another artist’s lyrics in your submission.
Syncopation Literary Journal seeks to amalgamate the realms of music and literature. Syncopation is a free online, open-access journal. We would like to showcase original Canadian poetry in a Special Feature to be published on the website as part of Volume 5, Issue 1 in February 2026. All submissions must relate to music. Please submit only 1 poem. Your poem should be original (unpublished). Please email your poem to nwelshsyneditor@gmail.com as a Word document attachment by May 3, 2025. Please include the following in your document:
1.) A Cover Letter with a brief introduction to your poem and a brief statement describing your connection to Canada.
2.) An Author Bio of 50 words or less.
Please include the following in the subject line of your submission: “Submission: Canadian Poets on Music.” All submissions should be in English. Email submissions only. We welcome submissions from both musicians and non-musicians. To see examples of the writing we publish, please read our past issues, available on the website. Please no graphic violence, sexually explicit subject matter, or overuse of profanity. While we do not pay our contributors, there is no fee to submit. Publishing your work in Syncopation is a great way to showcase your writing.
Contributors retain all copyrights to their work. If you republish your work elsewhere at a later date, you must cite Syncopation Literary Journal as a previous publisher. Reproduction of any form is strictly prohibited without the copyright holder’s permission.
