SUBMISSIONS ARE CURRENTLY CLOSED.

Our next General Submission call is for Summer 2026 – opening 1st June.
This call is themed “Green Bin Stories”

Check out our Mood Board to get a sense of what we’d love to see.

Trash Cat Lit takes submissions of FLASH FICTION and SHORT STORIES during the first two weeks of February, June and October*. Issues are launched on the 1st of March, July and December. These issues are occasionally themed – look out for our Mood Boards.

*or until we reach our current caps of 75 Flash and 40 Short Stories.

Original Image credit: Christopher Le (Unsplash)

We are looking to read both literary and genre works that tell a compelling story. We love narrative and a bold, consistent voice.
We also love a strong opener, punchy ending and well-drawn characters.
We actively encourage submissions from writers in historically under-represented backgrounds and communities.
We recommend reading our previous General Issues and Pop-Up Issues to get the best insight into what treasures we seek.
Above all, don’t self-reject – send us your work.

(Pop-Up guidelines vary, go to the individual submission call pages under SUBMISSIONS menu tab)

• WORD COUNT LIMITS
  100 to 750 for Flash Fiction; and 751 to 2000 for Short Stories. You can send ONE EACH of these in separate submissions.
  
• GOOGLE FORMS are available for each submission type. Submissions received any other way will not be considered
  Make sure to use the relevant Submission Link at the bottom of this page.
  
• FORMAT your document in 12pt Calibri or Arial, double-spaced and do not include personal details.
  Save your document with the title of your work only and submit as a .DOC or .DOCX file. No PDFs.
• SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS are encouraged, we all do it, just let us know if your work is accepted elsewhere and you need to withdraw.
• NO REPRINTS unless specified in the sub call.
• COLLABORATIVE WORK will be considered. Please provide information in your Cover Letter.
• A COVER LETTER is requested when you submit. Please include an author bio of up to 100 words. If there is something we need to know about you or your submission, include this in the Cover Letter.
• WE AIM TO RESPOND to all submissions within TWO WEEKS of the submission window closing but please do not query until 30 days have passed.
• ACCEPTED WORKS will be published online and may be considered for future print anthology projects.

PLEASE READ OUR Ts & Cs HERE

What to Send

Trash Cat Lit is currently only looking for new, unpublished flash fiction and short stories unless specified. Please do not submit any work that has appeared in print or any public, online places including social media and personal blogs.

Further, we are not looking for poetry or creative non-fiction at this time.

D0 NOT Send

Trash Cat Lit will not tolerate any work that is racist, homophobic, transphobic, misogynistic, ableist or is hateful towards any person or group. Further, we do not wish to read anything that is gratuitously violent or erotic or contains excessive gore or animal cruelty.

Trash Cat Lit will not accept any work generated using AI.

Ready to Submit?

SEE YOU FOR SUMMER GENERAL SUBMISSIONS – JUNE 2026.

Click on the relevant button to go to the Google Form
Once completed and sent, you will receive this confirmation message on the Google Form:
Thank you for submitting to Trash Cat Lit. We have received your work and will be in touch soon
We don’t do email confirmation but please be assured, that means we have your submission

Submit only ONE from each category per
submission window
We can’t wait to read your work

For Pop-Up Submissions and special calls, please look under the Submissions tab in our menu