• Reading period September-December. Contest January-June.
• $1,200 to be awarded in the 2012 Writing Contest. Each person making a 2012 Writing Contest Sub will receive a free one-year digital journal subscription, which will start in Sept. 2012 (please scroll to the end of the page for the submissions page link).

TIFERET publishes fiction, nonfiction, poetry, interviews, and art. We look for high-quality creative work that expresses spiritual experiences and/or promotes tolerance. Our mission is to help raise individual and global consciousness, and we publish writing from a variety of religious and spiritual traditions.

We strongly urge you to read an issue of Tiferet to increase your chance of accep­tance. Order a print issue here or an online issue here. 

Tiferet edi­tors are also now offer­ing man­u­script eval­u­a­tions for a rea­son­able rate. Email the edi­tors (edi­tors [at] tifer­etjour­nal [dot] com) for more details.

Fic­tion: We inter­pret the word “spir­i­tual” broadly. First, we seek well-written sto­ries, pure and sim­ple, that engage us in some small pocket of human­ity. The first page will tell us if the writer has a com­mand of story, of char­ac­ter drive, of descrip­tion, of lan­guage & syn­tax & voice. Or not. And we’re fans of imag­i­na­tion in fic­tion, so let yours emerge in the sto­ries you send us. We’re not nec­es­sar­ily inter­ested in religious-oriented sto­ries, nor are we inter­ested in ser­mons dis­guised as sto­ries or as sto­ries with overt reli­gious “messages.”

Non­fic­tion: We like to pub­lish essays and inter­views that shed light on per­sonal expe­ri­ences of grap­pling with the invis­i­ble… or dif­fer­ent aspects of spir­i­tual tra­di­tions. Our read­ers like to learn about dif­fer­ent cul­tures and a writer’s unique jour­ney. Clear, con­cise writ­ing with good con­crete visual detail is required.

Poetry: Tiferet receives a huge vol­ume of poetry sub­mis­sions, of which only a small per­cent­age are accepted. We look for the high­est qual­ity poems that dis­play mas­tery of con­tent and craft. Tech­ni­cal pro­fi­ciency is extremely impor­tant, along with clear expres­sion of var­i­ous aspects of the human spirit. We do not accept poetry that is self-consciously “reli­gious.” We pub­lish poems with strik­ing imagery and strong sonic impres­sion, and we look for engag­ing voices that do more than sim­ply tell a story or dis­play intel­lec­tual clev­er­ness. Emily Dick­in­son wrote, “If I feel phys­i­cally as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry.” This is how the poems we pub­lish make us feel! Send only your very best work.

Art and Pho­tog­ra­phy: We seek orig­i­nal art and pho­tog­ra­phy which in some way cap­tures the spir­i­tual or con­tem­pla­tive in a visual rep­re­sen­ta­tion. You must own the copy­right to your work. If it has appeared else­where we require per­mis­sion from the orig­i­nal pub­lisher for us to repro­duce it. Please sub­mit your work  as a jpg Image or Omni­Page Image no smaller than 640x840 pix­els and no larger than 2400x1600.

Again, it is strongly advised that prospec­tive sub­mit­ters read an issue or two of Tiferet before sub­mit­ting their work.

We accept online submissions only.

It is strongly suggested you read an issue or two of TIFERET before submitting your work. We are particular in what we publish and do not want to waste your time or ours.

Hard copy submissions made through snail mail will not be considered or returned.

Please submit one story, one essay, one interview, or six poems at a time. Poems should be submitted in one document with each poem on a separate page and each page/poem titled. All submissions must be made in Word or in a Text Document.

We acquire first-time North American rights in print and digital format; non-exclusive, one-time anthology rights; and the right to run the story, essay, interview, poem or art on our website, Facebook page, or through a Twitter link. After publication all other rights revert to the author and the work may be reprinted as long as appropriate acknowledgment is made to TIFERET.

Authors proof their work before print publication and will receive one complimentary copy of the print issue in which their work appears.

Your free one-year digital subscription will start in September 2012.

We look forward to reading your work!