paperboats

Facebook-f Instagram Twitter

Climate | Action | Scotland | Writing

Paperboats Zine

The urge to explore and celebrate all the kinds of lives of Planet Earth is stronger than ever, but the environmental and ecological crisis demands we also lift our eyes, and our voices, to species extinction and habitat loss, to what is happening to the forests and hills, the rivers and seas, our streets and gardens. The writer’s instinct to pay attention has never been more vital. Literature can help us to see the natural world – and our place in it – differently.

PAPERBOATS ZINE:

We are currently open for submissions

We are delighted to let you know that the submissions window for Issue Five of the Paperboats Zine, is now open. This issue will be published on 22nd April 2025 to coincide with Earth Day and we invite you to submit work that chimes with this year’s theme:

‘Our Power, Our Planet’.

Interpret the theme freely. The clean swing of a wind turbine blade; poetry in the power of a community to foster change; the story of a salmon’s drive up-river; the dance of the spheres.

The Submissions window will close on Friday 31st January 2025, at 11.59pm. Only submissions received within this timeframe will be considered.

We publish essays, short fiction and poetry that reflect our commitment, and which focus on Scotland as home ground – writing that shows honesty, care, curiosity and skill. Submissions in English, Scots or Scottish Gaelic, are welcome from writers within and outwith Scotland and we particularly welcome submissions from under-represented groups.

Please submit up to 1500 words of prose (short fiction or creative nonfiction) and/or up to 60 lines of poetry. Attach your writing as a Word or RTF document to your email. Work should not be previously published. We accept simultaneous submissions but if your work is accepted elsewhere please let us know. 

We do not publish pieces by the same author in consecutive issues of the zine, so if you have been published before on Paperboats, please leave a one issue gap before submitting again.

Please send your submissions to: submissions@paperboats.org

You can read issues one to four on our website to get a feel for the kind of work we publish.

Many thanks – we look forward to reading your words.

Polly Pullar and Linda Cracknell
Issue Five Guest Editors

Book Reviews

If you would like to submit a book review for publication on our web site, please first email hello@paperboats.org with an outline of what you would like to submit.

a wee note about payment

We would love to pay our writers – we really would, but we’d love to pay our admin staff too. As it is, paperboats has been put together using our own time and funds in solidarity with activists worldwide who freely dedicate their time and energies to fighting for climate justice. That said, if anyone would like to contribute to paperboats, then that might change. 

If you are interested in making a financial contribution to paperboats, please say hello@paperboats.org