We publish personal essays, short stories, poems, and black-and-white photography in print and online in our monthly magazine.
We’re looking for narrative writing and evocative photography from all over the world. Send us work that maps the human landscape, where the light catches on the faintest joy, where darkness sometimes threatens to overwhelm, and where ✗ never marks the spot because the truth is never so simple.
First-time authors and award-winners alike find their place in The Sun. We are particularly interested in submissions from marginalized voices.
Our uncommonly supportive community of readers includes 60,000 print subscribers and thousands more website visitors. And The Sun is ad-free, so when we share your work, we don’t crowd it with distracting sales pitches.
Detailed submission guidelines, including our compensation rates, are available on our website.
Essays, Fiction, & Poetry
Writing that can turn heads, open hearts, and change minds.
We publish personal essays, short stories, and poems by established and emerging writers from all over the world. Click here for submission guidelines and payment rates.
Readers Write is a feature in The Sun where readers share their personal writing on a given topic — a unique fixture of the magazine since the section’s inception in 1978. Send us your true story on an upcoming topic, and if we publish it you’ll receive a complimentary one-year subscription.
Not sure what to write? See below for some prompts to spark an idea. Writing style isn’t as important as thoughtfulness and sincerity, and topics are intentionally broad to give room for expression and interpretation.
You can read a sample Readers Write section here.
Upcoming Topics
Pockets
Due September 1
Pockets are where we safeguard some of our most important belongings: wallets, phones, the key to the new car, the rings for our best friend’s wedding. Sometimes that approach backfires: Ever been pickpocketed or “lost” something in the coat you only wear once a year? Are your pants always weighed down with kids’ snacks, pet treats, or tools? Did you ever snoop in your parents’ or spouse’s clothes and find something you didn’t expect? Dig deep and send us your true stories about pockets by September 1.
Bars
Due October 1
Pole vaulters propel themselves over high ones. Limbo dancers squeeze beneath low ones. Law school graduates must pass the bar exam, and those convicted in a courtroom may have to stand behind them. And then, of course, there are many that attract thirsty revelers. They have several compositions—chocolate, gold, sand—and numerous definitions: a unit of measurement, a segment of music, the biggest button on your keyboard. Send us your true stories on “Bars” by October 1.
We’re interested in black-and-white photographs. We’re not looking for photojournalism, just unique perspectives on the world around us — especially human interactions.
Please review our full submission guidelines and sample photographs before sending us your work.