Submissions

CREATE NSW X VAGABOND PRESS 

New South Wales Writers: OPEN CALL ON NOW

We are happy to announce now the embargo has lifted that we are partnering with Create NSW to produce 10 new books by NSW writers in 2027. We're looking for 10 collections of poetry and prose (short stories or novella) to release together as a snapshot of the diversity and range of creativity, imagination and culture in contemporary NSW.

Thanks to Create NSW funding, once manuscripts are accepted these 10 books are guaranteed to be published with each writer receiving a $1500 advance along with a speedy professional production process that will see your book out in 2027 without fail, launched at a weekend mini-festival to celebrate the 10 books.

We are looking for new work from established and emerging writers, and debut work from first-time poets and prose writers. While we're best known as a poetry publisher, over the next five years we aim to expand our prose list with an especial focus on short stories and novellas, especially from first-time writers as well as non-fiction writers and poets exploring fiction. We would love to create a space for the emergence of Australia's Mariana Enriquez, Ottessa Moshfegh, Natsuko Imamura, Claire Keegan, Hiromi Kawakami, Leïla Slimani or Sayaka Murata.

We're reviewing and selecting manuscripts as soon as they come in and aim to select the 10 new books quickly so we can head into production over the end of this year and launch all ten books in the first half of 2027. 

Our sincere thanks to Create NSW for supporting this project. We're looking forward to discovering new work from writers in NSW and bringing it to readers across Australia and beyond.

To submit your manuscript, send the following together in a single PDF:

  1. Cover letter – providing (a) the author’s contact details, including NSW postal address, and legal name if writing under a pen-name; (b) author bio and publishing history; (c) a brief book description of the work (see website for examples); (d) a brief explanation of how publication will impact your career and why you want to publish with us and be part of this project.
  2. The manuscript – include a table of contents, list of acknowledgments for previous publications where applicable, and list of sources for any and all copyright material quoted in the book.
  3. (Optional) Feel free to include any short endorsements of your work and/or the manuscript specifically that would work on the back cover.
  • Note in the cover letter if the manuscript has been previously or is currently submitted to other publishers and who.


  • Manuscripts should be 60-100 A4 pages for poetry and between 40,000-80,000 words for prose. We do not accept incomplete manuscripts or chapbooks.



Send cover letter etc, manuscript in a single PDF using your family name + the title of the manuscript + the genre as the file name. ('Name_Title_Genre.pdf') (Don't send multiple files, Word docs or links).

Send submissions to <submissions[at]vagabondpress[dot]net>.

Please be familiar with the type of work we publish before submitting your manuscript to us. If you've never read one of our books, maybe order a copy of Living Systems to get a sense of the work we publish.

Note: if you are from NSW and submitted work in our recent July Open Call, your manuscript automatically rolls into this round. For writers outside of NSW, our December open call remains as planned.

This project is supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW. Proudly funded by

 

                                                     

 


July 2026 Open Call - Closed and under review

Many thanks to everyone who submitted work during our July 2026 open call. It's fantastic to see the range and depth of creativity and expression going on out there in Australia. We'll get back to everyone who submitted work shortly.

Our next open call will be in December. Details below.


DECEMBER 2026 OPEN CALL FOR MANUSCRIPTS

We will be accepting new manuscripts from December 14 - 18, 2026 (closes midnight AEST). We are looking for collections of poetry, short stories, essays, novellas, novels, art books and memoir.

Please be familiar with the type of work we publish before submitting your manuscript to us. If you've never read one of our books, maybe order a copy of Living Systems to get a sense of the work we publish. 

  • Manuscripts must be by an individual author. We don't accept co-authored books or anthologies. 
  • Note if the manuscript has been previously submitted to other publishers and who.

 We do not accept manuscripts concurrently under consideration with another publisher.
  • Manuscripts should be 60-100 A4 pages for poetry and between 100-250 A4 pages for prose. We do not accept incomplete manuscripts or (at present) chapbooks.


  • Include a list of previous publications: minimum of 3 poems, short stories or essays in literary journals, newspapers, anthologies or other professionally edited collections.

To submit your manuscript, send the following together in a single PDF:

  1. Cover letter – providing (a) the author’s contact details, including postal address, and legal name if writing under a pen-name; (b) author bio and publishing history; (c) a brief book description of the work (see website for examples); (d) a brief explanation of how publication will impact your career and why you want to publish with us; (e) if the manuscript has been previously submitted to other publishers and note which publishers.
  2. The manuscript – include a table of contents, list of acknowledgments for previous publications where applicable, and list of sources for any and all copyright material quoted in the book.
  3. (Optional) Letter/s of support from a writer/editor/mentor familiar with your manuscript or work more broadly. Note if we are interested in publishing your collection, we will need two letters of support for funding applications from other writers. 

Send cover letter etc, manuscript, letters of support in a single PDF using your family name + the title of the manuscript + the genre as the file name. ('Name_Title_Genre.pdf') (Don't send multiple files, Word docs or links).

Send submissions to <submissions[at]vagabondpress[dot]net>.

Submissions won't be accepted outside the open call dates above. 


Creative Partnerships

We remain interested in forming a partnership with university-based creative writing schools wanting to develop and fund new works or a new list of works of poetry, prose and translations stemming from their faculty and program. If you run a program and have funding to support a list of work produced by students or faculty, please get in touch.

We're always interested in publishing new work from Asia-Pacific. Where possible, if you're an academic sending us a collection you have written or translated, please flag funding or partnership opportunities that might be available via your home institution.