Northern Spy: A Journal of Literature and the Arts

Call for Submissions

Our journal, formerly Bare Hill Review, has been renewed as Northern Spy, and so our Spring 2026 issue seeks works that celebrate new life and new beginnings.

Everyone has been a part of the cycle of new beginnings. We want to hear all about these fresh starts. We desire works that celebrate transformation, but also works that reflect on what was left behind, for every sapling is the culmination of another tree’s efforts.

Submit literature that embraces change. Someone leaving behind their old life. A married couple giving romance another chance. Kittens found in the woods. An unexpected opportunity. Tell us all about the move from your parent’s house, and let us help carry boxes to the U-Haul. Tell us about the ending that spurred a new chapter of your life—the new growth can’t come until the harvest ends.

Is there danger to your new beginning? The start of something can be intimidating; is the risk worth the reward? Give us the joy and fear of it, the unrelenting restlessness of a cycle at its culmination.

General Guidelines

• Please clearly indicate your name; the title of the piece as you would like it to appear; and a brief author bio of less than 100 words.
• We accept simultaneous submissions. We ask that if any of the pieces you submit are accepted for publication elsewhere, you kindly withdraw it from our submissions list.
• To support our student editors, ensure that the work you submit is fully accessible. Word documents should have heading structures; PDFs should be screen-reader friendly; text should be high-contrast. We ask that visual artists submit alt-text along with their images. Any work that is not accessible and WCAG 2.2 compliant may not be read.
• We reserve a special place in each issue for college students from the Rochester and Finger Lakes regions. If this is you, please indicate your status in your submission.

Poetry

Please submit three poems maximum per submission. You may submit once per submission cycle.

Fiction

Please submit one piece per submission, with a maximum of 5,000 words. You may submit once per submission cycle.

Creative Nonfiction

Please submit one piece per submission, with a maximum of 5,000 words. You may submit once per submission cycle.

Art

Please submit in JPEG format. Include one photograph or piece of art per submission, with three submissions maximum per person. Submit your work in as high of a resolution as possible. If your artwork is a piece which cannot be submitted electronically (i.e. an oil painting or sculpture), we ask that you provide a high-quality print or photo. We do not accept "snap shots," "selfies," or scans of your work. To support our student editors. include alt-text with your submission.

If you would like your work to be considered as an issue cover, please indicate this in your cover letter. Issue covers must be 4x6.

Call for Submissions

Tree roots can be deep and twisted. They writhe in the dark soil, coiling around forgotten secrets. For our Fall 2026 issue, we at Northern Spy seek to exhume them. 

Send us literary work about hidden twists in a person’s roots. Grandchildren discovering an unsettling relic in their late grandparents' belongings. A strange family tradition that is suddenly called into question. Broken taboos that result in a hereditary curse. 

Send us artwork that captures the stories lurking in our pasts and futures. We yearn for uncanny imagery that creates a sense of comfort and familiarity– but also a disquieting unease, like the tangled roots beneath an apple tree.

Our editors love work that invokes curiosity, widens paranoia, and lingers in our minds, making us lie awake, questioning our own lineages.

What dark, tangled roots will you dig up?

General Guidelines

• Please clearly indicate your name; the title of the piece as you would like it to appear; and a brief author bio of less than 100 words.
• We accept simultaneous submissions. We ask that if any of the pieces you submit are accepted for publication elsewhere, you kindly withdraw it from our submissions list.
• To support our student editors, ensure that the work you submit is fully accessible. Word documents should have heading structures; PDFs should be screen-reader friendly; text should be high-contrast. We ask that visual artists submit alt-text along with their images. Any work that is not accessible and WCAG 2.2 compliant may not be read.
• We reserve a special place in each issue for college students from the Rochester and Finger Lakes regions. If this is you, please indicate your status in your submission.

Poetry

Please submit three poems maximum per submission. You may submit once per submission cycle.

Fiction

Please submit one piece per submission, with a maximum of 5,000 words. You may submit once per submission cycle.

Creative Nonfiction

Please submit one piece per submission, with a maximum of 5,000 words. You may submit once per submission cycle.

Art

Please submit in JPEG format. Include one photograph or piece of art per submission, with three submissions maximum per person. Submit your work in as high of a resolution as possible. If your artwork is a piece which cannot be submitted electronically (i.e. an oil painting or sculpture), we ask that you provide a high-quality print or photo. We do not accept "snap shots," "selfies," or scans of your work. To support our student editors. include alt-text with your submission.

If you would like your work to be considered as an issue cover, please indicate this in your cover letter. Issue covers must be 4x6.