About

Our goal at Blacklist Lit is to make writers' lives easier while holding literary magazines accountable for their roles in the literary world. Those in positions of power have the responsibility of being ethical in their dealings with writers and, at the very least, aware of the impact that their poor treatment has on their mental health, finances and careers. Editors, managing editors, editorial assistants all share in this responsibility. At Blacklist Lit, we envision a world where writers are not taken advantage because of their aspirational talents, but are treated with the respect and dignity they deserve.

We aim to provide information about literary magazines, contests, writing retreats and any other literary outfit that have reputations for all and any of the following:

• Non-response to writers
• Poor treatment of writers including, but not limited to: scolding/unkind or otherwise offensive rejections; unreasonable requirements for submission; exorbitant submission fees; theft of work; outright abuse of power; and any other myriad of poor practice in the literary world, such as closing a contest without notice, changing the rules or rescinding an offer to a writer.
• Scams or suspicious behaviour including, but not limited to: requests for personal information above and beyond what is necessary for publishing purposes; inappropriate contact with writers or with references provided by writers; unreasonable or suspicious correspondence or requests; and much more. 

We encourage you to share your experiences, either through contacting us directly through the Contact page, or leaving a comment here, or on any post in this blog. Please know that we take your experiences seriously, and our mission is to treat you, the writer, with respect and grace.

PLEASE NOTE: This website is a work-in-progress. Please know we're working on making it easy to navigate, while also continuing to publish posts about the poor behaviour of journals, magazines and writing retreats. Blacklist Lit is run by a small team of volunteers who are also writers. We can promise you that we're doing our best to make this a safe space for other writers to find information and solidarity.