Teachers & Writers Magazine is published by Teachers & Writers Collaborative as a free resource to teachers of creative writing. The magazine offers a wide and continually changing selection of lesson plans, essays, and interviews tailored for those in the field of creative writing education. We publish both practical and theoretical work and look for writing that is vivid, original, concise, and geared toward a general audience. Complete submission guidelines, including links to samples and descriptions of types of articles we seek, can be found on the submission page of our website.  Please review the guidelines carefully before submitting a query or completed draft.

What We're Looking For:

• Our readers come to the magazine to find both inspiration and original approaches for teaching creative writing in elementary, middle, and high school classrooms, as well as in college and community settings.
• Most of the pieces we publish are penned by writers—working in a variety of genres—who teach their art in classrooms or by classroom teachers whose focus includes creative writing. All of our contributors are paired with an editor and undergo a supportive and collaborative editorial process. All work is edited thoroughly.
• Teachers & Writers Magazine particularly welcomes submissions from underrepresented writers, including those from Black, Indigenous, People of Color, LGBTQIA+, and disability communities, as well as writers whose age, geographic location, or experience may be underrepresented in publishing.
• We believe writers should be paid for their work, and we provide compensation for published writing. Our compensation for articles ranges from $75 – $150, payable upon publication. All queries and submissions are accepted on spec without a kill fee.

What We're Not Looking For:

• Poetry, fiction, book reviews, or other literary works. T&W Magazine is not a literary magazine. We publish tools, resources, and reflections on the art of teaching creative writing.
• Work written for an academic audience. We prefer a lively, personal style geared toward a general audience.
• Lesson plans or articles focusing on other art forms or non-literary writing (such as visual art and academic or technical writing). Exceptions may be made when integrated with creative writing on a case by case basis.
• Generic content, "Top 10" posts, advertising, or paid links. 

Submitting to Teachers & Writers Magazine

When submitting to Teachers & Writers Magazine, you may submit a completed draft that meets the above criteria. Additionally, we welcome queries (500 words maximum) that propose an article you would like to contribute to the magazine. If submitting a query, please describe the topic(s) your article would address and its relevance to the magazine. We also encourage sharing a writing sample that could give our editors a sense of your writing style. 

For all submissions, please follow the below guidelines:

• If submitting a completed draft, please double space and use a standard font such as Times New Roman. 
• We prefer previously unpublished submissions. We occasionally consider previously published work, and we ask that you clearly indicate if a work has been published elsewhere. 
• We do not accept work generated by large-language models (colloquially referred to as AI). We believe in process-oriented work, and we want to hear from your unique voice and experience. Large-language models may be used as a critical source for your submission only if it: 1) is clearly cited in the body of your work, 2) is distinguishable in-text from a majority of author-generated content, 3) and is used to explore contemporary issues around AI in the classroom. If we feel this criteria has not been met, the submission will be rejected.

Rights:

Upon acceptance, T&W acquires first serial rights. Upon publication, rights revert to the author, with credit to Teachers & Writers Magazine upon future publication. T&W maintains the right to publish articles accepted for Teachers & Writers Magazine in other T&W digital or print publications and to authorize others to reprint articles in the form in which they appeared in the magazine.

We are seeking submissions to THE FORM ISSUE, a collection of lesson plans dedicated to teaching form in the creative writing classroom. We are looking for lesson plans that introduce a literary form, provide some historical context and examples, and explain how you have taught this form to students of any age. Do you have a favorite lesson for teaching the sestina? How do you engage your students with writing sonnets? Do you teach the lyric essay, the ghazal, list poems, or the elegy in new and exciting ways? Or have you and your students pushed the boundaries of form altogether? 

Submissions for THE FORM ISSUE are open until December 1, 2026, and the issue will appear online in Spring 2027. 

What We're Looking For:

• We're looking for narrative lesson plans of fewer than 2,000 words, with practical application for other classrooms and learning settings. 
• Most of the pieces we publish are penned by writers—working in a variety of genres—who teach their art in classrooms or by classroom teachers whose focus includes creative writing. All of our contributors are paired with an editor and undergo a supportive and collaborative editorial process. All work is edited thoroughly.
• We believe writers should be paid for their work, and we provide compensation for published writing. Narrative lesson plans receive $100, payable upon publication. 

What We're Not Looking For:

• Poetry, fiction, book reviews, or other literary works. Teachers & Writers Magazine is not a literary magazine. We publish tools, resources, and reflections on the art of teaching creative writing.
• Work written for an academic audience. We prefer a lively, personal style geared toward a general audience.
• Lesson plans or articles focusing on other art forms or non-literary writing (such as visual art and academic or technical writing). Exceptions may be made when integrated with creative writing on a case by case basis.
• We are not looking for work written or aided by AI or large language models. 

Submitting to Teachers & Writers Magazine

• Please double space and use a standard font such as Times New Roman. 
• We prefer previously unpublished submissions. We occasionally consider previously published work, and we ask that you clearly indicate if a work has been published elsewhere. 
• We do not accept work generated by large-language models (colloquially referred to as AI). We believe in process-oriented work, and we want to hear from your unique voice and experience. Large-language models may be used as a critical source for your submission only if it: 1) is clearly cited in the body of your work, 2) is distinguishable in-text from a majority of author-generated content, 3) and is used to explore contemporary issues around AI in the classroom. If we feel this criteria has not been met, the submission will be rejected.
• Visit our website to learn more about the kind of work we publish and to read our full submission guidelines.

Rights:

Upon acceptance, T&W acquires first serial rights. Upon publication, rights revert to the author, with credit to Teachers & Writers Magazine upon future publication. T&W maintains the right to publish articles accepted for Teachers & Writers Magazine in other T&W digital or print publications and to authorize others to reprint articles in the form in which they appeared in the magazine.