Submission Guidelines

Guernica will only accept manuscript queries by email. We no longer accept queries by snail mail. Before sending in your query, however, please check our submission guidelines listed below to determine the type of material that best fits our publishing house. 

As with our queries, we will only accept manuscripts via email attachment. Please send manuscripts as Word documents (.doc or .rtf) to michaelmirolla@guernicaeditions.com. The manuscripts should be single-spaced, in a 12-point easy-to-read type. If at all possible, please give the manuscripts a name that includes the title and the author: The_Dubliners_Franz_Kafka.

We do our best to respond ASAP to queries and requested manuscripts, but it may take between six-eight months before an evaluation can be made and a response generated.

Imprints

Guernica Editions

Featuring our Essential Prose, Poetry, Essays, Anthologies and First Poets Series. 

Submission period: February 1st - February 28th

Please note that we are not accepting non-fiction submissions this year. 

MiroLand

Featuring our more commercial projects, MiroLand houses Guernica’s genre fiction, YA & children’s books, cookbooks, self-help & how-to’s, memoirs, political non-fiction, and more.

Submission period: February 1st - February 28th

Please note that we are not accepting non-fiction submissions this year. 

Guernica World Editions

An exciting new imprint featuring fiction and poetry by authors from outside Canada’s borders. Please note, while we accept submissions by non-Canadian authors for the Guernica World Editions imprint, acceptance and publication of books by non-Canadian authors requires an agreement that differs substantially from that for Canadian-authored books.

Submission period: Year-round

1366 Books

1366 Books is home to works of accessible yet innovative and experimental fiction—works that challenge the conventions of narrative and form, and perhaps even challenge the conventions of the sentence or the page itself. We seek to explode readers’ expectations and explore the possibilities of the novel and the short story. We welcome manuscripts that meet the above criteria by all Canadian writers, including writers of colour, Indigenous writers, LGBTQ+ writers, writers with disabilities, and others who identify as part of marginalized groups. We read manuscripts all year round and try to respond within three months. Manuscripts should be about 20,000 to 40,000 words, or 70 to 150 pages. Please write 1366 editor Stuart Ross at 1366Books@gmail.com with a brief cover letter and a PDF of your manuscript.

Submission period: Year-round

The Guernica Prize for Literary Fiction

Now closed for submissions.

The Guernica Prize recognizes the best literary fiction novel that pushes boundaries and is cutting edge. Each entry must be an unpublished novel of at least 40,000 words. A $50 entry fee (online submission through Submittable only) must accompany each submission. Authors may submit more than one manuscript but each manuscript must include a separate entry fee. The name of the author or anything identifying the author should appear nowhere in the manuscript.

The prize consists of $1,000 and a publication contract with Guernica Editions. The winning author agrees to publication with Guernica. Please name your file your manuscript title or the first three words of the manuscript title if the title is longer than three words.

The Guernica Prize is open to Canadian citizens and/or residents of Canada only. Please note that submissions to the prize are final. If a submission is retracted, there is no refund of the entry fee.

Click here to see a list of previous winners. 

Submission period: January 1st - April 30th