Submissions

We’re having a poetry party!

Urban Pigs Press are opening our first call for poetry. We are lucky to have the more than capable services of Virginia Betts joining us as feature editor for June. Virginia is a successful writer, performer and poet from Ipswich, UK. We’re honoured to open up our doors for poetry as up until now we haven’t had an editor with the right minerals to judge your work.

The window will open on the 21st of May and close on the 10th of June. Submissions sent before or after will not be read. Virginia is looking for poetry inspired by the prompt “Journeys”. These will be featured on the site throughout June.

If you’d like Virginia to consider your work please include a short third-person bio, author photo (optional) and attach your work in a word compatible format (Word.doc works best). Please also include social links so we can share and tag you. Please be aware that WordPress isn’t a fan of experimental formatting so bear this in mind when submitting. We will not tolerate any hate speech whether homophobic, racism or any other form.

We aim to respond to all queries as soon as possible. If you haven’t heard from us within two weeks after the closing date and have followed all of the guidelines then please feel free to message us via email.

Emails should be sent to urbanpigsguest@outlook.com please do not send poetry submissions to our usual address.

“Poetry themed around Journeys. Take that prompt anywhere you like. Up to 45 lines. Do be brave! Rhymes or no rhymes are fine, but I’m looking for pieces that make me want to revisit them. Hit me up with your words, share your soul, let your journeys spiral beyond control.”

Virginia Betts is a tutor, writer and actor from Ipswich. She has had two books published, The Camera Obscure (supernatural, Gothic and noir stories) and Tourist to the Sun (poetry). She has also had numerous stories and poems published and performed live and on BBC Radio, and has won awards for her work. She has just completed her second poetry collection, That Little Voice, and is currently writing a gritty no holds barred noir novel. Virginia is a member of local Theatre Company, Black and White Productions, and her roles have Included Kate Bush, Mary and Anne Boleyn, Maud Gonne and at the time of writing, Patricia Highsmith. Virginia tutors English, loves to swim, play the violin, and watch Star Wars. She loves to read about crime and the darker side of life.

Virginia is also a trustee for The Suffolk Poetry Society.

@ResultsGin

The Hunger Anthology

Urban Pigs Press is now ~~open~~ for submissions for our first ever charity anthology! We have decided to donate all profits from this collection to FIND -Families in Need. This Suffolk based charity is one we here at Urban Pigs Press feel very passionate about. It is our aim to help contribute to those who need it the most in our local area. We would love for writers all across the globe to help us make a real difference to people’s lives regardless of their faith or beliefs. Food banks shouldn’t exist in this day and age with the amount of super-wealth on display, but sadly they do. Fortunately fantastic charities such as FIND do exist and we hope to help them make a positive impact.

Urban Pigs Press are excited to have Dial Lane Books of Ipswich involved with this special project. Andrew Marsh the owner, has kindly agreed to write a foreword for our anthology. We believe that Andrew and his team are the perfect addition due to the tireless work they do for our local community and for their history of charity work. Copies will be available directly from Dial Lane after release.

We are looking for short fiction between 1000 to 3000 words inspired by the prompt Hunger. We are open to a wide range of genres but find that CRIME, HORROR and GRITTY REALISM work best. Please read and familiarise yourself with our previously published work before submitting.

This window will open on the 10th December and close on the 21st January 2024. Submissions sent before or after will not be read.

We are aiming for a release date of late February 2024.

We are not accepting poetry at this current time unless it is story based. We will not tolerate any hate speech whether homophobic, racism or any other form.

If you’d like us to consider your work please include a short third-person bio, author photo, a short pitch and attach your work in a word compatible format (Word.doc works best). Please also include social links so we can share and tag you upon release.

This is an anthology for charity so we can’t offer payment. Contributors will receive a print copy as a small token of our appreciation. We do not accept previously published work. Simultaneous submissions are fine but please let us know if they are accepted elsewhere.

If you believe you meet all of the above and would like to send us your fiction for consideration then please do so via the email address below with the subject matter HUNGER ANTHOLOGY. We will not respond to emails that haven’t followed the guidelines.

urbanpigspress@outlook.com

By submitting your work you confirm that your submission is owned and controlled by you. Agree that Urban Pigs Press have the right to publish your work both in eBook and print. We politely request that you do not publish accepted work until 12 months after the release.

Please support us by subscribing to the newsletter on the home page of our site.

We look forward to reading your work!

Bam and James.

About FIND

For over 30 years, Families in Need (FIND) Ipswich has offered a lifeline to people in Ipswich and the surrounding areas who are experiencing poverty and despair.

We provide free food parcels and personal care items to help people get through a crisis, as well as furniture, bedding and other household items where the person or family has none.

An army of over 80 volunteers regularly give their time freely to check and sort the donated food, collect items from local stores, make up the food parcels and deliver them.

It’s a six-day a week operation.

The demand for food parcels has risen year on year and FIND now distributes an average of 120-150 parcels every week and even more at Christmas – more than 7,000 every year.

https://www.findipswich.org.uk/

Short fiction for our online magazine

Urban Pigs Press is now ~~open~~ for submissions in short and flash fiction ranging from 500 words to 2500 max. To celebrate our first book release we are looking for stories relating to the above call “Life in Dirt”. We are open to a wide range of genres but find that CRIME, HORROR and GRITTY REALISM work best. Please read and familiarise yourself with our previously published work before submitting.

This window will close on the 19th November and the accepted stories will feature on our site throughout November and December.

We are not accepting poetry at this current time unless it is story based. We will not tolerate any hate speech whether homophobic, racism or any other form.

Urban Pigs Press is currently a not-for-profit entity and therefore we can’t offer any form of payment for submissions. We respectfully ask that successful applicants do not share the accepted piece on any other platform for at least two months. We do not accept previously published work. Simultaneous submissions are fine but please let us know if they are accepted elsewhere.

We aim to respond to all queries as soon as possible. If you haven’t heard from us within two weeks of submitting and have followed all of the guidelines then please feel free to message us via email.

If you believe you meet all of the above and would like to send us your fiction for consideration then please do so via the email address below. We will not respond to emails that haven’t followed the guidelines.

urbanpigspress@outlook.com

By submitting your work you confirm that your submission is owned and controlled by you. Agree that Urban Pigs Press have the right to publish your work online.

Please support us by subscribing to the newsletter on the home page of our site.

We look forward to reading your work!

Bam and James.

General Submissions

Urban Pigs Press is not currently open for general submissions at the moment. We are hoping to open a window in the near future for novel submissions and will post our guidelines then. In the meantime please subscribe to our site for the latest updates.