Have you got a story to tell?
We want to hear it.
At Motherhood Uncensored we are always looking for fresh thinking on motherhood. We're open to poetry and prose, from new and published authors. Our main criteria for deciding whether to publish something is:
Is this work tackling an aspect of motherhood that we usually brush under the carpet?
That could involve discussing choices and dilemmas about whether to have children, fertility, loss, disappointment, regret, ambivalence, and physical and mental health. It could involve unpacking the pressure to be a certain kind of mother, or a discussion of how your upbringing had an impact on how you relate to motherhood. It could involve challenging the misogyny you find yourself surrounded by, or simply calling BS on an array of mothering nonsense.
Interested in submitting?
Familiarise yourself with other pieces we have published and then get drafting! Don't worry if we already have a piece on your chosen topic, as long as you have a different angle or experience.
Prose submissions should be 700-800 words as a guide. We are open to longer pieces split into two instalments if both stand alone in their own right. Accepted submissions will be edited for clarity, brevity and web publication.
One small practical request: if you're submitting poetry, please avoid layouts that rely on complex spacing, unusual indents or shaped text. Our website doesn't always preserve these formats, so we're looking for work that can be published without intricate visual formatting.
When you are ready, send your submission in a Word or Google Doc to hello@motherhood-uncensored.org and please include an author headshot, an image you own to feature with your piece and your Instagram and Substack handles if you want to be tagged there.
We look forward to hearing from you!
'It Takes a Village' Special Collection
For this special collection, we're inviting writing on the theme It Takes a Village.
We're looking for honest, original writing about the people, places, systems and communities that shaped your experience of different stages of motherhood. The village you found. The village you built. The village you borrowed. The village you bought. The village you imagined. The village you needed.
We're interested in stories that move beyond the cliché. Who showed up? Who didn't? What support made all the difference and what was conspicuously absent?
Send your submissions in a Word or Google Doc to hello@motherhood-uncensored.org by Wednesday 16th September. Selected pieces will be published in our It Takes a Village special collection
Special Collection Format
We're keeping the format deliberately open. We'd love to receive essays, memoir, creative non-fiction, fiction, poetry, lists, letters and hybrid work.
There's no minimum word count, but as a guide we'd suggest a maximum of around 1,200 words. If you're submitting poetry, please read the sections above carefully for guidance on format.
As with all Motherhood Uncensored submissions, accepted pieces may be edited in conversation with the author.
