Their tagline is, ‘Art & Ideas from Philadelphia’, and their writing is for a regional as well as US-based audience. They publish personal essays or articles for their “Switchbacks” section that relate points of inflection in a person’s life that have taken them to an unexpected and new place (send full pieces, not pitches), as well as essays, book reviews, provocations, cultural criticism and think pieces of 500 to 3,500 words (based on the issue’s theme), and long-form profiles of regional artists, and more; they also accept fiction. The theme for their next issue is Saturation. “Drenched in color. Drenched in sweat. High-resolution and dripping with detail. When something is completely saturated, it can’t absorb anymore. What is the current firehose of information and media and maelstrom doing to our brains? When is it possible to take in new information? To what extent is the ease of making much art—the much lower bars to record, to publish—a good or bad thing?” They pay $50-150, and the submission deadline for their Spring issue is 15th January 2026. Details here.

Deadline: January 15th, 2026