Aims

OffKilter’s mission is to publish work by emerging queer creatives which explores the political dimensions of queer art. Seeking to honour the ingenuity of generations past while collecting together the insurgent voices of years to come. 

Throughout our textured history, queer people have shown an unabating appetite for political action and creative production. OffKilter at once celebrates art made in spite of – and often because of – adversity and puts forth a call to draw on this energy for political change. 

The central objectives of the journal are:

To promote emerging queer creatives by publishing their work in an accessible format;

To stimulate the production of critical and creative work that engages with political issues affecting queer people;

To forge connections between queer creatives, inviting cross-fertilisation between academic and practical spheres.

Scope

Taking a broad approach to queerness, politics, and art, OffKilter invites any manifestation of politically-engaged queer creativity. This includes, but is not limited to:

  • Writing: essays, creative writing, reviews, translation 
  • Visual: photography, visual art, curation, comics/sequential art
  • Audio: music, sound art, podcasts
  • Audiovisual: video essay, video art, short films
  • Performance: theatre, dance, live art, burlesque, drag, and digital performance

Submissions

Submissions should aim for a total reading time of 10-15 minutes. Below are some quick-reference information – please consult the Submission Guidelines document for more detailed information.

  • Written submissions: we accept essays and creative writing of up to 5000 words for the main body text. This excludes references, bibliographical material, and image captions. For creative writing, a commentary may or may not be necessary, although the editors retain the right to request supplementary written material if the submission’s engagement with queer politics is not clear.
  • Time-based submissions: we accept films, musical works, and documented performances with a maximum length of 10 minutes. These should be submitted with a minimum 1000-word commentary. 
  • Visual, photographical, or curatorial submissions: these should also have a maximum total reading time of 15 minutes, including a minimum 1000-word commentary. 

For practical submissions, the commentary should detail the practical submission’s cultural, critical, and aesthetic contexts and make clear how the submission engages with notions of queerness, art, and politics.

Each submission will be subject to peer review by the journal’s editorial board and pool of peer reviewers before publication. This ensures the quality and veracity of the publication.

Peer review

Every piece of work published by OffKilter is peer reviewed by two peer reviewers before publication. The peer reviewers assess the quality of the submission and the extent to which it adheres to the journal’s scope. Since OffKilter is committed to nurturing emerging creatives, the editors encourage peer reviewers to provide as much constructive criticism as possible so as to encourage those submitting to continue to work into their art, hopefully for future publication.

If you would like to see how our peer reviewers evaluate you submission, you can access the peer review questionaires from the links below:

Practice questionnaire

If you are interested in peer reviewing for OffKilter, please fill out this form and the editors will be in touch