Welcome to Mslexia, the only magazine where every reader is a potential contributor too. We publish over 70 different names in every issue, so you might find your work appearing alongside work by leading authors such as Marian Keyes, Karen McCarthy Woolf, Monique Roffey or Daisy Johnson. 

But Mslexia is not just a magazine. We’re also proud creators of the Indie Press Guide, a unique directory of over 700 independent book publishers and literary magazines. The Mslexia Minis writing guides, including the best-selling Poetic Forms and A Novel in Nine Steps. And our brand-new Writer's Diary & Planner - designed to make 2024 your most creative year yet.

Then there are our annual competitions, which have taken the careers of many women writers to the next level. And our online Salon, where members can build a community and attend writing surgeries and Q&As led by top experts.

It’s that time of year again, when we refresh the contents of the magazine and welcome a new clutch of columnists to take up residence. So please welcome Sophie Herxheimer, queen of collage and creativity, who starts her Playing with Poetry series in Issue 99; and Kate Mascarenhas, who’ll be applying social psychological research to fictional character formation.

Jenny Alexander urges us to veer off-piste with her Creative Journalling series; Sian Meades-Williams promises to take the sting out of pitching with her Happy Freelancer column – and the multitasking marvel that is Bridget Minamore kicks off her series of articles encouraging us to venture beyond our usual genre boxes.

Inspiration will be a major theme of the next four issues – so we’re leading with the doyenne of the creative writing business, Celia Brayfield, with her no-nonsense guide to choosing a course; while Louise Doughty offers a very personal answer to the question, ‘Where do ideas come from?’.

The support of other writers is often a crucial part of the equation, as poet Courtney Conrad and novelist Loree Westron both found out, in their different worlds. Which is what Mslexia is all about, of course...

We're now accepting submissions for Issue 101! Send us poetry for our regular slots - Poet Laureate, Eyeverse, and our subscriber-only slot Poems for the Planet. Send us fiction submissions for our Bedtime story, Flash-Challenge, and World's Wife categories. And we're also on the look out for submissions for our nonfiction slots - #amwriting, Timepiece, Pitch Perfect and more. Submit before 8 January 2024 for inclusion in Issue 101. 

Our 2023 poetry competitions are open! Send us your best poems, of any length, in any style to win the top prize of £2,000, plus publication in Mslexia. Do you have a poetry collection? The winner of our Pamphlet Competition will be published by Bloodaxe Books, and receive £250. Closing date for both categories: 4 December. So what are you waiting for?

Open 24/7, this is where you can subscribe to the magazine, join our online Salon, or nab a single copy of the mag to check out how our 17 submission categories look on the page – to make sure you’re aiming in the right direction! You can buy from our Shop at any time, day or night, but if you want to discuss a purchase with a real-life (and really nice) human person, please call 0191 204 8860 during our office hours, which are 9am-5pm, Monday to Friday. You can also email a query to postbag@mslexia.co.uk anytime.