Nonfiction for print issues

Barrelhouse will open for nonfiction submissions on 6/1 and close on 6/28, unless we hit 500 submissions in that window (history indicates we will not hit this number, at least not too quickly). All essays will be considered for print issue 27.

Please note that all Barrelhouse essays must have a pop culture angle of some kind. This is non-negotiable. It’s one of our big things.  Recent issues include essays that that focus in some way on topics like Taxi, Jet magazine/representations of Black female beauty, Alex Trebek, Lorena Bobbitt/cultural treatment of Bobbitt, summer on the boardwalk, Guns ‘N Roses, mountain climbing, the Nebraska Cornhuskers mascot, Paula Abdul, John Prine, and being back on one’s bullshit. Some other notes:

• We are really unlikely to print "newsy" essays; we know a lot of you are working on pieces about important global events , but unless there are several additional layers beyond the news peg, it's just not our thing and, honestly, you don't want to send us a time-sensitive piece when it might not see the light of day for 9 months. Our nonfiction editor recently published an essay on this very topic.
• You don't have to be funny, or "funny" but it doesn't hurt if your piece indicates an awareness of the concept of a sense of humor.
• We're extremely open to and interested in pieces that play with structure in some way (leaving this note intentionally broad). 
• Some essayists we like a lot, with the caveat that this list is not comprehensive for obvious reasons: Elisa Gabbert, Hanif Abdurraqib, Brooke Champagne, Jo Ann Beard (duh), Lucas Mann, Vivian Gornick, Matthew Vollmer, Natalia Ginzburg, Jamila Osman, and of course everyone we have ever published for whom we hold an exactly equal amount of love and respect.  
• All contributors receive $50 and two copies of the issue
• Essays we publish tend to be in the range of 1500-7000 words, though there are no firm rules regarding length (anything over 12k would have to be truly exceptional to make the cut). 
• If you’re submitting flash essays (about 750-850 words or shorter) feel free to include up to 3 in a single document.   

***Nonfiction submissions for this period will be capped at 500. ***