¡Pa'lante! is the literary journal of the Cerritos College English department.   

For its seventh issue, ¡Pa'lante! seeks poetry, short fiction, creative nonfiction, and artwork from California writers and artists (i.e. writers and artists who currently live or have lived in California). Our mission is to engage and promote underrepresented voices in the literary landscape, so we encourage writers and artists from all communities and identities to submit.

While we are open to submissions from all over the world, ¡Pa'lante!  especially welcomes the poetry, short fiction, creative nonfiction, and artwork of Cerritos College students and alumni. Cerritos College faculty are not eligible to submit.                   

GENERAL SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

We currently only accept work through our submissions portal on Submittable. We will not read unsolicited materials via email or postal mail. 

All work must be previously unpublished.  Work posted on personal blogs or social media is considered unpublished.

Work must be primarily in English.

Simultaneous submissions are acceptable, but please let us know right away if your work is picked up by another journal by withdrawing it.

If you have to withdraw your work for any reason, please do so through Submittable. If you are making a partial withdrawal (one poem, for example), please send us a message on Submittable.

You may submit work to multiple genres, but please send one submission per genre at a time, and wait until we have had a chance to respond to your submission before submitting again.  We expect to make our editorial decisions for writing submissions within 3 to 5 months. PLEASE CHECK YOUR JUNK/SPAM FOLDER.

Upon acceptance, ¡Pa'lante! requests first serial rights. All rights revert back to the author upon publication although we will maintain an online archive of the journal. If your work is later republished elsewhere, we request that you credit ¡Pa'lante! as the place in which the work first appeared. 

No AI-generated or AI-assisted work will be considered. All writing must be your original work.

SHORT FICTION

• Up to 3 pieces of short fiction totaling no more than 2000 words
• Please do not put your name anywhere on your submission.
• No AI-generated or AI-assisted work will be considered. All writing must be your original work.
  

CREATIVE NONFICTION (PERSONAL ESSAYS/MEMOIR)

• Up to 3 pieces of creative nonfiction totaling no more than 2000 words
• Please do not put your name anywhere on your submission
• No AI-generated or AI-assisted work will be considered. All writing must be your original work.

POETRY

• 1 to 3 poems totaling no more than 5 pages
• One poem per page but all poems in the same document
• Please do not put your name anywhere on your submission
• No AI-generated or AI-assisted work will be considered. All writing must be your original work.
  

HIGH SCHOOL SUBMISSIONS (Open to High School Students Only)

• Up to 3 pieces of short fiction totaling no more than 2000 words
• Up to 3 pieces of creative nonfiction totaling no more than 2000 words
• 1 to 3 poems totaling no more than 5 pages
• You may submit work in more than one genre, but please do not submit different genres in the same document; submit work in each genre as a separate submission
• Please do not put your name anywhere on your submission
• No AI-generated or AI-assisted work will be considered. All writing must be your original work.
  

COVER ART 

• 1 original drawing, painting, photograph, and/or image of an original three-dimensional or large piece
• File should be a JPG or a PNG
• Please do not put your name anywhere on your submission
• No AI-generated or AI-assisted work will be considered. All art must be your original work.