Submissions are now open!
Issue 10 will be our last release for a while. Given this indefinite hiatus, we would love to hear from:
Previous contributors - an update about where you are now, a follow-up to your previous piece/s, a totally new piece, your current thoughts about queerness and the outdoors, or simply a brief greeting to us/our listeners
Long-time listeners - ideas we’ve introduced you to or helped you explore, discussion of a favourite piece from past issues, thoughts on your own relationship to the outdoors, a completely unrelated piece, or a greeting/sweeper
Newbies - we don’t need this issue to be a total nostalgia-fest, so read on!
Call for submissions: Issue 10
Queer Out Here is an audio zine that explores the outdoors from queer perspectives. We bring together stories and soundscapes from around the world to hear how queerness might intersect with and influence people’s experiences of outdoor spaces, activities and ideas.
Queer Out Here Issue 10 has two submissions windows:
We’re open for submissions from queer/LGBTQIA+ Black people, Indigenous people and other queer People of Colour* from early March 2025.
Submissions open to all queer/LGBTQIA+ folks on 1 April 2025.
The deadline for all submissions is 1 June 2025.
If you are Indigenous, Black and/or a Person of Colour and would like assistance with any part of the creative or technical process of producing an audio piece for Queer Out Here, please get in touch. We can offer email conversation, recommendations, video meetings and/or direct editing/production assistance. Please don’t let a lack of audio experience stop you from contributing.
Optional theme: Creativity
We accept all kinds of audio on any topic/theme related to the outdoors (see below). However, if you’d like a bit more direction our optional theme for Issue 10 is Creativity. This might manifest in a story about problem solving, a discussion of how the outdoors informs your art (or someone else’s, if it’s an interview), an experimental piece that pushes the boundaries of genre or style, a piece of music played in a park, or an exploration of creativity in nature (nest building? animal songs?). These are just a few ideas to get you started - the theme is deliberately broad and we encourage you to have fun with it!
General info
Styles: We love all kinds of interesting outdoors-related sound pieces to add to the mix for each issue of Queer Out Here. We’re after poetry, mini documentaries, field recordings, fiction, interviews, music, audio postcards, essays, diaries, research, reviews, sound art, stories, trail updates and more. We especially like odd and hard-to-define pieces, projects with a variety of sounds and things that include field recordings. It doesn’t matter if your piece is not perfectly, professionally produced, so long as it holds our attention.
Topics: Bring us outside with you. We’re pretty open in our interpretation of what we mean by ‘the outdoors’ and are as happy to hear about your balcony or the platform at your local train station as we are to hear about weeks-long cycle adventures, desert ecosystem research, wilderness experiences or elite competition. Maybe you’re stargazing with a lover, cruising in the city parks, hiking solo through the desert, kayaking a river, doing ocean-based fieldwork or abseiling down a cliff face. Maybe you’re taking to the streets to protest, attending an outdoors symposium, watching the birds and the bees, navigating the city with a mobility aid, making art or skimming stones. Maybe you have a critical response to the notion of ‘the outdoors’, what it means and to whom. Maybe you’re telling a story or meditating on a theme - through words or music or found sound. Maybe you’re chatting with a friend who is a farmer, a forager, a mountaineer or a surf lifesaver. Maybe you’re reviewing queer travel writing or investigating the queer histories of your town.
Producers: We accept works created by people who identify as queer/LGBTQIA+. If you think you fit the bill, you probably do. We give priority to pieces from Indigenous people, Black people and other People of Colour. We are also keen to hear from other folks who are underrepresented in outdoors and/or queer media (e.g. people with disabilities, fat people, people of different faiths, youth and elders, people with experiences of homelessness and/or poverty, queer families, neurodivergent/neuroatypical people and folks with chronic illness). Queer Out Here submissions don’t have to focus on identity, just hit us with your outdoors-themed audio.
You can listen to Issue 01, Issue 02, Issue 03, Issue 04, Issue 05 Side A and Issue 05 Side B, Issue 06, Issue 07, Issue 08 and Issue 09 to hear the kinds of pieces we've featured before, or check out our inspiration page.
Submission guidelines and submission form link
Submission window 1: We are open to submissions only from queer/LGBTQIA+ Black people, Indigenous people and other People of Colour from early March 2025 to 1 April 2025.
Submission window 2: We are open to submissions from all queer/LGBTQIA+ people from 1 April 2025 to 1 June 2025.
Format: Digital audio in most standard file formats. You can send digital video files, but be aware that only the audio will be published. You can record analogue if you prefer, but you’ll need to convert it to digital before submitting.
Length: Anything from about 1 to 10 minutes is good (we’re a little bit flexible, but if your interview is edging towards 12 minutes it’s time to get editing, and if your poem’s under 30 seconds try weaving in some field recordings or adding a spoken/musical introduction).
Language: If any key information in your piece is conveyed in a language other than English, please include interpretation within the piece (preferred) or in the supporting documentation/transcript.
How to submit: Via this submissions form on Google (if you do not wish to use Google, let us know). The form will take 5-10 minutes to complete if you've prepared everything - longer if you haven't! Please pay attention to the maximum word counts. We’ll ask for:
Your name, contact details and an under 150 word creator bio written in third person (all required)
Your pronouns, recording of your name (or pronunciation guidance), social media links, identity/ies and location (all optional)
Info about your piece, including title, length and a supporting statement of less than 200 words (all required)
Transcript of your piece (optional, but much appreciated)
Content notes or warnings for your piece (optional)
Confirmation about legal stuff such as permissions, usage rights and copyright (all required)
Payment: £15 (or equivalent) thank you gift/payment for every submission used in Queer Out Here.**
* We understand that this imprecise framing (BIPOC) is not embraced by some communities around the world. Some people argue it does not capture the specificity or differences of their experience, or that this framing is mostly only relevant to North America where it originated and has been popularised. Please know that in using this framing, we do not mean to exclude anyone or flatten out different identities.
** We can't pay for submissions that use material obtained under a NonCommercial Creative Commons license or similar. The easiest way to ensure you're all good with copyright and usage permissions is to write/record everything yourself. It’s easiest for us to make international gifts/payments via Paypal, and we can also do bank transfers in the UK, Australia and the Eurozone. We can also donate to an organisation of your choosing if you prefer.
(Psst! You could also record a sweeper for us!)