Announcing Anxy №3: The Boundaries Issue

Submissions are open for the next edition of our award-winning magazine about mental health through a creative lens.

What are boundaries? How do boundaries shift over time? By culture? When we talk about self-care, identity, place? There are an infinite number of boundaries in our world that go beyond just the physical and into the personal, social, creative, emotional, and more.

Our creation of –and adherence to–boundaries shapes our lives. They sculpt our identities and enrich our inner worlds. How do we navigate nebulous boundaries? The ones we cross without even knowing it — briefly or thoroughly, with strangers or friends? Boundaries inform all our relationships, and our sense of self. Some free us personally, while others constrict us collectively. Some people see boundaries everywhere; others rarely see them at all.

We want you to get creative.

What stories can you tell about the boundaries that exist in all of our lives? What do you want to say about them? What do they reveal about our inner worlds? Submissions are open from now until February 2.

A Little About Us

For those of you new to our magazine, Anxy is a beautifully designed, bi-annual print publication about mental health, explored through a creative lens. At our core, we’re a stigma-busting community of storytellers, designers, journalists, photographers, artists, healers, and others working through mental health narratives in an open way; we understand that to share one’s story means that others with similar burdens may feel seen as well.

How To Pitch Us

Topic: Boundaries — whatever that means to you.

What We’re Looking For: Short pitches! We mean it! Send us one or two brief paragraphs to give us a general idea of what story you have in mind and why it’s important. Give us a sample of your previous work, with links to it. Note: Previous publication is not necessary. New, strong voices are welcome.

We’re only as compelling as the narratives we amplify. We especially encourage people from communities whose perspectives haven’t been shared often enough to drop us a line.

Guidelines: Anxy stories look for the beauty in the real and the raw. They’re human to their core and rooted in personal narrative, aiming to shift perspectives around the way we treat mental health. Anxy stories can be unconventional in nature, but they should start conversations and approach mental health in ways we’re not used to seeing.

While we care deeply about these issues, we’re not so self-serious that we can’t have fun too. Surprise us! We’re open to a lot.

Format: We’re looking for personal essays, op-eds, photo essays, features, interviews, artwork, and other creative story formats from contributors around the world.

Deadline: We know we’re not giving you a ton of time to put a pitch together — we’re closing our Submittable on Feb 2nd. But we want to emphasize that we’re interested in your ideas more than a “make-or-break,” lengthy, polished pitch. We want to know what you have to say about boundaries, why you should be the one to say it, and how it connects with Anxy’s mission.

Pay: We’re a small print magazine, but we’ve raised our rates to be more competitive.

But before you pitch, please read up on what Anxy is looking for:

Take a look at Issues 1 & 2 for ideas of our style and approach.

Pitches should be:

Relevant. Do people care about this now?

Real. Does the idea capture some part of the human experience? Does it feel true?

Original. The idea or angle should feel novel, so make sure to explain why or what about it is new.

Voice-y. Anxy is rooted in the personal narrative and the human experience, so show us you have a distinct voice and a strong point of view — and that you’re the best person to write this story.

In our first two issues we featured work from new voices, established writers, groundbreaking photographers and artists, and many more. If you want to be part of the next edition, go ahead and submit your ideas before the deadline.