Updated August 3, 2015: We are no longer accepting new submissions as we’re catching up with current submissions. Thank you for your interest.

Here at Denizen, we are always looking for new voices. Currently, we are seeking personal essays from Third Culture Kids, and illustrators who are interested in creating pieces to go with those essays.

However, you don’t have to be a writer to participate in Denizen. We want to hear from you if you’re a filmmaker, a dancer, a photographer, anything. If you make art related to Third Culture Kids, let us know. We’re always interested in new ideas and creative submissions.

What we publish: We aim to write articles that will inform, entertain, or incite discussion. We write from the heart, but we also do research and interviews to support our statements. We do not publish self-indulgent blog posts, or lengthy academic monologues, because we want to create conversational, easily accessible content. Most of our articles run 800-1,200 words.

How to Pitch:

• Pick a topic that you are interested in, or passionate about.
• The more specific the pitch, the better. Avoid generic topics like “My thoughts on being a TCK,” or “What life as a TCK is like.”
• Think about what you or your fellow TCK friends would be interested in reading.
• We especially love pitches that introduce us to something we’ve never encountered before, and pitches that can be particularly helpful to TCKs.

To pitch, please fill out the form below. Please note that due to the volume of submissions, we can’t get back to everyone, but we do try.

What We Expect Of Our Writers:

1. Honesty. Everything we publish in Denizen is honest and factual, unless otherwise stated as fiction.
2. Research. Know your topic, and if you don’t know, seek out information to support your arguments.
3. Timeliness. While we understand that this process is voluntary, we expect you to get back to emails from your editors within 7 days.
4. Cooperation. Your editor is your guide throughout this process, and they want to create the best piece possible for our audience. Work with them, and have fun.

Interviewees or Characters: For interviewees, please first ask their permission to be included in the article. When interviewing, it’s best to have a recorder (or turn on a phone recorder, Skype recorder, etc.). If you can’t, try your best to quote them directly. Do not change or make up quotes. In the article, please include the person’s full name, age, and countries that they have lived in/grown up in. You may not interview family members (unless relevant for the article). Please avoid interviewing close friends.

You may not, at any time, show interviewees your written article, but you can show them their quote if you would like to double check the wording with them.

For characters (for memoirs or personal essays), if you are using their full name in the piece, please get their permission to include them in piece.

For both interviewees and characters, if you are including their photograph, please get permission before using their image in the piece.

Copyright and Licensing: As the author, you retain ownership of the content. This means that you can take your content and publish it elsewhere at anytime. By working with Denizen, we expect to have “first” rights to your content, which means that your content has not been published elsewhere previously (including your personal blog), unless approved your editor. By working with Denizen, you are also giving Denizen nonexclusive rights to the content, meaning that we can share your post on our website, as well as our Facebook, PDFs, eBooks, and printed materials such as magazines and books, etc.