The Drunken Llama is an online literary and visual art blog/magazine/publication/whatever founded in 2014 by Vincent St. Clare and Magghie O’Shea, with the intent to help unknown creatives gain exposure and promote unique voices the world over.
The Drunken Llama is a free magazine, featuring user-submitted works of visual art—including, but not limited to, digital art, illustration, photography, and painting—and creative literature—including, but not limited to, creative non-fiction (e.g. essays and memoirs), fiction (also flash), and poetry. We publish creative material year-round (read: when we, being the busy people we are, can afford to prioritize reviewing and editing), and we favor no particular style, theme, or format for our submissions: We prefer, instead, to focus on beauty, brilliance, inventiveness, originality, passion, and wit in whatever form—including format or genre—they may take.
We look to support the underdogs of the arts, whose work, even though often brilliant or innovative, tends to goNEARLY ALWAYS seems to goGOES unnoticed in what has become, with the advent of the information age, an ever-expanding and rapidly-multiplying morass of content creators—many with better connections, more money, and more or better resources generally—with their own aesthetic endeavors and creative projects to hock at the world.
In such a world, keeping your “head above the water” can seem daunting, if not impossible, as a fledgling artist or author.
We hope to accomplish this by featuring the best work of a diverse group of artists, illustrators, photographers, and writers.
Why “The Drunken Llama”? Well, we like llamas, and we like beer, and we think it would be hella funny if a llama—of all things—stumbled out of a bar at 2 AM on a Wednesday morning.
Also, is “creative” even a noun? We’re not sure, but we’re hoping to get Merriam-Webster to [some day] recognize it as one.
SUBMISSIONS
NOTICE: AS OF OCTOBER 27, 2021, THE DRUNKEN LLAMA IS NO LONGER ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. WE NEED TIME TO CATCH UP ON REVIEWING AND POSTING/PUBLISHING A LARGE NUMBER OF CURRENT SUBMISSIONS.
PLEASE CHECK BACK LATER.
We accept unsolicited submissions of poetry, short stories, creative nonfiction, and visual art year-round.
In order to submit, please e-mail v.st.clare@gmail.com with “Drunken Llama” in the subject line. Feel free to submit various pieces at the same time—there is no hard limit on the number of works you may send us. In the case of written pieces, this would preferably be in .doc, .docx, .odt, or .pdf format.
People of all experience levels are encouraged to submit, though we cannot accept every submission we receive.
The Drunken Llama has no particular theme, and remains open to submissions of an genre, in any format, and bearing any motif (or lack thereof). However, (1) for poetry we tend to prefer non-rhyming and free verse; (2) for fiction we accept both genre and literary fiction, as long as works in these categories avoid that old bane of every artist and author—cliché; (3) for art we prefer work of high quality which demonstrates clear effort, ingenuity, and wit on part of the artist; and (4) for photography, we prefer higher-resolution work (i.e. not smartphone photos) which captures the essence or aesthetic of a subject.
All creative work submitted to The Drunken Llama should demonstrate the attributes of cleverness, uniqueness, or imagination (or a combination of these attributes). We appreciate both enlightenment and entertainment—move us to tears, elevate our souls, or make us think a lot; alternatively, make us laugh, cringe, or jump out of our seats—distinguishing acceptable from unacceptable work not by narrative theme or moral, but by sheer effort, creativity, and allure.
For written work, we accept all fonts and formats, so long as submissions are legible and organized.
Please inform us if you would like your submission stylized in a certain manner. (Including the use of different fonts, unique paragraph spacing, etc.)
You may (you don’t have to) include a brief bio (100 words maximum), as well as personal links (these will be hyperlinked from your name when/if they are featured in your submission) along with your submission. (Again, this isn’t necessary—it’s a matter of preference.)
If you do wish to include a bio, cover letter, and/or personal link please include these in the body of your e-mail. You may also chose to remain anonymous, or use a pen name.
We accept previously published submissions, so long as permission for publication has been granted by all relevant parties. In other words, permission must be granted by the author of the work and previous publications which have featured that work.
Please show clear evidence that the rights to publication and/or distribution of the work in question have been granted, or reverted back, to you, the author.
We will also review simultaneous submissions, but please do notify us if a submitted work is accepted or published elsewhere first. Please notify us if and/or when said publication will allow the work to be featured in The Drunken Llama.
We reserve the right to edit your work and correct any grammar, formatting, spelling, or punctuation mistakes.
We also reserve the right to archive, categorize, and tag your submissions as needed. There are many instances in which multiple works submitted by writers (poets, short story writers, etc.) may appear individually, interspersed among other works. (Either by said authors or others.)
Please allow up to AT LEAST two months for an e-mail response to your submissions. (Your work may be reviewed and you may receive an e-mail response on a shorter (and possibly much shorter) timescale, but nonetheless allow up to at least a month for review and response.)
At times we receive a high volume of submissions, and it is often a time-consuming process to review all of them.
DUE TO THE HIGH VOLUME OF SUBMISSIONS WE RECEIVE, WE CANNOT RESPOND TO ALL SUBMISSIONS.
After you have sent us a submission, please refrain from submitting to us again until at least five weeks (35 days) have passed from the date of your submission.
It typically takes us one to three weeks on average to publish all the works sent to us in one submission. Publication times vary due to a number of factors: Your work may show up on our site almost immediately, or it may take several weeks to show up. Please be patient.
Visual artists and photographers: Typically, if you submit multiple visual or photographic works, these works will not be interspersed through multiple individual posts. Multiple photographs and other visual works will be grouped together into a single post unless you prefer otherwise. If you do prefer separate posts, make that clear in your e-mail.
As a non-discriminatory blog, journal, or magazine, The Drunken Llama does not, and will never, give preference to works of any individual over those of another on the basis of race, ethnicity, culture, custom, creed/religion/personal philosophy or [world]view, class, gender identity or expression (or lack thereof), assigned gender or sex, or sexual preference or orientation. The only bases on which your works will be accepted or declined are those of merit and appropriateness of theme.
As bios are written in third person, if you submit a bio alongside work for inclusion in The Drunken Llama, please also include your preferred pronouns.
STAFF
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF / CO-FOUNDER:
“Vincent St. Clare” (sometimes stylized as V. St. Clare) is the pseudonym of a fledgling writer (read: armchair philosopher, occasional blogger and essayist, on-and-off poet, would-be short story author, aspiring journalist, and hopeful (fingers crossed) novelist) and editor from New England. He maintains a personal blog and website at The Grand Tangent, where every once in a blue moon he yammers about everything from the arts to the environment to philosophy and religion. He is the author of the e-chapbook Easy Noumenon: Early Poems, available from Smashwords and Amazon. Please contact him on The Grand Tangent‘s “CONTACT” page or via e-mail at v.st.clare@gmail.com.
“VISUALS” (ART, ILLUSTRATION, PHOTOGRAPHY) REVIEWER:
Quinn Trickey is a musician and award-winning photographer living in Connecticut. They head the musical project The Drain Flies: You can listen to their music on The Drain Flies’ Soundcloud page.
FORMER STAFF
EDITOR / CO-FOUNDER:
Magghie O’Shea is an itinerant poet, songwriter, and comedienne. Known as “Cave Magghie”, she has performed stand-up comedy for the past several years, and has opened for world-renowned comedian, actor, and podcaster Doug Stanhope. In 2014 she co-founded The Drunken Llama alongside V. St. Clare, and edited the publication until that year’s end.
She now wanders America doing amazing things. We love her, miss her, and wish her all the best.
The Drunken Llama 