Jabberwocky is the official undergraduate literary journal of the University of Massachusetts Amherst English Department. Our mission is to highlight undergraduate creativity here at UMass. The journal’s content includes fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and media.
We collect submissions from any UMass Amherst undergrad, and our staff selects pieces for publication. See “How to submit your work” and “Apply to join our staff” below to find out how to get involved in Jabberwocky’s upcoming editions!
Our administrative team can be contacted at umassjabberwocky@gmail.com.
Find us on Instagram @umassjabberwocky!
How to submit your work
Guidelines for submitting are as followed:
- Title the piece
- Do not put any personal information in the document
- Keep submissions under 2,500 words
- Submit each piece of literature as an individual PDF file
- Submit media as a high-quality JPG/JPEG
You can submit up to 3 pieces of criticism/nonfiction, 3 pieces of fiction, 6 poems, and an unlimited amount of media. The deadline to submit work is Friday, March 7, 2025 at 11:59 PM.
Submissions and any questions may be sent to umassjabberwocky@gmail.com.
Apply to join our staff
Jabberwocky welcomes UMass Amherst undergraduate students of any major. Those who are interested in joining the staff can apply in the fall semester. We have roles for editors, designers, and social media managers.
Student Testimonial
“Jabberwocky is a great place to connect with other like minded students who share a love of reading and writing. In our meetings, we are able to work together to analyze student submissions in an exciting and engaging way. I highly recommend students join Jabberwocky and submit to the journal!”
Julia Bragg, Fiction Editor
Jabberwocky Cultivates a space for lovers of writing to come together and feel the connection it creates. Being able to engage with various forms of writing helps us grow as editors, writers, and people. I would highly recommend joining or submitting!
Danielle Marrocco, Poetry Editor
Staff applications for the 2025 have closed.
Our Teams
Administrative – Our Admin Team provides centralized decision-making and helps oversee the forward-facing aspects of the journal. Admin Team is typically composed of an Editor-in-Chief, a Managing Editor, and an Associate Editor. Applications for Admin Team open in the fall for returning staff; please contact the current Admin Team if you would like to be notified when they open.
Genre teams – Our genre teams look through the submissions within their category and discuss their thoughts at our staff meetings. Each of these teams selects final pieces for publication in the journal.
- Fiction – Our fiction team assesses fiction submissions each meeting. Fiction submissions may range from short flash fiction pieces to 2,500-word short stories. These submissions are judged on quality and how they fit with or contrast other fiction pieces. Fiction editors are responsible for reading and taking notes on each piece and bringing their notes to each staff meeting.
- Nonfiction – Our nonfiction and literary criticism team assesses nonfiction submissions each meeting. These submissions may range from essays in the form of literary criticism to creative nonfiction pieces which are usually expository writing. Editors judge submitted essays on quality and how they fit with or contrast with other submitted nonfiction works. Nonfiction editors are responsible for reading and taking notes on each piece and bringing their notes to each staff meeting.
- Poetry – Our poetry team assesses poetry submissions each meeting. These submissions may range from standardized poetry forms to narrative free verse and occasionally include collections of a few related poems. Editors judge submitted poems on quality and how they fit with or contrast with other submitted poems. Poetry editors are responsible for reading and taking notes on each poem and bringing their notes to each staff meeting.
- Media – Our media team assesses media submissions each meeting. These submissions may range from photography to digital art to digital copies of physical pieces. Editors judge submitted media pieces on quality and how they fit with or contrast with other submitted media pieces. Media editors are responsible for viewing and taking notes on each media piece and bringing their notes to each staff meeting.
Copyediting – Our copyediting team copy edits accepted pieces for minor grammar issues and formatting cohesiveness. This is the only part of our process that involves changing or actually editing the pieces themselves. Since the copy editing process takes part after pieces have been accepted, copy editors are also members of a genre team.
Social Media – Our social media team helps the Associate Editor manage Jabberwocky’s Instagram by providing a variety of promotional content, including creating story and grid posts. Members of the social media team also get Jabberwocky staff involved with the content such as Meet the Editors posts and other promotional content that Admin Team sees fit, including poster design. Most members of the social media team are also members of a genre team; in rare cases someone’s social media role may be significant enough for it to be their only role with Jabberwocky.
Design & Layout – Our design and layout team works with Admin Team to put together the journal in InDesign. Experience with InDesign is thus strongly requested, and design and layout team members make decisions on the order pieces will go in the journal as well as formatting choices. The design and layout process takes place after pieces have met final approval.