Submission Guidelines

Coming Soon!

We will be open for submissions
for Volume 14

Liminal Spaces | The Noleta Issue

April 1 - 30, 2026

This issue of the Santa Barbara Literary Journal honors a special little corner of Santa Barbara County affectionately known by the locals as Noleta.

We’re looking for stories and poems that capture Noleta, not just its particular locations but also its liminal, transitional nature. We’re also interested in submissions that explore the theme of liminal spaces in general.

Noleta does not officially exist. The community occupies the Eastern third or so of the Goleta Valley, the space between Santa Barbara, Hope Ranch, and the City of Goleta, whose voters were left with little choice but to exclude it from the city limits they drew up when forming their new city in 2002. Why, you may ask? Well, the voters in Noleta kept voting “no” whenever the boundaries included the whole valley.

Noleta is the view as you drive down San Marcos pass. It’s home to San Marcos High School, More Mesa, the Orchid Estate, and the blackened palms of the Modoc preserve, which remind us how quickly suburbia can go up in flames.

Noleta is more than just track homes and open spaces, though. The Goleta Cemetery is here, as is the Goleta Post Office and the county coroner’s office along with other critical county facilities. All ripe locations to set your story.

What We’re Looking For

We like work that makes us think. Stories where things happen. We love if you can incorporate our theme, but won’t turn down a good piece that doesn’t.

Fiction

We accept short stories up to 5,000 words. We generally publish only 2-3 longer stories (4,000+ words) per issue. We will consider one short story per author per submission period.

For flash, please send up to three pieces under 1,000 words each. Each piece should be submitted as a separate file.

Poetry

Submit up to 3 poems, with each poem in a separate file.

General Guidelines:

• Double-spaced 12-pt Times New Roman, with a first line indent and 1” margins all around. We accept Word (.docx or .doc) or Acrobat (.pdf) files only.

• Our first reading is a blind review. Submit manuscripts anonymously, with all identifying information removed.

• Submit for one genre only per submission period.

• We do not accept memoir or AI generated work. Lyrics are by invitation only.

• Your submission should include:

  • A short (3-4 sentence) biographical paragraph explaining who you are as an author. Include any websites/social media links.

  • The total word count and the genre (if it defies genre, note that too).

We aim to respond within six weeks, although it is not always possible. Authors retain all rights to their work; we simply ask that you not publish it elsewhere during the first six months the Lit Jo issue is out.

Who can send us work? Everyone. Anyone. The more the merrier. We read all work with hopes of finding a masterpiece, and we select work solely on the basis of craft. You do not have to live in Santa Barbara to be published in the journal, but let us know if you’re from the area or have a connection to the place.

We accept simultaneous submissions, but let us know if your story is accepted elsewhere. We are not currently in a position to offer compensation for publication.