Oak Leaves welcomes submissions of artwork, articles, poetry, letters to the editor, and anything else that might be of interest to our readers. Submissions, and especially artwork, relating to the turning of the wheel of the year and the celebration of the High Days are particularly encouraged. If space is constrained, preference will be given to submissions from ADF members.
Types of Submissions and Suggested Length
- Articles (1,000 to 5,000 words)
- Short Fiction, Essays, Stories (up to 3,000 words)
- Book Reviews (250 – 500 words) – preferably should include a graphic of the book cover
- Rituals (to 5,000 words)
- Reports (to 1,000 words)
- Poetry (length within reason)
Shorter pieces may receive preference, depending on available space.
Deadlines
The following are the deadlines for the quarterly issues (recently moved back to give staff sufficient time to edit):
- Autumn: June 1st
- Winter: September 1st
- Spring: December 1st
- Summer: March 1st
References and Notations
Since excellent scholarship is one of ADF’s goals, please document sources of ideas and materials that you used for your writings. Detailed endnote references are preferred rather than simply providing a bibliography. Please follow the standards for references in the MLA Handbook or Style Manual. We will not accept submissions with footnotes as they require considerable editing to convert to endnotes.
Medium of Submission
Electronic submissions are preferred, sent as email attachments to the Oak Leaves submissions address (oak-leaves@adf.org). Send only one attachment per email, specifying the format in the message. If you would prefer to send submissions via postal mail, please send them to the ADF Office mailing address (see our contact page) on IBM PC-compatible diskettes.
If you send a submission by email please be specific with the subject line. For example do not simply state article, or story, or art, but instead include information specific to the type and subject or title of the submissions. Examples of acceptable subject lines:
- Poetry: Green Man
- Cover Art: Spring Faeries
- Short Story: Oshun’s Mirror
- Article: Neolithic Shamanism
If you are submitting for a specific theme or issue, please say so in the body of the message.
Written submissions should be sent in one of the following formats: ASCII, Rich Text Format (RTF), or MS Word. Submitted materials will not be returned to the sender, unless specifically requested.
All authors are invited to include a biographical statement of no more than 75 words to be published with their submission.
Art Submissions
We now accept color pictures, as well as photos. Some of the color pictures will need to be modified to black and white but we will only do that as necessary. We would like to have pictures submitted at 300dpi, and in a usable format such as .jpg, .gif, .bmp etc.
Editing Policy
The Copy Editor and Assistant Copy Editors reserve the right to edit all submissions as they determine to be necessary. We try to edit with a light hand. In the event that a piece needs extensive editing, we will notify you with re-write suggestions. The Copy Editors will make a reasonable effort to inform the author of any major changes prior to publication. Grammar, typos and awkward or wordy phrasing will be corrected without notification.
Ownership
The content of all submitted material remains the property of the author/artist. The author/artist shall retains full rights to the submitted work. By submitting your work, you grant ADF the non-exclusive right to use and reproduce this work in print, on the ADF website, or in any other way the officers of ADF see fit. Copyrights should be respected, and articles should not be reprinted outside of ADF without express permission from the author. All opinions expressed in Oak Leaves are those of the authors, and not necessarily of ADF.
