We expressly encourage the submission of unsolicited short pieces (1000-1500 words) that engage with contemporary or historical aspects of Kerala society. Submissions can be in English or Malayalam.
Please note that Ala is not a literary magazine or an academic journal. We do not publish fiction; our focus is on research-backed nonfiction pieces. However, we encourage the creative use of fictional and artistic elements in your submissions.
Send your drafts and pitches to us at: contact@alablog.in
Guidelines
- Ala accepts submissions in English or in Malayalam.
- Submissions are to be sent via email to contact@alablog.in, with the title of the submission in the subject line. Please also send a brief author bio.
- We are looking for articles of about 1000-1500 words, ideally with a photo or illustration to go with it.
- For articles in Malayalam, please ensure that you use a Unicode font. We recommend the Rachana font.
- We may not respond to all submission emails. Submissions will be vetted by the editorial team before a decision is made.
- Submissions previously published elsewhere may be allowed for socially and politically relevant materials, along with appropriate attribution and a link to the original.
- Authors must exercise due caution to avoid plagiarism. When reusing text, whether from the author’s own publication or that of others, ensure appropriate attribution and citation. We will not accept submissions with any amount of AI-generated text. Any allegations of plagiarism or self-plagiarism will be investigated by the editors and appropriate action will be taken.
- We only publish finished drafts with the requisite images/video/audio inputs. Incomplete pieces or social media re-postings will not be published. You can, however, send these to us as initial pitches and work with us to develop them into full pieces.
- The editorial team welcomes queries or pitches regarding potential article topics. We are happy to work with authors to develop their ideas into a blog article.
- Please provide a summary description for finished video/audio projects. YouTube/Vimeo links are acceptable.
- There are no eligibility criteria for authors; anyone can publish with Ala.
Copyright Statement
All content on Ala is under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license, subject to the following conditions (applicable to all articles published after July 31, 2019):
- Content on Ala cannot be republished on other fora for 30 days from the date of publication.
- After this period, content can be republished with the explicit and written consent of the author, along with clear attribution, stating the original source and providing a link to the article on Ala.