Pitches (Cultural Trends)

PITCH CALL. I'm looking for pitches for two verticals at New Lines Magazine to run in June, July and August. Deadline for pitches is March 22. Drafts to be filed by May 1. Read on for details.

First, I’m looking for pitches for Spotlight, a newsletter about underreported news and cultural trends from around the world. These short (~1500 words) pieces tackle the upswell of ideas/events before they go mainstream, or they untangle a hot topic in a new and fascinating way.

Some examples of Spotlights we loved:

A breakdown of the uniforms and track suits of the Gaza conflict: https://newlinesmag.com/spotlight/israeli-uniforms-hamas-tracksuits-and-a-war-of-symbols/

The unexpected sway Bob Marley has on southern Egypt: https://newlinesmag.com/spotlight/how-bob-marley-won-nubian-hearts/

While the world is watching Wagner, it turns out there's plenty of other guns-for-hire making chaos across Africa: https://newlinesmag.com/spotlight/in-africa-wagner-is-not-the-only-game-in-town/

I'm particularly looking for spotlights from across North and West Africa, or from the diasporas of those places.

Next, I’m looking for pitches for insightful, complex and provocative stories that tackle the CULTRE and INTELLECTUAL LIFE of North Africa, the Sahel and Francophone West Africa.

I am looking for stories that help unpack and explain cultural and intellectual phenomena across francophone Africa and the diaspora. Stories that unspool something new for our audience that will help them understand the region from a non-geopolitical angel.

For me culture encompasses a lot of areas: fine art, cinema, music, theater, and dance, but also food, folk arts, language and its permutations, comedy, habits, hobbies… loads of different things. It is anything that moves the soul.

As to the intellectual life of the region, I’m particularly keen to know who the writers, thinkers and public intellectuals are — whether local or foreign (thinking about the interaction btwn France and the region) — who are shaping the discourse in a particular country or area.

What I’m NOT looking for: Trend stories, or profiles of a single artist, musician, writer, DJ etc. unless you can make the very compelling argument that this is someone who is absolutely moving the cultural needle on their own.

I am also not looking for reviews of shows/films/books, travel stories, or cooking/recipe stories. Nor am I interested in stories where one little NGO is “saving traditional foodways” or whatnot. In general NGO stories don’t work for what we do at New Lines.

Rates: Spotlights are usually $600, regular essays are $800.

Our submission guidelines are here. Please also include links to a few of your clips, especially pieces over 1500 words.