Personal Essays (Love, Relationships)
Deadline: 31 December 2023
Although Modern Love has evolved over the years into a podcast, a book, a TV show and Tiny Love Stories, the column’s central mission remains the same: to publish honest personal essays about contemporary relationships.
We seek true stories on finding love, losing love and trying to keep love alive. We welcome essays that explore subjects such as adoption, polyamory, technology, race and friendship — anything that could reasonably fit under the heading “Modern Love.” Ideally, essays should spring from some central dilemma you have faced. It is helpful, but not essential, for the situation to reflect what is happening in the world now.
The best way to see the range of styles and subjects we publish is to read the column and listen to the podcast. There’s a Google doc of tips from the editor that someone culled from the Modern Love Facebook page (some details are out of date, but nearly all of the advice is still generally applicable).
Love may be universal, but individual experiences can differ immensely and be informed by factors including race, socio-economic status, gender, disability status, nationality, sexuality, age, religion and culture. We especially encourage Black and Indigenous people and other people of color to submit, as well as writers outside of the United States and those who identify as members of L.G.B.T.Q communities.
HOW DO I SUBMIT?
Send submissions to: modernlove@nytimes.com. Please put the subject of your essay or a possible title in the email subject line.
Limit your essay to 1,500-1,700 words.
Attach your essay as a Microsoft Word-compatible doc and paste the text into the body of the email. If your first submission is incomplete, please resubmit one complete entry; do not submit just the missing pieces in additional emails.
Essays must be entirely true. Do not use pseudonyms (including for yourself), composite characters or invented situations or scenes. There are no exceptions to this rule.
Essays must be previously unpublished. Work that has appeared online — on another news website, a personal blog, Medium or elsewhere — is considered previously published.
Essays will be edited in consultation with writers, and writers will be compensated for work that is published.
We attempt to respond to every submission within three or four months, though response times may vary because of the high volume of submissions. There is no need to follow up.
PLEASE NOTE: Modern Love has two submission periods, September through December and March through June. We do not accept submissions in July, August, January or February. Submissions made during those months will be deleted unread. Please submit again when the inbox reopens.