Submissions are open for a new poetry magazine exploring our relationship to the night sky

“Until the Stars Burn Out” is a new online poetry magazine, edited by writer and astronomer Maya Horton. It will be released twice yearly, with the first issue due for release on September 21^st, 2018.

The aim of the project is to curate the range of different emotions and responses that we as human beings have to the night sky. The universe we live in is our shared heritage, and yet light pollution disconnects us from the sky; 80% of people living in cities have never seen the Milky Way, even though it is visible on any clear night from any location where there are no streetlights. Despite our growing disconnection from the night sky, astronomy has always been a subject to capture hearts and minds, and as we develop the technology to peer ever-deeper into the cosmos, we understand more about where we came from than at any other time in history.

Despite all this, access to knowledge isn’t equal, just like access to an unpolluted sky. Seeing a clear night sky can fill us with a sense of wonder and meaning, but this is becoming increasingly out of reach for a lot of people. We are all under the same sky, and the constellations are there, whether we are in a war zone or perched serenely on a mountaintop. What does this mean, then, for mankind? How can we capture our relationship to our sun, moon, solar system, Milky Way, and the vast universe beyond our own galaxy? How will these relationships change in the future? What were those relationships in the past?

We are looking for nuanced, interesting, engaging work that is is suitable for all audiences.

The submission window will be open until August 31^st, 2018. Guidelines can be found on the website and submissions can be sent by email to the magazine's editor.