SAND Journal

SAND 29 is coming soon!

Join us at on 23 May to celebrate its publication with readings and presentations from the issue's Berlin-based contributors: Katarina Gotic Damiani, Dinara Rasuleva & Martina Mackinlay – further performers tba ✨

More info and tickets via the link in our bio, including a special launch ticket/print issue bundle 🔗

SAND 29: COCOON looks for liminal spaces to hide away in: homes, communities, languages, bodies. But while some of these "cocoons" form resilient spaces for resistance and regeneration, others struggle to keep the threats of the outside world at bay...

SAND 29 seals our transition into a slower, roughly yearly publishing schedule to give our volunteer team more time to regroup between issues and fundraise for our independent project. More info to follow about how this will affect submissions and subscriptions. Thank you for your continued support – and see you in May 🪻

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Flyer design by Jeannette Pang with art by Angie Quick (saved, saved, saved – as featured on the cover of SAND 29)

Here at SAND, this September marks the start of bookfair season – and submissions season 📚

This weekend, we'll be packing up our lovely new issue, SAND 27 (pictured), and heading to Hamburg for the annual bookfair. If you're in town, come and say hello at the SAND booth 👋🏽

Meanwhile, back here in Berlin, our editors are getting ready for your submissions! We open for submissions for SAND 28 on 10 September, and we'll be looking for poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, translations, and art.

As always, we're looking for work that pushes the boundaries of form, message, and voice in fresh and surprising ways. If you know SAND, you know we're all about work that subverts, work that takes risks. We publish both emerging and established writers, and anyone is welcome to submit, from anywhere in the world.

Read our full submissions guidelines and order your copy of SAND 27 via the links in our bio 🔗

S27 cover art by
Design by
📸 by

"when violence feeds a stream into a forest made all stone / in edges of a steep edge on the steep edge of a surge of / a thousand bluebells over you over you alone / among men over you alone when a violence touches your teeth"

– an excerpt from "Bluebells" by Tom Branfoot, a poem published in SAND 27. Read the full issue via the link in our bio🪻

Tom Branfoot is the writer-in-residence at Manchester Cathedral and a recipient of the New Poets Prize 2022. He organises the poetry reading series More Song in Bradford. Tom is the author of "This Is Not an Epiphany" (Smith|Doorstop) and "boar" (), both published in 2023.



Could your poetry, prose, or art be a good fit for SAND? We'll reopen for submissions for our 28th issue on 10 September. More info and full guidelines to follow ⏰

Some retro snapshots of the past 15 years of bookfairs, launches, readings & stickers with SAND.

This year, we've welcomed a brand new issue into the world – SAND 27: Bridging – available now in digital and limited-run print via the link in our bio.

So, what's next for SAND?

· Submissions for SAND 28 will open this autumn, so keep an eye on our website and social media for updates.

· We're also brainstorming ideas for more events and collaborations over the coming months to mark SAND's 15-year anniversary!

Whether you're a past contributor, a faithful reader, or a former team member, thanks for being a part of SAND's journey so far 💙

Some impressions of our SAND 27 launch last week at ! Thank you to everyone who joined us for a wonderful night of readings, talks, and catching up with SAND’s Berlin community.

SAND 27 is out now and available to order via our webshop (link in bio). We offer this summer issue’s theme, “Bridging,” not as pat advice in the manner of “bridging differences,” but in response to the ideas that emerged and re-emerged throughout these pieces: a celebration of work created in the margins, an invitation and provocation to our readers to find more bridges for themselves. Cover art by and design by 🪡
📷 by

Just two days until we launch SAND 27 at 🚀

We're excited to gather our wonderful SAND community again and to meet new readers and contributors!

This launch is extra special, as it marks not only the publication of SAND 27, but also 15 years of SAND. As many of you know, this project is run entirely by volunteers, fuelled by the work of talented writers and artists all around the world. We're very proud and grateful to have made it this far 💙

Join us on Thursday at the launch for readings and mini-performances from this new issue's Berlin-based contributors:

· Poet with self-translated work in English & Spanish

· Poet/translator duo &

· Poet who will also read translations by

· Fiction writer .kurlyka

· Artists & who will talk about the process behind their works in SAND 27

Follow the link in our bio for the full lineup (text version) and tickets 🔗

"I crossed green seas on my knees, / sticky clubs and bars, /balconies bathed in violet blood / while the nightingale sang a couplet by Manrique."

An extract from "Aniseed Bird" – a poem forthcoming in both English and Spanish in SAND 27 – by Nicol Navas.

Join us at our SAND 27 launch on 1 August to hear Nicol reading her poetry live (follow the link in our bio) 🐦

Nicol Navas Gómez (Cúcuta, 2001) is a poet and playwright, whose work explores the complexities of urban realities and identity. Beyond her creative pursuits, Nicol’s research career focuses on counterculture and minorities with projects such as "Hearing New Voices of Venezuelan Migrant Women." Bridging academia, creativity, and social commitment, Nicol emerges as a strong voice at the intersection of literature, migration, and the city

SAND 27 is coming soon – and our magazine is turning 15 years old! 🎂

Join us on Thursday, 1 August from 7 PM to celebrate the launch of *SAND 27: Bridging* and SAND's 15th birthday at the lovely in Kreuzberg, Berlin 🥂

There'll be readings and presentations from SAND 27's Berlin-based contributors, issues at special discounted prices, and a few more surprises 📚

Tickets via the link in our bio or here: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/sandjournal/1292246?

Line-up (so far!):

NICOL NAVAS (poetry, SAND 27) is a poet and playwright born 2001 in Cúcuta, whose work explores the complexities of urban realities and identity.

RALPH THARAYIL (poetry, SAND 27) is a Swiss writer and translator of South Indian descent. An excerpt from his critically-acclaimed debut novel "Nimm die Alpen weg" translated into English by Jon Cho-Polizzi, appears in SAND 27.

SASHA KURLYKA (fiction, SAND 27) is a Kyiv-born Berlin-based artist and writer. Their work has been published pseudonymously (as i0 xen0) in digital and physical publications by becoming.press.

ÖZGECAN KESICI (poetry in translation, SAND 27) is a writer and translator. She translated Rakhymzhan Otarbayev’s Kazakh short stories (Dağyeli Verlag, 2022) and received the Irish Arts Council Literature Bursary for her poetry and the Berlin Senate Work Stipend for her prose.

SEDEF KARAYEL (art, SAND 27) was born in 1991 in Cyprus, and currently lives in Berlin, where she is studying for a PhD in neurosciences. Her work is an exploration of themes like incompleteness and uncertainty.

Tickets via the link in our bio or here: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/sandjournal/1292246?

Flyer design by Jeannette Pang, featuring artwork by SAND 27 contributor

"Golden Hour, Late December" by Melissa Spitz, as featured in SAND 17.

Find more of Melissa's work at

As the sunny days get longer, we're putting together our next issue – a summer child set to be published on 1 August, 2024 ☀️

Save the date for a special launch event on 1 August here in Berlin (info tba) and watch out for preorder info coming soon 👀