elementia

Issue xx is available at all Johnson County Library locations!

elementia is a literary arts magazine published to represent and uplift young adults. We accept original poetry, fiction, nonfiction, graphic stories, photography and illustrations.

Now accepting submissions for issue xxi on the theme of The Unspoken through January 1.

*Please note: Our submission deadline for issue xxi has moved up to January 1, 2024. 

We live in a world fueled by communication and collaboration, yet there are so many thoughts we never share, conversations we struggle to start and ideas that are suppressed.

What are the words you leave unspoken? Is it always truly by choice? Are there barriers that lead to us staying silent? Historically, what has kept people mute? Discover the obstacles in your life that have led you to keep certain things behind sealed lips. Do culture and childhood contribute to taboos? How do the people who surround us mold us into believing we should leave certain things unsaid? Explore how your upbringing has influenced your opinions and how you navigate communication.

What are the random thoughts that inspire you, make you laugh, cry or even cringe? The passing thoughts that spill on to shower walls, down bus aisles or even on the underside of classroom desks. The ideas you can’t clearly get out on paper, and are stuck in your head — growing like wildflowers. What are the song lyrics in your brain you haven’t quite found the rhythms for, or the beats that don’t have words to go with them?

Take a moment to reflect on the unspoken statements and ideas in your life and their effect on yourself and others. Explore the power of the invisible constructs that impact us all. Bring the stories you’ve kept secret to life, unleash your creativity across any medium and speak what you’ve left unspoken.

Submit your original poetry, short stories, essays, comics, or artwork.

Read a sample of the latest issue

Night in July

By Abigail Swanson

The fountain reflects light
onto the face of the library downtown.
We went there once, a long time ago.
It still glows.


TURRITOPSIS DOHRNII

By Caroline Stickney

In a rare process called transdifferentiation, the turritopsis dohrnii 
(known as the immortal jellyfish) can, in response to physical danger, 
leap back to its first stage of life as a polyp. The born-again polyp 


on watching a jellyfish cam in a dark room

By Caroline Stickney

i watch jellyfish billow on the screen like souls floating across skies, their bells blooming as gracefully as bloodstains in bath water, and i reach through the pixels toward some form of salvation, some return that promises in the next life i’ll be something softer, something expansive, wounds


Previous issues

elementia xix cover
issue 19
the cover of elementia issue 18
issue 18
Issue 17 cover
issue 17
elementia xvi
issue 16
best of elementia 1-15
best of elementia 1-15
elementia issue xv
issue 15
elementia xiv
issue 14
elementia xiii
issue 13
elementia xii
issue 12
elementia xi
issue 11
elementia x
issue 10
elementia ix
issue 9
elementia viii
issue 8
elementia vii
issue 7
elementia vi
issue 6
elementia v
issue 5
elementia iv
issue 4
elementia iii
issue 3
elementia issue ii
issue 2
elementia issue i
issue 1