The Lotus Paper

The Lotus Paper is a non-commercial, youth-led digital blog & zine dedicated to recognizing the South Asian diaspora through mature, bold, and unconventional works exploring Brown cultures and social justice.

At The Lotus, we go beyond the “lunchbox” trope, meaning we aren’t looking for generic pieces about bringing ethnic food to school or celebrating cultural customs for the first time. We know what Diwali is and how biryani tastes.

We want to see unconventional, honest works about the way your father stuffs your Indian passport in the glovebox “just in case” immigration enforcement pulls over, or the sterile burn of skin-lightening cream on your skin. We’re looking for works that explore a past, present, and future of cultural injustice and South Asian representation.

We also know what it feels like to be reduced to a diversity token. We love works that explore Brown characters navigating various settings — from a high school hallway to a cyberpunk highway —through their unique lenses.

So, don’t worry if your work seems too “weird” or “surreal” — we love that! South Asian demographics are highly underrepresented in literature and art nowadays, so we’re hoping to build an unforgettable, authentic archive of works from Desi creatives

Requirements

• You must be ages 13–25

• Submissions must be in one of the following categories: fiction prose, poetry, creative nonfiction, drama/scriptwriting, and visual arts. Submissions from a larger novel/play/portfolio must include a short synopsis (300 words maximum)

• There is no theme, but submissions must be centered around the topics of cultural, social, and political injustice

• Potential topics include: xenophobia, border control, culture-based beauty standards, religious, and cultural stigmas

• Submissions must be in 12pt font (Times or Times New Roman), double-spaced, and submitted as a .pdf file

• The zine accepts works with religious and political content. However, they must be handled with needed sensitivity and respect.

• ZERO hate speech, AI-generated content, or plagiarized content

• The zine wants works that explore complex and mature themes, but please do not submit NSFW content

• Please do NOT submit previously published work! If you are submitting work(s) concurrently with other literary magazines/competitions and it gets accepted, please let us know!

• You can submit as many works as you would like, as this call is for rolling submissions.

To see page limits and legal publishing rights, see this page:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-EM4JKBgogwTXbAS2O4BFmcY6gQKqxbZT73sDWKpgYk/edit?tab=t.0

Application Instructions

Please submit to the first link on The Lotus Paper’s Linktree: https://linktr.ee/TheLotusPaper

Direct any questions to the email (thelotuspaper.hello@gmail.com) or the Instagram (@thelotuspaperzinee)