Come one, come all! For Bat City Review’s upcoming issue, our theme is Bread & Circuses. We’re looking for work that entertains, that gives us something to chew on, that makes us hungry for more. 

Coined by the first-century poet Juvenal to describe the pacification of the Roman populace, panem et circenses has re-emerged as a contemporary diagnosis of our times. We want prose, poetry, and art about extravagance and empire, consumption and distraction, pleasure and pageantry. Give us the surreal, the real, the superficial. What are we being fed, and who gets to decide? What do we need and what are we given instead?

Bring us the feast. Bring us the spectacle. Bring us what’s hiding underneath.

Note: This theme a prompt and not a prescription. If your work has another appetite, we’d still love to see it!

Do not include any identifying information on your submission. 

Do include a word count at the top of the first page, and please keep submissions under 6,000 words. 

Submit only once per genre per reading period. 

Simultaneous submissions encouraged, though we ask that you withdraw your piece should it be accepted elsewhere.

Students and faculty at the University of Texas at Austin cannot submit. If we have published your work, please wait a full issue cycle before submitting again (2 years).

If you have additional questions, please contact our nonfiction editor at nonfiction@batcityreview.com.

We look forward to reading your work!