Even if you can’t make it out of the house, there are plenty of ways to get involved in the Cambridge art scene. We’ve invited some of the Cambridge zines to introduce themselves and give an outline of what they are looking for, if you want inspiration and a way of sharing your art with the world!

BAIT

BAIT is a termly arts magazine, based on creativity, personal expression and activist spirit. The profit from each coffee-table-worthy issue is donated to a cause close to our hearts – including Cambridge homelessness support, refugee aid, and most recently, Black Lives Matter UK.

Our Michaelmas 2020 issue is on Borders, and we’d love you to send in any kind of creative submissions: poetry, short stories, photography, doodles, manifestos, comics – anything under the sun, really. Opportunities to join our tight-knit editorial team for the next year will be opening soon – and freshers are especially welcome to apply. If you’re interested, the best way to keep up to date is to find BAIT on Facebook and Instagram. If you follow the links to our submitters’ group and website, you can find prompts for your work, browse old issues and get involved. It’d be fab to have you on board!

Notes

Notes is a magazine of poetry, short fiction, essays, art and photography that publishes twice per term.

We're one of the more elderly zines on the scene, having been around since 2012, and we take submissions from anyone – not just Cambridge students. We try to live up to our name, in the sense that a piece doesn't need to be completely refined and finalised for us to publish it; while we love to see polished work, we're equally happy to take works-in-progress, fragments, scrawls and sketches. Plus, we always give feedback to our contributors, regardless of whether or not their work has made it into an issue.

Every time we publish, we hold a magazine launch, in which contributors have a chance to socialise with one another and read out their work. These have generally taken place in pubs, cafes, galleries, or college spaces, but will likely migrate online for the foreseeable future.

We're currently taking submissions for our next issue, which will be on the theme of 'renewal', and we'd love to see some contributions from freshers. You can find out about submission guidelines, see some writing prompts, and keep up with us via our Facebook page or Instagram (both @notespublication).  

The Cambridge Review of Books

CROB is a relatively new addition to the Cambridge arts scene, having published our first issue at the end of Lent 2020. As a termly magazine with a strong emphasis on the continued importance of print journalism, the Review allows a unique opportunity for student writers.

Articles are commissioned on the basis of pitches submitted just before the start of each term and written specifically for that issue, allowing writers to engage critically with their subject matter and work closely with an editor to bring the best out of their writing.

Though a ‘Review of Books’, the content of the articles included is by no means limited to literary analysis. The ultimate aim of the Review is to allow student writers to discuss those subjects about which they are deeply passionate, but that they may not have the opportunity to explore in the course of their regular studies. Interspersed with the longform articles is also an eclectic range of poetry, short fiction, and diaries; each piece of writing is accompanied by a bespoke illustration done by one of the many talented student artists in Cambridge. This year, we aim to expand, and welcome the queries and contributions of anyone who might be interested in this new and growing publication!