VAGABONDS is a series of radical pamphlets to fan the flames of discontent edited by Max Haiven and published by Pluto Press. At between 18,000-22,000 words VAGABONDS hosts provocative thinking and writing at the intersection of art, activism and ideas.

Please use the form below to pitch your title. Deadline for submissions for this round is December 15, 2021.

We are seeking proposals for pamphlets that:

• Urgently need to be in the hands of today’s radicals and revolutionaries
• Substantially challenge conventional understandings and approaches
• Move us beyond activist infighting, academic navel-gazing and art-world blather

VAGABONDS publishes both established and emerging writers no matter how they are employed.

We especially invite pitches from people who have been the targets of systemic oppression, including on the basis of race, gender, citizenship, ability and colonialism.

Our recent publications

What we’re (not) looking for

VAGABONDS is open to writing from those entangled with academia, the arts and/or struggles for collective liberation.

We publish eclectic work, from a wide diversity of approaches, that is:

✅ RADICAL in theme, tone and spirit,

✅ RIGOROUS in presentation, argumentation and approach, and

✅ RESONANT with a diversity of thoughtful, curious and radical readers and in dialogue with the great struggles of our times.

We are not interested in

❌ partisan polemics and takedowns,

❌ purely academic or theoretical arguments

❌ edited collections (though we do encourage cohesive works by multiple authors).

❌ proposals from writers who have clearly not bothered to learn about our project.

We encourage the incorporation of creative and experimental expression in many forms but the series aims primarily to present bold ideas in pamphlet form. Usually, we can only publish in greyscale and our tall, thin format can present challenges for wishing to reprint images.

While we are not averse to texts that focus on particular places, VAGABONDS readership is global and so it should be clear why the topic matters to us all.

Authors who publish with VAGABONDS receive a $1,000 CAD stipend as well as royalties from sales. VAGABONDS also encourages and has limited resources to support experiments in hybrid publishing, where pamphlet releases are accompanied by multimedia materials (videos, podcasts, events).

How it works

If you are interested in pitching to VAGABONDS, please read the following summary of our process carefully. Writers should anticipate that the whole process will typically take at least 16 months, often longer, although in highly exceptional circumstances (where the subject matter is urgent) things can move a bit faster.

1. Using the form here or below, give us a brief overview of who you are, what you’re thinking and how and when you’ll do it.
2. If we think it works for us, we’ll invite you to complete a full proposal and a sample chapter.
3. Proposals will be adjudicated by VAGABONDS’ editorial board
4. Selected proposals will be passed on to Pluto Press for consideration, which may include sending it out to anonymous reviewers.
5. Proposals selected by both the editorial board and Pluto will be offered a contract.
6. The author(s) will work closely with VAGABONDS editor Max Haiven to develop the manuscript
7. A completed draft of the manuscript will be sent out for VAGABONDS special peer review, culminating in a meeting between author(s), reviewers and the editor to help the author(s) revise the manuscript.
8. The reviewed and revised manuscript is sent to Pluto Press for copyediting, proofreading and publication.
9. The author(s) work with VAGABONDS on a unique release plan, involving multimedia.

Pitch to us

If you have questions, please email max [at] vagabonds.xyz

To pitch, please use this form: https://forms.gle/jei2FVCW7oL3K4Zc9