If you're a teenager (age13-19), click here for the appropriate guidelines.

Frodo's Notebook is primarily a journal by teens, but it is also a journal for and about teens. As such, we actively solicit good writing from adults to bring their perspectives, wisdom, and knowledge to our readership of teens and adults. We are especially keen to see five types of submissions from adults:

1. Book Reviews, either brief or extended (up to 500 words or up to 1,800 words). Brief book reviews should be elegant but punchy, centering on the craftsmanship demonstrated by the author. Extended reviews may use the book as a catalyst to broader social commentary or cultural critique. In both modes, we take the lead of The Atlantic, whose vision is spelled out here by their literary editor, Benjamin Schwartz.

2. Cinema Reviews. Well-crafted, thoughtful reviews of the current cinema that take film seriously as both art and medium. Do not force a reading on a film, but if warranted, pay particular concern, as in book reviews, to how teens are portrayed within the movie and targeted from without (by marketing teams and studio executives). We take inspiration from the New Yorker, but we want your uniqueness as a writer and reviewer to shine through, in anywhere up to 1,200 words.

3. Articles that Inform or Explain. Introduce our readers to a person, idea, place, school of thought, or body of work, as you would see in any other general readership or literary magazine. Our primarily young readership lacks the experience and exposure they will have ten years from now, and these articles will be at once aware of that and also out to increase their exposure. For instance: Who is Mark Ellen Marks? What is deconstruction? Who is Louise Glück, and what is the position of U.S. Poet Laureate all about? Also, reportage on new research or scholarly discourse about teens, literature, or art is welcome. The writing may be playful, but falls more to the “objective” end. Up to 2,000 words.

4. Articles that Comment. In short, cultural critique. Why does x event or person or school of thought matter? What is going on with school shootings? Why do teens listen to the music they do? How does it affect cultures to have so much Internet-based contact with one another? Falling on the “subjective” and interpretive end of the spectrum, these articles may be up to 1,600 words.

5. Memoir. Creative nonfiction narrative about the author's teenage years, preferably under 1,800 words, though we will always consider excellent exceptions.

Send completed manuscript or query to the editor, Daniel Klotz, at daniel@frodosnotebook.com. We are eager to correspond with you.

We acquire first serial rights for any work we publish, which means we do not consider work previously published anywhere, including any website, except for small print publications like local literary magazines. The writer/artist retains all rights, including the right to reprint the work elsewhere (though we request, if possible, that Frodo's Notebook be acknowledged as its place of initial publication). Unless you agree to allow us to permanently archive your writing on our website, your work will be displayed only as long as the issue in which it is featured remains current, approximately 3 months.