A close-up digital illustration of a pair of big sparkly green eyes looking at a candle glowing right in the centre of the image.

about

The Beag Journal is a small literary zine focusing on the divots within language often forgotten. 'Beag' (bʌg) translates to small in Gaeilge, meaning the translated version of TBJ is 'The Small Journal'.Founded by Char/Clem Caccamo and Jasper Brady, the purpose of The Beag Journal is to foster both an online an physical literary space specifically made for linguistic expression.As it was born from the creative heart of Western Sydney, The Beag Journal takes on all literary genres, styles, and authors. It encourages Black, Brown, Indigenous, Asian, Queer, disabled, transgender, non-English speakers, women, and all other marginalised writers to submit their work on a platform that makes space for them.First-time and previously unpublished writers are also warmly welcomed here, to consider this an embrace into self-publishing and the beginning of their writing journey.

CLEM/CHAR (they/he)
Co-Founder, Editor-In-Chief, WriterClementine is a non-binary femme zinester who draws from their personal experiences growing up multipley disabled. Char has been published under The Secret Garden Journal and creates as part of the Genderbility Zine Collective. They can be found sipping a yuzu soda and drawing at 2am.

JASPER (he/him)
Co-Founder, Editor-In-Chief, WriterJasper is a second-year Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Creative Industries student majoring in English and Journalism. He works as the Print Design Editor for W'SUP News, and as a producer for Backchat, FBi Radio's Walkley-nominated news and current affairs program. Jasper has published under The Secret Garden Journal and Dakota Warren's Nowhere Girl Collective. He can often be found running zine workshops, polishing up on his Gaeilge, and enjoying his tea.

zine archive

ISSUE ONE:

The interlocking hands of time unravelling at the beat of your pulse; imagine for me how your heart intertwines with each memory, blooming from it and wilting as your mind falters. How do you trace along your wrist, up your arm, across your shoulder, until you finally arrive at your innermost collection. It’s hoarded full of junk and trinkets and keepsakes, slowly feeding back into the tallest cliffside you house. What do you do to run, picking yourself up in time with your breath, the rise and fall and the tension in between. Rinse yourself of temporality, the truth is far more scattered and screwed shut than one first thinks.

Submission deadline is September 12th 2026, 11:59PM AEST. All writing can be submitted by emailing us at [email protected]

This is a digitally illustrated image with an olive green background, The top of the illustration reads “TEMPORAL PULSE”. The centre of the image is a bat-clock drawing inspired by the TBJ logo. The bottom of the image reads "The Beag Journal".

zine yet to come

submit!

WHENThe Beag Journal publishes quarterly issues throughout the year. Exact submission dates will be updated on the website as well as our social media, alongside time. All submission deadlines follow Australian date formatting and are based around Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST, UTC +10). The timing does change with Daylight Saving Time (DST), subsequently changing from AEST to Australian Eastern Daylight Time (AEDT). Please keep the time zones and time of the year in mind when submitting, particularly if you follow differing time zones.

WHERESubmissions are to be emailed by the deadline time to [email protected]. This is the only method of submission, and any other procedure will be deemed invalid.

HOWIt is recommended to submit contributions with a brief description of the piece/s, describing the genre, word count, title, and any general information. This is also the place to note specific structuring, diction, and translation choices in order to mitigate unnecessary editing. Also feel free to introduce yourself and make reference to previous pieces, publishing, or other personal highlights or connections.

WHATYour submission should be an email sent to The Beag Journal containing your written piece/s and a short artist bio. Written piece/s should be titled (or otherwise be called ‘Untitled’), with a preference for PDF document formatting. Word documents, Google documents, and other formats are acceptable so long as they are easily accessible and clear, The Beag Journal will not accept JPEG, PNG, or other image formatting.Writers should provide their name/pseudonym (or otherwise be called ‘Anonymous’), pronouns, age, location (city/country), previous projects, current aspirations, and anything else interesting in their artist bio. You may share as little or as much as possible as long as it is within an 80 word limit. The Beag Journal is looking for all writing (fiction and non-fiction), including but not limited to:* Stream of consciousness, poetry, journal entries, news articles. essays, flash fiction/short stories, vignette, reports, reviews/critiques, transcripts, plays, blogs, translations, biographiesThe focus is on language, diction, register – anything linguistic. This can be interpreted in whatever manner and does not necessarily mean using a language other than English. With the guide of each prompt, consider your words closely, deliberate both the spoken and the written word.

AI POLICYArtificial Intelligence will not be accepted in submissions at The Beag Journal, particularly Generative AI. AI is not used in any part of The Beag Journal’s writing, editing, designing, illustrating and website-building, so the same is expected of writers. Writers all have original styles of writing and The Beag Journal believes that AI erases this voice, going against the ethos and purpose this journal has. If you have any concerns regarding AI, do not hesitate to email [email protected].

STRUCTUREWriters have the option to structure their submissions to the publishing industry standard, The Beag Journal recommends using this resource . All pieces are limited to 1000 words each, no matter the genre. Otherwise, you are free to structure your submission however you may like, there are no particular restrictions on formatting regardless of genre.

FAQHow many submissions are allowed per prompt?Each writer is allowed to submit a maximum of 2 pieces per prompt. Pieces are allowed to be submitted as 1 but structured to be separate as well, and would still be considered as 1 submission.Who runs TBJ?Char and Jasper are The Beag Journal’s co-founders and editors-in-chief. We currently run everything, from emails to submissions to the website!What kind of pieces are TBJ looking for?We are looking for anything language concerned, whether that be your mother tongue, code-switching, literary devices – quite literally anything language related and written in a way that deliberately highlights the function of language. Both fiction and non-fiction are welcomed.What are TBJ zines made up of?
Our zines include the accepted submissions, a note from us, and are fully designed and hand-made by The Beag Journal. Each zine will be related to one prompt, so a new zine edition is released quarterly each year.Who can submit to TBJ?Anyone can submit to The Beag Journal. We would like to encourage Black, Brown, Indigenous, Asian, Queer, disabled, transgender, non-English speakers, women, and all other marginalised writers.As this is a space born from the queer, trans, and disabled writers of Western Sydney, we want to especially engage with people who face barriers in writing and publishing. You do not need to be a particular age or have a particular background/education in order to submit, do email us if you have any concerns or are looking for editing advice!Is there anything we can’t write about?Heavy topics and triggering content all require trigger and/or content warnings. For how or when to apply a warning, email The Beag Journal and use this resource as your guide. All pieces published by The Beag Journal will feature a warning where necessary, and writers should also aim to include this in any submissions.Where can I get TBJ zines?At the moment The Beag Journal will be selling all our zines exclusively at zines fairs in-person. Otherwise, all of our zines will be kept archived on our website for free viewing.Can TBJ help with editing or reviewing my work before I submit it?Yes, absolutely! Email it to us and we will respond within 1-2 weeks to answer whatever questions you may have. This includes editing, reviewing, workshopping, and any other inquiries.