Adrift is Night School Bar’s literary project that both documents and furthers the work that writers and creators begin in Night School Bar classes. Adrift exists in several forms: a reading series, an online journal, and shapeshifting print artifacts. Writing, as both tradition and creation, is influenced by where it comes from and what it moves through. Adrift is another ripple in the water. In our ecosystem, we affirm, as NSB does, that this critical lens is not reserved for those within the strict parameters of academia or prestige publishing. Writing is a way of being with the world. We see Adrift as an important celebration of the ways our community thinks, processes, and creates.
We invite submissions from past participants that are in dialogue with thoughts and ideas encountered through Night School Bar. We seek not perfection, but glimpses of how your consciousness moves.
Submissions
In keeping with Night School Bar’s mission to create arts and humanities opportunities for all, we’re opening submissions for Adrift. Adrift is a space for Night Schoolers to share work that’s in dialogue with thoughts and ideas encountered through Night School Bar. We’d love to see your favorite piece from one of our fiction workshops, a few hundred words reflecting on a concept from our classes, or an essay on some aspect of literature, politics, and culture you’re seeing in a new light because of NSB. Please note that contributors must have studied with NSB or participated in NSB events to be considered.
We welcome all experiences and levels of expertise.
We’re looking for up to 2,000 words of…
Fiction (excerpts welcome!)
Essays
Poetry
Reviews
Screenplays (excerpts welcome!)
Collages
Interviews on topics related to the arts and humanities
Reflections. Reflections can be a response to any Night School topic or course. Examples might be: “Why I’m Rethinking AI,” “The Problems with Romantic Love,” or “My Experience With Relationship Anarchy.”
We're seeking submissions as varied as the perspectives students bring to Night School Bar classes. If your work is a little longer or doesn't fit tidily into these categories, don't let that stop you from submitting.
Work should be submitted in .docx format, unless the submission is a collage or another form that would be better represented through a PDF scan. Submissions should be no longer than 2,000 words and, unless the form of your submission dictates otherwise, use 12-point font and be double-spaced. Please include a header on your submission with your name, contact information, the category you’re submitting under (fiction, essay, poetry, etc.), the NSB course or topic you’re responding to, and a title.
Submissions will close on September 10th, 2026.
Please email editor.nightschoolbar@gmail.com with any questions. We look forward to hearing from you!