Submission guidelines

What to submit

Turbine | Kapohau cannot consider work that has already appeared online (including personal blogs), or work that has been previously published in New Zealand.

Prose: short essays or fiction pieces are preferable, to a maximum of 2,500 words (longer pieces may be considered at the editors’ discretion). Send only two pieces.

Poetry: Send only five poems.

Photographs or artworks with a literary theme may be considered.

Please be aware before you submit your work that, unlike the IIML's other online publication Ōrongohau | Best New Zealand Poems, Turbine | Kapohau is edited and produced by tertiary students as a showcase for postgraduate and other writing, and therefore receives no Creative New Zealand funding to cover author fees. We are therefore unable to offer payment for accepted submissions.

The editors are unable to engage in correspondence regarding individual submissions.

When to submit

The reading period for the 2025 issue of Turbine | Kapohau will begin 1 July, 2025. Please do not send submissions before this date.

Submissions for the next issue must be received by 1 November, 2025.

We will send email notification of acceptance or rejection by early December 2025.

How to submit

Email submissions are preferred:

Send email submissions to turbine@vuw.ac.nz either in the body of your email or as attachments.

  • Include the phrase 'Turbine | Kapohau submission' in the subject line. Email submissions not following this guideline will be disregarded.
  • Include contact details, including email address and daytime telephone number, in the body of the email.
  • Include name and contact details on each page of your submission.
  • Include a brief contributor's note (not more than two or three sentences) for inclusion if your work is selected.

If you do not have an email address:

Send postal submissions to

Turbine | Kapohau submissions
IIML, Victoria University of Wellington
P.O. Box 600
Wellington, New Zealand

  • Material should be typed and double-spaced.
  • Include name and contact details on each page of your submission, including the contributor's note.