Sassafras invites submissions for its inaugural issue, The Tower. Through this issue, we aim to establish our identity as an experimental take on academic publication with a focus on challenging hierarchies within and beyond academia. Central to this is the notion of the 'Ivory Tower', which captures the tendency of academic institutions to enclose knowledge within exclusive spaces, reinforced by paywalls and specialised jargon. We seek new ways of addressing such hierarchies both inside and outside of academia, going beyond traditional academic publishing, with the firm belief that knowledge is for everyone. For this reason we would like to encourage contributions of any medium, so that illustration, essays, photography, video, articles, audio, etc. can be represented in dialogue with one another as critical forms of shared knowledge production.

As a complex historical symbol, The Tower evokes images of hubris, grandeur, hierarchy, and exclusion. Where shadows of Towers continue to draw lines across social and spatial boundaries, speaking to how cities, institutions, and governments form and inform themselves and others. Submissions are open to all kinds of exploration and experimentation surrounding the central theme, encouraging contributors to explore issues relating to power dynamics, spatial relationalities (up vs down), social hierarchy, etc. Some sub-themes that have inspired us are:

• The Panopticon — towers of surveillance in our daily lives.
• The Tower of Babel — the human desire towards reaching the 'divine'.
• The Berlin TV tower and 'height' as a historical expression of progress.
• Anti-intellectualism — how do we address the diminishing trust in academia?
• How the physical framework of the tower as an enclosed/defensive structure helps us frame power in the everyday.
• How do we attempt to subvert and challenge these hierarchies of power?
• …And other such examinations.

This list is indicative of the broad ideas that inspire us and is not exclusive. Any interpretations of the symbol of 'The Tower' are welcome.

How to Submit?

Pitch — Deadline April 12th

As part of the first phase of the submission process, we invite anyone who is interested to send us a 'pitch'. This is a brief overview of what you intend to submit for consideration, and would give us some insight into what we can expect to receive. The deadline for the pitch is April 12th, however we will review pitches and provide feedback on a rolling basis.

Submission Draft — Deadline May 7th

The main draft of the submission should be ready to send in by May 7th. So whether you intend to submit an existing work or something from scratch, please make sure that it is feasible within the time frame. We will provide a link on the webpage with instructions on how you can send in your work later in the month of April.

After receiving all submissions we will make a final selection by May 15th. Unfortunately there is no way for us to guarantee definitively before this stage whether your work will be selected. We will do our best however to incorporate what we can and get back to you as quickly as possible.

Submission Finalisation

Between the 15th and 31st of May we will carefully go over the selected submissions and together work in the final edits and suggestions. The final version should be complete by June 1st.

Issue Launch

We will have our official launch for our inaugural issue The Tower on June 21st 2026!

Submit a pitch