The Apostrophe

Mental Ideas is collaborating with the Hong Kong Writers Circle on the publication of its quarterly literary magazine The Apostrophe. Every quarter, we choose five original stories by writers all over the world of up to 10,000 words. This may take the form of novel excerpts, poetry, creative non-fiction or hybrid. The more experimental the better! The five chosen stories are matched to five pieces of original artwork that illustrate the stories in an abstract or whimsical way. Standalone pieces of art that reflect the theme, and one striking piece of cover art, are also chosen. 

Please take a moment to read the guidelines. Visual artists and photographers may submit multiple artworks via Mental Ideas (our creative director is art editor) at any time from anywhere in the world. There are no geographical restrictions and no limits on the number of art submissions! There is no fee to submit stories or art and no fee to read The Apostrophe.

The inaugural issue of The Apostrophe  was published 1 June 2023. Issue 2 on the theme of ‘Mind’ was published 1 Sept 2023. Congratulations to our artists Charles Tang, Ricky Sadiosa, Kasra Shroff, Rebecca Dandridge Walker and Jade Bryant (Cover Artist – Issue 1) on being among the first artists to be featured! You can download past issues of The Apostrophe below and submit your art or photography here! Don’t forget to subscribe!

In April 2025, for the first time, we printed all eight published editions of the quarterly magazine as a zine! Something we hope to do again in the future! The editorial team is Jan Lee (Editor-in-Chief), Sadie Kaye (Art Editor), Sam Powney and Jay Oatway (Contributing Editors).