Six Questions for The Editors, Mehfil

Mehfil publishes fiction, poetry, essays, and dialog (opinions). “This is not merely a repository of poems, short stories, art pieces, essays, and opinions but an open space for every contributor to have conversations about anything they like”. Read the complete guidelines here.

SQF: Why did you start this magazine?

Mehfil: It actually started as a private chat group where we added people we knew were into literature and arts. We were sharing the love we had in that group regarding poems, stories, sketches etc. We thought of expanding the scope of sharing this love by inviting artists we don’t know to share their work and have a conversation with us. Now, for that we needed a platform where their work could be shared and talked about. So, we came up with Mehfil. It’s an Urdu word which means a gathering of poetry, music, dance etc. and it literally represents our intentions.

SQF: What are the top three things you look for in a submission and why?

Mehfil: Top two things we are looking for are

1. New

2. Interesting

3. We don’t seem to have a third

SQF: What most often turns you off to a submission?

Mehfil: What turns us off are efforts taken for the sole purpose of popularity. A lack of effort, being thoughtless or casual about the art form also are major turn-offs for us.

SQF: Do you have certain expectations for the opening paragraph(s)/stanza(s) of a submission?

Mehfil: We don’t have any specific expectations for the opening paragraph. We go through the entire piece anyway and judge it based on that.

SQF: Many editors list erotica, or sex for sex sake, as hard sells. What are hard sells for your publication?

Mehfil: None. As long as it is new and interesting.

SQF: What one question on this topic do you wish I'd asked that I didn't? And how would you answer it?

Mehfil: In the pool of thousands of magazines, how is yours different?

In our case it would be the Dialogue section where we urge people to write about anything under or over the sun. We urge them to go berserk with their opinions and have a conversation.

Thank you. We all appreciate your taking time from your busy schedule to participate in this project.