Twelve print issues were built by one stubborn human, lots of wonderful creatives, and a pure love of creating. Then the algorithms shut the door. We’re back. No ads. No likes. Just paper and the work that keeps you awake at night. Step onto the easel.
Dear Reader,
Cavalletto began in 2016 because one photographer remembered how it felt to finally see their work on a gallery wall, and decided no one else should have to wait that long.
We’re Italian for “easel.” Our only job is to hold you up so the right people finally stop and look.
This is for the self-taught, the late-bloomers, the ones who scribble ideas at 3 a.m. and still aren’t sure what they want to be when they grow up. For the travelers, the writers, the bedroom musicians, the photographers who shoot for no one but themselves, the rebels with and without causes, the perpetually late for work but early for life.
We like it a little gritty, rough around the edges, real. We don’t care if you’re undiscovered; we only care that you’re restless.
Here you don’t chase algorithms. No ads screaming in your face, no like-counts, no trending sounds. Just paper (or a PDF that feels like paper) you can hold, fold, spill coffee on, leave on a train for a stranger. A quiet corner where the only thing that matters is the work and the feeling it gives you.
Twelve print issues were built by hand, one person, pure stubborn love. Then the algorithms slammed the door. We’re back now—wiser, quieter, and the easel is wide open again.
If something you made keeps you awake at night, we want to see it. If you’ve lost your reason to create, let us be the reason you find it again.
Send your work. Tell us a story. Say hello. We still put our pants on one leg at a time (when we bother with pants at all).
Live the interesting life, Burtonyin Burton Editor & sole keeper of the easel Cavalletto Magazine
Cavalletto is looking for photography, illustration, essays, poetry, comics, short fiction, weird little experiments—anything made by someone who can’t not make it.
We especially love:
There are no submission fees and very few ads in the magazine—ever. Selected work appears in the next digital and print issue, plus permanent home in the Vault.
• Previously unpublished work only (no blog reposts, no Instagram captions turned into poems).
• Real humans only. We don’t accept work whose primary creative act was performed by AI. Tools for editing, polishing, or formatting are fine; tools that originated the vision are not. When in doubt, tell us your process—we’d rather hear the messy human truth than a perfect lie.
• File specs: – Writing: .docx or .pdf, 12 pt Garamond or similar, double-spaced if prose. – Photography/Art: 2000 px on the long edge minimum, JPEG or PNG, no watermarks. • Max 5 images or 2,500 words per submission (pick your best, not your backlog).
• Simultaneous submissions are fine—just tell us immediately if it’s accepted elsewhere.
• No cover letters that sound like LinkedIn. Tell us in 1–3 sentences why this piece keeps YOU awake at night.
• We read year-round. Response time: 4–12 weeks (one stubborn human, not a corporation).
• Payment: Digital contributor copy + eternal glory + undying gratitude.
By hitting send you promise the work is yours and yours alone.
