Privacy Policy

Last updated: August 7, 2026

1. Overview

The Icarus Writing Collective (“The Collective,” “we,” “our,” or “us”) respects the privacy of our readers, contributors, artists, submitters, supporters, and website visitors.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, retain, disclose, and protect personal information when you:

• visit icaruswritingcollective.com and its related pages;

• contact us;

• submit writing, artwork, or other materials for consideration;

• become a contributor;

• subscribe to communications;

• donate to or otherwise support the Collective; or

• interact with services, forms, publications, or accounts operated on our behalf.

The Collective accepts submissions from people throughout the world. Depending on where you live, your personal information may be protected by the European Union General Data Protection Regulation, the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation, United States state privacy laws, or other applicable privacy legislation.

For the purposes of applicable data-protection law, The Icarus Writing Collective is the controller of personal information collected for its own editorial and administrative purposes.

This Policy does not govern information collected independently by third-party websites or services, even where we link to or embed those services.

2. Personal Information We Collect

The information we collect depends on how you interact with us.

A. Information You Provide Directly

We may collect information including:

• your name, pen name, or preferred form of attribution;

• your email address and other contact details;

• your pronouns;

• your biography, website, portfolio, and social-media usernames;

• the contents of messages sent through our contact form or by email;

• writing, artwork, photographs, manuscripts, model releases, permissions, and other materials you submit;

• titles, genres, word counts, content warnings, and descriptions of submitted work;

• information explaining how a submission relates to an issue’s theme;

• publication history, professional background, and award eligibility;

• information needed to administer contributor agreements, publication rights, payments, or award nominations;

• your PayPal or Venmo username or other payment-routing information;

• records relating to withdrawal, simultaneous submission, acceptance elsewhere, editorial decisions, or compliance with our submission guidelines; and

• any other information you voluntarily provide.

Please remove unnecessary identifying information from manuscripts and other files where our submission guidelines request anonymous or blind review.

B. Sensitive or Special-Category Information

A submission, biography, content warning, pronoun, photograph, artwork, correspondence, or other material may disclose information that applicable law treats as sensitive or special-category personal information.

This could include information concerning:

• racial or ethnic origin;

• religious or philosophical beliefs;

• political opinions;

• trade-union membership;

• physical or mental health;

• disability;

• genetic or biometric information;

• sex life;

• sexual orientation;

• gender identity; or

• experiences of violence, abuse, discrimination, or trauma.

You are not required to provide sensitive information unless it is reasonably necessary for the submission, editorial, accessibility, safety, contractual, or publication purpose involved.

Where applicable law requires consent to process sensitive or special-category information, we will rely on your explicit consent or another lawful condition permitted by that law.

You may withdraw consent by contacting us. Withdrawal will not affect processing already lawfully completed. It may also not require us to remove information or creative work that remains subject to a valid publication agreement, legal obligation, freedom-of-expression protection, or archival right.

C. Information Collected Automatically

When you visit our website, we and our website service providers may automatically receive information such as:

• your Internet Protocol address;

• browser type and version;

• device type and operating system;

• network and general geographic information;

• referring and exit pages;

• pages viewed;

• links clicked;

• searches, scrolling, and other interactions;

• dates, times, and duration of visits;

• cookie identifiers and similar technical data; and

• diagnostic, performance, security, and error information.

We primarily use this information to operate the website, understand general readership and traffic, maintain security, and improve the website and its content.

D. Information From Other Sources

We may receive limited personal information from:

• Squarespace and other website providers;

• Google Forms, Google Drive, Google Sheets, and Gmail;

• PayPal, Venmo, or another payment provider;

• newsletter and communication providers;

• social media platforms;

• publicly available author, artist, or professional profiles;

• award organisations;

• a person authorised to communicate or submit on your behalf; and

• another contributor, photographer, model, rights holder, or representative involved in submitted work.

Where someone submits information about another person, the person making the submission is responsible for having the authority or permission necessary to provide that information.

3. Submission and Editorial Information

A. Submission Processing

We use submission information to:

• receive and organise submissions;

• conduct blind or partially blind editorial review;

• assign work to appropriate readers or editors;

• assess eligibility and compliance with our guidelines;

• communicate editorial decisions;

• investigate suspected plagiarism, rights violations, undisclosed generative-AI use, or other guideline violations;

• administer withdrawals and simultaneous submissions;

• prepare accepted work for editing, design, publication, promotion, archiving, and award consideration; and

• maintain an accurate record of editorial decisions.

Our editors and authorised readers may access submitted work and the information reasonably necessary to assess it.

We endeavour to separate identifying information from manuscripts where practical during blind review.

Editorial decisions are made by members of our editorial team. We do not make editorial decisions solely through automated processing that produces legal or similarly significant effects.

B. Guideline Violations

Where we reasonably determine that a submission seriously violates our guidelines, we may retain a limited record of:

• the submitter’s name;

• contact information;

• the relevant submission;

• the editorial decision;

• the nature of the violation; and

• any resulting submission restriction.

Serious violations may include plagiarism, fraudulent information, infringement of another person’s rights, harassment, or prohibited generative-AI use.

We use this information to document the decision, resolve disputes, protect contributors and rights holders, and enforce future-submission restrictions. Access is limited to people who reasonably need the information for those purposes.

C. Accepted Contributors

When work is accepted, we may collect additional information needed to:

• confirm identity and authorship;

• obtain a publication agreement or permission;

• edit, proofread, design, and publish the work;

• issue an honorarium;

• communicate about publication;

• promote the issue;

• maintain our publication archive; and

• nominate eligible work for awards.

Unless otherwise agreed, information intended for attribution may be made public. This may include your:

• name or pen name;

• pronouns;

• biography;

• photograph;

• website;

• social-media username;

• work title; and

• accepted writing or artwork.

Please review contributor proofs and publication information carefully before approving them.

4. How We Use Personal Information

We may use personal information to:

• operate, maintain, secure, and improve our website;

• respond to questions, comments, concerns, and other correspondence;

• administer submissions and editorial review;

• communicate submission decisions and editorial feedback;

• prepare, publish, archive, and promote accepted work;

• attribute work accurately and tag contributors where requested;

• administer contributor agreements and publication rights;

• process contributor honorariums and maintain transaction records;

• administer donations and other support;

• consider and submit work for literary or artistic awards;

• distribute newsletters or updates requested by the recipient;

• understand website traffic and audience engagement;

• detect spam, fraud, security incidents, plagiarism, rights violations, and guideline violations;

• establish, exercise, or defend legal rights;

• comply with legal, accounting, tax, regulatory, or contractual requirements; and

• carry out another purpose explained when the information is collected.

We do not use submitted writing or artwork to train generative artificial-intelligence models.

We will not materially change the purpose for which personal information was collected without providing appropriate notice and, where required, obtaining consent.

5. Legal Bases for Processing

Where applicable data-protection law requires us to identify a lawful basis, we generally rely on the following grounds.

A. Contract and Pre-Contractual Steps

We process information where necessary to:

• consider a submission at your request;

• administer an accepted submission;

• enter into or perform a contributor agreement;

• obtain or administer publication rights;

• publish accepted work;

• process contributor payments; or

• take another step requested by you before entering into an agreement.

B. Legitimate Interests

We may process information where reasonably necessary for legitimate interests including:

• operating an independent literary magazine;

• conducting fair and efficient editorial review;

• communicating with readers and contributors;

• maintaining our publication archive;

• understanding website use;

• maintaining security;

• preventing fraud and rights violations;

• enforcing submission guidelines;

• maintaining records of editorial decisions; and

• protecting our legal rights and those of contributors.

Before relying on legitimate interests, we consider the nature of the information, the purpose of the processing, your reasonable expectations, and the possible effect on your rights and freedoms.

C. Consent

We may rely on consent for:

• optional newsletters;

• non-essential cookies;

• publication of optional personal details;

• optional promotional tagging;

• processing of sensitive or special-category information where consent is required; or

• another purpose for which we specifically request consent.

You may withdraw consent at any time. Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before consent was withdrawn.

D. Legal Obligations

We may process information where necessary to comply with:

• tax and accounting obligations;

• court orders;

• regulatory requirements;

• lawful governmental requests; or

• another obligation imposed by law.

E. Legal Claims and Publicly Disclosed Information

Where permitted by law, we may process information that is necessary to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.

We may also process information that you have deliberately made public, where applicable law permits that processing.

F. Freedom of Expression and Publication

Some privacy rights may be balanced against freedom of expression, freedom of information, artistic expression, literary publication, journalism, public-interest archiving, or another legally protected purpose.

Where an exemption or limitation applies, we will consider it on a case-by-case basis rather than treating it as an automatic refusal of privacy rights.

6. How We Disclose Personal Information

We may disclose personal information as described below.

A. Editors and Readers

Submitted materials and related information may be shared with our:

• editors;

• authorised readers;

• designers;

• proofreaders;

• issue coordinators; and

• other team members who need the information to carry out editorial or publication work.

B. Service Providers

We may use service providers for functions such as:

• website hosting and analytics;

• contact forms;

• email;

• file storage;

• forms and spreadsheets;

• editorial administration;

• design and publication;

• newsletter distribution;

• payment processing;

• security;

• technical support; and

• professional advice.

These providers may include Squarespace, Google, Canva, PayPal, Venmo, Substack, Lulu or comparable services.

They may process personal information on our behalf. In some circumstances, they may independently determine how they process information under their own privacy policies.

Where required by law, we use contracts or other safeguards designed to require service providers acting on our behalf to process personal information only for authorised purposes and to protect it appropriately.

C. Public Publication

For accepted contributors, we may publicly disclose:

• your name or pen name;

• pronouns;

• biography;

• photograph;

• website;

• social-media information;

• the title of your work;

• your accepted writing or artwork; and

• other attribution information approved for publication.

Published material may be indexed by search engines, archived, quoted, linked to, downloaded, captured, or redistributed by third parties outside our control.

D. Promotion and Social Media

We may share accepted work, excerpts, images, contributor names, and approved attribution information through our:

• website;

• newsletters;

• social-media accounts;

• promotional graphics; and

• other promotional materials.

We will do so in accordance with the applicable contributor agreement and any relevant permissions.

E. Awards and Professional Recognition

Where we nominate work for an award, we may provide the award organisation with:

• the contributor’s name;

• contact information;

• biography;

• accepted work;

• publication information; and

• other details required to administer the nomination.

Where practical, we will notify the contributor or rely on the relevant contributor agreement before providing non-public information.

F. Payments and Donations

Contributor payments and donations may be processed through PayPal, Venmo, or another payment service.

We generally do not receive or store complete bank-account or payment-card credentials. The payment provider independently processes information under its own privacy policy.

G. Legal and Safety Disclosures

We may disclose information where we reasonably believe disclosure is necessary to:

• comply with law, regulation, court order, subpoena, or lawful governmental request;

• investigate fraud, infringement, abuse, or a security incident;

• protect the rights, property, safety, or security of Icarus, our contributors, our visitors, or another person;

• enforce an agreement or submission guideline; or

• establish, exercise, or defend a legal claim.

H. Organisational Changes

If The Collective is reorganised, transferred to a new operator, merged with another publication, or winds down, relevant records may be transferred as part of that transaction or transition.

Any recipient will be required to handle the information consistently with applicable law and the commitments made in this Policy.

7. Third-Party Websites and Services

Our website links to, or may display content from, services operated by other organisations.

These may include:

• Lulu;

• Redbubble;

• Issuu;

• Spotify;

• Substack;

• PayPal;

• Venmo;

• Google;

• Instagram;

• TikTok;

• Bluesky;

• LinkedIn;

• StoryGraph;

• Chill Subs;

• Duotrope; 

• CLMP; and

• other publishing, retail, payment, social-media, or multimedia services.

Purchases from Lulu or Redbubble, donations through Venmo/PayPal, newsletter subscriptions through Substack, and interactions with external platforms occur through the relevant third party.

We generally do not control the information those services collect or how they use it.

This Privacy Policy does not apply to independent third-party services. Please review the privacy policy and settings of the relevant service before providing information.

Embedded content may allow the third party to receive technical information about your browser, device, IP address, and interaction with that content, even when you do not have an account with the service.

8. Cookies and Similar Technologies

Cookies are small files or identifiers stored on or accessed through your device.

We and our service providers may use the following types of cookies and similar technologies.

A. Essential Cookies

These cookies are necessary for website functions such as:

• security;

• network management;

• page delivery;

• accessibility; and

• remembering privacy preferences.

Where permitted by law, essential cookies may be used without consent because the website cannot operate properly without them.

B. Analytics and Performance Cookies

These cookies help us understand matters such as:

• page visits;

• traffic sources;

• device categories;

• navigation;

• website performance;

• searches; and

• user interactions.

C. Third-Party and Embedded-Content Cookies

Pages containing embedded media or third-party features may permit the relevant provider to set or access cookies or similar technologies.

D. Cookie Consent

Where required by law, non-essential cookies will not be used until you provide consent through the available cookie controls.

You may withdraw or alter consent through our cookie settings where available.

You can also restrict cookies through your browser. Blocking essential cookies may prevent parts of the website from functioning correctly.

We do not use personal information for cross-context behavioural advertising, and we do not sell personal information.

Because there is no universally accepted standard for browser “Do Not Track” signals, our website may not respond to those signals.

Where legally required and technically supported, we will honour applicable browser-based opt-out preference signals.

9. Retention

We retain information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this Policy.

This includes editorial, contractual, archival, accounting, security, dispute-resolution, and legal purposes.

Our normal retention approach is:

Until the matter is resolved and any applicable limitation period has expired

We may retain information for longer where:

• retention is required by law;

• the information relates to an active dispute;

• the information is needed to establish or defend legal rights;

• a publication agreement requires continued retention;

• the information forms part of the permanent publication record; or

• deletion would compromise the integrity or attribution of our publication archive.

Deletion from our active records may not immediately remove information from disaster-recovery backups.

Published information may also remain in:

• search-engine caches;

• web archives;

• downloaded copies;

• libraries;

• print editions;

• screenshots; or

• third-party publications outside our control.

10. Security

We use reasonable administrative, organisational, and technical measures designed to protect personal information.

These measures may include:

• limiting access to editors, readers, and service providers with a legitimate need;

• using password-protected accounts;

• using established hosting, storage, and payment providers;

• separating identifying information from manuscripts where practical;

• restricting access to payment and contributor records;

• reviewing access when editorial roles change; and

• deleting or anonymising information when it is no longer required.

No online system, email service, file-transfer method, or storage platform is completely secure.

We cannot guarantee that information will never be accessed, altered, lost, or disclosed without authorisation.

Please do not send highly sensitive information by ordinary email unless it is necessary and has been previously arranged.

11. International Processing and Transfers

The Collective accepts submissions internationally and may receive personal information from individuals in any country.

The Collective operates primarily from the United States. Our editors, readers, service providers, and technical systems may process information in the United States or other countries.

These countries may have privacy and data-protection laws that differ from those in your country of residence.

Where the EU GDPR, UK GDPR, or another applicable law restricts international transfers, we will use an approved transfer mechanism where required. Depending on the transfer, this may include:

• an adequacy decision or adequacy regulation;

• the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses;

• the United Kingdom International Data Transfer Agreement;

• the United Kingdom Addendum to the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses;

• another approved contractual safeguard;

• an approved certification or code of conduct;

• a legally permitted exception for a specific transfer; or

• another mechanism recognised by applicable law.

Where required, we will assess whether the laws and practices of the destination country could affect the protection provided by the relevant transfer mechanism. We may implement supplementary contractual, organisational, or technical safeguards where appropriate.

Information deliberately published on our website is available internationally and may be accessed from any country.

12. GDPR Compliance for EEA and UK Individuals

This section applies where our processing is governed by the EU GDPR or UK GDPR.

References in this section to “GDPR” include the EU GDPR and UK GDPR, as applicable.

A. Scope

GDPR rights generally apply based on your location and the circumstances in which your personal information is processed, rather than your nationality or citizenship.

Where GDPR applies, The Collective acts as the controller of personal information collected for its own:

• submission;

• editorial;

• publication;

• contributor-management;

• payment;

• communication;

• security; and

• administrative purposes.

A service provider may act as our processor where it handles personal information solely on our instructions. A third-party platform may instead act as an independent controller where it determines its own processing purposes and methods.

B. GDPR Principles

Where GDPR applies, we process personal information in accordance with the following principles:

1. Lawfulness, fairness, and transparency: We process information on an identified lawful basis and explain relevant processing clearly.

2. Purpose limitation: We collect information for specified, explicit, and legitimate purposes.

3. Data minimisation: We seek to collect only information that is adequate, relevant, and reasonably necessary.

4. Accuracy: We take reasonable steps to keep information accurate and allow corrections.

5. Storage limitation: We retain information only for as long as reasonably necessary, subject to legal, contractual, publication, and archival requirements.

6. Integrity and confidentiality: We use reasonable measures designed to protect information from unauthorised access, loss, alteration, or disclosure.

7. Accountability: We take reasonable steps to document and demonstrate compliance with applicable data-protection obligations.

C. Data Minimisation and Blind Review

We request only the information reasonably necessary to assess and administer a submission.

Where practical, identifying information is separated from submitted work during blind editorial review.

Submitters should not include names, contact information, or other identifying details in manuscripts where the applicable submission guidelines require anonymous review.

D. Special-Category Information

Where a submission or contributor record contains special-category personal information, we will process it only where both:

1. a lawful basis under Article 6 of the applicable GDPR is available; and

2. an additional condition for processing special-category information is available under Article 9 or applicable national law.

Depending on the circumstances, the relevant condition may include:

• explicit consent;

• information deliberately made public by the person concerned;

• processing necessary to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims;

• processing protected by laws concerning journalism, literature, art, freedom of expression, or archiving; or

• another condition permitted by applicable law.

We do not require contributors to disclose special-category information unless it is reasonably necessary for a specific purpose.

E. Your GDPR Rights

Subject to legal conditions and exemptions, you may have the right to:

• receive clear information about how your personal information is processed;

• obtain confirmation that we process your personal information;

• access personal information we hold about you;

• correct inaccurate or incomplete information;

• request deletion of personal information;

• request restriction of processing;

• object to processing based on legitimate interests;

• object to direct marketing at any time;

• receive eligible information in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format;

• request transmission of eligible information to another controller;

• withdraw consent at any time;

• request information about applicable international-transfer safeguards;

• avoid decisions based solely on automated processing that produce legal or similarly significant effects; and

• complain to an appropriate supervisory authority.

These rights are not absolute.

For example, we may be permitted or required to retain information where it is necessary to:

• comply with a legal obligation;

• perform a publication agreement;

• preserve authorship and attribution records;

• exercise freedom of expression or information;

• protect literary, artistic, journalistic, or archival activity;

• establish, exercise, or defend legal claims;

• prevent fraud or rights violations; or

• maintain the integrity of a publication archive.

A request to delete personal information does not automatically terminate a contributor agreement or require the removal of lawfully published work.

F. Exercising GDPR Rights

To exercise a GDPR right, email:
icarusprivacy@gmail.com

Use the subject line:
GDPR Privacy Request

Please include:

• your name;

• the email address associated with your interaction;

• the nature of your request;

• the relevant submission, issue, or communication, where applicable; and

• enough information for us to identify the relevant records.

We may ask for information reasonably necessary to verify your identity and prevent unauthorized disclosure.

We will ordinarily respond without undue delay and within one month after receiving a valid request. Where permitted by law, we may extend that period for up to two additional months if the request is complex or numerous. We will notify you if an extension is required.

We ordinarily do not charge a fee for a privacy request. Where permitted by law, we may charge a reasonable fee or refuse to act if a request is manifestly unfounded, excessive, or repetitive.

G. Objection to Legitimate-Interest Processing

Where we process information based on legitimate interests, you may object based on circumstances particular to you.

We will stop the relevant processing unless:

• we demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds that override your interests, rights, and freedoms;

• the processing is necessary to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims; or

• another legal exception applies.

You may object to direct marketing at any time. We will stop using your personal information for that purpose.

H. Withdrawal of Consent

Where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time by contacting us.

Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing conducted before consent was withdrawn.

Withdrawal may affect our ability to provide an optional service or publish optional personal information. It does not necessarily require us to withdraw or erase material already lawfully published under an agreement or another lawful basis.

I. Automated Decision-Making

We do not make acceptance, rejection, publication, payment, or contributor-management decisions solely through automated processing that produces legal or similarly significant effects.

We may use automated tools for administrative functions such as:

• spam filtering;

• file organisation;

• form processing;

• duplicate detection;

• analytics; or

• security monitoring.

Human editors remain responsible for substantive editorial decisions.

J. International Transfers Under GDPR

Personal information received from the EEA or United Kingdom may be transferred to or processed in the United States or another country.

Where GDPR transfer restrictions apply, we will rely on an appropriate transfer mechanism as described in Section 11.

You may contact us to request additional information about the safeguards relevant to your personal information.

K. Complaints to a Supervisory Authority

We encourage you to contact us first so that we can investigate and attempt to resolve your concern.

You may also lodge a complaint with a data-protection supervisory authority.

If you are in the European Economic Area, you may generally complain to the supervisory authority in:

• the country where you live;

• the country where you work; or

• the country where you believe the infringement occurred.

If you are in the United Kingdom, you may complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

13. Privacy Rights in Other Jurisdictions

Depending on where you live, local law may provide rights in addition to those described in Section 12.

These may include rights to:

• access personal information;

• correct inaccurate information;

• delete personal information;

• obtain a portable copy of information;

• restrict or object to processing;

• withdraw consent;

• opt out of sale, targeted advertising, or certain forms of profiling;

• appeal the refusal of a privacy request; and

• receive equal service without unlawful discrimination for exercising a privacy right.

To exercise an applicable right, email:
icarusprivacy@gmail.com

Use the subject line:
Privacy Request

Please describe your request and identify the submission, publication, transaction, or interaction concerned.

We may need to verify your identity before acting. Where permitted, an authorized agent may submit a request on your behalf. We may require evidence that the agent is authorized to act for you.

14. United States State Privacy Disclosures

During the preceding twelve months, we may have collected the categories of information described in Section 2, including:

• identifiers;

• internet or network activity;

• professional and biographical information;

• payment-related records;

• submitted creative content;

• correspondence;

• inferences arising from editorial review; and

• information that may be considered sensitive.

We collect and use these categories for the purposes described in Sections 3 and 4.

We may disclose them to the categories of recipients described in Section 6.

We do not:

• sell personal information for money;

• share personal information for cross-context behavioural advertising;

• process personal information for targeted advertising;

• use sensitive personal information to infer characteristics for advertising purposes; or

• offer financial incentives in exchange for personal information.

Where applicable state law defines “sale” or “sharing” more broadly, we will process valid opt-out requests as required by that law.

15. Email and Newsletter Choices

We may send administrative communications concerning:

• submissions;

• editorial decisions;

• contributor agreements;

• payments;

• publications;

• privacy requests;

• legal matters; or

• security.

These messages are necessary to manage the relevant interaction and may not contain an unsubscribe option.

Promotional newsletters will be sent only where permitted by law.

You may unsubscribe through the link included in the message or by contacting us.

Unsubscribing from promotional messages will not prevent us from sending necessary editorial, contractual, payment, legal, or security communications.

16. Changes to This Policy

We may amend this Privacy Policy as our practices, services, or legal obligations change.

The revised Policy will be posted on our website with an updated effective date.

Where a change materially affects how we use information already collected, we will provide additional notice or obtain consent where required.

We encourage visitors and contributors to review this Policy periodically.

17. Contact Us

Questions, concerns, and privacy requests may be sent to:

The Icarus Writing Collective
Email: icarusprivacy@gmail.com

For general privacy requests, use the subject line:
Privacy Request

For requests specifically concerning EU or UK GDPR rights, use the subject line:
GDPR Privacy Request