About ALR

Since 1990, the American Literary Review has been published through the Department of English at the University of North Texas. We feature poems, stories, essays, reviews, and interviews that reflect the diverse tradition of writers living in the United States and abroad. Our aim is to expand the notion of publishing literature that is American. We welcome work that speaks to American place, culture, history, and future, among other subjects.  

We are particularly interested in writing that speaks to underrepresented and historically disadvantaged communities in the United States, including Black and Indigenous people of color, disabled communities, 2SLGBTQIA+ communities, Latine communities, and intersections thereof. Including such a diversity of perspectives in our journal is essential to our mission of expanding the breadth of American literature.

This mission also entails welcoming authors of varying experience. From the journal’s inception, we have made a point of publishing poetry, fiction, and nonfiction by writers at all stages of their careers. We revel in the opportunity to be a promising writer’s first publication, just as we relish the chance to publish writers with multiple books.

Some contributors whose work we feel embodies these ideals include Marcia Aldrich, Bethany Ball, Jericho Brown, Denise Duhamel, Rebecca Faust, Robin Gow, K. Iver, Laura Kasischke, Jhumpa Lahiri, Wayne Miller, Michael Nye, Jericho Parms, Carl Phillips, Roger Reeves, sam sax, Ira Sukrungruang, and Pimone Triplett.

In 2013 we moved online. While our format has changed, our mission to publish high quality writing and visual art remains the same. In the Spring of 2022, ALR became fully graduate-student-run for the first time. We are proud to represent the UNT Creative Writing program by seeking and sharing the best in a stunning diversity of new American literature.

We seek work that challenges the reader’s imagination through fresh language and precise imagery. We want writing that reveals the nuances and complexities of human experience, that surprises and moves us.

Land Acknowledgment

ALR joins with the UNT Pride Alliance and the UNT Native American Student Association in acknowledging that the University of North Texas is built on the occupied/unceded/seized territory of the Wichita and Caddo Affiliated Tribes. These tribes have stewarded this land throughout the generations and we would like to pay our respects to elders, both past and present. 

Staff

Editor-in-Chief:
Brian Czyzyk

Managing Editors:
Anthony Gabriel
Cheyenne LaRoque

Fiction Editor:
Amber Walters-Molina

Associate Fiction Editor:
Sera Harris

Poetry Editor:
Dan DeVaughn

Associate Poetry Editor:
Meg McManama

Essay Editor:
Makenzie Stuart

Associate Essay Editor:
Christine Van Pay

Reviews and Interviews Editor:
Danny Daw

Flash Flood Editor:
Dylan Jahn

Copy Editor:
Cara Cross

Social Media Manager:
Bleah Patterson

Undergraduate Fellow:
Bethany Lohrelein

Readers:
Nadiya Berhe, Rachel Blum, Kaycee Byers, Thomas Dominguez, Mayah Echin, Ammon Gillis, Christina Guy, Luke Hampton, Russell Kliebert, Thea Mclain, Bradley Murff, Destinee Norman, Judy Selim, Samantha Sorenson, Alexis Soto, Bryce Taylor, Jennifer Taylor, Gretchen Walsh, Laura Yeck

The background image of our website’s header is Buddies Private Club by Michael Espinoza (digital photograph and cross-stich, 2023).