Submission Guidelines

American Literary Review welcomes submissions of previously unpublished poems, short stories, and essays. Simultaneous submissions are acceptable if noted in your cover letter. Please note that all submissions will be considered for online publication only.

  • General Submissions of poetry, fiction, and essays are NOW OPEN from Jan. 1-May 1.
  • The reading period for our 2022 Contests was June 1-October 1. We will open submissions for our 2023 Contests later this year. We accept contest entries in poetry, fiction, and essays. (Visit Submittable for complete guidelines.)
  • Submissions can be sent to us through our online Submission Manager for a fee of $3.
  • Why the $3 fee? Our $3.00 fee is not a reading fee, but simply meant to cover the administrative and IT costs associated with our online submissions system.

We do not accept submissions via email or via postal mail. We also do n