We are currently closed to submissions of poetry and short prose. We are only open to submissions of creative work during our June 1-15 and December 1-15 reading periods.
We are always open to submissions of pedagogy papers and interviews.
We are currently closed to submissions of reviews. We occasionally close for reviews due to the high volume of submissions.
If you’re new to submitting creative work, here are a brief guide and a short interview that might be helpful.
Submitted work should be previously unpublished. Please send only one submission of creative work (poetry or short prose) per reading period.
Simultaneous submissions are expected and welcome. Please email whaleroadreview@gmail.com with WITHDRAW as the subject line to let us know if your work is accepted elsewhere.
Cover Letter: For all submissions, please include the number and titles of submitted pieces along with a brief third-person bio (50-word max) in the body of the email.
Poetry: We adore poems of all sorts. We tend to prefer shorter poems, but there is no strict line limit. Please send 3-5 poems in one attachment (.doc, .docx, or .rtf) to whaleroadreview@gmail.com with POETRY as the subject line.
Short Prose: We love this messy place where genres collide. We prefer flash fiction, micro essays, and prose poems that are under 500 words. Please send up to 3 pieces in one attachment (.doc, .docx, or .rtf) to whaleroadreview@gmail.com with PROSE as the subject line.
Pedagogy Papers: We publish short essays about creative writing pedagogy and collect them in our Teachers’ Lounge. We hope this will be a useful resource for people teaching at all age and experience levels and in all sorts of settings, from kindergarten to grad school, from prisons to retirement homes. Briefly explain and illustrate an exercise, prompt, assignment, workshop technique, group activity, or other clever thing that you do when you teach creative writing. Please send pedagogy papers of 300-500 words as an attachment (.doc, .docx, or .rtf) to whaleroadreview@gmail.com with PEDAGOGY as the subject line.
Reviews: We want to publish reviews of poetry and short prose in whatever forms you find them: full-length books, chapbooks, anthologies, albums, other literary journals, reading series, performances, unconventional literary events, etc. Reviews should be detailed and engaging. We do not take review copies or assign reviews; we prefer to publish reviews that were written because someone fell in love with the work and needed to tell others about it. Please send reviews of 300-500 words as an attachment (.doc, .docx, or .rtf) to whaleroadreview@gmail.com with REVIEW as the subject line.
Interviews: We’re interested in interviews with authors of poetry and short prose. We’re open to a typical Q&A format or to a mutual interview/conversation between writers. We’re also open to being surprised. Feel free to query first if you’d like. Interviews should be edited and engaging. Please send interviews as an attachment (.doc, .docx, or .rtf) to whaleroadreview@gmail.com with INTERVIEW as the subject line.
Whale Road Review is a labor of love and can’t offer monetary payment at this time, but we include a “tip the author” feature so readers can send money directly to our writers.
Whale Road Review asks for first-time rights and acknowledgement as the first place of publication. Published pieces will be archived on the website.
