What The Worcester Review Publishes
We publish literary fiction and poetry by new and established writers, as well as critical commentary on aspects of Central Massachusetts literary culture and history.
We welcome and encourage contributions from under-represented writers.
Submission Period
Submissions for Volume 45 are now closed. We anticipate reopening for Volume 46 submissions in Summer/Fall 2024.
Submission Guidelines
- Poetry: 3 to 5 poems in one document, 7 pages maximum. Please begin each poem on a new page. Please note that The Worcester Review is a print journal, and some specialized formatting may not be compatible with our page size. At this time, we are not the best venue for visual poetry.
- Fiction: One story up to 3000 words or up to three flash pieces, 1200 words total. If submitting flash fiction, please begin each piece on a new page, and include word count and title for each piece.
- Critical Work: By solicitation only.
Please include a three-sentence, third-person biography with your cover letter.
Please submit only once per genre per year. Additional submissions will be declined unread.
We do not accept previously published work, except in our Feature section (by solicitation only). Please do not submit work that is scheduled to appear in a book or anthology before the review’s expected publication date.
We accept submissions via Submittable. We do not read mailed submissions, except from incarcerated persons.
Past contributors: Please wait one year after the publication of the issue that includes your work before submitting again. For example, if your work appears in the 2024 issue of TWR, please do not submit until 2025.
Fees
$3 per submission in Submittable.
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TWR offers a waived-fee option for BIPOC writers.
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TWR does not want to miss out on submissions from any writer; if our submission fee is a barrier for you, please editor.worcreview [at] gmail.com (email the editor).
Simultaneous submissions
Encouraged! Our response time ranges from two weeks to six months. Please promptly withdraw any submissions that find homes elsewhere. If you have a partial withdrawal (one poem or flash piece out of a batch, for example) please leave us a note in Submittable’s “Messages” tab.
Accepted work, rights and payment
The Worcester Review reserves First Publication Rights for all submissions chosen for publication. Accepted work will appear in the print journal and may appear on The Worcester Review’s website and in the online archives. Payment will be two copies upon publication (or a PDF copy, for international contributors) and a small honorarium (via PayPal). In recent years, the honorarium was $20 for each writer.
Accepted work, formatting
Please read our in-house style guidelines. This formatting is *not* required for submitters.
Accessibility
If any of Submittable’s features are not accessible to you, please editor.worcreview [at] gmail.com (email the editor).
To support The Worcester Review, you can become a member of The Worcester County Poetry association or make a donation directly to our endowment. Donations can be made through the WCPA office (PO Box 804, Worcester, MA 01613) or with the Greater Worcester Community Foundation (370 Main Street, Suite 650, Worcester, MA 01608-1738).
We appreciate your support.
Questions? editor.worcreview [at] gmail.com (Email the editor), Carolyn Oliver.