The mission of The Baltimore Review is to showcase Baltimore as a literary hub of diverse writing and promote the work of emerging and established writers.

The Baltimore Review publishes poetry (including prose poems), fiction (from flash length to 5,000 words), and creative nonfiction in quarterly online issues. All work published online is also published in an annual print compilation. We do not charge submission fees (except for a modest fee for contests), and we pay the writers we publish.

We are a nonprofit organization with an all-volunteer staff and frequently have interns from academic institutions. Many of the BR staff members are included on our Staff page. 

Barbara Westwood Diehl

Baltimore Review

Poems, short stories, and creative nonfiction works published online are also published in an annual print compilation

Accepts both contest and non-contest submissions. No submission fee for non-contest submissions. Currently pays $50 for accepted work. Contest fee is $8 with three $400 prizes. See site for details. Currently pays $50 for accepted work plus copy of annual print compilation.

Oh, and if you donate $5 in a regular submission category (but no submission fee is required - seriously!), we'll send you a list of 58 cool writing prompts plus some tips.

Promotes writers even after publication - awards, book publications, presentations, etc. - let us know.

If your work is accepted for publication, we ask only for the right to publish it for the first time, online and in print. All rights revert to the author after publication by The Baltimore Review. All accepted work will be archived on the website.

General call

Winshen Liu is from Illinois. Her chapbook, Paper Money, was selected by Diane Seuss for Driftwood Press’s 2024 Adrift Chapbook Contest. She is grateful to the University of Mississippi faculty for their mentorship and the de Groot Foundation for supporting her poetry. You can follow her work at winshenliu.com.

Basic Bio

Trapper Markelz (he/him) writes from Arlington, Massachusetts. He is the author of the chapbook Childproof Sky, a Cherry Dress Chapbooks 2023 selection. His work has appeared in the journals Baltimore Review, Stillwater Review, Wild Roof Journal, Greensboro Review, and Passengers Journal, among others. Learn more at trappermarkelz.com

Primary

Trapper Markelz (he/him) was born in Alaska, graduated from The Rochester Institute of Technology and Harvard Business School, and lives in Arlington, MA in the Boston area with his wife Maureen and four children Hannah, Lucy, Jack, and Alice. His work has been published in Baltimore Review, Stillwater Review, Wild Roof Journal, Greensboro Review, and Passengers Journal, among others. Childproof Sky (a 2023 Cherrydress Chapbook selection) is his first poetry book publication. You can learn more about Trapper, his life, and works at trappermarkelz.com

Book Bio

Alone at Passing Period

"I keep a collection of keys 
that unlock nothing 
looped together,
tarnished neighbors on a lanyard 
and I imagine 
that they floss their metal teeth 
with junk drawer gossip..."

Junk Drawer

Eating Together

"On my television, a yacht cuts out of marina waters."

Sail Away

自強號 (zì qiáng hào)

Our calendars begin in the wrong spot. 
They should start and end with the first snow,

First Snow

Enclosed in a castle of cassettes,
you fortify your body with song...

Arthur, 1992

We ran so fast, hair flying, arms flapping, like two hummingbirds fleeing from a hawk.

Baltimore Review

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