Logo of Black Warrior Review literary magazine
Closed. Next periods:

General - Dec 1 - Mar 1, 2024, General - Apr 1 - May 1, 2024

Guidelines
scroll up arrow

Scroll up

back to browse icon

Back to Browse

Closed for submissions

Upcoming reading periods

General

Dec 1, 2023 - Mar 1, 2024

General

Apr 1, 2024 - May 1, 2024

Guidelines

"Established in 1974 by graduate students in the MFA in Creative Writing, Black Warrior Review is named for the river that borders the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. BWR publishes fiction, nonfiction, poetry, comics, and art twice a year, + an annual online issue."

"Established in 1974 by graduate students in the MFA in Creative Writing, Black Warrior Review is named for the river that borders the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. BWR publishes fiction, nonfiction, poetry, comics, and art twice a year, + an annual online issue."

Vibe

Top-tier stuff. Not Paris Review, but ok

Response Time

1-6 months / 64 days

Acceptance Rate

1% / 3.28%

  • Payment

    Yes

  • Fee

    Yes: $3

  • Simultaneous submissions

    Yes

  • Previously published

    No

  • Expedited response

    No

  • Available in print

    Yes

  • Provides contributor copies

    Yes: yes

  • Examples online

    Yes

  • Active on social media

    Yes

Accepted genres

7 genres

Fiction

Max words: 7000

Max pieces: 1

Nonfiction

Max words: 7000

Max pieces: 1

Poetry

Max pieces: 5

10 pages max

Hybrid

Although we usually solicit one featured artist per issue, we do welcome submissions of striking visual narratives (think: graphic novel or ...

Translation

We publish translations alongside their original texts. Authors ought to have secured publication rights for the works they are translating....

Art

One Featured Artist per Issue (in full color) Art submissions taken on rolling basis (in black & white)

Comics

Journal dimensions 6" x 9" Comics publish in Black & White

Fiction

Max words: 7000

Max pieces: 1

Nonfiction

Max words: 7000

Max pieces: 1

Poetry

Max pieces: 5

10 pages max

Hybrid

Although we usually solicit one featured artist per issue, we do welcome submissions of striking visual narratives (think: graphic novel or ...

Translation

We publish translations alongside their original texts. Authors ought to have secured publication rights for the works they are translating....

Art

One Featured Artist per Issue (in full color) Art submissions taken on rolling basis (in black & white)

Comics

Journal dimensions 6" x 9" Comics publish in Black & White

Statistics

We're able to provide them because you use our tracker!
You're the best!

Track submission

199

Total submissions tracked

64 days

Average response time

1% / 3.28%

Average acceptance rate

9 days

Fastest response time

128 days

Slowest response time

*Weird response times we excluded from calculations: 320 days, 805 days, 1057 days, 3410 days

How to submit

Process

Submissions are only accepted through our online submission manager

Cover letters

Please include a short cover letter and bio.

Eligibility

No specific eligibility requirements

Formatting

Fiction/Nonfiction: Please submit works no longer than 7,000 words in a single Word doc. Graphic Prose: we request that you submit in .jpg, .tiff or .pdf format.

Rights for published work

All rights reserved. Rights revert to author upon publication.

Additional info

BOYFRIEND VILLAGE : Boyfriend Village is Black Warrior Review’s online edition, released once a year. In March 2018, BWR chose to rename and reconfigure its online issue in honor of Zach Doss, who had passed away unexpectedly. Zach was a dedicated BWR Editor and a brilliant writer of queer, fabulist, surprising works; Boyfriend Village has become a special haven for such writing and much, much more. In honor of Zach’s bold vision and legacy, Boyfriend Village seeks to be a fully accessible space for unusual, boundary-pushing literary content, especially work from the margins, work that makes exciting use of digital platforms, and work that other well-established journals might overlook. We hope that with the increased online presence Boyfriend Village allows, we might provide a larger platform for underrepresented aesthetics and writing communities. Work found in Boyfriend Village resists and challenges notions of “the page” alongside other extraordinary pieces you might expect to find in the print issues of BWR. Every issue of Boyfriend Village has a new Online Editor, who selects a new theme and keeps the village refreshed and moving forward, even as it honors a vital part of BWR history. All Boyfriend Village contributors are paid for their work. Black and Indigenous submitters may email their submissions, for no fee, to the editor corresponding to the submission’s genre: Fiction Editor (fiction.bwr@gmail.com), Poetry Editor (poetry.bwr@gmail.com), and Nonfiction Editor (nonfiction.bwr@gmail.com). BWR pays a one-year subscription and a lump-sum fee for all works published. Currently, we offer royalty payments to regular-submission print contributors between $100 and $220, depending on the length of pieces. These numbers are subject to change per issue and differ for contributors to Boyfriend Village (our online edition) and for chapbook and featured-art contributors.

About the Magazine

Founded in 1974 | United States

Established in 1974 by graduate students in the MFA Program in Creative Writing, Black Warrior Review is named for the river that borders the campus of The University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. The city, the river, and the magazine all derive their names from the 16th-century Indigenous leader Tuskaloosa (also spelled “Tushkalusa”), whose name comes from two words of Creek or Choctaw origin—tasca, meaning “warriors,” and lusa, meaning “black.” In 1540, Tuskaloosa battled the Spanish colonizer Hernando de Soto at Mabila, a fortified settlement perhaps in the vicinity of present-day Selma. Tuskaloosa was likely among the thousands who perished in the resistance effort, which is thought to have stopped the advance of de Soto’s campaign.

Masthead

We currently list only main editors, more will be added later! If you are an editor, you can edit your masthead in our admin panel :)

Katie DeLay

Editor-in-Chief

Jeremy Rock

MANAGING EDITOR

Samantha Bolf

FICTION EDITOR

Kanyinsola Olorunnisola

NONFICTION EDITOR

Javier Sandoval

POETRY EDITOR

P.D. Edgar

ART & DESIGN EDITOR