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Closed for submissions
Upcoming reading periods
General
Dec 1, 2023 - Mar 1, 2024
General
Apr 1, 2024 - May 1, 2024
"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
Acceptance Rate
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!
199
Total submissions tracked
64 days
Average response time
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
Examples
1 pieces from Chill Subs people
