A national literary journal produced by Ohio University’s Creative Writing Program. Now in its fifteenth year, NOR has been the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts grant and support from the Ohio Arts Council.

New Ohio Review is a national literary journal produced by Ohio University’s Creative Writing Program. Now in its fifteenth year, NOR has been the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts grant and support from the Ohio Arts Council. Work from its pages consistently appears in the Best American series and the annual Pushcart anthology.

Since June 2018, newohioreview.org has been the place for exclusive, original online projects, including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, audio, and video.

The top nonfiction lit mags in our database, ranked by how many users have bookmarked them.

The Ultimate List of Places to Submit Your Nonfiction

Story-focused publications with works chosen for Pushcart Prize anthologies. Less than 5% of nominated fiction typically makes the anthology.

Fiction Magazines Featured in Pushcart Prize Anthologies

A targeted resource for short story placements with potential for Pushcart recognition.

Fiction Magazines That Nominate for the Pushcart Prize

Specialized publications that recognize exceptional brief fiction through Pushcart nominations.

Publications with verse selected for America's foremost poetry anthology. These journals consistently publish poetry representing the most significant contemporary verse across styles and approaches.

Lit Mags Featured in Best American Poetry Anthologies

Publications with stories in America's most visible short fiction. These journals consistently publish fiction that represents the highest levels of contemporary American short storytelling.

Lit Mags Featured in Best American Short Story Anthologies

Publications with pieces chosen for Pushcart Prize anthologies. Recognition of exceptional quality across poetry, fiction, and nonfiction.

Lit Mags Featured in Pushcart Prize Anthologies

Looking for balance between prestige and accessibility? These magazines are competitive but attainable for poetry, fiction, and nonfiction writers.

Literary Magazines in the Sweet Spot

Journals that forward outstanding nonfiction to this respected anthology series founded in 1986. These publications identify exceptional essays that might reach the broader readership BAE provides.

Literary Magazines That Nominate for Best American Essays

A comprehensive guide to journals that regularly nominate work for the Pushcart Prize.

Literary Magazines That Nominate for the Pushcart Prize

BASS represents the most mainstream recognition for short fiction in America. These journals serve as the initial screening layer for potential inclusion in this widely-read collection.

Literary Mags That Nominate for Best American Short Stories

All-time most competitive literary magazines. Getting published in these is a significant achievement for any writer.

Most Competitive Literary Magazines of All Time

Explore the most popular literary magazines of all time. These long-established publications are a staple in the literary world for writers of all genres.

Most Popular Literary Magazines of All Time

Essay-focused publications with works selected for Pushcart Prize anthologies. These journals have repeatedly identified nonfiction that resonates with Pushcart editors and readers.

Nonfiction Magazines Featured in Pushcart Prize Anthologies

Highlights publications that regularly put forward essays, memoirs, and other creative nonfiction for Pushcart consideration.

Nonfiction Magazines That Nominate for the Pushcart Prize

Verse-centered publications with poems chosen for Pushcart Prize anthologies. These journals have consistently identified poems that stand out in this intensely competitive field.

Poetry Magazines Featured in Pushcart Prize Anthologies

Focuses specifically on poetry journals with established histories of Pushcart nominations.

Poetry Magazines That Nominate for the Pushcart Prize

New Ohio Review

Submit a story or essay of up to 20 pages

New Ohio Review Prizes

Submit a poem or group of poems of up to 6 pages

Submit a poem or group of poems up to 6 pages

Ellis Prizes

NOR announces our Poets On Screen feature. We encourage essay submissions (750-1500 words) that focus on a particular film and the way it depicts a poet and/or their poetry. These are meant to be general interest articles and don't have to be scholarly.
Essayists might write about, for instance, a Keats biopic like Bright Star; the adolescent poet-character in film; poets/poetry in the work of Richard Linklater or Sofia Coppola or Wes Anderson, etc; poets/poetry in international films or the French New Wave; poets/poetry in animated flicks; an omnibus review of Dr. Seuss adaptations, with the poetry as a central focus; poets and noir; poets and Hallmark; poets and comedy.
Possible questions writers might ask themselves: What particular challenges exist as filmmakers try to translate poems and poets' lives onto the screen? What techniques get used to highlight the poetry? What filmmakers seem to allow the poets/poetry to influence the actual look and feel of the film? How do they do this? 
What creates the special joy involved in a great movie about poets or poetry?
We are open to creative takes on this prompt, including poems about encountering a poetry film.
Prose should be double-spaced and between 750-1500 words.

_________
Please note that this is a continuation of a feature we ran a few years ago. Here are some sample articles:

  Kept in the Dark: Poetry, Collaboration, and Collapse in Pandaemonium and Tom and Viv, by Matthew VanWinkle
  Jean Cocteau and Orpheus: The Poet as Filmmaker, by Steve Vineberg
  Keep Me In By Keeping Me Out: Poetry On Screen, by Carrie Oeding
  A Personal Affair: The Making of a Poetry Film, by Michele Poulos
  Against Literary Biopics Generally, Unless, Maybe–But Definitely and Especially Against The End of the Tour, by Kathryn Nuernberger
  Beautiful, Brilliant, and Dead: Portraits of the Female Poet in Film, by Danusha Laméris

2026 Feature - Poets On Screen

For regular submissions:
Submit up to six pages of poetry.
Each typed poem should be on a new page. Please single- or double-space. Cross-genre work or any work that is unusually formatted is welcome, but be aware that our page width and font size are restricted.
Please use .doc or .docx file type.
Limit to one submission per reading period unless we request more, or unless you are a subscriber.
Thank you!

Poetry Submissions

For regular submissions: One story per submission. Prose should be typed double-spaced and be no longer than 20 pages. Cross-genre work or any work that is unusually formatted is welcome, but please be aware that our page width and font size are restricted.
Please submit in .doc or .docx.
Limit one submission per reading period unless we request more.

Fiction Submissions

For submissions:
One essay per submission. Prose should be typed double-spaced and be no longer than 20 pages. Cross-genre work or any work that is unusually formatted is welcome, but please be aware that our page width and font size are restricted.
Please use .doc or .docx file type.
Limit to one submission per reading period unless we request more.

Nonfiction Submissions

NORward Prizes

If you'd like to submit artwork, please use this category and submit as many .jpgs as you'd like. Most often we will choose art for our online editions, but select pieces will be eligible to be placed on the covers of our bi-annual issues (published in fall and spring). Images for the online editions may be any size, but images to be considered for the cover of our print issue must meet the following criteria: 
Width: 13.5 in X Height: 8.5 in
We prefer cover art where the figure, scene, or object is set to the right-hand side of the image; this allows us to wrap the emptier left side of the image around the back cover, where we will also print contributor names. Please see examples here: https://newohioreview.org/2025/11/21/cover-art-examples/  We reserve the right to edit the image, in consultation with you, so that it fits our page.
Cover artists will receive $200 and 2 copies of their issue. We may be able to compensate artists for work that will appear online--especially if all parties agree that NOR will highlight several of an artist's images--but payment for art is case-by-case and budget-dependent.

Art Submissions

You may submit one story per submission. Prose should be typed, double-spaced, and be no longer than 20 pages. Submissions for this contest are blind. Please exclude your contact information—including name, email address, and mailing address—from your actual submission. $1,500 Prize and publication in New Ohio Review 37 or 38. Stories that are not selected will still be considered for publication. Entry fee comes with two print issues.         ____
Jeff VanderMeer is the author of Hummingbird Salamander; the Borne novels (Borne, The Strange Bird, and Dead Astronauts); and the Southern Reach series (Annihilation, Authority, and Acceptance), the first volume of which won the Nebula Award and Shirley Jackson Award and was adapted into a movie by Paramount. He has spoken at MIT, Columbia, Yale, and Vanderbilt, and gave the 2024 John Hersey Memorial Address at the Key West Literary Seminar. Environmental nonfiction by VanderMeer has appeared in Time, The Nation, Current Affairs, and Esquire, among others. VanderMeer founded the Sunshine State Biodiversity Group nonprofit in 2023. Absolution, a fourth Southern Reach novel, was published in 2024. (adapted from Jeff VanderMeer.com)

Fiction Contest ($1,500)

You may submit up to 6 single-spaced pages of poetry per submission entry.  
         Submissions for this contest are "concealed." Please exclude your contact information—including name, email address, and mailing address—from your actual submission.    
        $1,500 Prize and publication in New Ohio Review 37 or 38. Pieces that are not selected will still be considered for publication. (Customarily, we publish 30-40 poems that were originally submitted as contest entries.) Entry fee comes with two print issues.      


________  
George Bilgere came into national prominence in 2002 when then U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins chose his collection of poems, The Good Kiss, to win the University of Akron Poetry Prize. Collins then named Bilgere one of two Witter Bynner Fellows for 2002 and invited him to read at the Library of Congress. In 2006 Ed Field chose his book, Haywire, to win the prestigious May Swenson Poetry Award, and radio host Garrison Keillor began reading Bilgere’s poems on his daily National Public Radio broadcast, The Writer’s Almanac. The popularity of Bilgere’s poems on the show led to an appearance on Keillor’s long-running NPR radio show, A Prairie Home Companion.
Bilgere’s many honors include the 2022 Readers’ Choice Award from Rattle Magazine and the 2021 Editor’s Choice Award from New Ohio Review. He has received grants and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Ohio Arts Council, the Pushcart Foundation, the Fulbright Foundation, and the Witter Bynner Foundation through the Library of Congress. He has won the May Swenson Poetry Award, the Society of Midland Authors Poetry Prize, the Devins Award, the University of Akron Poetry Prize, the Cleveland Arts Prize, and the 2023 Rattle Chapbook Prize.
His poems have appeared in Poetry, Kenyon Review, Best American Poetry, New Ohio Review, Field, Georgia Review, Southern Review, Sewanee Review, Ploughshares, New England Review, and elsewhere.
Bilgere is Distinguished Professor of English at John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio, where he lives with his lovely wife and two fine little boys.

Poetry Contest ($1,500)

You may submit one essay/memoir per submission. 
      Prose should be typed, double-spaced, and be no longer than 20 pages.   
      Submissions for this contest are "concealed." Please exclude your contact information—including name, email address, and mailing address—from your actual submission.
      $1,500 Prize and publication in New Ohio Review 37 or 38. Pieces that are not selected will still be considered for publication. Entry fee comes with 1-year subscription (two print issues).      
____   
Sarah Viren is a writer, journalist, and translator. She’s the author of two books, Mine, winner of the River Teeth Book Prize, and To Name the Bigger Lie, a New York Times Editor’s Choice and an NPR best book of the year; she also translated the novella Córdoba Skies by Federico Falco. A contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine, Viren teaches in the creative writing program at Arizona State University. Her work has been honored with a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, a Goldfarb Fellowship, a Dora Maar Residency, and a GLCA New Writers Award, among others.

New Ohio Review

Highlights

About

Featured Call

Poetry Submissions

Appears in collections