Atlanta Review

Atlanta Review publishes all kinds of great poetry; we do not subscribe to any particular "school."  We read and admire lyric, narrative, experimental, form, free verse, prose poems, and any other kind of poetry.  To get a sense of our journal, read some back issues, or better yet, subscribe.

Our new reading periods in Submittable for general submissions are open from  January 1st to March 1st  and September 15th to December 1st.  We will try to respond within six months (it may be considerably longer for contest entries). We cap our general submissions at a certain number.  If it is within our reading period, but no submission window appears, we have reached our cap for that period. You may submit work by snail mail at any time as long as you accompany your work with a SASE.

Our contest reading period opens February 1st and closes on May 1st. The Dan Veach Prize for Younger Poets opens April 1st and closes June 1st. 

Our Fall/Winter issue is our Contest Issue, and includes poetry by winners and runners-up.  Our Spring/Summer issue is our International Issue, and includes poetry by poets from an international region or country, translated into English (if necessary). Both issues contain general poetry submissions, so feel free to send us poetry any time.

We accept simultaneous submissions, but please notify us immediately that you need to withdraw a poem via the "Activity and Messages" function in Submittable.  Only click "Withdraw" if you need to withdraw the entire submission.

A large number of poets have been requesting an online submission option, so we have made that available here. We also support sustainable options in our operations. Online submissions are good for the environment. 

Some people have asked why we are now charging a "reading fee." We do not charge you to review your work. We must pay the platform provider to provide this service to you. We consulted with some of our regularly submitting writers about their expenses for an average submission, including printing and mailing costs, before setting a price that we believe is in line with what they previously paid. Of course, there is also the convenience of being able to track your submissions and not having to go to the post office. We have a number of writers who suffer from disabilities who were particularly keen to have an online option. 

With that said, you may continue to submit typed poems by mail for no additional fee at our mailing address: 686 Cherry St. NW, Suite 333, Atlanta GA 30332-0161. 

If you choose to submit by regular mail, please enclose a S.A.S.E., with enough postage to return your poems. Otherwise, we will recycle manuscripts.  Submissions without an S.A.S.E. will not be read.

Beginning with the 2018 International Poetry Contest, all contest entries must be submitted through Submittable. We will not read any contest poems submitted by mail.

For General Submissions, we ask for:

1. No more than five unpublished poems per submission, each poem on its own page, contained in a single .doc or .docx file.
2. No identifying information on any poem.  The Atlanta Review reads work anonymously:  we publish poems, not poets.
3. Only one submission per submission period.

For Contest Submissions, we we ask for:

1. Unpublished poems, each poem on its own page, contained in a single .doc or .docx file. Poems must not have won a major prize in another contest.  You may enter as many poems as you like, provided you pay the fee for each submission.
2.  No identifying information on any poem.

For specific guidelines to the Dan Veach Prize for Younger Poets (for poets aged 18-23), please click on the category. 

Cover letters are not necessary for any submission, but we appreciate learning about your interest in the Atlanta Review and in poetry in general, and we do like it if you list the poems you've sent.  We read cover letters after decisions have been made.  We read poems anonymously, so please do not put your name and address on each page of your submission.

If you have any additional questions, please drop a line to atlantareview@gatech.edu.