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.
Reading Periods on Submittable:
General submissions: January 1st to March 1st; September 15th to December 1st
Contest submissions: February 1st to May 1st.
Dan Veach Prize for Younger Poets submissions: April 1st to June 1st.
Response Time:
We will try to respond within six months (it may be considerably longer for contest entries).
Caps:
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 without a fee at any time as long as you accompany your work with a SASE with enough postage to return your poems. Otherwise, we will recycle manuscripts. Submissions without an SASE will not be read. Our mailing address is Atlanta Review, 686 Cherry Street, Atlanta, GA, 30332-0161.
Issue Themes:
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.
Simultaneous Submissions:
Yes, we are happy to accept them, but please notify us immediately that you need to withdraw a poem via the "Messages" function in Submittable. Only click "Withdraw" if you need to withdraw the entire submission.
Other Info:
All contest entries must be submitted through Submittable. We will not read any contest poems submitted by mail.
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.
Please do not send us poems created by/with A.I.
If you have any additional questions, please drop a line to the editor at to jc.reilly@lmc.gatech.edu.
Atlanta Review looks for simply amazing poetry–poetry that delights, poetry that refreshes the spirit, that sparks curiosity, that intrigues the intellect, that fills the senses, that says something genuine about the world as well as the individual. We celebrate diversity and are open to many styles, forms, and kinds of poetry, about any and all subjects.
However, we do not want any work that harms or marginalizes others, or is sexist, misogynistic, racist, ageist, ableist, classist, homophobic, transphobic, fatphobic, etc. We also don’t want poems that glorify violence or focus on dead-or-dying animals, particularly as an inelegant excuse to meditate on death.
- Please, no more than five unpublished poems (7 pages total, max) per submission, each poem on its own page, contained in a single .doc or .docx file.
- No identifying information on any poem or file name. The Atlanta Review reads work anonymously: we publish poems, not poets.
- Only one submission per submission period.
Please Note: We will try to accommodate poems with special formatting needs (specific margins, long lines, etc.), but we can't guarantee that your poem will appear on our pages exactly as you submitted them. We ask poets to follow standard formatting guidelines: Times New Roman 12, with 1" margins. This will help minimize appearance shifts as we import your poems into our publishing software.
Also, please use the withdraw function only if you need to withdraw the ENTIRE submission. Otherwise, just send us a note on the "Activity and Messages" tab and let us know which one/s is/are no longer available. Thanks!
There is a submission cap of 150 submissions for this reading period. When we reach this threshold, the submission window will close. Please get your work in early.
Additionally, this year we are going to suspend our general submissions while the contest submission window is open (March 1-May 1) in order to better manage workflow.
Starting in Spring 2025, Atlanta Review plans to include reviews of poetry collections published within the last two years by independent publishers. We are especially interested in reviews of debut collections to help newer authors and readers find each other.
We're looking for work whose tone is bright, thoughtful, enthusiastic, and generous.
Chapbook reviews should range 500-700 words. Full length collection reviews should range 700-1000 words. Both ranges are inclusive of quotations.
Please be sure to double space your manuscript.
And please include the following information at the beginning of the review:
1. Author name
2. Book title
3. Publisher (and link to publisher's website where the book can be published)
4. Publishing date
5. Price
A one year subscription (two issues) is $20.
Save $$$!
A two year subscription (four issues) is $38.
A three year subscription (six issues) is $54.
A one year subscription (two issues) is $30.
Save $$$!
A two year subscription (four issues) is $55.