Cherry Road Review publishes writers of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, as well as visual artists. Our editorial vision is guided by a commitment to language that moves with deliberate tension, and not only inhabits, but blooms with silence long after a sentence ends. We encourage both emerging and established writers and artists to submit.

General Submission Guidelines


We are open for submissions in all genres from February 1 through May 15 and August 1 through November 15.

Please submit your work through Submittable, our online submissions portal. You can check on the status of an existing submission on Submittable. If it says “new” or “in progress,” that means we have not yet made a decision about the piece. We only accept unpublished work, and while we do accept simultaneous submissions, please let us know if your work is accepted elsewhere. Response time varies, but we typically respond to submissions within 1-2 months. If you have other submission queries, send us an e-mail and we will respond as soon as possible.

Categories

Fiction: We are looking for short stories, short shorts, novellas, and novel excerpts (if they can stand alone). The word limit is 5,000 words, though most of what we publish is shorter than 5,000 words. Please send only one piece at a time, unless the pieces are very short (under 1,000 words), in which case send up to three. Reminder: do not resubmit a story that you’ve sent in the past unless it has been completely rewritten. Please double-space and include word count on the front page or cover letter.

Poetry: We publish poems of any length. Please send no more than six poems at once, and upload them as a single file. If you need to withdraw part of your submission, please simply add a note to your submission in Submittable.

Nonfiction: We publish a broad range of nonfiction, including interpretive and personal essays, critical reassessments, cultural criticism (art, film, etc.), travel writing, and environmental writing. The word limit is 20,000, though most of what we publish is shorter than 10,000 words. Please double-space and include word count on the front page or cover letter.