Call for Submissions: Blackbird

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Submissions for Blackbird 2.0 are now open until November 15th, 2023 under the direction of new editors Kathleen Graber and Jessica Hendry Nelson.

Unsolicited emailed submissions will not be read.

Kathleen Graber is the author of The River Twice (Princeton University Press, 2019), The Eternal City (2010), chosen for the Princeton Series of Contemporary Poets and a finalist for the National Book Award, and Correspondence (2006), winner of the Saturnalia Books Poetry Prize. She teaches creative writing and literature at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Jessica Hendry Nelson is the author of the memoir If Only You People Could Follow Directions (2014), finalist for the Vermont Book Award. She is also coauthor of the textbook and anthology Advanced Creative Nonfiction: A Writers’ Guide and Anthology (Bloomsbury, 2021). She is assistant professor in the MFA program and English Department at Virginia Commonwealth University and on faculty in the MFA program at the University of Nebraska in Omaha. 

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Please read the following guidelines before you submit.

General Guidelines 

• Blackbird does not accept previously published work.

• Simultaneous submissions are acceptable so long as they are indicated as such and we are immediately notified upon acceptance elsewhere. To withdraw individual poems from a submission, please send a message in Submittable notifying us of the poems that are no longer available.

• Translations are welcome so long as permissions have been obtained from the author.

• We are able to publish long works in all genres, but query Blackbird before you send a prose piece over 8,000 words, a poem exceeding 10 pages, or a full-length play.

• Please submit a cover letter, either in the Submittable box provided or as the first page of your submission; if you have previously published with Blackbird or received encouragement on a previous submission, please include that information as well.

• Online submissions are strongly preferred, though Blackbird will accept submissions by regular mail; mailed submissions may take longer to process.

• We reserve the right to close submissions prior to our stated closure date, should we reach the maximum number of submissions that our fluctuating staff size can accommodate at that time.

Poetry: Send up to six poems at a time, but no less than two poems. Set your poem as you want it to appear on the printed page. Submit all poems as a single document.

Fiction: Double-space, please. We primarily look for short stories, but novel excerpts are acceptable if self-contained.

Nonfiction: Double-space, please. We primarily look for personal essays, but memoir excerpts are acceptable if self-contained. Unsolicited book reviews and criticism are not considered.

Gallery: Plays are accepted. We do not accept unsolicited visual art work, but if you produce video essays, please query us about your work.

Submitting Online 

• Send your submission by using https://blackbird.submittable.com/submit.

• Upload only one file. Submissions may be uploaded in the following formats: .doc, .docx, .rtf, or .pdf

• File title should read last name_first name_genre

e.g., joyce_james_fiction.doc

Submitting via Regular Mail 

• Mail your manuscripts in a page-size manila envelope, your full name and address on the outside, to “Editor, Poetry” or “Editor, Fiction” or “Editor, Nonfiction” or “Editor, Plays.”

• Include a cover letter, which should include: your name, mailing address, email address, phone number, and the title(s) of submitted work.

• All manuscripts and correspondence regarding submissions should be accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope (SASE) for a response.

Mail submissions to:

Blackbird
VCU Department of English
Box 842005
Richmond, VA 23284-2005

Note: Except in special cases, we will read online submissions first, thus your work will move through our process more quickly if you have submitted online.

Expect six months for a decision, longer if you submit just before the summer break. Do not query until at least six months have passed.

If work is accepted for publication, you must provide an electronic copy as a .doc (Word) or .rtf (rich text format) if you have not already done so. Payment is after publication.

All published work will be archived online.

Direct all queries to:

blackbird@vcu.edu