Call for Submissions: Ninth Letter

Ninth Letter is currently open for submissions to our print edition until Feb 28, 2024.

 We accept electronic submissions via Submittable.

Please note our fee schedule as follows:

August, September, and October: $3.00 per submission

December: no submission fee required (300 submission cap per genre)

January and February: $3.00 per submission

Ninth Letter is published semi-annually in print at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. We are interested in prose and poetry that experiment with form, narrative, and nontraditional subject matter, as well as more traditional literary work. To make life easier for everyone, including yourself, please adhere to the following guidelines when submitting your work to Ninth Letter.

General Guidelines:

For poetry, please submit 3-5 poems (max. 8 pages) at a time.

For fiction and creative nonfiction, submit one story or essay up to 8,000 words at a time.

For flash fiction, you may submit up to 3 pieces with a total word count totaling no more than 4,000 words.

We do not accept previously published work, including self-published work on websites, blogs, etc. Simultaneous submissions are okay as long as they are identified as such in a cover letter. Please send a message withdrawing your poem(s) immediately upon acceptance elsewhere. Please only send only one submission per genre at a time. We do not accept submissions by email attachment--email submissions will not be read.

Submission Fee:

We charge a $3 reading fee to help with Submittable and other operational costs. Fees are waived from December 1 – December 31, or until we hit our cap of 300 submissions. A limited number of fee waivers are available for members of traditionally marginalized communities or for whom the submission fee would present undue financial hardship. Please email:

ninthletter9@gmail.com 

to request a fee waiver.

Publication Terms & Payment:

Ninth Letter pays $25 per poem and $100 for prose upon publication and two complementary copies of the issue in which the work appears. Ninth Letter acquires First North American Serial Rights (FNASR). We ask that you acknowledge Ninth Letter upon reprint of your work.

Response Time:

We strive to respond to your submission within 16 weeks. Please wait until that time has elapsed before querying about the status of your submission.