San Pedro River Review
We are only open for submissions during two periods: for the Spring issue, we are open Jan 1 to 31. The Fall issue window is July 1 to 31. Unsolicited submissions sent outside these periods will be deleted without reply.
GENERAL GUIDELINES
We're a small staff and review submissions daily, so you will hear back from us within one and ten days. If you do not hear back from us within ten days, please contact us.
The submission window closes at midnight, EST, on the last day of the submission window.
* ONLY ONE SUBMISSION PER SUBMISSION PERIOD. The exception would be when poems are submitted in one email, and art or photography submitted in a separate email. We do not consider writings paired with art or photography, if accepting the writing must include the art it is paired with. Poetry or flash fiction submitted in the same document with unsolicited art or photography will not be answered.
* Simultaneous submissions are fine.
* Please keep cover letters simple.
* Inscribe a third-person bio in the body of your email. Address is optional, but it will be incumbent on you to provide it if we accept your work. Payment is one contributor copy. NOTE: Under certain circumstances, contributors outside the US may need to purchase their own copies due to customs fees, taxation, etc.
* No previously published work. But we're okay with prior publication on blogs or social media, or your mom's refrigerator.
* We rarely, if ever, comment on work we decline.
* Email your submission to:
sprreview [ at symbol ] gmail.com (Change [at symbol] to @ )
GENERAL GUIDELINES
We're a small staff and review submissions daily, so you will hear back from us within one and ten days. If you do not hear back from us within ten days, please contact us.
The submission window closes at midnight, EST, on the last day of the submission window.
* ONLY ONE SUBMISSION PER SUBMISSION PERIOD. The exception would be when poems are submitted in one email, and art or photography submitted in a separate email. We do not consider writings paired with art or photography, if accepting the writing must include the art it is paired with. Poetry or flash fiction submitted in the same document with unsolicited art or photography will not be answered.
* Simultaneous submissions are fine.
* Please keep cover letters simple.
* Inscribe a third-person bio in the body of your email. Address is optional, but it will be incumbent on you to provide it if we accept your work. Payment is one contributor copy. NOTE: Under certain circumstances, contributors outside the US may need to purchase their own copies due to customs fees, taxation, etc.
* No previously published work. But we're okay with prior publication on blogs or social media, or your mom's refrigerator.
* We rarely, if ever, comment on work we decline.
* Email your submission to:
sprreview [ at symbol ] gmail.com (Change [ at symbol ] to @ )
POETRY AND PROSE
* We seek writing that employs a sense of concision — an economy of language that produces keen images. We like a touch of Kant's "crooked timber of humanity", and Lorca's duende that wrestles with mortality, emotion, and earthy forces — even the irrational, mysterious, and life’s inescapable wounds. We reject most poetry out of sheer gabbiness, which is not the same as a long poem, but a tumult of prosy verbosity.
* Submit up to 3 poems in a single Word document. Do not inscribe poems in the body of your email. No pdf. files unless your poem has special format or spacing needs. No .dat files or links to Google docs.* Submit only 1 piece of flash fiction, up to 1,200 words.
* We consider prose poems as well as the usual poem formats. Prose poems need rhythmical continuity, and like other poems, an economy of language, not simply be aborted fiction.
* No AI generated poems. Those we determine created AI work will not be considered in the future. You may be able to fool us, but please: have some integrity.
All work must be in English, excluding, of course, the case where a non-English word or term is intrinsic to the poem. Non-English poems may be submitted if accompanied by their English translations.
ART & PHOTOGRAPHY
* Submit up to 8 pieces of art/photography, color or b&w, hi-res if possible (~ 250 to 400 DPI).
* We are generally not interested in outdoorsy, scenic art or photography. We find similitude in what Larry Levis said in The Gazer Within about landscapes and poetry, how they're intensively visual: as with the poet, the photographer of the solitary, silenced, abandoned, wayworn and defeated finds a connection with “human fertility within time.” The flaw is the art, the beautifully marginal. In sum, in we seek in art and photography what Robert Benton said of Saul Leiter’s photography of his models: “the frail and beautiful and deeply human.”
* We generally do not consider art or photography created solely by AI. That said, post-processed art/photography is fine, if post-processing removes blemishes, clarifies, or corrects lighting or distortions in the original work. Moreover, while we appreciate many forms of digital art, our editorial interests generally lean away from purely decorative, kaleidoscopic, fractal, highly symmetrical, or geometric pattern-based abstractions. We favor artwork that conveys a distinct artistic vision, emotional resonance, narrative presence, atmosphere, or a strong sense of personal expression and human experience.
* Submit as separate jpegs in a single email, unless the files are so large they require separate emails. Art may include photography, collage, drawings, and hybrid forms thereof.
NOTE: Nude art or photography is welcome but it must adhere to strict artistic and legal standards. Consider Saul Leiter's "In My Room," and the work of Francesca Woodman and Brittany Markert. If these specific rules are unclear or too general for you, we will send you the separate guidelines.
* Please do not give your art trite, cliched, cute, or overly descriptive titles. Don't lead the witness. Let the viewer's imagination compose the piece's narrative. Even single words for titles would be fine. That said, we also like longer titles if they are imaginative, especially those employing figurative language.
By submitting to us you grant us permission, if we select your work, to publish it. No separate author's consent form or proof will be sent out.
All work must be that of the submitter. Plagiarism will be reported.
San Pedro River Review acquires first serial rights to accepted pieces. Copyright reverts to the author after publication.
Contributors may purchase additional copies at reduced rates. Discounts are only available through us, not the regular Amazon site. Otherwise, copies for non-contributors are available on Amazon at the regular retail price.
