General Submissions

The Brooklyn Review is looking for poetry, fiction, playwriting, nonfiction and visual art. We are particularly interested in featuring BIPOC voices and perspectives.

All submissions will be considered for both our site and print issues.

Please submit only one work per reading period in any given genre, and please, only original, previously unpublished works. Simultaneous submissions are welcome, but please let us know if your work is accepted elsewhere. Please do not send multiple submissions, or submit poetry or fiction to the nonfiction category.

We accept:

  • Fiction: up to 7,000 words.
  • Poetry: up to 5 poems. (Please format and submit in a single document.)
  • Plays: up to 20 pages.
  • Nonfiction: up to 3,500 words.
  • Art: Photography, drawings, paintings, comics, multimedia, and digital art. Up to 5 jpegs, pdfs, etc.

We do not accept print submissions or submissions by email. Please submit via our Submittable page. If the fee presents a barrier, please feel free to get in touch through our contact form.

The Brooklyn Review 2023 Writing Contest: This Time It’s Personal!

Issue 38 will feature a fiction and a poetry competition with a $400 first place award and $100 second and third place awards. The theme of the contest is This Time It’s Personal! We invite you to interpret our theme in any way you wish, but please note the theme will be a factor in awarding the winners. 

Submissions will open on September 15th and close on October 29th with winners announced in early 2024. In addition to the prize money, first place will be published in our Issue 38 print issue, and second and third on the Brooklyn Review site, but with considerations for print.

All submissions for the fiction contest will also be considered for publication even if not awarded in the top three. 

Novelist Ernesto Mestre

The Fiction Contest will be judged by Ernesto Mestre. Ernesto Mestre is an award-winning novelist, editor, writing coach, and translator. He has taught at several prestigious MFA writing programs over the last two decades, and his work has been awarded fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the New York Foundation for the Arts. His novels include The Lazarus Rumba, The Second Death of Única Aveyano, and Sacrificio.

Poet Erica Hunt

The Poetry Contest will be judged by Erica Hunt. Known for her work in experimental poetics and critical race theory, Erica Hunt is the author of Jump the Clock (Nightboat Books, 2020); Veronica: A Suite in X Parts (selva oscura press, 2019); Piece Logic (Carolina Wren Press, 2002); Arcade (Kelsey Street Press, 1996); and Local History (Roof Books, 1993). She has received grants and fellowships from the Center for Contemporary Arts, the Djerassi Resident Artists Program, and the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing, among others.

submit