General Guidelines

Submissions are currently closed. The Lamar York Prizes will not be held. Since we acquire first North American rights, submissions should be works previously unpublished in North America. We appreciate a short cover letter with a concise bio that could be used should we publish the work. Please withdraw your work immediately if it is accepted elsewhere. Please do not mail or email submissions. To be fair to all submitters, these will be returned unread. Need to withdraw a poem or part of a poetry submission? Please open your submission within Submittable and send a message indicating the poem or poems you'd like to withdraw. We will see your note and gladly consider the available poems. Need to withdraw another genre? Please do so via Submittable. 

Familiarity with our journal is the best way to know whether or not work is right for us. E-Issues in PDF are available for $4 in our store. Please consider reading an issue before submitting. 

Our response time varies from one to four months, longer only in special circumstances.

Fiction

TCR publishes original literary fiction characterized by interest in language, development of distinctive settings, compelling conflict, and complex, unique characters. Submit one story of up to 6,000 words, or submit up to three short-shorts (500-1,000 words each). 

Poetry

TCR publishes excellent poetry of all types, including informal personal narratives, prose poems, and formal poems. Submit up to five poems.

Nonfiction

TCR publishes distinctive topical essays and personal creative nonfiction of any kind; this includes pieces that might fit into the memoir, travel, and historical nonfiction categories. We are not an academic journal and publish for a general readership. Above all, we are interested in publishing nonfiction that surprises and intrigues us. Submit one essay of up to 6,000 words, or submit up to three shorter essays (500-1,000 words each).

Hybrid

TCR welcomes hybrid works. Please specify the nature of the hybrid in a cover letter. 

Interviews

TCR publishes interviews with writers of all kinds: literary, academic, journalistic, and popular. Please submit via Submittable and include a cover letter specifying your credentials for the interview.

Reviews and Review Essays

TCR publishes reviews of current fiction, poetry, and nonfiction books, especially those from writers with an innovative approach to subject matter. Several related works may be reviewed at more length in a review essay that engages critical issues not appropriate to a single review. We are always in search of new reviewers. Please submit via Submittable and include a cover letter specifying your credentials for the review or review essay.

Translations

TCR welcomes English translations of all genres from other languages, in which case brief biographies of the authors and translators should be included. Translators must have permission from the authors before submitting. Please send a message within Submittable including the addresses to which you'd like the contributor copies sent.

Visual Art

TCR accepts visual art submissions, photography included, by invitation only.

Payment

All contributors receive two copies.