Thank you for your interest in River & South Review, the literary magazine associated with the Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing at Wilkes University.

River & South Review seeks to be a home for work that evokes a visceral reaction, encourages continued conversation, captures the adventures of life, and spurs our readers to go find their own adventures to write about.

As writers, we want writing that makes us wish we had written it. We want writing that makes us think and wonder; laugh and cry; sigh and scream; nod our heads yes and no. We want work that stays with us long after we’ve left the page. And, of course, we want all of this in well-crafted pieces that demonstrate skill with form and language.

The editorial staff of River & South values inclusivity and diversity. To that end, we especially welcome the opportunity to read and consider work by under-represented and marginalized voices including but not limited to Black, Indigenous, Latine, Asian, and South Asian writers, members of the LBGTQA+ community, writers with disabilities, and older adults. 

River & South Review publishes twice each year – a Summer issue in June and a Winter issue in January.

Submissions open February 15 for summer issues. Submissions open August 30 for winter issues.

For those who have previously submitted, please wait one entire submission period before presenting additional creative work.

River & South Review only publishes previously unpublished work. We consider content appearing in print and online journals, anthologies, books, and personal blogs as published.

Currently, we do not publish AI-generated work. Please do not submit poems, essays, or short stories you’ve created using AI.

We do not publish work by anyone with an affiliation to Wilkes University, the Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing, or the writing workshops that Wilkes University offers.

  • Fiction – submit original, previously unpublished stories up to 2,500 words in a .doc, .docx, or pdf file and title each as follows: YourLastname_Title.
  • Nonfiction – submit original, previously unpublished stories up to 2,500 words as a .doc, .docx or pdf file and title each as follows: YourLastname_Title.
  • Poetry – submit up to three (3) original, previously unpublished poems in one document (.doc, .docx, or pdf) and title as follows: YourLastname_NumberofPoems.

You may send one submission per genre per reading period.

We welcome simultaneous submissions, but please notify us immediately if a piece you submitted is accepted elsewhere.

We are unable to offer payment to contributors at this time.

River & South Review requests First North American Serial Rights and the right to archive our contributors’ work. All other rights revert back to the author upon publication. Please acknowledge River & South Review as the journal of first publication when placing your work elsewhere.

We only accept submissions via Submittable. Please do not email your submissions.

If we reach our capacity, we will close submissions before the deadline. So, submit early!