The Brooklyn Review is a literary magazine founded by Allen Ginsberg and John Ashbery. Award-winning stories have appeared in our pages (honors have included the PEN / Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize) and our published poetry has been anthologized in the Best American Poetry.
The magazine has a long history of publishing emerging writers; we can’t wait to read your work!
Before submitting, please be sure to read the below guidelines carefully and take time to familiarize yourself with the kind of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and art we publish.
General Guidelines
We accept only previously unpublished submissions, and we do not accept submissions by email; please submit only via our Submittable page. Simultaneous submissions are allowed, but we ask that you notify us right away if a piece is accepted for publication elsewhere. The editorial staff also reserves the right to edit accepted work in collaboration with the author or artist. Work created using generative AI will not be considered for publication.
Fees, Rights, and Compensation
The Brooklyn Review relies almost entirely on CUNY resources for its operational budget; the $3 submission fee we charge covers the costs of the Submittable platform. If this presents a financial barrier, we encourage you to get in touch.
Upon acceptance, the author grants The Brooklyn Review first publication rights in its online and/or print platforms. The author retains all copyright to their work, including reprint rights.
Authors included in our print edition will receive two complimentary copies of the issue. While we aren’t yet able to pay our contributors, we hope to change this very soon.
We want: incisive yet generous reviews, cultural interventions, and essays; inventive, deeply considered personal narratives; erudite pieces that open the heart and mind. We welcome formal, narrative, and thought experiments spanning literature, art, politics, philosophy, media, and the self.
Length: Up to 3,500 words.
Deadline: December 1, 2025
We are looking for previously unpublished poetry that engages creatively and actively with questions of form, structure, language, and sound. We especially welcome submissions of experimental and non-narrative works. We aim to feature and promote works by BIPOC writers as part of an ongoing effort to decolonize poetry, poetic praxis, and poetics.
Please submit 3-5 poems, totaling no more than 10 pages, formatted in a single document. Please include a short biographical statement in your cover letter totaling no more than 75 words.
Simultaneous submissions are welcome, but please let us know if your work is accepted elsewhere. You can either withdraw the entire submission, or simply notify us of which poems are no longer eligible.