BSR seeks original, unpublished works of nonfiction, poetry, short fiction, and art. We have two reading periods:
- September 1 – November 1st for our Winter issue.
- 15 January – 15 March for our Spring issue.
Along with your submission, please provide a short cover letter including your contact information and a brief bio. Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but please note this in your cover letter, and please notify us immediately if your work has been accepted elsewhere.
BSR uses Submittable to process submissions. This allows for better, more timely contact with those who send us their work. There is a link at the bottom of this page. Your submission must be in Word or Rich Text format (.doc or .rtf) format. The system will not accept other formats, including .pdf.
BSR acquires only the first serial publication rights of accepted work. Copyright is asserted on behalf of the author; all reprint rights (print or electronic) revert to the author upon publication, but we ask that you mention Barely South Review as first publication appearance.
If you’re a recent contributor, please wait at least two issue years after the issue in which your work appeared to submit again.
We do nominate for Pushcart.
Genre Submission Details:
Fiction: One short story (<4000 words). Must be double-spaced, and the word count must be included on the first page.
Poetry: Up to three poems. Please submit all poems in one document.
Creative Nonfiction: One essay (<4000 words). Excerpts from longer works are acceptable as long as they adhere to our word maximum and can stand alone as essays independent of the larger work. Must be double-spaced, and the word count must be included on the first page.
Flash Fiction/non: Up to three flash pieces (<1000 words each). Please submit each piece separately.
Art: Up to five pieces. Art submissions, including photography, painting, graphics, and comics, will be considered for the cover of BSR. Works must not have appeared elsewhere (other than on the artist’s personal website). Formats accepted include .jpg, .gif, .tiff, and .png.
