Guidelines:

• BLR seeks high-caliber, unpublished fiction, nonfiction, and essays broadly and creatively related to our themes of health, healing, illness, the mind, and the body.
• Fiction / nonfiction maximum word count is 5,000. You may submit up to 3 poems in one poetry submission. Please see below for additional genre-specific guidelines.
• We happily consider simultaneous submissions, but please inform us immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere.
• Manuscripts can only be accepted electronically via Submittable. If you are experiencing technical difficulties, please reach out to info@blreview.org.
• There is a $5 fee per general submission, which is waived for current subscribers. (If you are not a current subscriber, you can subscribe using this link when you submit your work and take advantage of free submission.) These fees help BLR fund publication of the journal, but please contact us at info@blreview.org if you are experiencing financial hardship.
• We strive to provide several reviewers for each manuscript and kindly ask your patience in this necessarily slow process. If you have not heard from us within five months, feel free to inquire about your manuscript.
• Authors receive $75 for poetry and $150 for prose upon publication, plus two copies of the issue in which their work appears and an additional 1-year subscription to BLR. There is also an author discount for purchasing extra copies of the issue containing their work.
• Work previously published in print or electronically will not be considered. For BLR, “published work” means published in print in North America, or published on the Internet in electronic journals, e-zines, academic websites, and other “public” or “official” websites. Works posted on personal blogs or websites will be considered on a case-by-case basis. We ask that authors be honest about web postings. (If a work is discovered to have been posted or published elsewhere—and not openly acknowledged by the author in advance—we will remove it from consideration.
• By submitting, authors affirm that the work being submitted is their own original writing, has not been previously published, and was not created or materially shaped by generative artificial intelligence tools.
• BLR acquires First North American rights, and the right to reprint in anthologies and online. After publication, all other rights revert to the author and the work may be reprinted as long as appropriate acknowledgement to BLR is made.

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Additional guidelines by genre:

FICTION: Bellevue Literary Review seeks character-driven fiction with original voices and strong settings. We do not publish genre fiction (romance, sci-fi, horror). Most of our published stories tend to be in the range of 2,000-4,000 words. We have only occasionally published flash fiction. While we are always interested in creative explorations in style, we do lean toward classic short stories. (Maximum word count: 5,000)

NONFICTION: We are looking for essays that reach beyond the standard ‘illness narrative’ to develop a topic in an engaging and original manner. Please note that we do not publish graphic narratives, academic discourses, or works with footnotes. (Maximum word count: 5,000)

POETRY: We encourage poems that are accessible to a wide audience. Characteristics we look for are vivid writing, compelling voice, and rendering the familiar new. We encourage you to peruse back issues in our archive to get a sense of our ethos. You may submit up to three poems per submission (include all three in one file).

Subscribing to the journal is a tangible—and very much appreciated—way of supporting the BLR. The $25 fee is our regular one-year subscription price, so the submission is free with your subscription order.  (NOTE: If you live outside the United States, you must select the option that includes international shipping in order to receive print copies. Otherwise we will process your order as a digital subscription. Thank you for understanding.)   

Please also feel free to use this category if you are a subscriber who would like to renew your subscription while making a submission. 

Please note: Only general submissions can be made through this category. Contest entries must be submitted under the contest category when the BLR Prizes are open for submission.

 Fiction: Bellevue Literary Review seeks character-driven fiction with  original voices and strong settings. We do not publish genre fiction (romance, sci-fi,  horror) and have only occasionally published flash fiction. While we are always interested in creative explorations in style, we do lean toward classic short stories.   

Creative Nonfiction:  We are looking for essays that reach beyond the standard ‘illness narrative’ to develop a topic  in an engaging and original manner. Incorporate anecdotes that feel alive, and dazzle us with thoughtful and creative analysis that allows  these anecdotes to serve a larger purpose. Please note that we do not publish graphic narratives, academic discourses, or works with footnotes.

Poetry:  We encourage poems that are accessible to a wide audience. Characteristics we look for are vivid writing, strong narrative, and rendering the familiar new. We encourage you to peruse back issues in our archive to get a sense of our ethos.    

We encourage you to read BLR before you submit. Please check out our online archive. 

GUIDELINES

• We happily consider simultaneous submissions, but please inform us immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere.
• Manuscripts can only be accepted electronically via Submittable.
• Fiction/nonfiction word max is 5,000 words, though most of our published prose is in the range of 2,000-4,000 words.
• Include no more than three poems per submission. Each poem should be on a separate page within a single document.
• There is a $5 fee per general submission but it’s waived for current subscribers. (Subscribing through this category allows you to subscribe at $25, plus submit your work and take advantage of free submission.) These fees help BLR fund publication of the journal, please contact us at info@blreview.org if you're experiencing financial hardship.
• We strive to provide several reviewers for each manuscript and kindly ask your patience in this necessarily slow process. But if you have not heard from us within five months, feel free to inquire about your manuscript.
• Authors receive $75 for poetry and $150 for prose upon publication. Authors also receive two copies of the issue in which their work appears, plus an additional 1-year subscription to BLR. There is an author discount for purchasing extra copies.
• All submissions must be of previously unpublished work.* BLR acquires First North American rights, and the right to reprint in anthologies and online. After publication, all other rights revert to the author and the work may be reprinted as long as appropriate acknowledgement to BLR is made.   
• By submitting, authors affirm that the work being submitted is their own original writing, has not been previously published, and was not created or materially shaped by generative artificial intelligence tools.

(*For BLR, “published work” means published in print in North America, or published on the Internet in electronic journals, e-zines, academic websites, and other “public” or “official” websites. Works posted on personal blogs or websites will be considered on a case-by-case basis. We ask that authors be honest about web postings. If a work is discovered to have been posted or published elsewhere–and not openly acknowledged by the author in advance–we will remove it from consideration.) 

We recognize that subscribing to the journal is a tangible—and very much appreciated—way of supporting the BLR, thus the submission fee is waived for current subscribers.  This portal is for subscribers only. Manuscripts accidentally uploaded here by non-subscribers will not be reviewed.

• If you are unsure of your subscription status, or if you subscribe under a different name, please send us an email at info@blreview.org and we'll get back to you ASAP. 
• If you are not a BLR subscriber, please submit under the General Submissions category, or use the Subscribe + Submit category.  
• We are happy to consider fee waivers in order to make submitting accessible to writers. Please reach out to info@blreview.org to inquire about a fee waiver (or reduced-fee contest entry when the BLR Prizes are open).

Please do not have more than two active submissions at a time. Please note that only general or theme issue submissions can be made through this category. Contest entries (when open) must be submitted under the appropriate contest category. 

GUIDELINES

Fiction: Bellevue Literary Review seeks character-driven fiction with  original voices and strong settings. We do not publish genre fiction (romance, sci-fi, horror). Most of our published stories tend to be in the range of 2,000-4,000 words. We have only occasionally published flash fiction.  While we are always interested in creative explorations in style, we do  lean toward classic short stories. (5,000 words max.)

Creative Nonfiction:  We are looking for essays that reach beyond the standard ‘illness narrative’ to develop a topic in an engaging and original manner. Incorporate anecdotes that feel  alive, and dazzle us with thoughtful and creative analysis that allows  these anecdotes to serve a larger purpose. Please note that we do not publish graphic narratives, academic discourses, or works with footnotes. (5,000 words max.)   

Poetry:  We encourage poems that are accessible to a wide audience. Characteristics we look for are vivid writing, strong narrative, and rendering the familiar new. We encourage you to peruse back issues in our archive to get a sense of our ethos. Please submit no more than three poems. Each poem should be on a separate page within a single document.    

• We happily consider simultaneous submissions, but please inform us immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere.
• Manuscripts can only be accepted electronically via Submittable.
• We strive to provide several reviewers for each manuscript and kindly ask your patience in this necessarily slow process. But if you have not heard from us within five months, feel free to inquire about your manuscript.
•  Authors receive $75 for poetry and $150 for prose upon publication. Authors also receive two copies of the issue in which their work appears, plus an additional 1-year subscription to BLR. There is an author discount for purchasing extra copies.
• All submissions must be of previously unpublished work.* BLR acquires First North American rights, and the right to reprint in anthologies and online. After publication, all other rights revert to the author and the work may be reprinted as long as appropriate acknowledgement to BLR is made.   
• By submitting, authors affirm that the work being submitted is their own original writing, has not been previously published, and was not created or materially shaped by generative artificial intelligence tools.

(*For BLR, “published work” means published in print in North America, or published on the Internet in electronic journals, e-zines, academic websites, and other “public” or “official” websites. Works posted on personal blogs or websites will be considered on a case-by-case basis. We ask that authors be honest about web postings. If a work is discovered to have been posted or published elsewhere–and not openly acknowledged by the author in advance–we will remove it from consideration.)