Colorado Review

Current Issue and Information about Colorado Review

Current Issue: Summer 2024

Featuring

The New Language

By Xochiquetzal Candelaria
Instead of a Gun

By Alyse Knorr
The Spaces in Which We Think

By Nasser Alsinan
II.

By Caroline O'Connor Thomas
Jude

By Erika Krouse
We Are Here Now

By Elizabeth Kadetsky

Table of Contents [PDF]

Contributor Notes [PDF]

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Colorado Review can also be ordered through EBSCO, W.T. Cox, Harrassowitz, and Ex Libris.

To order by mail, send a check or money order to:
Colorado Review
9105 Campus Delivery
Department of English
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, Colorado 80523-9105

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Submission Guidelines

Colorado Review is no longer accepting paper submissions through the mail. Please send all manuscripts via our Submittable portal.

What kind of work gets published in Colorado Review?

Colorado Review pays its writers and artists: $300 for short stories and nonfiction; $100 for poetry; and $100 for cover photography.

Like most literary magazines, we ask that anyone submitting work be familiar with our publication. You may purchase sample copies from the website (see the “current issue” or “back issue” pages), and many university & public libraries carry CR. We also provide examples of recently published stories, poems, and essays on our website. Somehow, please read what we publish and see if your work and our vision are a good match before you submit.

We are now accepting photography submissions to be considered as potential cover art. Full guidelines and details are linked here.

General Information

Fiction & poetry manuscripts are accepted from August 1 to March 31.
Nonfiction manuscripts are accepted year-round.
Simultaneous submissions are accepted; writers must notify us immediately if the work is accepted elsewhere.
If Colorado Review has published your work in the last two years, please refrain from submitting so that we may continue to feature new voices.
With the exception of book reviews, Colorado Review does not publish the work of CSU faculty (current or emeritus), staff, or students; CSU alumni may submit three years after their graduation.
We consider only previously unpublished work.
We accept translations of previously published or unpublished work. Upon submitting a translation, writers must provide proof of permission to translate.
Colorado Review purchases First North American Serial Rights; all rights revert to the author upon publication in CR. We pay our poets a flat fee of $100 and we pay $300 for short stories and essays. Authors also receive two copies of the issue in which they are published and a one-year subscription to CR.
We strongly encourage writers to be familiar with our magazine before submitting to it. Examples of work published in Colorado Review are posted on our website; sample copies of issues before Spring 2020 are also available for $10 each, including postage; issues beginning with Spring 2020 are $12 each, including postage.
Authors do NOT need to be residents of Colorado or the United States. If you are, however, a foreign national working in the United States, please check the conditions of your visa status with regard to receiving payment from entities other than your sponsor. Colorado State University cannot issue honoraria to foreign nationals with B1/WB, B2/WT, H-1B, or F-1 visas. A J-1 visa holder with a sponsor other than CSU must have written authorization from the Responsible Officer (RO) at their sponsoring institution prior to the activity.
Cover letters should provide the author’s name, mailing address, phone number, and e-mail address (if available). Please indicate whether the manuscript should be returned (if so, include appropriate postage on the SASE).
Manuscripts should be double-spaced, printed on one or both sides of the paper. We appreciate one-inch margins, 12-point type, and standard typefaces (e.g., Times New Roman). Please don’t send your only copy; we are not responsible for loss of or damage to your manuscript.
Every single submission received at Colorado Review is read at least once. If two or more of our editorial assistants upvote a submission, it moves on to a genre editor, who will make the final decision to accept it. We have a large and talented editorial staff, and generally we respond within four months (and sometimes quicker). Please do not assume that we did not read your work just because you receive a response within a couple of weeks of having submitted to us. At the beginning of our reading period, for example, we are very quick, as we have fewer submissions to read. If, however, you submit during winter break, much of the staff is on vacation and response time may be longer. Similarly, if you submit close to the end of our reading period, we may not get to your submission until the fall. If you have not received a response from us after three months, you are welcome to call or e-mail about your submission.

Fiction & Nonfiction

We consider short fiction and personal essays with contemporary themes (no genre fiction or literary criticism). There is no specific word or page count; generally, however, Colorado Review prefers short stories and essays that are somewhere between 15 and 25 manuscript pages. We do not accept flash fiction or nonfiction. Please submit only one story or essay at a time.

While it is difficult to define the sort of story we’re looking for, some of the questions we ask ourselves while reading manuscripts are: Is there an engaging opening? Has the author created original, idiosyncratic characters, people you’re interested in following through the story? Is the language crisp and sharp? Is there a provocative central problem or issue in the story? Is the story about something, and is whatever it is about important or troubling? Is the pace suitable? Is the story tightly constructed from start to finish? Most of the stories we accept—though not all—are twenty to twenty-five manuscript pages.

For nonfiction, we are interested in memoir, personal essay, and creative nonfiction. Generally, scholarly essays are not appropriate.

Colorado Review pays $300 for short stories and nonfiction.

Poetry

Colorado Review considers poetry of any style.

Beginning with the Summer 2024 issue, each issue will feature the work of approximately fifteenpoets, and poets will be paid a flat fee of $100. We prefer that poets submit groups of poems that work together, but this should not be seen as a barrier to submission. All poems will be considered on their own merit. You are welcome to submit up to 7 poems, totaling no more than 20 pages. Please note that we welcome long poems too (up to 10 pages), as long as the submission does not total more than 20 pages. Please don't send us more than one submission (group of poems) at a time.

Please also keep in mind that line lengths are limited by the size of our print journal; we can only fit up to 65 characters (including spaces and punctuation) per line. If your poem has very long lines or requires spacing that exceeds 65 characters, Colorado Review likely will not be able to accommodate the formatting.

If Colorado Review has published your work in the last two years, please refrain from submitting so that we may continue to feature new voices.

If for any reason you’d like to withdraw a poem, please send us a message through Submittable. Please do not send requests to remove poems from your manuscript through Submittable’s “Open Editing” option.

Book Reviews

If you are interested in reviewing a book for Colorado Review, please first read a few reviews in your preferred genre, then read our guidelines for poetry review or prose reviews.

Some guiding principles for Colorado Review’s book reviews:

An effort to see the vision of a book across its entirety—holistic
An effort to work on behalf of the book—generous
An effort to ensure the review is accessible to other readers (and to this end, we encourage writing in the first person)—accessible

Please note that we publish book reviews only on our website.

Reviewers are compensated with a one-year subscription to CR.

How to Submit

Online

By Mail

Colorado Review Podcast

Latest Episode

January 2022: Episode 65

Past Episodes

See More Episodes

About Colorado Review

Launched in 1956 (with the first issue featuring work by Langston Hughes, William Carlos Williams, E. E. Cummings, Henry Miller, Bertolt Brecht, and Mark van Doren), Colorado Review is a national literary journal featuring contemporary fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and book reviews. Each issue is approximately 200 pages. Published three times a year, CR has a circulation of approximately 1,100, is carried by university and public libraries across the country, and is also available via Project MUSE. The journal receives over 7,000 manuscript submissions each academic year. It lives on the campus at Colorado State University.

Colorado Review is committed to the publication of contemporary creative writing. We are equally interested in work by both new and established writers. While open to a variety of styles and concerns, CR welcomes work that centers story and voice and/or that plays with form in meaningful ways. We accept short fiction, literary nonfiction, poetry, and book reviews (reviews are published online only).

Masthead

CLP Director & CR Editor-in-Chief

Stephanie G'Schwind

Managing Editor

Lauren Furman

Assistant Managing Editor

Chase Cate

Fiction Editor

Steven Schwartz

Poetry Editors

Associate Fiction Editor

Jennifer Wortman

Nonfiction Editors

Book Review Editors

Nicole VanderLinden (fiction & nonfiction)
Chase Cate (poetry)
Dan Beachy-Quick (poetry editor emeritus)

Associate
Editors

Nick Botkin
Chase Cate
Amy Gordon
Linnea Harris

Editorial
Assistants

Josephine Gawtry
Sarah Mullens
Natalia Sperry

Contributing
Editors

Charles Baxter
Robin Black
Robert Boswell
Steven Church
Jorie Graham
Michael Martone
Clint McCown
Antonya Nelson
Alberto Rios

Advisory
Board

Ellen Brinks
Pattie Cowell
Kathy Hayes
Deanna Ludwin
Neil Petrie
Bruce Ronda
Steven Schwartz
William Tremblay
Felicia Zamora

Editors
Emeriti

R. Collins (“Jay Pell”)
John Lewis
F. M. Latiolais
Peter Reardon
Charles Robinson
Nicholas Crome
Wayne Ude
William Tremblay
David Milofsky

Social Media Manager

Josephine Gawtry

Advertising

Colorado Review is published three times a year—in March, July, and November. Advertising space is limited, and reservations are accepted in order of receipt.

Deadlines

Spring

Reservation: November 15
Copy Due: December 15
Publication Date: March 15

Summer

Reservation: March 15
Copy Due: April 15
Publication Date: July 15

Fall/Winter

Reservation: July 15
Copy Due: August 15
Publication Date: November 15

Rates

Whole Page

Width/Height: 5 x 7
Cost: $150

Half Page

Width/Height: 5 x 3.5
Cost: $75

Discount

Three consecutive issues: 25%
If payment accompanies order: 10%

Technical Requirements

PDF files only

Contact

Stephanie G’Schwind, Editor
Colorado Review
Department of English
9105 Campus Delivery
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO 80523

Telephone: (970) 491-5449

creview@colostate.edu

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Your contribution to Colorado Review helps us to continue publishing fresh and innovative work by writers at all stages of their careers as well as provide professional internship opportunities to graduate students. Thank you for your support—we are truly grateful!

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About

Colorado Review

Prizes

Series

Bookstore

Colorado Review

Current Issue: Summer 2024

Featuring

The New Language

Instead of a Gun

The Spaces in Which We Think

II.

Jude

We Are Here Now

Orders & Subscriptions

Already have a digital subscription?

Submission Guidelines

What kind of work gets published in Colorado Review?

How to Submit

Colorado Review Podcast

Latest Episode

Past Episodes

About Colorado Review

Masthead

CLP Director & CR Editor-in-Chief

Managing Editor

Assistant Managing Editor

Fiction Editor

Poetry Editors

Associate Fiction Editor

Nonfiction Editors

Book Review Editors

Associate Editors

Editorial Assistants

Contributing Editors

Advisory Board

Editors Emeriti

Social Media Manager

Advertising

Deadlines

Spring

Summer

Fall/Winter

Rates

Whole Page

Half Page

Discount

Technical Requirements

Contact

Donate

Associate
Editors

Editorial
Assistants

Contributing
Editors

Advisory
Board

Editors
Emeriti