The Worcester Review's 2023 reading period is now closed. 

Submissions are currently scheduled to reopen in Summer/Fall 2024. 

Submissions for the 2024 Frank O'Hara Prize---open only to WCPA members and those who live, work, and/or study in Worcester County--are open from January 1, 2024 until March 31, 2024. 

General Guidelines

Thank you for considering The Worcester Review as a home for your work. 

Please include a three-sentence, third-person biography with your cover letter.

Simultaneous submissions: Encouraged! Our response time ranges from two weeks to six months. Please promptly withdraw any pieces that find homes elsewhere. If you have a partial withdrawal (one poem or flash piece out of a batch, for example) please leave us a note in Submittable's "Messages" tab.

Multiple submissions: Please submit only once per genre for each volume. Additional submissions will be declined unread. Please do not withdraw and resubmit your work! If you notice an error or omission after submitting, simply leave a note in Submittable's "Messages" tab. 

Previously published work: Not considered. We expect to publish Volume 45 in Fall 2024. Therefore, please do not submit any writing that will appear in another publication (online or in print) before Fall 2024. 

Past contributors: Please wait one year after the publication of the issue that includes your work before submitting again. For example, if your work appears in the 2023 issue of TWR, please do not submit again until 2024.

Fees: $3 per submission in Submittable.

• TWR offers a waived-fee option for BIPOC writers.
• TWR does not want to miss out on submissions from any writer; if our submission fee is a barrier for you, please email the editor.

Accepted work -- Rights and Payment: The Worcester Review reserves First Publication Rights and for all submissions chosen for publication, as well archival rights. Accepted work will appear in the print journal and may appear on The Worcester Review's website and in the online archives. Payment will be two copies upon publication (or a PDF copy, for international contributors) and a small honorarium (via PayPal). In recent years, the honorarium was $20 for each writer.