General Guidelines
The Fourth River publishes one print issue in the spring and one digital issue in the fall. Submissions for print are accepted July 1-September 1; for digital November 1-January 1.
Submissions for the web series, Tributaries, is rolling.
We welcome submissions that explore the relationship between humans and their environments, both natural and built, urban, rural or wild. We are looking for writing that is richly situated at the confluence of place, space and identity—or that reflects upon or makes use of landscape and place in new ways.
Recent authors we’ve published include Barbara Hurd, Susan Cohen, Nate Pritts, and BK Loren. Contributors to The Fourth River have received Pushcart Prizes, NEA Fellowships, and The Drue Heinz Literature Prize. The Fourth River’s contributors have been published in Glimmer Train, Alaska Quarterly Review, The Missouri Review, The Best American Short Stories, The O. Henry Prize Stories, and The Best American Travel Writing.
The Fourth River accepts unpublished poetry, literary short fiction, creative nonfiction and artwork.
Please send 3-5 poems, up to 7,000 words of prose, or three pieces of visual art at a time.
The Fourth River only accepts submissions via Submittable. Emailed submissions will not be read. Mailed submissions will be recycled.
Please indicate in your cover letter if your submission is intended for one of our special themes. If no theme is indicated, we will consider your work for our upcoming print and/or online issues.
NOTE: Beginning September 1, 2017, Tributaries will be a guest-edited space, with new guidelines offered for each editor's singular vision.
We are honored to welcome Ira Sukrungruang as our first Tributaries Editor for 2017-2018.
Tributaries: The New Nature
Editorial Statement, Ira Sukrungruang:
Guidelines:
Writers of color or members of the LGBTQ community may submit one poem or up to 500 words of prose that addresses the editorial statement above.
Multiple submissions are not accepted. Please submit one piece at a time and wait to hear back before submitting again.
Simultaneous submissions are fine as long as you notify us immediately.
We do not accept previously published work.
Ira Sukrungruang is the author of the memoirs Southside Buddhist and Talk Thai: The Adventures of Buddhist Boy, the short story collection The Melting Season, and the poetry collection In Thailand It Is Night. He is the coeditor of two anthologies on the topic of obesity: What Are You Looking At? The First Fat Fiction Anthology and Scoot Over, Skinny: The Fat Nonfiction Anthology. He is the recipient of the 2015 American Book Award, New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Nonfiction Literature, an Arts and Letters Fellowship, and the Emerging Writer Fellowship. His work has appeared in many literary journals, including Post Road, The Sun, and Creative Nonfiction. He is one of the founding editors of Sweet: A Literary Confection, and teaches in the MFA program at University of South Florida.
