For all our submissions, themed or otherwise, we welcome especially work by writers who are part of marginalized groups: immigrant and indigenous writers; writers of color; women, non-binary, LGBQA and trans writers; writers with disabilities both visible and invisible. Send us your best work!
General Guidelines
The Fourth River publishes print and online issues. Submissions are accepted July 1-September 1. We will occasionally run special calls for theme issues as well.
Submissions for the web series, Tributaries, is rolling, though we will sometimes close for a short time to catch up on reading.
There is a $3 submission fee for our issues, however we will announce FREE submission days occasionally over social media, so be sure to follow us!
Submissions to Tributaries are always free.
We wish it were otherwise, but The Fourth River is not a paying market at this time. Contributors to our print issues will be offered one copy of the issue in which their work appears. Digital contributors will be offered either one back issue or a copy of the upcoming print issue.
*The Folio Contest is on hiatus for 2019-2020*
***
We welcome submissions of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction and visual art, 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.
Please send 3-5 poems, up to 4,000 words of prose, or 1-3 pieces of visual art at a time.
The Fourth River only accepts submissions via Submittable.
If you have difficulty using our submission system, please query us at 4thriver@gmail.com. We will be glad to assist you, but please understand that uninvited emailed or mailed submissions will not be read.
Recent authors we’ve published include Barbara Hurd, Susan Cohen, Todd Kaneko, Mia Ayumi Mahlotra, Ira Sukrungruang, Lisa Summe 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.
’Tis the season for generosity and sharing the joy of storytelling! And The Fourth River of Chatham University needs you! Please submit your original design to our t-shirt contest. Through t-shirt sales, we will be donating a portion to The Maenads Writing Fellowship.
Chatham’s journal, The Fourth River, is working toward relaunching The Maenads Writing Fellowship. A branch of Chatham’s affiliate program, Words Without Walls, The Maenads Writing Fellowship provides a learning and encouraging opportunity for women in recovery to write their own stories.
By donating your talents this holiday season, you help The Fourth River facilitate the incredible gift of writing. Relaunching The Maenad’s Writing Fellowship will provide a safe and guiding space for women-in-recovery to hone their writing skills and tell their stories.
Join us in supporting women’s stories and the written word. Help The Fourth River give back to our community this holiday season!
Contest Information:
Submit a black and white line drawing that represents The Fourth River. Please upload all designs as one document. Pittsburgh residents can submit designs for free, with the option to donate via a tip jar on Submittable. Non-residents pay a sliding scale donation of $3-$5 for each design submission. Individual donations are welcome. Submit and donate until February 14, 2021.
The Maenads Writing Fellowship program supports women recovering from substance abuse, providing them with opportunities for personal growth and social change through storytelling. For more information about The Maenads Writing Fellowship, visit:
http://www.wordswithoutwalls.com/maenads-fellowship
’Tis the season for generosity and sharing the joy of storytelling! And The Fourth River of Chatham University needs you! Through t-shirt sales and your generous donations, we will be donating a portion of our proceeds to The Maenads Writing Fellowship.
Chatham’s journal, The Fourth River, is working toward relaunching The Maenads Writing Fellowship. A branch of Chatham’s affiliate program, Words Without Walls, The Maenads Writing Fellowship provides a learning and encouraging opportunity for women in recovery to write their own stories.
By donating your talents and/or a little cash this holiday season, you help The Fourth River facilitate the incredible gift of writing. Relaunching The Maenad’s Writing Fellowship will provide a safe and guiding space for women-in-recovery to hone their writing skills and tell their stories.
Join us in supporting women’s stories and the written word. Help The Fourth River give back to our community this holiday season!
Individual donations are welcome. Donate until February 14, 2021.
The Maenads Writing Fellowship program supports women recovering from substance abuse, providing them with opportunities for personal growth and social change through storytelling. For more information about The Maenads Writing Fellowship, visit:
http://www.wordswithoutwalls.com/maenads-fellowship
Salvage.
Salvaged. Salvaging.
What to do in the aftermath of catastrophe, disaster, grief?
What’s the wreckage? What to salvage from the wreckage; the disposable, discarded, dumped, drained?
What is made disposable; who has been made disposable; how do we decide what is disposable?
To take from; to remake, restitch; to reconcile; let wild what might have been wrecked; what can be learned from the wreckage? How do we as humans, artists, writers, scavengers, revolutionaries, activists salvage meaning, ideas, material, language, connection?
How to salvage something—ourselves even—from the intersections of various catastrophes.
How do we salvage anything from not only environmental catastrophe but human catastrophe?
Perhaps it isn’t a wreck at all. How might we call into question salvage? We’d love you to get strange, uncanny, surreal, spectacular with salvage. We’re interested in this imagination—how to imagine, repurpose, recycle, release whatever this generative junkyard might be.
Or maybe you imagine salvage in relation to form—we’d love to read your deeply considered, formally inventive take!
We are excited to explore salvage with you. Whatever embodiment of salvage you imagine, please keep in mind we are interested in writing that is at the confluence of place, space, and identity.
WHAT TO SEND:
Stories should be no longer than 4K words. Flash is welcome. Novel excerpts are fine as long as they stand alone. No previously published work will be considered.
DEADLINE:
February 14, 2021
Salvage.
Salvaged. Salvaging.
What to do in the aftermath of catastrophe, disaster, grief?
What’s the wreckage? What to salvage from the wreckage; the disposable, discarded, dumped, drained?
What is made disposable; who has been made disposable; how do we decide what is disposable?
To take from; to remake, restitch; to reconcile; let wild what might have been wrecked; what can be learned from the wreckage? How do we as humans, artists, writers, scavengers, revolutionaries, activists salvage meaning, ideas, material, language, connection?
How to salvage something—ourselves even—from the intersections of various catastrophes.
How do we salvage anything from not only environmental catastrophe but human catastrophe?
Perhaps it isn’t a wreck at all. How might we call into question salvage? We’d love you to get strange, uncanny, surreal, spectacular with salvage. We’re interested in this imagination—how to imagine, repurpose, recycle, release whatever this generative junkyard might be.
Or maybe you imagine salvage in relation to form—we’d love to read your deeply considered, formally inventive take!
We are excited to explore salvage with you. Whatever embodiment of salvage you imagine, please keep in mind we are interested in writing that is at the confluence of place, space, and identity.
WHAT TO SEND:
Submit personal essays and short memoirs up to 4K words. We do not publish academic articles or journalism. No previously published work will be considered.
DEADLINE:
February 14, 2021
Salvage.
Salvaged. Salvaging.
What to do in the aftermath of catastrophe, disaster, grief?
What’s the wreckage? What to salvage from the wreckage; the disposable, discarded, dumped, drained?
What is made disposable; who has been made disposable; how do we decide what is disposable?
To take from; to remake, restitch; to reconcile; let wild what might have been wrecked; what can be learned from the wreckage? How do we as humans, artists, writers, scavengers, revolutionaries, activists salvage meaning, ideas, material, language, connection?
How to salvage something—ourselves even—from the intersections of various catastrophes.
How do we salvage anything from not only environmental catastrophe but human catastrophe?
Perhaps it isn’t a wreck at all. How might we call into question salvage? We’d love you to get strange, uncanny, surreal, spectacular with salvage. We’re interested in this imagination—how to imagine, repurpose, recycle, release whatever this generative junkyard might be.
Or maybe you imagine salvage in relation to form—we’d love to read your deeply considered, formally inventive take!
We are excited to explore salvage with you. Whatever embodiment of salvage you imagine, please keep in mind we are interested in writing that is at the confluence of place, space, and identity.
WHAT TO SEND:
Submit 3-5 poems for this issue. No previously published work will be considered.
DEADLINE:
February 14, 2021
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.