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The Fourth River accepts unpublished poetry, literary short fiction, creative nonfiction and artwork.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.
Deadline: December 15, 2017
Genre: Prose
Judge: Ira Sukrungruang
Entry fee: $15
The winning entry will be published as a 20-25-page feature in our fall, 2018 online issue. The author will also receive a cash prize of $500, and a subscription to The Fourth River’s print edition.
GUIDELINES
Please submit approximately 20-25, double-spaced pages of fiction or nonfiction prose in one file (.doc or .docx or .rtf only. No .pdf please). Submissions that are far below 20 pages will not be considered.
You may submit one long piece or several short pieces.
As always, we invite work that engages and interrogates our notions of nature and place and helps us see the world around us in a new way. The writer's name and contact information should appear on each page of the manuscript. We do not read blind. Please also provide a short bio in the appropriate field on Submittable. All pages should be numbered.
We are looking for adherence to our vision of nature and place via strong voices and impeccable craft, regardless of the style.
We accept electronic submissions only through Submittable. Emailed submissions and mailed submissions will not be considered.
Simultaneous submissions are accepted as long as they are withdrawn promptly in the event of publication elsewhere. Multiple submissions are accepted but each must include a separate contest fee. No translations.
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. No racist, misogynistic, homophobic or otherwise gratuitously hateful work will be considered. Send us your best work!All work must be original and previously unpublished. This includes any work that has appeared in print or online in any form including personal websites. We claim first North American Serial rights, so rights revert to the author after the initial publication period. We ask that you credit The Fourth River in any subsequent publications.
Submissions will be screened by a panel of editors and up to ten finalists will be sent to the judge.
The contest is open to all writers in English except those affiliated in any way with Chatham’s MFA program, The Fourth River, or current or former students and colleagues of the judge.
Submissions accepted from September 15th, 2017--December 15th, 2017. Winners will be announced by email and listed on our website by May 15th, 2018.
The Folio Contest will rotate genres each year between poetry and prose.
ABOUT OUR JUDGE
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.
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 the fall, 2017 semester. Ira's selections will appear beginning in October.
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 nonfiction 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.
