Michigan Quarterly Review

General print-journal prose submissions are accepted January 1-April 1 and August 1-November 1 and are preferably under 7,000 words. Nonfiction is automatically considered for MQR Online. The James A. Winn Prize accepts one nonfiction piece April 1-May 31 annually and awards $1,500 and publication.

Open to: For the 2027 Jesmyn Ward Fiction Prize, current Helen Zell Writers’ Program faculty and students, recent graduates within three years, people connected to the judge as specified, and MQR staff, editorial board members, and their immediate family members are excluded.

General print-journal submissions are accepted January 1-April 1 and August 1-November 1; prose is preferably under 7,000 words. The journal also accepts one unpublished short story up to 7,000 words for the 2027 Jesmyn Ward Fiction Prize, open September 1-November 30 annually, with a $2,000 prize and publication.

Open to: For the Laurence Goldstein Poetry Prize, close friends, relatives, students, and former students of the judge, current MQR editorial board and staff and their immediate family members, and recent Helen Zell Writers’ Program graduates and current faculty and staff are excluded.

General poetry submissions are accepted January 1-April 1 and August 1-November 1; submit up to 6 poems totaling no more than 12 pages. The 2027 Laurence Goldstein Poetry Prize accepts up to 5 unpublished poems totaling no more than 10 pages, and the Goldstein Prize is open September 1-November 30 annually.

MQR Online accepts pitches and submissions year-round for book reviews, essays, arts and culture features, and author interviews; selected pitches may be invited to submit a full piece up to 3,000 words. The editor cannot respond to all pitches.

The Basketball Folio seeks scholarly articles, personal and reflective essays, memoirs, short stories, novel excerpts, poetry, translations, and hybrid work about the global influence of basketball, including perspectives beyond American basketball culture. Original, unpublished work up to 8,000 words was due October 1, 2026.