West Trade Review ★Work published here has won or been selected for: Best American Essays, Best Debut Short Stories (PEN/Rob…, Best of the Net.

Open now for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.

Last checked

West Trade Review is a quarterly literary journal seeking original, unpublished fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry, with regular submissions accepted during two annual reading periods.

Response time info: Typically within one month or less, and no more than 3 months at most; expedited response is approximately 2 weeks.

Read the full guidelines at westtradereview.com↗

Submission calls

fictionLiteraryCloses Dec 15$3 general submission fee; free submissions during the first three days of each month from April through December.

Regular submissions are accepted April 1-August 1 and August 15-December 15. Seeks literary-focus, character-driven fiction with psychological depth; no genre pieces. Submit one prose piece up to 5,000 words, with a third-person biography of no more than 150 words.

nonfictionLiteraryCloses Dec 15$3 general submission fee; free submissions during the first three days of each month from April through December.

Regular submissions are accepted April 1-August 1 and August 15-December 15. Seeks personal essays, memoir, literary journalism, and lyric essays that blend style with substance and reach beyond the personal. Submit one nonfiction piece up to 6,000 words, with a third-person biography of no more than 150 words.

poetryLiteraryCloses Dec 15$3 general submission fee; free submissions during the first three days of each month from April through December.

Regular submissions are accepted April 1-August 1 and August 15-December 15. Seeks powerful imagery, surprising juxtaposition, and language that connects to human experience. Submit up to 5 poems as one Microsoft Word file, with a third-person biography of no more than 150 words.

fictionLiteraryOpens Jan 15, 2027

The Phyllis Grant Zellmer Prize for Fiction contest runs January 15-March 15. The page does not provide a separate contest word limit or payment amount.

poetryLiteraryOpens Jan 15, 2027

The West Trade Review Prize for Poetry contest runs January 15-March 15. The page does not provide a separate contest word limit or payment amount.

Find every market your piece fits.

Add your writing — make it private, or open it up for critiques — and Leafmines matches it against 1,000+ magazines and journals in one go, free.

Similar markets seeking submissions

Browse more: short fiction markets, poetry markets, nonfiction markets, literary markets, literary poetry markets, literary nonfiction markets