The Threepenny Review call for submissions

The Threepenny Review will consider submissions in two ways: through the snail mail and via their on-line submissions system. Whichever method you plan to use, please read through their comprehensive writers' guidelines first. Except for items 2 and 3, all the guidelines apply equally to both methods of submission, and you will not be given this crucial information again on the on-line submissions page.

So please read completely through the guidelines below before you attempt to submit anything. Click here please to access our on-line submissions system.


N.B. PLEASE DO NOT EMAIL THEM  YOUR WRITING.
THE ONLY TWO WAYS TO SUBMIT YOUR WORK TO THE THREEPENNY REVIEW ARE THROUGH THE MAIL AND VIA THEIR ON-LINE SYSTEM. EMAILED SUBMISSIONS WILL SIMPLY BE DISCARDED BY THEM.


Writers' Guidelines below:

1. At present The Threepenny Review is paying $400 per story or article, $200 per poem or Table Talk piece. This payment buys first serial rights in our print and digital editions, and the copyright then reverts to the author immediately upon publication.

2. All mailed manuscripts must include a stamped, self-addressed envelope for our reply. Submissions should be mailed to:

The Editors
The Threepenny Review
PO Box 9131
Berkeley, CA 94709


3. All on-line submissions must consist of a single document in Word format (.doc or .docx). If you are submitting prose, the document should consist of a single article or a single story. If you are submitting poetry, please group your poems into one document containing no more than five poems, because the online system will not accept more than a single document from each person. Please include your name and address somewhere on the document as well as in our submission form.

4. We do not print material that has previously been published elsewhere, and we emphatically do not consider simultaneous submissions. We do our best to offer a quick turnaround time, so please allow us the privilege of sole consideration during that relatively brief period; writers who do not honor this request will not be published in the magazine.

5. Response time for submissions can range from two days to two months. Please do not submit more than a single story or article, or more than five poems, until you have heard back from us about your previous submission. If you have not heard from us within a couple of months, you should assume that either your communication or ours has gone astray.

6. We strongly recommend that you stay within our length limits. As a rule, critical articles should be about 1200 to 2500 words, Table Talk items 1000 words or less, stories and memoirs 4000 words or less, and poetry 100 lines or less. (Exceptions are occasionally possible, but longer pieces will have a much harder time getting accepted.) We prefer to read prose submissions that are double-spaced; poetry can be single-spaced or double-spaced.

7. Critical articles that deal with books, films, theater performances, art exhibits, etc. should cite these occasions at the front of the article, using the following format:


Theater Piece
by Playwright's Name,
directed by Director's Name.
Theater, City,
Season 20__.


Art Exhibition Title,
Gallery or Museum, City,
Start Date–End Date.


Book Title
by Author's Name.
Publisher, Year Published,
Price (cloth) (paper).


Remember that The Threepenny Review is quarterly and national (and in some respects international); therefore each "review" should actually be an essay, broader than the specific event it covers and of interest to people who cannot see the event.

8. Writers will be consulted on all significant editing done on their articles, and will have the opportunity to proofread galleys for typographical errors.

9. It is recommended that those submitting work for the first time to The Threepenny Review take a look at a sample copy beforehand. (Print copies are available from the publisher for $12.00; digital copies can be downloaded instantly for $7.00.)

10. We do not read submissions during the second half of the year (July through December), so please do not submit work then. Any material sent to us during that period will be discarded unread.

11. Emailed submissions will be discarded unread. The only two ways to submit work to us are through the mail and via our online system.


The Threepenny Review P.O. Box 9131 Berkeley, California 94709
Telephone: (510) 849-4545