Our Submissions portal is open between September 1 and September 30, 2026. In 2027, our magazine will feature folios on the following themes:
- Contemporary Caribbean Literature
- Caretaking and the Giving of Car
We invite work that broadly interprets these themes. When you submit, you will have the option to identify your work for general submission or the themes.
We strongly encourage submitters to familiarize themselves with work previously published by The Kenyon Review. Subscriptions are available here, and anyone can read up to five free pieces per month in our Archive.
We do not charge a reading fee for general submissions.
We consider previously unpublished:
- short fiction and essays (up to 7,500 words)
- flash fiction and essays (up to 3 pieces, up to 1,000 words each; please format and submit as a single document)
- poetry (up to 6 poems; please format and submit as a single document)
- excerpts (up to 30 double-spaced pages) from larger works
We do consider translations in the categories and special folios and themes listed above.
Please submit your translated work to its corresponding genre (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, or the appropriate theme or folio).
You may submit to more than one genre. However, please submit no more than one submission in a given genre (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama); multiple submissions in the same genre (including multiple submissions with different themes) will be disregarded.
We are not currently considering the following:
- unsolicited interviews
- unsolicited book reviews
- unsolicited artwork
- drama/scripts
- emailed submissions (please use Submittable)
- previously published material
Paper submissions are only available to writers who do not have ready access to the internet (including those who are incarcerated). Paper submissions for the current submissions period must be postmarked by the current submission period’s deadline and must be accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Send hard copies to: SUBMISSIONS, The Kenyon Review, 102 W. Wiggin St., Gambier, OH 43022
We do not accept revisions to submissions. Do not send new drafts unless requested to do so by an editor.
Simultaneous submissions are permitted, but please notify us immediately if the work has been accepted elsewhere by messaging us through Submittable and indicating which pieces are no longer available. If the entire manuscript is unavailable, please withdraw the piece. We cannot consider additional work in the place of withdrawn work.
We read every submission, and because we receive so many submissions per year, response times will vary according to the volume of submissions. We aim to respond to all submissions within six months of receipt. Feel free to query us at kenyonreview@kenyon.edu for an update if after six months of submitting work if you do not hear from us. Thank you in advance for your patience.
Authors will receive a contract upon acceptance and payment upon publication. Authors retain copyright to their work published in The Kenyon Review.
Submitting work to The Kenyon Review adds you to our mailing list. You may unsubscribe from this list at any time.
Please be sure to add kenyonreview@kenyon.edu to your contacts so that you can receive correspondence from us about your submission.
If you are unable to submit because you have not verified your email address with Submittable and have not received a verification notification, we recommend adding notifications@email.submittable.com to your safe-sender or contact list and attempting email verification again. The Submittable forms require email verification for security purposes. If you continue to experience issues, we recommend you submit a Submittable support request; the support team usually responds quite quickly and can send you your individual verification link directly.
We pay $0.08 per published word of prose (minimum $80, maximum $450) and $0.16 per published word of poetry (minimum $40, maximum $200).
We generally follow the Chicago Manual of Style and Webster’s latest New Collegiate Dictionary.
Thank you for sharing your work with us!
Simultaneous submissions are permitted, but please notify us immediately if the work has been accepted elsewhere by messaging us through Submittable and indicating which pieces are no longer available. If the entire manuscript is unavailable, please withdraw the piece. We cannot consider additional work in the place of withdrawn work.
We read every submission, and because we receive so many submissions per year, response times will vary according to the volume of submissions. We aim to respond to all submissions within six months of receipt. Feel free to query us at kenyonreview@kenyon.edu for an update if after six months of submitting work if you do not hear from us. Thank you in advance for your patience.
Authors will receive a contract upon acceptance and payment upon publication. Authors retain copyright to their work published in The Kenyon Review.
Submitting work to The Kenyon Review adds you to our mailing list. You may unsubscribe from this list at any time.
Please be sure to add kenyonreview@kenyon.edu to your contacts so that you can receive correspondence from us about your submission.
If you are unable to submit because you have not verified your email address with Submittable and have not received a verification notification, we recommend adding notifications@email.submittable.com to your safe-sender or contact list and attempting email verification again. The Submittable forms require email verification for security purposes. If you continue to experience issues, we recommend you submit a Submittable support request; the support team usually responds quite quickly and can send you your individual verification link directly.
We pay $0.08 per published word of prose (minimum $80, maximum $450) and $0.16 per published word of poetry (minimum $40, maximum $200).
We generally follow the Chicago Manual of Style and Webster’s latest New Collegiate Dictionary.
Thank you for sharing your work with us!
We will be accepting poetry manuscripts between November 15, 2026 and January 15, 2027.
The Kenyon Review publishes the winning poetry in print, and the author is awarded a full scholarship to attend the Kenyon Review Writers Workshops.
(Note: If you are a high school student in your sophomore or junior year, please submit to the Patricia Grodd Poetry Prize for Young Writers.)
- Submit via our Submittable portal. We cannot accept paper submissions.
- Writers must not have published a book of poetry at the time of submission. (We define a “published book of poetry” as a full-length poetry book, poetry chapbook, or other poetry collection written by you and published by someone other than you in print, on the web, or in ebook format.)
- Please submit 3-5 poems, no longer than ten pages. These can be from a cohesive project or a sampling of your work. Submissions will be judged on the strength of the work as a whole, not on an individual poem. Please send us your best and strongest work.
- Please submit no more than once per year.
- Please do not simultaneously submit your contest entry to another magazine or contest.
- Please do not submit work that has been previously published.
- Before you submit, please remove your name and any other identifying information from your manuscript.
- The Submittable portal will remain active between November 15, 2026 and January 15, 2027.
- The entry fee for the Poetry Contest is just $24, collected at the time of submission. All entrants are invited to claim a complimentary half-year Print plus Digital subscription to The Kenyon Review (for domestic addresses) or a half-year Digital-only subscription (for international addresses) through January 15, 2027. Your new half-year subscription to The Kenyon Review will include the Spring 2027 and Summer 20277 issues. Current subscribers will receive a two-issue extension on their current subscription. As always, we will open in the fall for regular submissions, which we read at no cost to writers.
Winners will be announced in the late spring. You will receive an email notifying you of any decisions regarding your work.
2026
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Thanks for your interest in The Kenyon Review!
The Patricia Grodd Poetry Prize for Young Writers, created in 2007 to recognize outstanding young poets, is an annual contest for poets who are sophomores and juniors in high school. The contest is named in honor of Patricia Grodd in recognition of her generous support of The Kenyon Review and its programs, as well as her passionate commitment to education and deep love for poetry.
The poems by the winner and runners-up will be published in The Kenyon Review, and the winner receives a full scholarship to the Kenyon Review Young Writers workshop. Submissions for the contest are open every year November 1 through November 30.
- To submit your poem: fill out the fields below, attach your file, and click the "submit here" button.
- Please submit only one poem to the contest. Only unpublished work will be considered for the prize. Please do not simultaneously submit your contest entry to another magazine or contest.
- You must be a high school sophomore or junior to enter.
- Make sure your file is one of the following formats: PDF, Word document (.doc or .docx), Rich Text Format (.rtf), Microsoft Wordpad and Notepad, Apple TextEdit (.txt).
- We charge no entry fee. It is free to enter.
- Submit between November 1 and November 30, 2026.
Winners will be announced in early spring 2026 via email, on The Kenyon Review website, and in the Kenyon Review newsletter.
Thanks for your interest in The Kenyon Review.
The Kenyon Review Developmental Editing Fellowship for Emerging Writers is designed to nurture and develop new voices in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. The fellowship will provide support for emerging writers who demonstrate exceptional talent, promise, and commitment to their chosen craft. Participation in the program involves one-on-one mentorship by an experienced editor on the KR team over a period of four months. Fellows can expect to have monthly hour-long conversations with a Developmental Editor, who will provide feedback and suggestions on a book draft.
Eligibility
- Applicants must be twenty-one years of age or older.
- This fellowship opportunity is open to any writer who is not currently enrolled in a degree-granting creative writing program.
- Applicants should not have published a full-length literary book with a major publisher, university press, or other established press, or be under contract for a book. Published work in literary magazines or journals is acceptable.
- Writers from communities that are traditionally underrepresented in the publishing industry are especially encouraged to apply.
Application
- Submit between November 1 and December 15, 2026.
- Include…
- a project description (max 500 words). Please note any challenges or particular areas of concern within the work.
- a poetry or prose writing sample of the project. The writing sample should be 10–15 pages (double spaced for fiction and nonfiction).
- a recent copy of your CV.
- The application fee is $18. If this fee poses a hardship, please contact us at kenyonreview@kenyon.edu.
- All fee-paying applicants are invited to claim a complimentary half-year Print plus Digital subscription toThe Kenyon Review (for domestic addresses) or a half-year digital subscription (for international addresses) through November 31, 2027.
Selection Process
Our Developmental Editors (members of the KR editorial team) will review the applications and select the Fellows they will work with. They will reach out to the Fellow and arrange for an initial conversation by phone or Zoom. Fellows and Developmental Editors will collaborate on a work plan, establish goals, and determine deadlines and a schedule for monthly hour-long conversations. Over the course of four months, they will meet by phone or Zoom to discuss the progress of the writing project. Winners will be announced in early 2027.