The Kenyon Review is open for general submissions from September 1 until September 30, 2023. In 2024, our magazine will feature three themed sections: Extinction, Writing from Rural Spaces, and Literary Curiosities. We invite work that broadly considers 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  • We consider previously unpublished:
  1. short fiction and essays (up to 7,500 words)
  2. flash fiction and essays (up to 3 pieces, up to 1,000 words each; please format and submit as a single document)
  3. poetry (up to 6 poems; please format and submit as a single document)
  4. plays (up to 30 pages double-spaced)
  5. excerpts (up to 30 pages double-spaced) from larger works


  • We do consider translations in the categories listed above. Please submit your translated work to its corresponding genre (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, or drama). By submitting, you affirm that you hold first-serial English-language publication rights to the work.


  • We are not currently considering the following:
  1. unsolicited interviews
  2. unsolicited book reviews
  3. unsolicited artwork
  4. emailed submissions (please use submittable.com)
  5. previously published material


  • We consider submissions on Submittable and do not consider paper submissions, except from writers (such as those who are incarcerated) who do not have ready access to the internet. 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 once the submission period is closed. Do not send new drafts unless requested to do so by an editor.


  • We allow simultaneous submissions, but please notify us immediately if the work has been accepted elsewhere. 


  • For prose and drama submissions accepted elsewhere, please withdraw your piece via Submittable.


  • For poetry and flash fiction/nonfiction submissions accepted elsewhere, please use your submittable.com account to add a note to your submission listing the titles of works no longer available for consideration.


  • 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 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 lists. You may unsubscribe from these lists at any time.


  • Please be sure to add kenyonreview@kenyon.edu to contacts so that you can receive correspondence from us about your submission.


  • We generally follow the Chicago Manual of Style and Webster’s latest New Collegiate Dictionary.


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 respond quite quickly and can send you your individual verification link directly.

Thank you for sharing your work with us!


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$24.00
Submit Here to The Kenyon Review Poetry Contest

For the first time in 2023, we will be accepting submissions for the Kenyon Review Poetry Contest. We plan to continue running the contest annually from November 1 through November 30. 

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 only one poem, no longer than five pages.
  • 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 January 1 and 31, 2024. 
  • 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 February 15, 2024. Your new half-year subscription to The Kenyon Review will include the Spring 2024 and Summer 2024 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.

The final judge of this year’s contest is Pádraig Ó Tuama. Ó Tuama is a poet from Ireland with interests in conflict, religion, and language. His most recent collection is Feed the Beast (Broken Sleep Books, 2022). He presents the podcast Poetry Unbound from On Being Studios, from which Poetry Unbound: 50 Poems to Open Your World (Canongate and  W.W. Norton, 2022) comes. His work has been published in Harvard Review, Poetry Ireland, Poem-a-Day, and many other places.

Winners will be announced in the late spring. You will receive an email notifying you of any decisions regarding your work.

Thanks for your interest in The Kenyon Review!

The Patricia Grodd Poetry Prize for Young Writers (Open Only to High School Sophomores and Juniors)
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Submit Here to The Patricia Grodd Poetry Prize for Young Writers (Open Only to High School Sophomores and Juniors)

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, 2023.

The final judge of this year’s contest is acclaimed poet Richie Hofmann. He is the author of two books of poems, A Hundred Lovers (Alfred A. Knopf, 2022) and Second Empire (Alice James Books, 2015). His poetry appears recently in The Paris Review, The New Yorker, Poetry, and The Yale Review, and has been honored with the Ruth Lilly and Wallace Stegner fellowships.

Winners will be announced in early February 2024 via email, on The Kenyon Review website, and in the February Kenyon Review newsletter. 

Thanks for your interest in The Kenyon Review.

The Kenyon Review