Bear Review

Submitting your work

Bear Review accepts submissions through its website during announced reading periods, typically twice a year. Writers should send no more than five poems or one short story (under 5,000 words) at a time, and simultaneous submissions are permitted with prompt notification of acceptance elsewhere. The editors value clean, uncluttered presentation and do not require cover letters, though a brief biographical note is welcome. Response times average two to four months; queries are discouraged before that window has passed. Because the journal's aesthetic is more intuitive than prescriptive, applicants are advised to read at least one recent issue before submitting to gauge whether their work aligns with the editors' evident preferences for precision, musicality, and narrative restraint.

We’re big readers, so we admire pieces that make the old new. We also dig aesthetic competence and a poet’s understanding of how their piece is situated within or outside of genre and literary tradition. That said, we really do admire experimentation and blurred genres, so long as the writer brings the heat. Our only criteria when reviewing poetry: your writing is alive on the page, is clear enough for the reader, has urgency or something at stake.