Bellevue Literary Review

Submitting your work

The Bellevue Literary Review welcomes submissions of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction that engage with themes of health, illness, healing, and the human body. Writers should submit their best work, keeping in mind the journal's emphasis on literary quality and emotional depth. Submissions are accepted year-round, but the journal offers no-fee submissions for current subscribers during certain periods. It is advisable to review past issues to understand the journal's aesthetic and thematic preferences. Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but please notify the journal immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere. All submissions should be made through the online portal, and writers should include a brief bio.

Bellevue Literary Review seeks high-caliber, unpublished work, broadly and creatively related to our themes of health, healing, illness, the mind, and the body. We seek character-driven fiction with original voices and strong settings. While we are always interested in creative explorations in style, we do lean toward classic short stories. We are looking for essays that reach beyond the standard illness narrative to develop a topic in an engaging and original manner. (Please note that we do not publish graphic narratives, academic discourses, or works with footnotes.) We encourage poems that are accessible to a wide audience. Characteristics we look for are vivid writing, strong narrative, and rendering the familiar new.