Literary Journal

Brief Wilderness

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About the magazine

Brief Wilderness is an online literary and arts journal founded in 2019 with the aim of providing a contemplative space for work that engages with the natural world, solitude, and the quiet margins of experience. The journal publishes poetry, short prose, and visual art on a rolling basis, favoring pieces that demonstrate patience, precision, and a resistance to spectacle. Its founding ethos is rooted in the belief that brevity and restraint can amplify emotional and ecological resonance, making each issue a cohesive, almost diaristic collection rather than a miscellany.

Editorial focus

Brief Wilderness is a collection of independent writers and visual artists looking to explore the (seemingly empty) space between themselves and the other, whether it be another person, the natural world, or maybe even another plane of existence.

PoetryFictionCreative Nonfiction

Submitting your work

Reading periodJan 1 to Dec 31

Reading feeNo

PaymentNo payment

Response time3 to 6 months

Simultaneous submissionsNo

Unsolicited submissionsYes

Before submitting, read at least two full issues to internalize the journal's preference for understatement and sensory detail over overt messaging. Send no more than three poems or one prose piece (under 2,000 words) per reading period, and avoid simultaneous submissions unless you note them clearly. Cover letters should be brief and free of bio padding; the editors care most about the work itself. Response times typically range from four to eight weeks, and feedback is rare, so patience is part of the process.

Send high-quality work that you don’t mind someone sitting on for awhile. No spam. No simultaneous submissions.

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Submission calls

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