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Literary Journal

Swamp Ape Review

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Journals & literary magazines1 open opportunity listed

About the magazine

Swamp Ape Review is a literary and arts journal based in South Florida, founded in 2016 by graduate students in the Creative Writing program at Florida Atlantic University. The journal takes its name from the regional folklore of the Swamp Ape—a elusive, ape-like creature said to inhabit the Everglades—as a metaphor for the strange, the overlooked, and the untamed in contemporary writing and art. From its inception, the journal has sought to publish work that is formally adventurous, emotionally resonant, and unafraid of the grotesque or the marginal. Its mission is to provide a platform for emerging and established voices that challenge conventional aesthetics and explore the boundaries of genre, identity, and environment.

Editorial focus

The Swamp Ape is a legend that reflects Florida—its mythology, its weirdness—as well as the human desire to create a narrative around that which they can’t explain. Submissions to the Swamp should defy form to the extent that the piece’s creator might be unsure of where it belongs. Across all genres, the editors encourage pieces with a hybrid or nontraditional nature—works that subvert their expectations of both content and form and unsettle their assumptions of what is possible.

PoetryFictionCreative NonfictionTranslation

Submitting your work

Reading periodMar 1 to Aug 1
Reading feeNo
PaymentCash
Response timeGreater than 6 months
Simultaneous submissionsYes
Unsolicited submissionsYes

Before submitting, read several issues to understand the journal's aesthetic, which favors the surreal, the gritty, and the formally inventive. They accept poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and visual art. Simultaneous submissions are allowed, but notify them immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere. Include a brief cover letter with your submission, and ensure your work is previously unpublished. Response times vary, but generally fall within three to six months. They charge no submission fees for regular submissions, though they offer a free opt-in for a digital copy of the issue if accepted. For visual art, submit high-resolution images and a corresponding list of titles and media. The editors appreciate work that engages with place, identity, and the weird.

Read official guidelines

Submission calls

1 listed
OpenDeadline · 2027-03-01

Swamp Ape Review — Submissions

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2 items

Explore the publication through its past issues and volumes.

Crane Wife Website cover.jpg

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2021+cover+faded+image.jpg · 2021

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