the Under Review — Winter Submission Period

Overview
the Under Review is an online literary journal published twice yearly, in Winter and Summer, with reading windows that correspond to each issue. This Winter submission period runs through November 2, 2026, and carries a $3.00 submission fee. The journal's editorial premise is narrow by design: it considers original, previously unpublished fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry in which sport functions as a slant, a nod, a backdrop, or an undercurrent—not necessarily as subject, but as pressure, frame, or residue. Work that treats athletics as mere content will find less purchase here than work in which the sporting world quietly organizes the human drama around it. The journal's scope is deliberately cross-genre within a constrained thematic field. Fiction and creative nonfiction are capped at 3,000 words; novel and memoir excerpts are acceptable provided they stand alone as self-contained pieces. Short and flash forms are welcome in both genres, with up to three pieces permitted so long as the combined word count does not exceed 3,000. Poetry submissions are limited to three poems or fewer. Simultaneous submissions are considered, and the journal reads during two annual windows: March 1 through May 1 for the Summer issue, and September 1 through November 1 for the Winter issue. What the journal offers is publication in a venue with a coherent, legible editorial identity—a rarity among general-interest literary magazines. Writers working at the intersection of sport and literary craft will find an audience already attuned to that register. The constraint is real, and it is the point: the Under Review asks not for sports writing but for writing in which sport has left its mark.