Please read the following guidelines before you submit. We also recommend you read previous issues as a guide to the quality of work that is of interest to us.
General Guidelines
- Blackbird does not accept previously published work.
- Simultaneous submissions are acceptable so long as they are indicated as such and we are immediately notified upon acceptance elsewhere. To withdraw individual poems from a submission, please send a message in Submittable notifying us of the poems that are no longer available.
- Translations are welcome so long as permissions have been obtained from the author.
- We are able to publish long works in all genres, but query Blackbird before you send a prose piece over 8,000 words or a poem exceeding 10 pages.
- Please submit a cover letter, either in the box provided or as the first page of your submission; if you have previously published with Blackbird or received encouragement on a previous submission, please include that information as well.
- Expect six months for a decision, longer if you submit just before the summer break. Do not query until at least six months have passed.
Please note!
Our poetry submissions are currently closed. It is projected to open again mid-August.
Video Essays (new!): We are eager to publish video essays of quality and vision. To submit, please query us by emailing blackbird@vcu.edu
If you are a currently-enrolled student (not at VCU), please email blackbird@vcu.edu for a link to a waived-fee submission form.
Direct all queries to:
We accept book reviews of up to 500 words or fewer. Books must have been published within a year. We only accept reviews of first or second books.
Completed craft essays and interviews of up to 2,000 words.
You may also choose to pitch an interview by querying us at www.blackbird@vcu.edu.
- In a single PDF document, send up to ten images of a single body of work (or related series of works).
- At the beginning of your PDF, please include an artist’s statement of up to 500 words that addresses this particular body of work and your general artist’s practice; an image index detailing each work’s title, medium, dimensions and date of completion; and, if the work has been exhibited, when and where.
- Artists selected for publication should be prepared to submit individual jpeg images of their work and will be interviewed by Blackbird’s art editor for a written feature. Featured artists may also be asked to participate in a video or audio segment to accompany their work, but participation will be at the artist’s discretion.
- While Blackbird does not generally accept previously published artworks, we are happy to feature bodies of work that have appeared in exhibition catalogues or an artist’s/gallery’s social media/websites. It is also acceptable to submit bodies of work including individual pieces that have appeared in other publications so long as the majority of the works submitted have not been published elsewhere.