Guidelines

Thank you for your interest in our magazine. Prairie Schooner publishes short stories, poems, interviews, imaginative essays of general interest, and reviews of current books of poetry and fiction. Scholarly articles requiring footnote references should be submitted to journals of literary scholarship.

Prairie Schooner’s intention is to publish the best writing available, both from beginning and established writers. In our seventy-five years of publication, we have printed the work of Eudora Welty, Octavio Paz, Tennesse Williams, Weldon Kees, Joyce Carol Oates, and Rita Dove, Richard Russo, Reynolds Price, Julia Alvarez, Sharon Olds, Cornelius Eady, plus scores of others.

All submissions to Prairie Schooner should be typed, double-spaced (except for poetry), and on one side of the paper only. Use margins of at least one inch, and be sure to put your name on each page of the manuscript. A self-addressed envelope, with adequate return postage on it, must accompany the submission. For poetry, we prefer a selection of 5-7 poems; for fiction, essays, and reviews, we prefer you send only one selection at a time. Send submissions to the attention of the editor at:

Prairie Schooner
201 Andrews Hall
PO Box 880334
Lincoln NE 68588-0334

Please allow 3-4 months for a reply. Prairie Schooner does not read simultaneous submissions, and submissions must be received between September 1st and May 1st. All unsolicited submissions should be sent on paper; unsolicited submissions sent by email will not be read. We do not consider work that has been previously published anywhere, including web publications.

We encourage to read Prairie Schooner before you submit:

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In 2003 we started the Prairie Schooner Prize Book Series. For information on submitting to the series, please view our Book Series guidelines.