Sacramento Literary Review‘s first annual Story Prize will be judged by former contributor Robert McGuill from a short list of finalists selected by the editors of the magazine. The winner will be awarded $300 and publication in the winter print issue. Up to three finalists will also be offered publication.

About the judge:

Robert McGuill is a five-time Pushcart Prize nominee, Narrative Magazine Contest Winner, and “Best of the Net” nominee. His story collection “The Outskirts of Nowhere” was a 2014 Leapfrog Press Fiction Contest semi-finalist, and a 2015 St. Lawrence Book Award semi-finalist. McGuill’s short story “Requiem for a Bantamweight” was selected as a finalist in the 2014 Machigonne Fiction Writing contest, and his short story “Desperado” was named a finalist in American Fiction 2015.  In 2016, McGuill’s short story “Riverbound” was named a finalist for the Sequestrum New Writers Award, and his short story collection, The Second Time Around was named a finalist for the Serena McDonald Kennedy Award for Fiction. In 2017, McGuill’s short story “Unseen” was named a finalist for the University of Arizona’s Tucson Festival of Books Literary Awards Competition, and his story “Man of Letters” was ranked #5 in The Saturday Evening Post’s “Top 10 Stories of the Year.” In 2018, McGuill’s short fiction “Kings in Exile” was selected as a finalist in the Sequestrum New Writer Awards, and in 2023 he was named a Quarterfinalist in the ScreenCraft Cinematic Short Story Competition. His works of fiction have appeared in literary magazines throughout the U.S. and abroad.

McGuill lives and writes in Colorado. He is an assistant editor with Narrative Magazine. His work is represented by Trident Media Group.

We accept fiction up to 6,500 words in length. Please submit only one story at a time. We primarily publish literary fiction but welcome work that challenges traditional notions of what that means.

We are looking for stories in which every word contributes to the whole. Stories that take advantage of all the tools available to a writer to create something fresh and moving. Send us your best.

Sacramento Literary Review accepts unsolicited submissions of previously uncurated fiction, poetry, and art year-round. Please read the detailed instructions for your genre below before submitting.

We try our best to respond to all submissions within three months. We accept free submissions as well as expedited paid submissions through Duosuma. Writers with limited access to the internet may also send work to [email protected] with the submission genre (fiction, poetry, or art) in the subject line. Please note that we may take longer to respond to emailed submissions.

Sacramento Literary Review acquires first serial rights to accepted work. Copyright reverts back to the author upon publication. As a free publication that also charges no fees for submissions, we are unfortunately unable to provide payment to our authors.

After you submit, please consider subscribing to our print magazine offered on a pay what you can basis or making a donation so that we can continue to offer free submissions to those for whom fees may present a financial hardship.

We look forward to reading your work.

We accept fiction up to 6,500 words in length. Please submit only one story at a time. We primarily publish literary fiction but welcome work that challenges traditional notions of what that means. Translations are welcome, but translators are expected to secure translation rights before submitting.

We are looking for stories in which every word contributes to the whole. Stories that take advantage of all the tools available to a writer to create something fresh and moving. Send us your best.

Please submit no more than five poems or ten pages of poetry in a single Word or PDF document. Translations are welcome, but translators are expected to secure translation rights before submitting.

We are looking for shorter poems (usually no longer than two single-spaced pages) that go somewhere. We like poetry that uses figurative language and imagery in fresh ways to shed some slanted rays of light on the human condition. Our tastes are eclectic: some of our favorite poets include Ocean Vuong, Allen Ginsberg, and Richie Hofmann.

Above all, we want timely writing that is also timeless. We want the poems that only you could have written.

If you’re a visual artist or photographer and would like to submit work for an upcoming issue, please email it to [email protected] with “Visual Art” as the subject line. If your files are too large to be sent as an attachment, a link to a Google Drive folder shared to the above address is also acceptable. You may include up to five images per submission. Please do not submit more once per issue.