Work first published in WHR has been reprinted or cited in O. Henry Prize Stories, Best American Short Stories, Best American Poetry, Best American Essays, Pushcart Prizes: Best of the Small Presses, and featured on Poetry Daily.
Western Humanities Review accepts unsolicited submissions of original poetry, fiction, nonfiction, hybrid work, audio/visual work, essays, and reviews year round. We recommend reading an issue or two before you submit your work—subscribe today or browse some samples online. We only consider unpublished work. Because of the volume of submissions we receive, we are not able to provide individual feedback and are only able to publish about 2% of them—so please send us your best work. We’re looking for dynamic writing that engages, surprises, and moves us, work that is, in fact, out to get us.
Simultaneous submissions are allowed, but we ask that you please withdraw your work from consideration immediately if it has been accepted elsewhere. All work must be submitted via our online submission system, Submittable. We do not accept submissions via email or snail mail.
We read every submission and respond as quickly as we can, but please be aware that we are experiencing a significant backlog. It can take 9 months or more for your submission to go through our review process before you receive a response. If you have not heard from us, it means your submission is still under review. Because we receive so many submissions, and we are working diligently to get through them, we are unable to respond to query emails about the status of submissions at this time. Any other question regarding the submission process can be directed to managingeditor.whr@gmail.com.
By publishing with us, you, the author, give Western Humanities Review one-time rights to publish your work in our print journal. You may opt in or out of giving Western Humanities Review electronic rights to include the work/s on our website below. If you choose to opt in, Western Humanities Review will inform you before making your work available online. In return, Western Humanities Review will pay you two copies of the print version of the magazine; there will be no other payment or royalty. Rights to the work reverts to the author, upon publication.
2026 Mountain West Writers Contest
Western Humanities Review invites writers currently living in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Wyoming, or Utah to submit to our annual contest. Prizes will be awarded in poetry and prose. Winners will receive cash awards of $500 and publication in the Fall/Winter issue of Western Humanities Review. All entrants will receive one copy of the prize issue.
CONTEST JUDGES:
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Catherine Barnett (poetry)
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Kiik Araki-Kawaguchi (prose)
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Submissions are open from 3/1/26-4/15/26. Poetry submissions should not exceed 10 pages or 5 poems. Prose submissions may be fiction or nonfiction and should not exceed 25 pages. Entries must be previously unpublished. Previous winners of the competition may not re-enter in the category for which they won. Past judges have included Carmen Giménez Smith, Vi Khi Nao, Brian Evenson, Mónica De La Torre, Lucy Corin, Oliver de la Paz, Kellie Wells, Kathleen Graber, Ander Monson, Robert Wrigley, Edward Hirsch, Allison Hagy, Ron Carlson, Stuart Dybek, Albert Goldbarth, T.R. Hummer, David Lehman, Kevin McIlvoy, Marie Ponsot, Bob Shacochis, Timothy Donnelly, David Shields, and Bob Hicok.
Catherine Barnett
Catherine Barnett is the author of four poetry collections, including Solutions for the Problem of Bodies in Space; Human Hours; The Game of Boxes, and Into Perfect Spheres Such Holes Are Pierced. A Guggenheim fellow, she received an Arts and Letters Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, teaches in NYU's MFA Program in Creative Writing, and works as an independent editor.
Kiik Araki-Kawaguchi 
Kiik Araki-Kawaguchi is the author of The Book of Kane and Margaret (FC2 / UAP) and Disintegration Made Plain and Easy (Piżama Press). He works at Western Washington University, where he is currently teaching a Weird Fiction workshop. He is currently reading Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King.
Photo by Bob Wick, BLM “Vermillion Cliffs, NM”