Grub Street Literary Magazine

SEND US YOUR BEST WORK FOR VOLUME 76!

Free physical copies of volume 75 are available on Towson University's campus. You can access a pdf through our website wp.towson.edu/grubstreetlitmag.

SEND US YOUR BEST POEMS, FICTION, ESSAYS, AND ART

Our submission window is open, and it will remain open until December 15, 2026. Submissions are evaluated on a rolling basis. (For submissions to the High School Contest, please scroll to the bottom of this page for details.) If your submission has been accepted elsewhere, please withdraw your submission. 

Editors' Statement

At Grub Street we look for works of outstanding literary merit. We accept submissions in the usual genres (fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and visual art), as well as submissions that are less easily categorized (such as lyric essays, comics, one-act plays, collage, and visual poetry). 

We read all submissions with care and attention. To maintain a fair selection process, we remove all identifying information from submissions before passing them along to our genre teams. We welcome new and established writers, and we hope to showcase the voices of underrepresented writers. 

Please follow the submission guidelines to ensure that your work receives a place in our review process.

PDFs of our back issues can be found on our website: wp.towson.edu/grubstreetlitmag.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Only previously unpublished works (either in print or online) will be considered for publication. Please submit one work per file. Do not submit group submissions (i.e., if you submit five poems, do not put all five poems into one document. Please create five separate documents for each poem.) We read submissions in a blind-review process, so please remove all identifying information from your works. (i.e; title pages, headers, document file titles, etc.) Genre-specific guidelines are as follows:

• Poetry: Up to five poems may be submitted for consideration. Please submit one poem per document. Documents should be .doc or .docx files only.
• Fiction: Up to two pieces of fiction may be submitted for consideration. Please submit one prose piece per document. Documents should be .doc or .docx files only. Please keep each fiction submission under 6,000 words.
• Creative Nonfiction: Up to two pieces of creative nonfiction may be submitted for consideration. Please submit one prose piece per document. Documents should be .doc or .docx files only. Please keep each nonfiction submission under 6,000 words.
• Visual Art: Up to five works of visual art may be submitted for consideration. Visual art should be at least 4x6 inches and sent as a .png, .raw or high-quality .jpeg file with at least 300dpi and a size of at least 1MB. 
• Video: Up to five works in video format such as short films, video essays, video interviews, etc. that interact with literature or language may be submitted for consideration. Please submit one piece per file. Please keep submissions under 15 minutes.
• Comics: Up to five graphic/comic pieces may be submitted for consideration. Pieces should be at least 4x6 inches and sent as a .png, .raw or high-quality .jpeg file with at least 300dpi and a size of at least 1MB. Please submit one piece per file. Please keep submissions under 10 pages.

If you have questions or concerns about these guidelines that are not addressed in our FAQ, please contact us via email at grubstreet1952@gmail.com.

High School Contest

Maryland high school students: Please send your best poetry, fiction, and/or creative nonfiction to grubstreet1952@gmail.com. Put "HIGH SCHOOL CONTEST" in the subject line. You may submit in multiple categories. You may submit up to five poems, three stories, and three pieces of creative nonfiction. Stories and essays should not exceed 6,000 words. You may also submit to the journal proper, regardless of submitting to the contest. 

We look forward to receiving your work and wish you the best of luck in your literary and artistic endeavors.