Pisgah National Forest covers approximately 86,700 acres in Western North Carolina and was established as one of the first national forests in the United States. It was also the site of the country’s first forestry school.
Very much rooted in its sense of history and place, Pisgah Review publishes two issues a year out of Brevard College.
The most-recent issue includes Tina Barr, David Joy, and Wendell Mayo; past issues have featured writers such as Ron Rash, Steve Almond, Christiana Langenburg, Gary Fincke, and Phillip Gardener.
The magazine is extremely upfront about what they’re looking for, which is a breath of fresh air in an often obscured and impenetrable publishing landscape. Pisgah Review seeks:
Ethnic/multicultural, experimental, literary, mainstream. Special interests: stories rooted in the theme of place—physical, psychological, or spiritual. Does not want genre fiction or inspirational stories…The journal does give a small preference to work that is based evocatively on place, but we will look at any work of quality.
They receive up to 150 submissions a month (!) and accept 12-15 submissions a year. These are pretty common numbers for established literary journals, but it’s sobering to see the stats in print.
They take fiction and creative nonfiction between 2,000 and 7,500 words, although the average length is around 4,000. They also publish flash, or “short shorts,” up to 1,000 words.
Poetry: 3-5 poems per submission.
If you feel like you have something that would be a fit, they take submissions year ’round. You can send your submission to Jubal Tiner, Editor, at tinerjj@brevard.edu, at least until their submission manager is up and running again!
As always, you’re encouraged to subscribe or check out a back issue. Subscriptions are $12 for one year or $22 for two, and single back issues are $7.
You can visit Pisgah Review at www.pisgahreview.com.