Witness seeks original fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and photography that is innovative in its approach, broad-ranging in its concerns, and that dazzles us with its unique perspective. We often enjoy material that ventures into international terrain.

Witness has published work by Lee K. Abbott, Paul Auster, Rick Bass, Madison Smartt Bell, Charles Bernstein, Robert Bly, Bonnie Jo Campbell, Maxine Chernoff, Clark Coolidge, John D’Agata, Stephen Dixon, Mark Doty, Stephen Dunn, Stuart Dybek, Russell Edson, Pete Fromm, Albert Goldbarth, Donald Hall, Ha Jin, Maxine Hong Kingston, Karl Ove Knausgaard, Gordon Lish, Joe Meno, Josip Novakovich, Joyce Carol Oates, Sharon Olds, Mary Oliver, Peter Orner, Carl Phillips, George Saunders, Charles Simic, David Shields, Gary Snyder, Terese Svoboda, and Terry Tempest Williams.

Witness is published twice yearly: one themed print issue in the Spring, and one non-themed online issue in Fall/Winter. Unsolicited work is welcome for all issues.

 

Reading periods

August 15–October 1: In 2019, we will be reading for our annual Witness Literary Awards in Fiction, Non-Fiction and Poetry. We are also accepting submissions for our theme issue “Magic”, launching at AWP in San Antonio in March 2020. All work submitted for the Literary Awards will also be considered for publication in “Magic” or future issues.

January 15-March 1, 2020 : Non-themed Fall/Winter online issue. We welcome general submissions in Fiction, Poetry, and Nonfiction. Please do not submit thematic work during the general reading period and vice versa.

 

Submit Online

 

Guidelines

  • We do not accept previously published work. This requirement applies to material that has appeared online in any form or format, including personal blogs.
  • We accept all submissions electronically via Submittable. We do not accept any submissions via email or post. A submittable.com account is free, but there is a $3.00 fee per submission to help defray administrative expenses.
  • One active submission in each genre is allowed. We do not accept multiple submissions for any single genre, though you may submit up to five poems or three pieces of flash fiction (under 1,000) as a single submission. Limit prose submissions to 8,000 words maximum. Please wait for a response regarding a submission before sending more work.
  • We allow simultaneous submissions, provided you promptly withdraw your work via Submittable if it has been accepted elsewhere. In the case of poetry, if part of your submission has been accepted by another publication, please notify us by adding a note to your submission in Submittable.
  • We are currently working on decreasing the time it takes to respond to submissions. We will attempt to respond to all poetry submissions within four months; response times for fiction and nonfiction may be six months or longer, depending on the volume of submissions.

 

Photography
Witness accepts submissions of original, unpublished cover photos for both print and online issues.

We are currently seeking cover photo submissions for our upcoming print issue. The theme for the Spring 2020 issue is “Magic.”

Please visit our Submittable page for details, including current calls for work, and information on fees and payments.