important UPDATE 10/1/25:

October first usually marks the beginning of our one month open submission period.  Last spring the internal university budget for Water~Stone Review was cut. Sadly, we are not opening submissions for 2025.

However, new university leadership listened to our case over the summer and just last month granted us the opportunity to raise funds for the operational and other associated costs of Water~Stone Review. We are anticipating a brief submissions hiatus this fall to reevaluate our structure and strategy, and to mobilize. 

Like all the presses, journals, writing centers, theatres, and public media we know, we will ask you, our community of readers, contributors, editors, and alumni family, to sustain its future, to celebrate its legacy, extend its reach, and help us to expand our community programming initiatives. We hope to be fully funded and calling for submissions to Volume 29 by the fall of 2026. 

More information about how to help us in our fundraising efforts coming soon.

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The submission period for Water~Stone Review is October 1 - November 1.  
Submission Guidelines
The following guidelines apply to general submissions.

At Water~Stone Review, we welcome and encourage diversity in voice and form. We believe in honoring the tradition of the literary journal and the work of established writers. We believe in carefully ushering new writers into the world and cultivating considerate editors. We are careful, collaborative, and nurturing. We make a beautiful, award-winning literary journal. We invite you to submit.

Note: Students currently enrolled in Hamline University's MFA or BFA programs cannot submit to Water~Stone Review.  Work from graduates of these programs is welcome.

• All submissions should be original,
  previously unpublished work.  (This also excludes work published on any
  website, including author’s own site from being submitted for
  consideration.) 
• Please include with your submission a brief cover letter listing previous places of publication, if any and the title(s) of piece(s) submitted. 
• Author's name should not appear on any of the pages of the work submitted. 
• Fiction and creative nonfiction submissions
  must be limited to 8,000 words. Novel and memoir excerpts are acceptable as
  long as they stand on their own. Short and flash forms are welcome in both CNF
  and fiction and up to three pieces in
  these forms, with the total number of words for all pieces combined not
  exceeding 8,000 is acceptable.
• Poetry submissions must be limited to
  three poems or fewer.
• Simultaneous submissions are
  acceptable, but the writer must withdraw the piece immediately if it has
  been accepted elsewhere. To withdraw work, please inform us via the Notes field on your submission. If you have any further questions or concerns, you may contact us at water-stone@hamline.edu. Another piece may NOT be submitted in its place.
• Entrants may submit only one submission
  per genre/category. It is preferred that entrants submit in only one genre per
  issue, creative nonfiction, fiction, or poetry. If submitting in more than one
  genre/category please communicate this in the cover letter to avoid clerical
  confusion.
• Payment is in two copies of the issue
  in which the author’s work appears.
• Response time is typically 4 to 6 months. 

*Mailed manuscripts are accepted by special permission
only and must be typed or printed in proper
format on white paper, in English or translations provided, one side only,
double-spaced (prose). Specify genre (fiction, creative nonfiction, or
poetry) on the outside of your envelope and in the cover letter. Please send
submissions addressed to Fiction Editor, Nonfiction Editor, or Poetry
Editor. Cover letters should be brief and should indicate the genre of the
submitted work. Author’s name should not appear on the manuscript. Please
include a SASE for result. Manuscripts will be recycled not returned.