Novellas are perfect for that in-between space — fiction too long for a short story, too brief for a novel. We’re looking for works that journey through that Other space only a novella can fill. Think about 20,000 to 50,000 words. Maybe your novella covers a topic that make the mainstream uncomfortable. Or maybe it’s formally experimental. Or maybe it has a surprising take on the mundane aspects of life. The field is open. Send us your best.

The final product here is a physical book, just like Northwest Review journals: gritty, grainy, thick paper stock, an art object with original illustrations. Let’s make art together.

We welcome submissions of literary criticism, book reviews of current or forthcoming titles, personal essays, and creative nonfiction. For essays and criticism, please try to stay within 5,000 words, if possible. Book reviews can usually succeed within 1,000 words or less. As for creative nonfiction, allow your story to dictate the length, while keeping in mind that the shorter the work, the more space we’ll have for it.

As of July 2023, we enthusiastically welcome flash nonfiction (roughly 1,000 words or less) for online publication.

Short Fiction Master Class Workshop

Northwest Review is pleased to announce its first fiction workshop. Starting on Tuesday November 14, accepted writers will meet [**updated] VIRTUALLY for a two hour fiction workshop led by editor in chief S. Tremaine Nelson.

Details on the Workshop

The Northwest Review fiction workshop will follow the Columbia University MFA Program model in which writers share their work every week and receive constructive feedback from their peers. The instructor will lead and curate a collaborative discussion in class that addresses any questions the writer has about their work. Participants will be asked to provide a 500 word critique of each work presented in class that addresses elements of style and craft. Eight students will be accepted for each workshop. There is no requirement for previous participation in any workshop.

Manuscript Details

Writing samples should represent your very best work. If selected, writers can submit separate stories for workshopping. The workshop application should be a manuscript of short fiction no more than 9,000 words in length. The excellence (and strangeness) of the fiction are the only criteria for admission. The manuscript should be formatted with normal-ish margins, 12 point font, and double-spaced with page numbers. Manuscript submissions will be read by the Northwest Review editorial staff. Northwest Review editor in chief S. Tremaine Nelson will read and select the final eight workshop participants.

Cover Letter

Let us know how long you've been working on your submission, what you hope to learn in the workshop, and whether you're hoping for guidance on a forthcoming MFA or Ph.D. application. We will use the workshop, as well, to provide guidance on what MFA programs are looking for in a prospective applicant.

Reading List

Students will also be provided with a short fiction syllabus for purposes of discussion at the beginning of each class; the outside reading is encouraged but not mandatory for participation in class discussion. The four stories we will discuss include: James Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues," Flannery O'Connor's "Good Country People," Amy Hempel's "Reasons to Live," and Annesha Mithal's "Feral," published in the spring 2022 issue of Northwest Review. We will also discuss the editorial and selection process of "Feral" and the role that literary agencies play in supporting journals.

Workshop Schedule

The workshops will run on Tuesdays at 7:00 p.m. We will convene on 11/7, 11/14, 11/28, and 12/5.

Applications are now open until spots fill up. The total cost for the four week workshop is $400.

We look forward to reading your work!

About the Instructor

S. Tremaine Nelson is editor in chief and publisher of Northwest Review. Previously, he worked in the fiction departments of The Paris Review and The New Yorker magazines. He is a graduate of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee and the Columbia MFA Program in New York City. He lives in Portland, Oregon, where he was born and raised.

We want to publish art that the mainstream, hierarchical, academized system deems “outsider.” We are interested in illustration, collage, comics, and graphic narratives, or any format that expresses an authentic gesture of human emotion and experience as you see it. Do you have an idea for a 2D visual installation? Do you have a reverse ekphrastic piece? Do you have surreal doodles you furiously sketched upon waking from a terrifying dream sequence? Do you have Xerox art? Riso art? We’re interested. When it comes to photography we like to see work that is experimental in technique, environmental in spirit, or that exposes the inhumanity of the global capitalist industrial military complex to say Enough.

Please submit up to five pieces of art per entry. Our journal is printed in black and white, so consider how your work will translate to grayscale. Upon acceptance, we’ll need files that are at least 3.5" wide at 300 DPI.