Submission Guidelines
We are looking for visual art in all categories.
Please submit 5-8 pieces at a time. We may ask for additional art based on this submission. We accept work that has been previously published on the artist's social media or personal website but we do not accept work that has been previously published in other journals.
Upon acceptance, we will request high res files, an author's bio, and an artist's statement. We publish art in full color, often selecting between 2 and 4 artists for each issue. One of these will receive cover credit and bookmark credit. 

Anonymous Demographic Survey

After submitting your work, we'd appreciate it if you'd consider filling out our optional and anonymous Issue 77 Demographic Survey. Your responses to this survey will help us better understand who our calls for submissions are reaching and better fulfill our mission!

A Note on Hybrid Work:

If you’re unsure what genre to submit your hybrid work in, please select the genre that feels most fitting.

A Note on Content Warnings:

If you are submitting work that you feel would be appropriately accompanied by a content warning, please feel free to include such content warning at the bottom of your cover letter, and/or at the very top of your submission file.

Submission Guidelines

• Please only submit to one call for submissions at a time.
• Submissions are open November 1 - November 30. We do not have a cap on poetry submissions.
• Submit a maximum of 3 poems totaling up to 8 pages. Please include your entire submission in one file.
• All work should be uploaded through our submission manager. Acceptable file formats include .doc, .docx, and .pdf.
• Please send one submission per genre at a time, and wait for a response before you submit additional work.
• Simultaneous submissions are welcome. If your work is accepted elsewhere, please notify the editors immediately by adding a message to your submission in Submittable.
• Withdraw your submission using Submittable. If you are only withdrawing a section of your work (for example: 2/5 poems), add a message to your submission in Submittable.
• We do not accept previously published material.
• We do not accept work that was produced wholly or in part by AI.
• We do not consider book-length works. Submitters are strongly encouraged to read the journal before submitting. Sample work from current and past issues is available on our website.
• Anyone affiliated with ASU (staff, faculty, and graduate/undergraduate students) should refrain from submitting to HFR until they have been unaffiliated for three years.
• If you have previously been published in HFR's print journal or a web issue, please wait 2 years from your publication date before submitting again.
• By submitting, you are agreeing to receive occasional newsletter emails from us. You are welcome to opt out at any time and a link to do so will be included in each newsletter.

Free Submissions for Underrepresented Writers

At HFR, we believe that as a literary journal we have the responsibility to publish creative work that reflects diverse experiences, identities, and cultures on both a national and global scale. We are especially committed to uplifting the voices of those who have long been marginalized and underrepresented. 

Towards this cause, we will have 100 free submissions in each genre for underrepresented voices. If you consider yourself to fit into this category, please submit for free to “Free Submissions for Underrepresented Writers.” Among the many types of underrepresentation that exist in literature, we particularly encourage Black, Indigenous, People of Color, and those who belong to the LGBTQIA+ and disability communities to submit to HFR. 

We do not discriminate on any impermissible basis, including race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, or disability. Anyone without regard to these categories is welcome to submit as an underrepresented writer if they consider their experiences or identities to be underrepresented in the literary industry. If you have any questions please email us (haydensferryreview at gmail dot com).

Anonymous Demographic Survey

After submitting your work, we'd appreciate it if you'd consider filling out our optional and anonymous Issue 78 Demographic Survey. Your responses to this survey will help us better understand who our calls for submissions are reaching and better fulfill our mission!

Free Submissions for Underrepresented Writers

At HFR, we believe that as a literary journal we have the responsibility to publish creative work that reflects diverse experiences, identities, and cultures on both a national and global scale. We are especially committed to uplifting the voices of those who have long been marginalized and underrepresented. 

Towards this cause, we will have 100 free submissions in each genre for underrepresented voices. If you consider yourself to fit into this category, please submit for free to “Free Submissions for Underrepresented Writers.” Among the many types of underrepresentation that exist in literature, we particularly encourage Black, Indigenous, People of Color, and those who belong to the LGBTQIA+ and disability communities to submit to HFR. 

We do not discriminate on any impermissible basis, including race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, or disability. Anyone without regard to these categories is welcome to submit as an underrepresented writer if they consider their experiences or identities to be underrepresented in the literary industry. If you have any questions please email us (haydensferryreview at gmail dot com).

A Note on Hybrid Work:

If you’re unsure what genre to submit your hybrid work in, please select the genre that feels most fitting.

A Note on Content Warnings:

If you are submitting work that you feel would be appropriately accompanied by a content warning, please feel free to include such content warning at the bottom of your cover letter, and/or at the very top of your submission file.

Submission Guidelines

• Please only submit to one call for submissions at a time.
• Submissions are open November 1 - November 30 or until we hit our cap of 100 poetry submissions in this free category. Note that we do not have a cap on submissions in our regular poetry category.
• Submit up to 3 poems totaling up to 8 pages. Please include your entire submission in one file.
• All work should be uploaded through our submission manager. Acceptable file formats include .doc, .docx, and .pdf.
• Please send one submission per genre at a time, and wait for a response before you submit additional work.
• Simultaneous submissions are welcome. If your work is accepted elsewhere, please notify the editors immediately by adding a message to your submission in Submittable.
• Withdraw your submission using Submittable. If you are only withdrawing a section of your work (for example: 1/3 poems), add a message to your submission in Submittable.
• We do not accept previously published material.
• We do not accept work that was produced wholly or in part by AI.
• We do not consider book-length works. Submitters are strongly encouraged to read the journal before submitting. Sample work from current and past issues is available on our website.
• Anyone affiliated with ASU (staff, faculty, and graduate/undergraduate students) should refrain from submitting to HFR until they have been unaffiliated for three years.
• If you have previously been published in HFR's print journal or a web issue, please wait 2 years from your publication date before submitting again.
• By submitting, you are agreeing to receive occasional newsletter emails from us. You are welcome to opt out at any time and a link to do so will be included in each newsletter.

Anonymous Demographic Survey

After submitting your work, we'd appreciate it if you'd consider filling out our optional and anonymous Issue 78 Demographic Survey. Your responses to this survey will help us better understand who our calls for submissions are reaching and better fulfill our mission!

A Note on Hybrid Work:

     If you’re unsure what genre to submit your hybrid work in, please select the genre that feels most fitting.

A Note on Content Warnings:

     If you are submitting work that you feel would be appropriately accompanied by a content warning, please feel free to include such content warning at the bottom of your cover letter, and/or at the very top of your submission file.

 Submission Guidelines

• Please only submit to one call for submissions at a time.
• Submissions open November 1 - November 30.
• We accept one story or novel excerpt per author at any given time.
• Prose should be double-spaced. Submit a maximum of one piece totaling up to 20 pages (though we favor pieces under 17 pages).
• Please include your entire submission in one file.
• All work should be uploaded through our submission manager. Acceptable file formats include .doc, .docx, and .pdf.
• Please send one submission per genre at a time and wait for a response before you submit additional work.
• Simultaneous submissions are welcome. If your work is accepted elsewhere, please notify the editors immediately by adding a message to your submission in Submittable.
• Withdraw your submission using Submittable. If you are only withdrawing a section of your work, add a message to your submission in Submittable.
• We do not accept previously published material.
• We do not accept work that was produced wholly or in part by AI.
• We do not consider book-length works. Submitters are strongly encouraged to read the journal before submitting. Sample work from current and past issues is available on our website.
• Anyone affiliated with ASU (staff, faculty, and graduate/undergraduate students) should refrain from submitting to HFR until they have been unaffiliated for three years.
• If you have previously been published in HFR's print journal or a web issue, please wait 2 years from your publication date before submitting again.
• By submitting, you are agreeing to receive occasional newsletter emails from us. You are welcome to opt out at any time and a link to do so will be included in each newsletter.

Free Submissions for Underrepresented Writers

At HFR, we believe that as a literary journal we have the responsibility to publish creative work that reflects diverse experiences, identities, and cultures on both a national and global scale. We are especially committed to uplifting the voices of those who have long been marginalized and underrepresented. 

Towards this cause, we will have 100 free submissions in each genre for underrepresented voices. If you consider yourself to fit into this category, please submit for free to “Free Submissions for Underrepresented Writers.” Among the many types of underrepresentation that exist in literature, we particularly encourage Black, Indigenous, People of Color, and those who belong to the LGBTQIA+ and disability communities to submit to HFR. 

We do not discriminate on any impermissible basis, including race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, or disability. Anyone without regard to these categories is welcome to submit as an underrepresented writer if they consider their experiences or identities to be underrepresented in the literary industry. If you have any questions please email us (haydensferryreview at gmail dot com).

Anonymous Demographic Survey

After submitting your work, we'd appreciate it if you'd consider filling out our optional and anonymous Issue 78 Demographic Survey. Your responses to this survey will help us better understand who our calls for submissions are reaching and better fulfill our mission!

Free Submissions for Underrepresented Writers

At HFR, we believe that as a literary journal we have the responsibility to publish creative work that reflects diverse experiences, identities, and cultures on both a national and global scale. We are especially committed to uplifting the voices of those who have long been marginalized and underrepresented. 

Towards this cause, we will have 100 free submissions in each genre for underrepresented voices. If you consider yourself to fit into this category, please submit for free to “Free Submissions for Underrepresented Writers.” Among the many types of underrepresentation that exist in literature, we particularly encourage Black, Indigenous, People of Color, and those who belong to the LGBTQIA+ and disability communities to submit to HFR. 

We do not discriminate on any impermissible basis, including race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, or disability. Anyone without regard to these categories is welcome to submit as an underrepresented writer if they consider their experiences or identities to be underrepresented in the literary industry. If you have any questions please email us (haydensferryreview at gmail dot com).

A Note on Hybrid Work:

If you’re unsure what genre to submit your hybrid work in, please select the genre that feels most fitting.

A Note on Content Warnings:

If you are submitting work that you feel would be appropriately accompanied by a content warning, please feel free to include such content warning at the bottom of your cover letter, and/or at the very top of your submission file.

Submission Guidelines

• Please only submit to one call for submissions at a time.
• Submissions are open November 1 - November 30 or until we hit our cap of 100 fiction submissions in this free category. Note that we do not have a cap on submissions in our regular fiction category.
• We accept one story or novel excerpt per author at any given time.
• Prose should be double-spaced. Submit a maximum of one piece totaling up to 20 pages (though we favor pieces under 17 pages).
• Please include your entire submission in one file.
• All work should be uploaded through our submission manager. Acceptable file formats include .doc, .docx, and .pdf.
• Please send one submission per genre at a time and wait for a response before you submit additional work.
• Simultaneous submissions are welcome. If your work is accepted elsewhere, please notify the editors immediately by adding a message to your submission in Submittable.
• Withdraw your submission using Submittable. If you are only withdrawing a section of your work, add a message to your submission in Submittable.
• We do not accept previously published material.
• We do not accept work that was produced wholly or in part by AI.
• We do not consider book-length works. Submitters are strongly encouraged to read the journal before submitting. Sample work from current and past issues is available on our website.
• Anyone affiliated with ASU (staff, faculty, and graduate/undergraduate students) should refrain from submitting to HFR until they have been unaffiliated for three years.
• If you have previously been published in HFR's print journal or a web issue, please wait 2 years from your publication date before submitting again.
• By submitting, you are agreeing to receive occasional newsletter emails from us. You are welcome to opt out at any time and a link to do so will be included in each newsletter.

Anonymous Demographic Survey

After submitting your work, we'd appreciate it if you'd consider filling out our optional and anonymous Issue 78 Demographic Survey. Your responses to this survey will help us better understand who our calls for submissions are reaching and better fulfill our mission!

A Note on Hybrid Work:

     If you’re unsure what genre to submit your hybrid work in, please select the genre that feels most fitting.

A Note on Content Warnings:

     If you are submitting work that you feel would be appropriately accompanied by a content warning, please feel free to include such content warning at the bottom of your cover letter, and/or at the very top of your submission file.

 Submission Guidelines

• Please only submit to one call for submissions at a time.
• Submissions open November 1 - November 30.
• We accept one story or novel excerpt per author at any given time.
• Prose should be double-spaced. Submit a maximum of one piece totaling up to 20 pages (though we favor pieces under 17 pages).
• Please include your entire submission in one file.
• All work should be uploaded through our submission manager. Acceptable file formats include .doc, .docx, and .pdf.
• Please send one submission per genre at a time and wait for a response before you submit additional work.
• Simultaneous submissions are welcome. If your work is accepted elsewhere, please notify the editors immediately by adding a message to your submission in Submittable.
• Withdraw your submission using Submittable. If you are only withdrawing a section of your work, add a message to your submission in Submittable.
• We do not accept previously published material.
• We do not accept work that was produced wholly or in part by AI.
• We do not consider book-length works. Submitters are strongly encouraged to read the journal before submitting. Sample work from current and past issues is available on our website.
• Anyone affiliated with ASU (staff, faculty, and graduate/undergraduate students) should refrain from submitting to HFR until they have been unaffiliated for three years.
• If you have previously been published in HFR's print journal or a web issue, please wait 2 years from your publication date before submitting again.
• By submitting, you are agreeing to receive occasional newsletter emails from us. You are welcome to opt out at any time and a link to do so will be included in each newsletter.

Free Submissions for Underrepresented Writers

At HFR, we believe that as a literary journal we have the responsibility to publish creative work that reflects diverse experiences, identities, and cultures on both a national and global scale. We are especially committed to uplifting the voices of those who have long been marginalized and underrepresented. 

Towards this cause, we will have 100 free submissions in each genre for underrepresented voices. If you consider yourself to fit into this category, please submit for free to “Free Submissions for Underrepresented Writers.” Among the many types of underrepresentation that exist in literature, we particularly encourage Black, Indigenous, People of Color, and those who belong to the LGBTQIA+ and disability communities to submit to HFR. 

We do not discriminate on any impermissible basis, including race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, or disability. Anyone without regard to these categories is welcome to submit as an underrepresented writer if they consider their experiences or identities to be underrepresented in the literary industry. If you have any questions please email us (haydensferryreview at gmail dot com).

Anonymous Demographic Survey

After submitting your work, we'd appreciate it if you'd consider filling out our optional and anonymous Issue 78 Demographic Survey. Your responses to this survey will help us better understand who our calls for submissions are reaching and better fulfill our mission!

Free Submissions for Underrepresented Writers

At HFR, we believe that as a literary journal we have the responsibility to publish creative work that reflects diverse experiences, identities, and cultures on both a national and global scale. We are especially committed to uplifting the voices of those who have long been marginalized and underrepresented. 

Towards this cause, we will have 100 free submissions in each genre for underrepresented voices. If you consider yourself to fit into this category, please submit for free to “Free Submissions for Underrepresented Writers.” Among the many types of underrepresentation that exist in literature, we particularly encourage Black, Indigenous, People of Color, and those who belong to the LGBTQIA+ and disability communities to submit to HFR. 

We do not discriminate on any impermissible basis, including race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, or disability. Anyone without regard to these categories is welcome to submit as an underrepresented writer if they consider their experiences or identities to be underrepresented in the literary industry. If you have any questions please email us (haydensferryreview at gmail dot com).

A Note on Hybrid Work:

If you’re unsure what genre to submit your hybrid work in, please select the genre that feels most fitting.

A Note on Content Warnings:

If you are submitting work that you feel would be appropriately accompanied by a content warning, please feel free to include such content warning at the bottom of your cover letter, and/or at the very top of your submission file.

Submission Guidelines

• Please only submit to one call for submissions at a time.
• Submissions are open November 1 - November 30 or until we hit our cap of 100 fiction submissions in this free category. Note that we do not have a cap on submissions in our regular fiction category.
• We accept one story or novel excerpt per author at any given time.
• Prose should be double-spaced. Submit a maximum of one piece totaling up to 20 pages (though we favor pieces under 17 pages).
• Please include your entire submission in one file.
• All work should be uploaded through our submission manager. Acceptable file formats include .doc, .docx, and .pdf.
• Please send one submission per genre at a time and wait for a response before you submit additional work.
• Simultaneous submissions are welcome. If your work is accepted elsewhere, please notify the editors immediately by adding a message to your submission in Submittable.
• Withdraw your submission using Submittable. If you are only withdrawing a section of your work, add a message to your submission in Submittable.
• We do not accept previously published material.
• We do not accept work that was produced wholly or in part by AI.
• We do not consider book-length works. Submitters are strongly encouraged to read the journal before submitting. Sample work from current and past issues is available on our website.
• Anyone affiliated with ASU (staff, faculty, and graduate/undergraduate students) should refrain from submitting to HFR until they have been unaffiliated for three years.
• If you have previously been published in HFR's print journal or a web issue, please wait 2 years from your publication date before submitting again.
• By submitting, you are agreeing to receive occasional newsletter emails from us. You are welcome to opt out at any time and a link to do so will be included in each newsletter.

Anonymous Demographic Survey

After submitting your work, we'd appreciate it if you'd consider filling out our optional and anonymous Issue 78 Demographic Survey. Your responses to this survey will help us better understand who our calls for submissions are reaching and better fulfill our mission!

Translation submissions are open year-round and during the months we open for submissions in other genres for a forthcoming issue, we’ll also open submissions for 100 free translation submissions under the Submittable category “TRANSLATION: Free Submissions for Underrepresented Writers - Issue X.”

Submission Guidelines
      Translations submissions should be works translated into English from any other non-English language, and must include the original text along with the translated text.
 

• Translators should secure rights to translate the work they are submitting. Please confirm in your cover letter that you have the rights. 
• Please only submit to one call for submissions at a time.
• Submit up to 6 poems/micro-fictions, or one essay/story.
• Prose should be double-spaced. We do not have a strict word count, though we favor pieces under 17 pages, and rarely accept work that is over 20. Please do not submit pieces that are over 25 pages.
• Please include your entire submission in one file, and be sure your name and contact information are included on the first page of the file.
• All work should be uploaded through our submissions manager. Acceptable file formats include .doc, .docx, and .pdf.
• Please send one submission per genre at a time, and wait for a response before you submit additional work.
• Simultaneous submissions are welcome. If your work is accepted elsewhere, please notify the editors immediately by adding a message to your submission in Submittable.
• Withdraw your submission using Submittable. If you are only withdrawing a section of your work (for example: 2/5 poems), add a message to your submission.
• We do not accept previously published material.
• We do not consider book-length works. Submitters are strongly encouraged to read the journal before submitting. Sample work from current and past issues is available on our website.
• Upon acceptance, we will request a translator's note on your translation process (similar to an artist statement).

Free Submissions for Underrepresented Writers

At HFR, we believe that as a literary journal we have the responsibility to publish creative work that reflects diverse experiences, identities, and cultures on both a national and global scale. We are especially committed to uplifting the voices of those who have long been marginalized and underrepresented. 

Towards this cause, we will have 100 free submissions in each genre for underrepresented voices. If you consider yourself to fit into this category, please submit for free to “Free Submissions for Underrepresented Writers.” Among the many types of underrepresentation that exist in literature, we particularly encourage Black, Indigenous, People of Color, and those who belong to the LGBTQIA+ and disability communities to submit to HFR. 

We do not discriminate on any impermissible basis, including race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, or disability. Anyone without regard to these categories is welcome to submit as an underrepresented writer if they consider their experiences or identities to be underrepresented in the literary industry. If you have any questions please email us (haydensferryreview at gmail dot com).

Anonymous Demographic Survey

After submitting your work, we'd appreciate it if you'd consider filling out our optional and anonymous Issue 77 Demographic Survey. Your responses to this survey will help us better understand who our calls for submissions are reaching and better fulfill our mission!

Free Submissions for Underrepresented Writers

At HFR, we believe that as a literary journal we have the responsibility to publish creative work that reflects diverse experiences, identities, and cultures on both a national and global scale. We are especially committed to uplifting the voices of those who have long been marginalized and underrepresented. 

Towards this cause, we will have 100 free submissions in each genre for underrepresented voices. If you consider yourself to fit into this category, please submit for free to “Free Submissions for Underrepresented Writers.” Among the many types of underrepresentation that exist in literature, we particularly encourage Black, Indigenous, People of Color, and those who belong to the LGBTQIA+ and disability communities to submit to HFR. 

We do not discriminate on any impermissible basis, including race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, or disability. Anyone without regard to these categories is welcome to submit as an underrepresented writer if they consider their experiences or identities to be underrepresented in the literary industry. If you have any questions please email us (haydensferryreview at gmail dot com).

A Note on Hybrid Work:

If you’re unsure what genre to submit your hybrid work in, please select the genre that feels most fitting.

A Note on Content Warnings:

If you are submitting work that you feel would be appropriately accompanied by a content warning, please feel free to include such content warning at the bottom of your cover letter, and/or at the very top of your submission file.

Submission Guidelines

Please submit your translation pieces here. If you have questions concerning this policy, please email us.

• Please only submit to one call for submissions at a time.
• Submissions open November 1 - November 30 or until we hit our cap of 100 translation submissions in this free category. Note that we do not have a cap on submissions in our regular translations category, which is open year-round.
• Translations submissions should be works translated into English from any other non-English language, and must include the original text along with the translated text.
• Translators should secure rights to translate the work they are submitting.
• Submit up to 6 poems/micro-fictions, or one essay/story.
• Prose should be double-spaced. We do not have a strict word count, though we favor pieces under 17 pages, and rarely accept work that is over 20. Please do not submit pieces that are over 25 pages.
• Please include your entire submission in one file.
• All work should be uploaded through our submissions manager. Acceptable file formats include .doc, .docx, and .pdf.
• Please send one submission per genre at a time, and wait for a response before you submit additional work.
• Simultaneous submissions are welcome. If your work is accepted elsewhere, please notify the editors immediately by adding a message to your submission in Submittable.
• Withdraw your submission using Submittable. If you are only withdrawing a section of your work (for example: 2/5 poems), add a message to your submission in Submittable.
• We do not accept previously published material.
• We do not accept work that was produced wholly or in part by AI.
• We do not consider book-length works. Submitters are strongly encouraged to read the journal before submitting. Sample work from current and past issues is available on our website.
• Upon acceptance, we will request a translator's note on your translation process (similar to an artist statement).

Anonymous Demographic Survey

After submitting your work, we'd appreciate it if you'd consider filling out our optional and anonymous Issue 78 Demographic Survey. Your responses to this survey will help us better understand who our calls for submissions are reaching and better fulfill our mission!

Call for Submissions: Hayden Ferry Review 2026 Spring Web Issue  

Aftercare turns its attention to what comes after intensity, crisis, or rupture, those moments when care, attention, and repair are needed most. 

Borrowing its name from the language of kink, the folio asks what it means to stay, to tend, to rebuild. We gather work that lingers in aftermath: the slow recalibration of breath, the tenderness of rebandaging a wound, the exhaustion and beauty of maintenance.

We invite submissions of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, visual art, and hybrid forms that explore the politics of gentleness and repair, emotional, ecological, or communal, and the forms of attention that emerge once moments of intensity have passed.

How can slowness, reciprocity, and rest operate as radical acts of survival?

Works we are inspired by include From “The World After Rain,” II: Twice Awake by Canisia Lubrin, Self-Compassion by James Crews, When Eddie Levert Comes by Deesha Philyaw, and "Milk Blood Heat" by Dantiel W. Moniz. 

We highly encourage submissions from BIPOC, queer, and disabled writers and visual artists, as well as collaborative works.

Submission Guidelines:  

• Poems: Submit up to 6 pages of poems in one document. Each poem should be on a separate page.  

• Prose (fiction/nonfiction): Submit up to 10 pages, double-spaced, in one document. Please check whether the piece is fiction or nonfiction.

• Translation: The original piece must be provided along with your English translation. Both the  original and its translation will be published. Please confirm you have the rights to publish the original work (we will request proof if your translation is accepted).  

• Art: Submit up to 6 pieces. We encourage video work to be submitted (video work not to exceed 5 minutes).  

• Hybrid: Submit following the guidelines for the genre it most closely resembles/is in conversation with.  

Please include a brief bio (150 words max) with your submission and briefly explain how your piece connects to the theme of “Aftercare."

Simultaneous submissions are welcome, but please notify us immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere.  

All submissions must be previously unpublished. We do not accept work that was produced wholly or in part by AI.

Please only submit to one call for submissions at a time.

Anonymous Demographic Survey

After submitting your work, we'd appreciate it if you'd consider filling out our optional and anonymous Spring 2026 Web Issue Demographics Survey. Your responses to this survey will help us better understand who our calls for submissions are reaching and better fulfill our mission!