TNQ is proud to announce The Nick Blatchford Occasional Verse Contest and
The Edna Staeber Personal Essay Contest!
Click here for full contest details.
Submission Guidelines
The best way to get a sense of what our editors might be looking for is to pick up a copy or subscribe.
Every subscription helps keep alive an important venue for Canadian writing, and every issue is a good read. You will discover a community of other writers in our pages and be able to listen in on an engaging conversation about the writer's craft.
The New Quarterly currently receives several hundred submissions in each genre every quarter, more this year (2009) than ever before. Consequently our editors--all of whom volunteer their time--find themselves struggling to keep up with the reading and provide thoughtful response to each story or poem. So, until further notice, we are asking all of our writers to send just one submission per calendar year, except when there is a special call for submissions (ie, for a theme issue of TNQ). We regret that we will have to return or recycle submissions that do not meet these criteria.
A single submission may include 1 short story, 3 poems, or 1 postscript story (under 3 pages). Query first with a proposal for an essay on writing.
Submissions must be typed and double-spaced. Please include a word count. Poetry should fit our two-column format. Please indicate stanza breaks when a poem goes on to a second page.
Make sure you include your name, address, phone number and/or e-mail address in your cover letter as well as the titles of work submitted. Your name should also appear on the submission itself.
Please be advised that we only publish Canadian writers, whether living at home or abroad. Please make your nationality clear in your cover letter if you live outside of Canada.
The New Quarterly does not consider e-mail submissions. However, we are happy to notify you by e-mail if you do not require return of your manuscript. Please indicate in your cover letter that you would like an e-mail response.
Include a short biographical note and, if you want your manuscript returned or prefer to receive our decision by post, a self-addressed stamped envelope (Canadian postage or international postal reply coupons).
We pay, on publication, $250 for a short story and $40 per poem or "postscript" story. We ask for first Canadian rights to anything we publish. Copyright remains with the author.
Response time is slow in deference to our day jobs, but our editors read everything that comes across their desks and are always on the look-out for talented newcomers. We prefer not to have multiple submissions, but realize that some writers prefer this method because of the long response times with literary journals. Should you submit elsewhere, and should your work be accepted, please notify us right away. We look forward to reading your work!
Send submissions to:
The New Quarterly
c/o St. Jerome's University
290 Westmount Road North
Waterloo, ON, Canada
N2L 3G3
Current Fiction Editors
Kim Jernigan
Amanda Watkins
Bruce Johnstone
Susan Scott
Current Poetry Editors
Barbara Carter
John Vardon
Kay Weber
Tristanne Connolly
Paul Hamann
