Seattle-based Crab Creek Review is a woman-run journal publishing new voices, as well as emerging and established writers. Discover your new favorite poet by subscribing today!
The general reading period is open from September 15 through October 15, or when our 300 Submittable Cap is hit. The editors seek original, unpublished poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction via Submittable. Submissions are free, and payment is in contributor copies. We look forward to reading your work, and encourage early submissions.
If you do not see a submission category, that means it has reached its submission cap.
Order your copy of Crab Creek Review's 2023 Spring/Summer issue here!
From cathedrals to dance floors to climate change, this issue tackles our loftiest questions while celebrating the most personal. It shifts from deep meditations to startling crystallizations as each work takes on a new form and shape. With this latest issue, you'll find writing from Jory Mickelson, Jared Beloff, Rebecca Martin, Rodrigo Toscano, Julia Mallory, Shilo Niziolek, Sarah Dalton, Forester McClatchey, Shannon K. Winston, David J. Bauman, Melody Wilson, Stephanie L Harper, Benjamid D. Carson, Carolyn Oliver, Jane Zwart, Jude Dexter, Lauren Camp among so, so many others. And we can't wait to share them all with you.
Subscribe to Crab Creek Review, a Seattle-based literary journal featuring poets and writers from the Pacific Northwest and all around the globe. Crab Creek Review has been bringing brilliant, original poetry and prose to Seattle and the rest of the world since 1983. We appreciate your support!
CNF 2026 Fast Lane
Crab Creek Review is hosting a Creative Nonfiction-only Fast Lane reading period from November 2 to November 7. Payment is one contributor copy of the issue in which the work appears.
We're looking for:
- Essays in narrative, lyric, and hybrid forms, including experimental nonfiction.
- Essays that go beyond the retelling of a memory or past event.
- Essays that interweave personal reflection with existential inquiry and engage creative analysis to serve a larger purpose.
- Essays whose dimensional range contains bitter and sweet (per Bjork: "I carry my joy on the left, carry my pain on the right.")
- Essays that open our eyes to a wider, more complex world.
Manuscript guidelines:
- One essay of up to 1,500 words.
- We do not consider or review AI-generated work. We value the creativity of humans.
- Send your work as a SINGLE attachment (.doc; .docx; .PDF); docx preferred. 12pt standard font.
- Title your document with title and name (i.e: ESSAYTITLE_Adrienne Rich).
- If you've already submitted your writing during the Fall open period, do not send additional work. If you are a previous contributor, we’d love to hear from you if it’s been two years since the date of your last publication with us.
- Include a cover letter in the provided space in the Submittable form (not in the document). Include your email address, a 50-word bio, and the title of the piece you are submitting.
- Simultaneous submissions are allowed (please indicate in your cover letter), however if the piece is accepted elsewhere, notify us immediately by withdrawing your submission.
- Only original, previously unpublished work will be considered. An essay that is published includes work that appears on personal websites and social media.