Anthology XIII: April 1 – June 2, 2024

Every year The Masters Review opens submissions to produce our anthology, a collection of ten stories and essays written by the best emerging authors. Our aim is to showcase writers who we believe will continue to produce great work. The ten winners are nationally distributed in a printed book with their stories and essays exposed to top agents, editors, and authors across the country. Our third volume was awarded the Silver Medal for Best Short Story Collection through the INDIEFAB Awards in 2015, and our fourth volume was an honorable mention for best anthology.
September 15, 2023

Submissions to The Masters Review Vol. XIII open April 1!

Congratulations to the writers selected for Vol. XII:

Beyond Reproach by Kristin Burcham
Good Daughter by Katherine Cart
Spider Tim by Leah Edwards
An Afternoon at the Edge of the World by Jenny Hayden Halper
Model Home by Ana Kornblum-Laudi
YOUNG AGAIN by Will James Limón
The Swans by Daniel Monzingo
Stillborn by Isabelle Shifrin
The Wedding Dress by Dyanne Stempel
Sow by Allison Backous Troy

The 2023 shortlist can be found here. Volume XII will be published in early spring 2024. More news will be available closer to the release date.


 

Every year The Masters Review opens submissions to produce our anthology, a collection of ten stories and essays written by the best emerging authors. Our aim is to showcase ten writers who we believe will continue to produce great work. The ten winners are nationally distributed in a printed book with their stories and essays exposed to top agents, editors, and authors across the country. Our third volume was awarded the Silver Medal for Best Short Story Collection through the INDIEFAB Awards in 2015, and our fourth volume was an honorable mention for best anthology.

Guidelines:

  • Previously unpublished works of fiction and narrative nonfiction only
  • Up to 7000 words
  • We accept simultaneous submissions as long as work is withdrawn if it is accepted elsewhere
  • Multiple submissions are allowed
  • International English submissions allowed
  • Emerging Writers Only. Writers must not have published a novel-length work at the time of submission (authors of short story collections and self-published titles can submit as can authors with novels or memoirs with a low distribution [no more than 5000 copies])
  • Standard formatting please (double-spaced, 12 pt font, pages numbered)
  • $20 entry fee
  • Deadline: April 2nd, 2023
  • Please, no identifying information on your story
  • All submissions are considered for publication in the anthology as well as New Voices
  • If requesting an editorial letter, please indicate on your cover letter if the submissions is fiction or creative nonfiction
  • A significant portion of the editorial letter fees go to our feedback editor, according to the rates established by the EFA
  • All submissions will receive a response by the end of June
  • Winners will be announced by the end of July
  • To view a list of our most commonly asked questions regarding submitting to The Masters Review, please see our FAQ page
  • Friends, family and associates of the final judge are not eligible for this award
  • Writers who have earned an Anthology Prize before and whose work appears in our printed book cannot submit to this category but are welcome to send us work in other open categories

We don’t have any preferences topically or in terms of style. We’re simply looking for the best. We don’t define, nor are we interested in, stories identified by their genre. We do, however, consider ourselves a publication that focuses on literary fiction. Dazzle us, take chances, and be bold

TEN PUBLISHED AUTHORS WILL RECEIVE:

  • $500 award.
  • Publication in our internationally distributed journal.
  • Exposure to over 50 literary agencies.
  • Contributor’s copy.
  • All writers are part of an exclusive mailing. We send our anthology to editors, writers, and literary institutions across the country.

About the Judge

Each year The Masters Review pairs with a guest judge to select stories. Our editorial team produces a shortlist of stories, which our judge reviews to select winners. Our past judges include Lauren Groff, AM Homes, Lev Grossman, Kevin Brockmeier, Amy Hempel, Roxane Gay, Rebecca Makkai, Kate Bernheimer, Rick Bass, Diane Cook, and Peter Ho Davies. This year’s judge is Toni Jensen!

Toni Jensen is the author of Carry: A Memoir of Survival on Stolen Land, a finalist for the Dayton Peace Prize and a New York Times Editors’ Choice book (Ballantine 2020). An NEA Creative Writing Fellowship recipient in 2020, Jensen’s essays have appeared in OrionCatapult and Ecotone, among others. She is also the author of the story collection From the Hilltop. She teaches at the University of Arkansas and the Institute of American Indian Arts.
Purchase your copy today from AmazonBarnes & Noble! or Bookshop.org!


“I read your issues like clockwork! I’m a literary agent, and there’s such a great cast of emerging writers on this site that I’m always checking in to see if there’s anyone who might be looking for representation for longer form work.” –VICTORIA MARINI, GELFMAN SCHNEIDER / ICM PARTNERS

“If these are the voices we’ll be hearing from, American literature has an awful lot to look forward to.” –RAMONA AUSUBEL, author of No One is Here Except All of Us and A Guide to Being Born

“The future of literature.” –Reader’s Favorite


Author’s Rights

The Masters Review holds first publication rights for three months after publication. Authors agree not to publish, nor authorize or permit the publication of, any part of the material for three months following The Masters Review’s first publication. For reprints we ask for acknowledgement of its publication in The Masters Review first.

28 comments

Comments are closed.

TMR_logo

At The Masters Review, our mission is to support emerging writers. We only accept submissions from writers who can benefit from a larger platform: typically, writers without published novels or story collections or with low circulation. We publish fiction and nonfiction online year round and put out an annual anthology of the ten best emerging writers in the country, judged by an expert in the field. We publish craft essays, interviews and book reviews and hold workshops that connect emerging and established writers.



Follow Us On Social

Masters Review, 2024 © All Rights Reserved