The Masters Review Summer Workshop returns for the ninth year! Participants will receive personalized feedback on a story or essay of up to 7,000 words, with detailed suggestions for improvement, and resources for submitting—all from an experienced editor. Our asynchronous workshop allows writers to work with editors remotely and is an excellent way to improve your craft and prepare a manuscript for submission. Enrollment is open until August 31, 2023.

//Registration Closed!//

Writers are invited to submit manuscripts of fiction or creative nonfiction of up to 7,000 words. In their cover letters, writers should include a brief introduction to their story, where the piece has been submitted previously (if applicable), any specific feedback they’re looking for on the manuscript, as well as any specific challenges they’re facing in revision. Writers may indicate their three preferred guest editors, and we will do our best to accommodate. Earlier registrations are more likely to match with one of their preferred editors.

Upon registration, writers will receive a packet of craft essays from The Masters Review on editing, revision, and submitting for publication. Writers will receive feedback no later than October 30, 2023.

Participants receive:

• an editorial letter from their editor with specific suggestions and developmental analysis;
• marginal notes that will help elevate their story to the next level;
• suggestions on literary magazines and contests that would be a good fit for their work;
• a PDF of materials including craft essays from The Masters Review, deep dives on archival pieces, information on submission strategies, and additional advice on submitting;
• a free submission to one of our upcoming contests;
• and an archived copy of The Masters Review anthology.

Guidelines:

• Submissions must be under 7,000 words.
• All submissions must be double-spaced with one-inch page margins, clearly paginated, and use Times New Roman or Garamond 12.
• All genres and styles of fiction or creative nonfiction are welcome. Please do not submit poetry manuscripts.
• Novel excerpts are accepted but not recommended, as our guest editors are selected for their expertise on short forms.
• Please submit a single manuscript per submission.
• Submissions are accepted on a rolling basis.
• If you submit your manuscript after reserving your spot, you will need to request to open your submission by emailing us at contact [at] mastersreview [dot] com. We’ll grant you access, and then you can upload your piece.
• All participants will receive feedback no later than October 30, 2023.

Guest Editors:

Aram Mrjoian is an editor-at-large at the Chicago Review of Books, an associate fiction editor at Guernica, and a 2022 Creative Armenia – AGBU Fellow. He is a past editor at TriQuarterly, the Southeast Review, and PANK. His writing has appeared or is forthcoming in The Guardian, Runner’s World, Catapult, Electric Literature, West Branch, Boulevard, Longreads, and many other publications. Find his work at arammrjoian.com.

 

Anthony Varallo is the author of What Did You Do Today?, winner of the Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Short Fiction, forthcoming from the University of North Texas Press in Fall 2023. His other books include a novel, The Lines (University of Iowa Press), as well as four previous short story collections: This Day in History, winner of the John Simmons Short Fiction Award; Out Loud, winner of the Drue Heinz Literature Prize; Think of Me and I’ll Know (Northwestern University Press); and Everyone Was There, winner of the Elixir Press Fiction Award. He is a professor of English at the College of Charleston in Charleston, SC, where he directs the MFA Program in Creative Writing and serves as fiction editor of swamp pink literary journal. Find him online at @TheLines1979.

 

Sacha Idell is coeditor and prose editor of The Southern Review. His original stories appear in Ploughshares, Narrative, and Gulf Coast. His translations from the Japanese include stories by Kyūsaku Yumeno and Toshirō Sasaki. Writing he has acquired and edited has been selected for inclusion in the Pushcart Prize, Best American Short Stories, and Best American Mystery and Suspense anthologies, among others. He lives in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

 

Isabelle Stillman is a writer from St. Louis who is currently based in Los Angeles. She is a former high school English teacher and a graduate of Chapman University’s MA/MFA program. She has worked with december magazine as a reader and Prose Editor for many years and is now assuming the role of Editor-in-Chief. Her fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in Narrative Magazine, Ninth Letter, and Epoch, and she is at work on her first novel.

 

Joanna Luloff is the author of the novel Remind Me Again What Happened and the short story collection The Beach at Galle Road, both published by Algonquin Books. Her individual stories and essays have appeared in The Missouri Review, The Massachusetts Review, The Cincinnati Review, The Bennington Review, Western Humanities Review, and elsewhere. She received her MFA from Emerson College and her PhD from the University of Missouri. She is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Colorado Denver where she also edits prose for Copper Nickel.

Praise for The Masters Review’s Editorial Feedback

“I workshopped two stories with you/The Masters Review last year, and I wanted to let you know that revised versions of those stories helped me earn an acceptance to the University of Arizona, where I’ll be an MFA candidate in fiction this fall. Thank you so much for your feedback and for running such a wonderfully supportive publication and platform for emerging writers. ” –Josh, Summer Workshop

“I found the comments made by Adeena Reitberger regarding my story to be hugely helpful. Once again I am very pleased with your summer workshop.” – Abby, Summer Workshop

“Thank you so much for the feedback letter plus manuscript markups. I couldn’t be more thrilled. I can’t remember ever having an editor look at my work and so clearly understand what I’ve tried to convey on the page. I had the immediate sense that Nate had truly given my story a thorough read, making his compliments feel sincere and suggestions for improvement feel well worth considering from start to finish.” –Royce, Summer Workshop

“Adeena’s comments are both incisive and insightful. It is one of the best critiques I have ever received, and it will serve as my guide when I revise. I agree completely with what she said.” –John, Summer Workshop

“You’ve done it again, everyone! What a brilliant workshop! Thank you so much for the incredible opportunity to work with you and Adeena Reitberger. I can put each of her comments to work immediately (even the compliments I guess I fished for, ha-ha!, as mood boosters), read/re-read the stories/writers she’s recommended, and order samples of the journals she’s recommended as a fit for my story so I can sniff them out—the prospects of which has got me doing a jig in the living room (try not to picture someone more jiggle than jig), and excited about my next editing move with my story (dip or dive?—but not abandon, hallelujah!)… True brilliance!” –Meredith, Summer Workshop

“I wanted to thank you for passing along Lauren’s feedback on my story. I thought her comments were concise and specific, and I appreciated her efforts to excavate what’s at the core of the story I’m trying to tell. I have some work ahead of me, for sure, but that’s a good thing. I agree with Lauren’s assessment of where the piece is falling short, I have a clear path to revision, and I’m overall very grateful for her astute observations and careful attention. Many thanks again!” –Nicole, Summer Workshop

“I would like to thank Michelle Wildgen for her very helpful comments. She made the effort to understand what I was attempting to do with my short story, and pointed out quite clearly where it fell short and how it could be improved. Her feedback was professional, specific, and, to my great appreciation, positive. I am eager to get back to work.” –Gary, Summer Workshop