Submission Guidelines
ORP accepts submissions in the genres below for publication in its annual issue (published in the fall) from January 27 through May 15, 2026.
In general, simultaneous submissions are fine, but please contact us immediately if your work is picked up elsewhere. We request first serial rights, after which all rights revert to the author or artist. We do not reprint previously published work unless otherwise explicitly stated in the specific guidelines. Please include a 60-word bio with your submission and feel free to upload a photo with your submission.
We are especially eager to publish pieces that engage with the work of marginalized and decentered people—Black and Brown creators, LGBTQ+ creators, and creators of all levels of dis/ability, and to that end, we invite creators to self-identify in their submissions.
Fiction: Please submit one story up to 7,500 words in .docx format. Please include word count on the first page of your document. All work should be double-spaced.
Emerging Voices Fiction: Intended for writers whoe have published no more than two publications in any genre (poetry, drama, prose, nonfiction, and media). (Publications in the author’s college and/or university are exempt.) Please submit one story of not more than 5,000 words in .docx format. Please include word count, your full name, pseudonym or pen name, should you wish to use it for publication, and preferred email on the top of the first page. In your cover letter, please let us know how many times you have been previously published. Please submit in either EV Fiction category or Fiction, NOT both. All work should be double-spaced. Please read the submission guidelines carefully before submitting.
Creative Nonfiction: Please submit one essay no longer than 6,000 words in a Word Doc or PDF format. Include your first and last name and contact information at the top of your piece. All work should be double-spaced.
Poetry: Please submit up to three poems, with each poem starting on its own page. We do our best to respond to submissions in a timely manner. Sometimes taking our time means your poem is being seriously considered for publication. For this reason, please wait at least 6 months before inquiring about a submission. Generally, we are not interested in light verse or traditional rhyming poetry. We recommend reading through our recent issues to gain a sense of our preferences. Duplicate submissions within the same submission window will be declined.
Emerging Voices Poetry: Please submit up to 3 poems in one document of no longer than 10 pages total in .doc or .docx format. If your poem(s) require specific formatting, you may use .pdf to preserve the spacing. Each poem should start on its own page. Please note if a page break is also a stanza break. Please include your full name, pseudonym or pen name, should you wish to use it for publication, and preferred email on the first page of the document. Please also include the title(s) of your poem(s) with each poem. Emerging Voices Poetry does not accept translations at this time. Only one submission of poetry per submitter will be read and reviewed.
Visual Art: We invite submissions of artist portfolios across all visual mediums. Submissions should include a short artist bio, a brief portfolio statement, and five to eight images or link to video work. Video submissions should have a total runtime of ten minutes or under. Image files should be as high-resolution as possible (300 dpi or greater) and suitable for digital publication. Oyster River Pages reserves the right to crop or lightly edit images for layout purposes while maintaining the integrity of the work.
Additionally, ORP Soundings will publish reviews, interviews, profiles, commentary, or other innovative forms (including multimedia) that seek to highlight or critically engage with issues or works of literary, artistic, or cultural significance. Submissions should align with ORP's mission to amplify stories that speak to what it means to be alive in this world, works that move of out of ourselves and into other spaces, and voices who bring balance and diversity to historical institutions of power. For these reasons, we prioritize works that are published or produced independently, without the clout of corporate promotion.
Please note that Oyster River Pages will not publish any work that has been created, in part or in full, or in collaboration with generative artificial intelligence. Should we find that work published on our site has been created with the support of generative artificial intelligence, we reserve the right to remove such work from our site and rescind publication.
Incarcerated persons, or others unable to use Submittable, may send submissions to:
Oyster River Pages
Attn: Submissions
P.O. Box 706
Lewes, DE 19958
We regret that we cannot reply to all postal submissions. If you do not hear from us within six months, assume that we have declined your submission.
