Submissions
The reading period is currently closed. Please check back again in late summer, when we will open our reading period for Issue 2.
Submissions are accepted via our online system only. Please read our guidelines thoroughly.
- Original poems
Collaborative or individual; traditional, experimental, hybrid forms — all are welcome! - Translations
New translations of contemporary and classic poems into English. - Community Voices
Each issue will feature a number of poems that have produced in the context of a writing or arts community, as well as a short profile of the group(s) that produced the work. - Book reviews
Reviews of recent poetry collections - Essays
Creative nonfiction or critical analysis relating to craft, contemporary Asian American poetry collections, or issues in poetics - Visual art & photography
We seek visual art to feature both as cover art and alongside the poems in each issue.
General Guidelines
- Please submit no more than 4 poems or images, and no more than 1 prose piece (review/essay) at a time.
- Translations: please indicate the name of the original poet as well as your own in the "Artist Name(s)" box.
- Collaborative pieces: please indicate the name of only one artist under "contact information," but include all artists' names in the "Artist Names" box (under "Manuscript Information").
- Essays & Reviews: Since the format of our journal is quite small and we wish to dedicate the bulk of each issue to poetry, we request that you submit prose pieces no longer than 3000 words in length.
- Community Voices category: please submit no more than 5 pieces at a time. Indicate only the name of the submitter under the "Contact Information" section, but include all artists' names and the organization or group name in the "Artist Names" text box under "Manuscript Information." Pieces written by students under the age of 18 must be submitted by a nominating teacher or other adult mentor.
- All submissions: Please include a cover letter (or, for visual artists, an artist's statement) as the first page of your submission. Our electronic form will also ask you to input a short biographical statement. We ask that you limit these statements to 3-4 sentences per artist [translators need not submit addtional bio(s) for the artist(s) whose work they are translating].
- You may submit only once per reading period.
- In submitting your work to us, you guarantee that the pieces included in your MS have not been published before – either in electronic or print form – and that they constitute your original creative work. Rights revert to the author upon publication of the work. We are open to simultaneous submissions, but you must inform us immediately should your work be accepted elsewhere.
- Please note that as LR is a completely volunteer-run operation, we are unable to offer our contributors monetary compensation at this time.
- Poetry and prose manuscripts should be uploaded as a single MS Word (.doc or .docx) document or Adobe .pdf file, the first page of which should consist of a cover letter.
- Each submission of images should be contained (along with a short cover letter and artist's statement in MS Word 97-03 format) within a single zip file. Please note that we can only accept images in .jpeg format. Each image should be no smaller than 1000 px wide.
Our Aesthetic
We incline towards contemporary free verse that features a compelling sense of voice, strong internal music and striking imagery, but are open to work that spans the spectrum from the more conservative lyric influenced by traditional forms, to experimental and hybrid forms that push the boundaries of poetry's definitions. To get an idea of what poets the editors like to read and what sort of themes and issues we find compelling, please take some time to browse through our current issue before submitting.
Who May Submit
We seek quality submissions from individual artists and communities of artists, regardless of ethnic background. Your submission does not necessarily have to directly address a "big question" about Asian (U.S.) American identity; nor does it have to take place in America or in Asia. However, please keep in mind that we are seeking to publish work that engages to some degree with issues relevant to the Asian American and/or Asian diasporic experience, and that when reading any piece, we will be looking for not only superior craft, but also for an approach to the work's subject matter that is both thoughtful and culturally/politically sensitive.