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Silk Road is now reading year-round.

We have "gone green" and accept submissions only through our online submissions manager.

We publish two print issues a year (usually spring and fall). This is a great time to submit work to
Silk Road.

See the link at the bottom of the page to submit online.


What We Are Looking For

Twice a year we publish finely crafted fiction, essays, poetry, first chapters from novels, and translations
that give readers a vivid point of exchange, an interaction that could occur only in a specific time and space.
This event could be captured in a poem or short story as well as in reportage or travel writing. It could
happen in a drawer in New Zealand or on the expanse of the African plains. We welcome work set in any
location in the world including the U.S. Anyone from anywhere can enter into the conversation.

We all start somewhere, so "place" is the touchstone the magazine uses for the pieces we publish. However
we operate with no narrow definition of that word. The writers we feature take our readers somewhere
crucial, defining and relevant.

Our physical office is based in the Pacific Northwest (and thank you Pacific University in Oregon for backing
this magazine and its mission), but the cyber world where we operate knows no fixed home.

If you think your work is right for
Silk Road, send it in. We publish fiction, nonfiction, poetry and translations.

For a sample issue of our magazine, visit the
subscriptions page.

Writers receive two copies of the issue in which their work appears.


Submission Guidelines

Submissions should be sent via the online submission system.

Please include a short (one to two paragraph) cover letter. If you are submitting work for one of
Silk Road's
special issues, please specify the topic in your cover letter. All submissions will be considered for any
upcoming issue of the magazine.

Short stories and essays (nonfiction) should not exceed 20 pages. We prefer 12 point font, double-spaced,
with one inch margins. The author's name, address, email address, and phone number must be printed on
the first page. Please number each page.

Poetry should be typed and single-spaced, with the author's name and contact info on the first page.
Double-space stanza breaks. Please send no more than five poems at a time. Put all of your poems in a
single document before submitting.

First chapters of novels. We are interested in publishing first chapters that would pique a reader’s interest
and get a great story rolling. We also want to encourage writers to keep going and finish that novel! The
chapter need not be as self contained as a short story, but it should not operate solely as an introduction to
your book. We need action and character development. We are looking for controlled prose, concrete details
of landscape, vivid characters who come off the page and compel us to keep reading First chapter
submissions can be no longer than 15 pages in length. (Shorter is fine.) No cover sheet. One inch margins on
all pages and double-spaced. If your chapter is a prologue, please remember a prologue must for our
purposes operate like a first chapter. It can’t be all set up. Something has to happen. (Do not send us a
prologue and a chapter.) Please do not send a previously published novel chapter, including one self
published on the web. We are not wild about pure genre fiction, but if you are walking the line between
literary and genre fiction, then we are interested. In our submission manager, please select the “first
chapter” genre for the category in which you are submitting.

We accept simultaneous submissions but ask that you withdraw the submission through our online
submission page if it is accepted elsewhere. Please do not send us more than one submission at a time in
any genre. We do not accept previously published work.

In general our editors read efficiently and thoroughly. We try to respond within two months. Please do not
inquire about the status of a submission until at least six months after you sent it to us.

We are interested in interviews. Please send a query to the editors: silkroad.pacific@gmail.com

Before submitting your work, please save it as a DOC or RTF file. If you are using a Mac, add the extension
".rtf".

Submit work online at:
http://www.silkroadreview.org/submissions.
© 2013 Silk Road. All rights reserved.