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Guidelines for Submissions to The Antigonish Review

Thank you for your interest in The Antigonish Review. All submissions should be sent to the Office Manager.

Canadian Postage and a self-addressed return envelope should accompany submissions if you wish your manuscript to be returned. Or, you can include your email address with the submission for a response only.

Submissions which do not include an SASE will not be returned. For a sample copy send $7.00. Response time is from 4 to 8 months. No simultaneous submissions are accepted.

If submissions are accepted, payment will be:

POETRY GUIDELINES

1. TAR is open to poetry on any subject written from any point of view and in any form. However, writers should expect their work to be considered within the full context of old and new poetry in English and other languages.

2. The amount of space TAR can devote to any one writer is usually limited to 5-6 pages at a maximum.

3. No more than 6-8 poems should be submitted at any one time. A preferable submission would be from 3-4 poems. Submitting more than 8 tends to conceal the merits of individual poems. The poet should also know, fairly clearly, what is or is not good work and send only that.

4. Poets should wait for response to a submission before submitting again.

FICTION GUIDELINES

1. Submission should be typed, double spaced, author's last name on each page, and can range in length from 500 to 3,000 words. Any submissions longer than 3,000 words are not likely to be accepted.

2. No more than 1 story should be sent at any one time. Writers should wait for a response before submitting again.

3. The Antigonish Review prefers not to consider fiction that has been submitted elsewhere (multiple submissions).

4. Normally we do not publish sections of novels and we do not publish plays or scripts.

5. We attempt to respond within two to four months.

ESSAYS & ARTICLES GUIDELINES

Thank you for your interest in writing an article or essay for The Antigonish Review.

WE DO NOT ACCEPT EMAIL SUBMISSIONS OF ESSAYS OR ARTICLES.

We are open to receiving critical articles and essays that are lucid, engaging, free from jargon, and written in a fresh and vigorous style.

We invite critical writing that might be said to be provocative, meaning that it takes risks to present alternative perspectives, to challenge conventional ideas and approaches, to revisit neglected subjects, or to broaden toward interdisciplinary treatment. Within this vast range of possibilities, we are particularly interested in critical writing on technology, culture, media, literary modernism, Maritime and Canadian studies, travel, and those topics that tend to find a home under "cultural studies."

We do not publish essays and articles that are confessional-that is, creative non-fictional accounts of the journey of the self-nor do we accept writing that is limited to a superficial treatment of its subject matter, or, conversely, that would be better placed in a targeted academic, referred, or professional journal.

Contributors are strongly encouraged to read previous issues of the magazine to determine the fit of their work. Most of the essays and articles we publish run from 1000 to 4000 words. Some of the recent titles we've published include:

"All Over the Canvas: An Interview with Lisa Moore by Herb Wyile (#152)"
"Speaking Truth to Power in New Brunswick by Ellen Rose(Review Essay) (#151)"
"The Prince of Fortara by Raymond Fraser (Article) (#150)"
"Final Answers by Alberto Manguel (Essay) (#150)"

"Back to the Basket of Small Things: Sizein the Poems of M. Travis Lane," by Brian Bartlett (#147) "
"The Day on Fire," by Dana Wilde (#148)"
"Coming to a Post-Colonial Poetics of Being Post-Cajun," by Lee M. Abbott (#146)"
"Corporeality and Incorporeality in the Poetic Prose of Maria Rosa Lojo" by Brett Alan Sanders (#145)"
"Explosive Ruins: the Book in War's Midst" by Cory Lavender (#145)"
"An Interview With George Whipple" by R.W. Stedingh (#144)"
"Chateaubriand and Simcoe at Niagara Falls" by Eric Miller (#143)"

GUIDELINES for BOOK REVIEWS

The Antigonish Review invites reviews of recent Canadian poetry, fiction and non-fiction; however, all material submitted must be original and previously unpublished.

'Recent' may extend back to a year in time; this is not that unusual for book reviews.

Reviews run roughly between 1,000 and 2,500 words. A reviewer might choose to review a single book, or a review of two-four books that invite connections.

Please note that we distinguish between 'book reviews' and 'review essays'.

We aim for balanced reviews - that is, strengths and criticisms. We reserve the right to reject reviews, or request revisions.

It is a good idea to consult several reviews in one of our recent issues. Our reviews tend to have a conversational, rather than academic tenor.

We are able to offer a modest honorarium per review. If you do not own a copy of the book you wish to review, let us know, and we will contact the publisher. However, we have a considerable number or books for review in our office. If you contact us to express interest in reviewing, we may well have a copy of the book on hand.

If you are interested in submitting a review for consideration, please contact tar@stfx.ca and pitch us your review idea. We do not accept multi-submitted reviews.

GENERAL

The quality of the writing is the chief criterion. We consider stories from anywhere, original or translations, but we consider it our mandate to encourage Atlantic Canadians and Canadian writers - but quality is always the chief criterion. We welcome new and young writers.

We respond to rejected submissions with suggestions when we can, particularly if we are asked to do so and particularly with new or young writers, and the closer the writer is to us geographically, Canadian, American, or other, the more trouble we take. Long stories may displace several shorter pieces, so the longer the story the higher its quality should be as there is less chance we will read it through and less chance we will respond with a critique.

Most stories that meet our minimum standard are read by at least 2 readers and all stories published are read and approved by at least 2 readers and a senior editor, therefore we may be a bit slow but we try to respond in 3 or 4 months. Some of our readers live far from Antigonish and as many as half the stories have to be shipped to them. So we ask your patience. We sometimes suggest revisions but if a writer sends back a revised version we feel no obligation to publish it; it has to compete with the new stories it arrives with. Please be patient with us. We read everything, sometimes four times, we have high quality help who get no pay and have to buy their own pencils so don't blame them if once in a while one of them snatches one of your coloured paper clips and if our comments sometimes seem cryptic, enigmatic, or even on the edge of something even worse, don't get cross at us - maybe we're tired, maybe we're grumpy, maybe we had to go out and buy a new pencil. But just the same we love to get your stuff. We DO NOT accept email submissions of poetry or fiction. You can however include with your written submission your email address for our response instead of postage or reply coupons.

STYLE CONSISTENCY

1. Dashes: All dashes should be "em dashes," like this — with space before and after the dash.

2. Ellipses: Use space before and after, like this ... but, generally, no ellipses are needed at the beginning and end of a direct quote (unless required to avoid misrepresentation).

3. Line indents: Consistency within each piece is always preferred.

4. Paragraph indents: Entire blocks of text may be indented for a purpose (e.g., to display a letter within a piece of fiction or a long quotation within a review). Consistency of indent size is preferred for all pieces.

5. Single or double quotation marks: The American style is for double as the first order, and then single within double. The British style is the reverse. Canadian style accommodates either preference (but tends toward the American style). For TAR, either is acceptable but within a piece "consistency" is desired (not 'mixed' quotation order).

6. Italics is preferred for book titles even if the author uses quotation marks.

7. Curly rather than straight quotation marks and apostrophes are preferred in all cases.

8. Spelling choices: Consistency with American or British within a piece, but flexibility among pieces is desired. If mixed within a piece, choose the most predominant usage (e.g., Webster, Oxford, or Canadian Oxford). If there is no obvious spelling style in a piece, use Canadian Oxford as the dictionary of reference. Canadian spelling is the preference of the TAR editorial staff.