FENCE no. 44 submissions in Poetry, Fiction, Translation, and Other are OPEN.
FENCE no. 43 is forthcoming this winter.
The Ottoline Prize and Fence Modern Poets Series Prize are CLOSED for submissions. Fence Books will open again in 2026 for full-length poetry manuscripts. We do not read book manuscripts sent outside of official submission periods.
***PLEASE SIGN UP FOR THE FENCE NEWSLETTER TO FIND OUT ABOUT UPCOMING SUBMISSION PERIODS, HERE.***
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Fence is published in print approximately one to two times per year.
We ask for your support through a reading fee in order to ensure Fence will have the required funds on hand to pay the our printer in Illinois and our distributor who prepares the magazine for shipment to bookstores, libraries, and your mailboxes.
Response time is between three and nine months.
Every submission that we receive, including yours, no matter how many arrive, will be closely read by one of our senior editors. After that initial round of reading, a small number of submissions are advanced to the next round of decision making, so that the editors as a group can discuss them and then select which will appear in the print issue and/or on the Fence website.
- Please Note: Repeat publication by a contributor within the same field (poetry, fiction, translation, other) may take place only after at least four issues or two years have elapsed. The editors do not make exceptions.
- Contributors with work selected for print publication will be compensated at $50 and a two-issue subscription to Fence.
- Work made with a reliance or dependency on "Artificial Intelligence" (AI) will not be published in Fence.
We thank you for respecting our editorial guidelines, and we look forward to considering your art!
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Poetry: Please submit up to three poems and no more than ten pages of poetry per submission. You may submit as many times as you would like.
See PEOPLE for the list of Poetry Editors.
Fiction: Please limit your submission to one story of no more than 8,000 words or three flash fictions of up to 1,000 words each. Submissions containing more than one story or three flash fictions will not be read. Individuals are limited to one submission per submission period.
See PEOPLE for the list of Fiction Editors.
Translation: Cole Swensen is Translation Editor, focusing on poetry.
Text in originating language is preferred.
New translations of previously translated poems are welcome.
The above genre-specific page maximum and limits apply just the same for translation.
Other: This category allows submitters to self-define by choosing not to define their genre. Other is appropriate for work that is hybrid or otherwise not interested in saying what it is. Submit up to twelve pages of Other.
See PEOPLE for the list of Other Editors.
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We hope that you will become, if you are not already, an active and sustaining part of Fence not only through submitting your writing by also as an active, sustaining subscriber. We encourage you to read through issues of Fence. In turn, we will maintain an open and energetic space for the publication of new writing, and we will work to continue to connect that writing to an ever-expanding audience of current and new readers – through innovative design, distribution, and publicity.
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***OUR MISSION***
Fence maintains a venue, in print, aural, and digital forms, for writing that speaks across genre, sociocultural niche and ideological boundary as accessibly as it can, such that Fence publishes largely from its unsolicited submissions and is committed to the literature and art of queer writers and writers of color.
Fence encourages collective appreciation of variousness by inhering collectively outside of the constraints of opinion, trend, and market.
The name of the magazine comes from a John Ashbery poem, "Soonest Mended."
Thanks to an anonymous donor, Fence is able to provide thirty (30) fee waivers for Fence no. 44 submissions, intended for writers and artists with low or no income, living anywhere on Earth. No explanation needed. No questions asked.
- We will trust that you will accept this gift only if it is truly needed.
- This is the fee waiver portal for all literary art realms published in Fence: Poetry, Fiction, Translation, and Other. Please see above guidelines for each one.
Cole Swensen is Translation Editor of Fence issue no. 44.
- Text in originating language is preferred.
- New translations of previously translated work are welcome.
- Poetry: please submit up to three poems and no more than 10 translated pages of poetry.
- All translators working in all languages are welcome to submit their work. We encourage translators living outside of the United States to send in their work.
- One submission per person is desirable.
Please note: Repeat publication by a contributor may take place only after four issues or two years have elapsed.
Contributors with work selected for print publication will be compensated at $50 and a two-issue subscription to Fence.
As Fence is small fully independent non-profit publication, unaffiliated with any institution providing financial security, we depend on writers and readers like you. To subscribe: https://fenceportal.org/subscribe/. To become a Fence Member at a level you choose: https://fenceportal.org/support/. To Donate: make a tax-deductible financial contribution to our ongoing efforts.
Please submit up to three short pieces and/or no more than twelve pages of writing per submission. One submission per person is desirable.
Any writing or text that feels outside of the bounds of what is designated by "poetry" or "fiction" should be submitted here. All are welcome.
Please note: the trim size of an issue of Fence is 7"x 9" -- if your piece is page-size specific, be sure to format it to fit on a 7" x 9" Fence page with one inch margins, and provide a PDF.
Please note: Repeat publication by a contributor may take place only after at least four issues or two years have elapsed.
Contributors with work selected for print publication will be compensated at $50 and a two-issue subscription to Fence.
As Fence is small fully independent non-profit publication, unaffiliated with any institution providing financial security, we depend on writers and readers like you. To subscribe: https://fenceportal.org/subscribe/. To become a Fence Member at a level you choose: https://fenceportal.org/support/. To Donate: make a tax-deductible financial contribution to our ongoing efforts.
Please limit your submission to one story of no more than 8000 words or three flash fictions of up to 1000 words each. Submissions containing more than one story or three flash fictions will not be read.
Individuals are limited to one submission per submission period.
Please note: Repeat publication by a contributor may take place only after at least four issues or two years have elapsed.
Contributors with work selected for print publication will be compensated at $50 and a two-issue subscription to Fence.
As Fence is small fully independent non-profit publication, unaffiliated with any institution providing financial security, we depend on writers and readers like you. To subscribe: https://fenceportal.org/subscribe/. To become a Fence Member at a level you choose: https://fenceportal.org/support/. To Donate: make a tax-deductible financial contribution to our ongoing efforts.
Please submit up to three poems and no more than ten pages of poetry per submission (one or two more pages is permissible if necessary due to the length of a poem).
Poetry with varying typography is welcome, but please keep in mind that Fence has a 7" x 9" trim size with one-inch margins.
Please note: Repeat publication by a contributor may take place only after at least four issues and/or two years have elapsed.
Contributors with work selected for print publication will be compensated at $50 and a two-issue subscription to Fence.
As Fence is small fully independent non-profit publication, unaffiliated with any institution providing financial security, we depend on writers and readers like you. To subscribe: https://fenceportal.org/subscribe/. To become a Fence Member at a level you choose: https://fenceportal.org/support/. To Donate: make a tax-deductible financial contribution to our ongoing efforts.