Submissions are now open year-round. I always stop reading for a given issue 15 days before its release. Please check the submission calendar.
The Literary Nest is a journal where no money changes hands. I will never charge a fee to submit poems, even for future contests. This means there will be no cash prizes or compensation for the included poems. I want this space to be open, inviting, and enjoyable. “A Clean Well-Lighted Space,” if you will.
I will continue to include all forms of poetry, except those that require special spacing. In the future, if I find a volunteer to put up these poems, I will consider them. We need more metrical poetry.
We will consider poems only from people aged 18 or older. The poems should not be previously published in any format. If your work is published in an issue, please wait two more cycles before submitting again. We do not accept poetry generated using AI.
Rights: The Literary Nest has First Serial Rights to your work. The poet retains any future publication rights. If you re-publish the work, we ask that you credit The Literary Nest.
Submit up to three poems in the body of the email to theliterarynest(at)gmail.com. The poem should not have any special formatting. Poems can be metrical, formal, free-verse, or prose poems. By submitting to The Literary Nest, you confirm that the poem is your original creation and that you have not employed AI or plagiarized any work. Please wait until you hear from us before submitting again. The response time is between 2 weeks and 3 months.
Bio: Please send a short (100 words or fewer) bio written in third person at the end of the last poem. I do need a bio to publish the poem(s). Having it at the end lets me read the poems blindly. Also, beginning from the spring issue, I reserve the right to revise the bio for readability.
The Literary Nest 