Criticism

If you are interested in submitting a review of a poetry collection, please only do so in our Poetry Book Reviews category on Submittable. Do not submit poetry reviews here.

We're interested in thoughtful, engaging cultural criticism between 1200-5000 words. Please submit a finished draft rather than a pitch.

For book criticism, please provide the following information at the top of your review: Title of book, author's name, name of press, and publication date. 

For theatre criticism, please include the name of the show, the theater where it is playing, and the dates of the show's run. If it's open ended, please list the start date - present. 

For music criticism, please include the name of the album, the musician(s), the label, and release date.

For art criticism, please include the name of the artist(s), the gallery/museum where the work is being exhibited, and the dates of the exhibition. 

We welcome all kinds of cultural criticism. We believe criticism is meant to be critical, but we aren't interested in a tear down without substance.  We aren't interested in uncritical fan service, book reports, or summaries. We want thoughtful engagement with interesting cultural artifacts. We want your writing to reflect your distinct point of view. We want to understand the context into which the cultural artifact(s) being reviewed has been created, the ideas with which it engages, and what the cultural artifact reveals about our culture.

Please note that we do not accept work where a conflict of interest exists.

All work must be previously unpublished—this includes personal blogs, websites, and social media.