Winter 2023 Rejections: The Kenyon Review, Witness, Baltimore Review, and More Literary Journals

Welcome to The Rejection Quarterly, Winter 2023 edition.

Sharing rejections shares the effort behind submissions and makes celebrating acceptances even sweeter. What kind of literary journal rejections are you seeing? On the road to publication, why not “publish” the rejections themselves?

Here are the rejections I collected from December 2022 – February 2023.

Since introducing The Rejection Whisperer, I’ve had fun plugging in wordy rejections and getting quick interpretations. Check out the interpretations below each rejection email. And please feel free to try your own rejections!

Barrelhouse rejection

Dear Arthur,

Thanks for letting us read Mornings Rolling Off Nob Hill (fiction) for Barrelhouse. Unfortunately, we’ve decided this one’s not right for us. 

Please take this for what it is: a subjective judgement by a class of undergrad students who were tasked with reading a lot of stories, essays, and poems (nearly 600!) and could only select a very few for publication. 

We really do appreciate you sending us your work. It’s pretty amazing how much great work people send our way, how much great work is being made out there in the world, all the time! It warms the heart. Please keep at it, and consider trying us again.

Best,

Mike Ingram’s Fall 2022 Writers at Work Class at Temple University (i.e., the editors of The Gray Issue)

http://www.barrelhousemag.com

The Rejection Whisperer interpretation:
“No, thanks”

Witness encouraging rejection

Dear Arthur Klepchukov:

Thank you for allowing us to read “Terminus” and for your patience as we considered it. While we have to pass on this particular submission, we were very impressed by your work and hope you take this note as particular encouragement to send us more in the future. I found the story clever and ambitious, yet it flowed in a natural way, and I have no doubt that it will find its perfect home soon. 

Sincerely,

Xueyi Zhou

Fiction Editor

Witness Magazine

https://witness.blackmountaininstitute.org/

Twitter: @witnessmag

The Rejection Whisperer interpretation:
“Please submit more”

The Arkansas International rejection

Dear Arthur Klepchukov,

Thank you for submitting “Mornings Rolling Off Nob Hill” to The Arkansas International. Regrettably, we are unable to find a place for it in our next issue, and we’re going to have to pass at this time. Thank you for your patience and for allowing us to consider your piece. We wish you the best of luck placing this elsewhere. 

Regards,

The Editors

The Arkansas International

http://www.arkint.org

The Rejection Whisperer interpretation:
“No, thanks”

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The Kenyon Review rejection

Dear Arthur Klepchukov,

Thank you so much for submitting “Verdant Heaven.” After careful consideration, we determined that this piece was not the right fit for us, but we appreciated the opportunity to read your work and are grateful for your interest in The Kenyon Review. 

Sincerely,

The Editors

The Rejection Whisperer interpretation:
“No, thanks”

Baltimore Review rejection

Dear Arthur Klepchukov,

Thank you for sending us “Lunch with Scott & Zelda.” We appreciated the chance to read your work. We will not be including your submission in the upcoming issue, but we wish you well with your writing and hope that your work will be a perfect fit for another publication. 

As writers ourselves, we understand the time and effort that writers devote to their craft, and we know that it is never easy to receive these messages. Please know that we receive many submissions and can publish only a small number. Often, decisions are difficult.

We do accept–and encourage–simultaneous submissions. See long lists of other publication possibilities at 

http://newpages.com/

https://www.newpages.com/writers-resources/young-writers-guide

http://www.pw.org/literary_magazines?&perpage=*

http://www.everywritersresource.com/literarymagazines/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/35517751475/

https://creativewritersopps.blogspot.com/

https://discover.submittable.com/

https://publishedtodeath.blogspot.com/

https://thegrinder.diabolicalplots.com/

https://chillsubs.com/

https://heavyfeatherreview.org/calls/#journals

https://www.clmp.org/programs-opportunities/calls-for-submissions/

https://catapult.co/dont-write-alone/stories/2023-submission-and-freelance-writing-opportunities-literary-magazines

Thanks again.

Sincerely,

Barbara Westwood Diehl

The Baltimore Review

The Rejection Whisperer interpretation:
“No, thanks”

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Washington Square Review encouraging rejection

Dear Arthur Klepchukov,

Thank you for submitting your story furl & unfurl to Washington Square. While this piece was not a right fit for us, we were impressed by your writing. 

We hope that you feel encouraged by this note, and will consider sending us more of your work in the future. We very much appreciate your interest in our magazine.

Sincerely,
The Editors
Washington Square Review

The Rejection Whisperer interpretation:
“Please submit more”

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