General submissions for the print journal will be accepted in 2026 from January 1 to April 1 and August 1 to November 1. Average turnaround time is six months, but we may take longer and ask that you do not query us until a year has passed.

Prose submissions: Manuscripts should be double-spaced, right margins not justified; 1,500–7,000 words. All nonfiction submissions will be automatically considered for publication in MQR Online. All stories accepted for publication will be passed on to a judge as finalists for the $2000 Lawrence Prize. There is no additional fee for the prize beyond submission.

Poetry submissions: Please submit up to 6 poems in one document, not to exceed a total of 12 pages. Poems published in MQR by early career writers (those who have not yet published a full-length collection) will be considered as finalists for our Page Davidson Clayton Prize.

Translations: Please submit translations in the appropriate genre and include biographical information for both the author and translator.

Upon publication, MQR takes a nonexclusive license to publish work in print and online in perpetuity, and requests that MQR is formally acknowledged as the first publisher in any reprints.

MQR invites submissions for a special issue on the rise of fascism, broadly defined, as a political and cultural force in the U.S. and around the globe. This special issue is to be published in Winter 2027. 

While fascism is often associated with historical interwar regimes, scholars increasingly identify “strongman” tactics in the present day: elected leaders who consolidate power, undermine democratic institutions, delegitimize opposition, and cultivate loyalty to personality over policy. In the U.S., these dynamics have manifested in practices that echo key elements of fascist playbooks, from attacks on critical media and courts to the undermining of agreed-up facts and shared understanding.

We are particularly interested in work that addresses:

• The slow erosion of democratic norms through legal, institutional, or procedural manipulation.
• Leader-centered politics, personality cults, and the delegitimization of dissent.
• Disinformation, attacks on factual journalism, and the undermining of shared or commonly recognized knowledge, including scientific understanding.
• Nationalist or exclusionary definitions of “the people” and the persecution and marginalization of minorities.
• The use of threats, online campaigns, or organized groups to intimidate or target dissenting voices.
• Cultural, educational, and environmental interventions that shape memory, identity, and civic imagination.
• The normalization or justification of political aggression and threats to electoral integrity.

We recognize that these themes can feel weighty or abstract, but manifestations of fascism are lived realities—sometimes subtly, as norms and expectations shift and as we become unwittingly acclimated to repressive practices. At other times, they appear directly, as in the use of deadly violence, intimidation, and erosion of rights carried out by government forces against unarmed civilians in recent years.

We encourage creative writers and artists to explore these dynamics through lived experience, imagination, and metaphor, showing how authoritarianism, disinformation, exclusion, and the reshaping of memory touch relationships, emotions, and communities. Fiction, poetry, and visual work can make the abstract tangible in ways that analysis alone cannot, illuminating both the subtle and overt forces shaping our world.

We welcome experimental, hybrid, and innovative work that challenges established literary or political hierarchies and responds to threats to human rights, academic freedom, and a livable planet. Submissions presenting global perspectives, including voices silenced by authoritarian regimes, are especially encouraged.

Submissions are welcome in all genres, including poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, art, and researched essays. Collaborative works, translations, and visual works suitable for print or digital presentation on MQR Online are also encouraged.

Submission guidelines:

• Maximum length for articles, essays, and works of fiction: 7,000 words.

• Poetry submissions must not exceed 10 pages.

• If Submittable is not accessible, email mqr@umich.edu with your concern.

The issue will be published in Winter 2027.