Small Harbor Publishing is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. Our goal is to publish unique and diverse voices. We are a feminist press, and we are committed to diversity and inclusion. We strive to fiercely promote the work of our authors and to bring new voices to a devoted and expanding readership.
Small Harbor Publishing began in 2018 with the first issue of Harbor Review. The magazine is an online space where poetry and art converse. Harbor Review quickly grew and now publishes two digital poetry and art issues, reviews, and runs two micro chapbook competitions (the Washburn Prize and the Editor’s Prize) annually.
In July 2020, Small Harbor Publishing was officially incorporated and began Harbor Editions. Harbor Editions accepts submissions through a chapbook open reading period, a hybrid chapbook open reading period, the Marginalia Series, and the Laureate Prize.
We offer poetry and manuscript feedback at:
We provide poem critique services on a sliding scale to help support Small Harbor Publishing entities and continue to pay our writers and artists.
- For Harbor Editions press questions, please email harboreditions
- For Harbor Review Magazine questions, please email harborreviewmag
Position: Poetry Magazine Reader (Volunteer) Commitment: Two open reading periods per year Location: Remote
About Us: We are a dedicated poetry magazine committed to showcasing compelling, thoughtful work from both emerging and established poets. Our volunteer readers play a crucial role in shaping each issue by reviewing submissions and helping curate an exceptional selection of poetry.
Responsibilities:
- Read and thoughtfully evaluate up to 500 poetry submissions per open reading period (reading over a four-month working period) through Submittable.
- Provide feedback and insights to the editorial team regarding promising selections through Submittable comments.
- Participate in discussions on submissions that are under consideration for publication on Zoom (if available).
- Send rejection letters to poets whose work is not selected, maintaining professionalism and encouragement through Submittable.
- Ensure fairness and integrity in the selection process, upholding the magazine’s commitment to quality and feminist diversity.
Winter Issue
- Submission Period: August, September, and October
- Reading/Working Period: November - January
- Publish: March
Summer Issue
- Submission Period: February, March, April
- Reading/Working Period: May - Aug
- Publish: Sept
Requirements:
- A strong appreciation for poetry, with an understanding of various styles and voices.
- Ability to critically assess poetry while keeping an open mind toward different forms and themes.
- Reliability in meeting deadlines during the two annual reading periods.
- Previous experience in literary reviewing or writing is a plus but not required.
Benefits:
- Gain experience in literary publishing and poetry curation.
- Be part of a vibrant literary community passionate about poetry.
- Contribute to the shaping of each issue’s artistic direction.
- Opportunity to build connections with fellow writers and editors.
The entry period runs from February 1st to March 31st.
This reading period is open exclusively to traditionally marginalized writers—those who belong to communities that have been historically excluded from mainstream society due to systemic oppression or unequal power dynamics. Given the current climate, Small Harbor is reaffirming its commitment to our mission. In your cover letter, please include a few sentences about how your experiences with marginalization inform your writing.
- Chapbooks should be between 20-40 pages. Manuscripts should include a title page, table of contents, and a list of acknowledgments for previously published poems. Individual poems from the manuscript may have been published previously in magazines but not books or chapbooks. The collection as a whole must be unpublished.
- Include in your cover letter your name, contact information, and a brief bio. Attach your manuscript as a word or pdf attachment. Please use the title of your chapbook as your document name.
- Simultaneous submissions are permitted. Please let us know immediately if your manuscript is accepted by another publisher while under our consideration.
- We do not accept translations.
- Current students, former students, former classmates, or friends of Small Harbor Publishing, Harbor Editions, or Harbor Review staff are disqualified from sending work.
- All entries will be read by Harbor Editions staff.
There is no submission fee. However, you may make an optional donation to our press via our fundraiser website here.
Harbor Editions will publish 1-2 books from the open reading period. Those selected will receive a standard publishing contract and 20 copies of their book. All entrants will be notified about update status within 6 months after the submission period.
Send 1-3 poems in one document as a pdf or word document during our submission window. Include a short bio in your cover letter. The submission fee for expedited submissions is $8. Regular submissions are free. You will receive a response within 14 days.
The theme is "Savagery"
THEME DESCRIPTION:
This summer marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a document that describes Indigenous peoples as “merciless Indian savages.” That phrase still echoes as a reminder of how language can wound, distort, and justify violence, and how the label savage has long been used to mark peoples, cultures, and lands as less than human.
For this issue, we invite you to enter the word savagery from any direction it calls to you. It might mean exploring the word was it has been used politically. Savagery might mean brutality, survival, or the flux and flex power. It might point to what is wild, untamed, instinctive, feral, lush, or ungovernable. It could live in the natural world, in desire, in grief, in joy too large to be polite. It might name what society tries to civilize out of us, or what refuses containment in bodies, landscapes, histories, or hearts. We welcome work that questions who or what gets called savage, who does the naming, and what happens when the word is rejected, reshaped, or reclaimed.
Connections to the Declaration or to Indigenous histories are welcome but not required. We are equally interested in personal, ecological, political, mythic, or metaphorical interpretations. Take us somewhere unruly, take us down desire trails to history, bring us to the now, to the future. Let the word unpetal.
Send 1-3 high resolution images with titles (minimum 2000 pixels on the longest side). Include in your cover letter an image list, short bio, and short artist statement. The theme is "Savagery" (description below). Harbor Review is a paying market. We pay artists $10 per published piece upon release of the online issue in which the piece appears.
THEME DESCRIPTION:
This summer marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a document that describes Indigenous peoples as “merciless Indian savages.” That phrase still echoes as a reminder of how language can wound, distort, and justify violence, and how the label savage has long been used to mark peoples, cultures, and lands as less than human.
For this issue, we invite you to enter the word savagery from any direction it calls to you. It might mean exploring the word was it has been used politically. Savagery might mean brutality, survival, or the flux and flex power. It might point to what is wild, untamed, instinctive, feral, lush, or ungovernable. It could live in the natural world, in desire, in grief, in joy too large to be polite. It might name what society tries to civilize out of us, or what refuses containment in bodies, landscapes, histories, or hearts. We welcome work that questions who or what gets called savage, who does the naming, and what happens when the word is rejected, reshaped, or reclaimed.
Connections to the Declaration or to Indigenous histories are welcome but not required. We are equally interested in personal, ecological, political, mythic, or metaphorical interpretations. Take us somewhere unruly, take us down desire trails to history, bring us to the now, to the future. Let the word unpetal.
Send 1-3 poems in one document as a pdf or word document during our submission window. Include a short bio in your cover letter. The theme for this issue is “Savagery."
- Regular submissions are free
- All honorarium payments to contributors will be paid through PayPal
This summer marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a document that describes Indigenous peoples as “merciless Indian savages.” That phrase still echoes as a reminder of how language can wound, distort, and justify violence, and how the label savage has long been used to mark peoples, cultures, and lands as less than human.
For this issue, we invite you to enter the word savagery from any direction it calls to you. It might mean exploring the word as it has been used politically. Savagery might mean brutality, survival, or the flux and flex power. It might point to what is wild, untamed, instinctive, feral, lush, or ungovernable. It could live in the natural world, in desire, in grief, in joy too large to be polite. It might name what society tries to civilize out of us, or what refuses containment in bodies, landscapes, histories, or hearts. We welcome work that questions who or what gets called savage, who does the naming, and what happens when the word is rejected, reshaped, or reclaimed.
Connections to the Declaration or to Indigenous histories are welcome but not required. We are equally interested in personal, ecological, political, mythic, or metaphorical interpretations. Take us somewhere unruly, take us down desire trails to history, bring us to the now, to the future. Let the word unpetal.