Quarterly West looks for writing that is: Exciting. Challenging. Risky. Unpredictable.

And Different.

I could say what different means, but then we might receive a slew of submissions that are all different in the same way. Different will be victim to form—to the “fragment sentence,” “non-linear plot,” and “hybrid genre”. Different will be slave to space, time, story and moment. This does not seem the way to open the door for Different.

We think Different doesn’t open a door, actually. Different doesn’t know doors or windows. Different stomps and comes in. Maybe it seeps in. Sometimes, and in our favorite works, different is always already there and it strikes flint and blazes. This is what we look for.

Send us your work. Seep in. Stomp in. Strike us. Set us and that familiar voice of Very Good Writing on fire.

We are waiting for you.

 

Editors

C.A. Schaefer & Sadie Hoagland

Assistant Editors

Amelia Boldaji & Liliian-Yvonne Bertram

Fiction Editors

Daniel Takeshi Krause & Jaclyn Watterson

Poetry Editors

Lisa Fay Coutley & Valerie Wetlaufer, Meg Day (Assistant)

Nonfiction Editor

Shena McAuliffe

Editorial Assistants

Jessica Alexander, Caren Beilin, Joe Mayers, Anne Valente

Web Designer

Ken Marrott

Founding Editor

James Thomas