Submission Guidelines

General:

• We do NOT accept e-mail submissions. Sadly, these must be deleted unread.
• We read submissions year round, with a response time of 3 to 4 months. However, during the summer our response time may be much slower. If after 4 months you have not received a response from us, feel free to contact us by email at  bayou@uno.edu  and we will be happy to check on the status of your submission. Again, if you email us during the summer months, our response time will be much slower.
• Manuscripts will not be returned.  Please include SASE for notification only.
• Envelopes should be addressed to:

  Bayou Magazine
  c/o Genre Editor (fiction,nonfiction,poetry)
  Department of English
  University of New Orleans
  2000 Lakeshore Drive
  New Orleans, LA    70148

• All work should be in 12 point Times New Roman and should have a cover page with title, author and contact information. Be sure to include email address. If you don’t have an email address, you should get one. Work should be paginated with title and author’s name on each page.
• Please submit only one piece at a time for consideration. Poets may send 5 poems, and we’ll read up to 7,500 words of short-shorts. Once we have responded to your submission, feel free to send us another.
• Simultaneous submissions are fine, if noted. Please notify us immediately if the work is accepted somewhere else. 
• Read Bayou. To read it is to love it, and there’s no better way to find out what we’re looking for than to see it with your own eyes. Sample copies of available issues are $7. A single current issue is $8, and a one-year subscription is $15. Click on our Buy Bayou link to find out how you can get this magazine today.

Genre Guidelines:

Fiction

We accept material written in a variety of styles and about a broad range of topics. A well-turned phrase is delightful, but a well-told tale is what we love best. Keep it under 7,500 words. Flash fiction and short-shorts are welcome. No novel excerpts, please, unless they can stand alone as short stories. We do not accept gothic, horror or juvenile fiction.

Nonfiction

All material must be 7,500 words or less. We are looking for literary nonfiction, creative personal essays and lyric essays. No scholarly articles please.

Poetry

We consider no more than 5 poems at a time. 

Publication Rights and Payment

After publication in Bayou, all rights revert to the author. Payment is two contributor’s copies plus a year’s subscription to the magazine. All work published in Bayou is considered for the annual O. Henry Awards and the Pushcart Prize as well as Best American Essays.

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