HOPKINSON: Tell me a little bit about Chestnut Review.
PICONE: We are an independent literary magazine that publishes fiction, creative nonfiction, flash, poetry, and artwork by a variety of contributors from all around the world. We also publish chapbooks and lead international and domestic writing retreats. We’re passionate about democratizing access to writing education through our retreats, workshops, and paid feedback. We also have a writer- and artist-friendly ethos including responding to submissions within 30 days and paying for creative work. To fulfill this mission, we have a diverse international staff that we train in our house style of feedback and editorial lens.
HOPKINSON: How/why was Chestnut Review originally started?
PICONE: The desire was to create a magazine which worked against some aspects of the lit community that felt unfriendly to writers: irregular submission windows, no pay, and long response times. We’ve tried to keep to that goal by always thinking, as much as possible, how policies impact writers first.
HOPKINSON: Who is your target reader audience?
PICONE: We’re interested in reaching a wide array of readers from all around the globe. As such, we publish digital issues quarterly, and each year we do an anthology that comprises all four quarterly issues in one volume. While we’re especially interested in people who are perhaps writers themselves or want to be on the cutting edge of contemporary short form literature, we also hope that everyone will find at least something they can appreciate in our quarterly issues.
HOPKINSON: What type of work are you looking for in submissions?
PICONE: We’re looking for work that feels mostly complete, but that could perhaps use an editorial eye to help it get over the finish line. We don’t take the work that feels the most polished; we want work that the editors are passionate about so that we can enter into a fruitful editorial relationship with our submitters and platform writers who may not have access to formal writing education, paid editing, or a mainstream North American Anglophone view on craft and what constitutes “quality work.”
HOPKINSON: What do you wish you saw submitted, but rarely comes in?
PICONE: At the moment we receive over 1,000 submissions a month. So to me, it’s not so much about work that we would like to receive in the queue, but rather about finding work that takes risks and is intentional about doing its own thing. I suppose that one thing that I’d like to see more of is well-crafted micros where every word is leveraged to greater purpose.
HOPKINSON: What are some of your favorite lit mags/journals?
PICONE: I learn so much from where our contributors have been published, whether individual pieces, chapbooks, or books. We’re a busy staff, so we appreciate the recs that come in handy, for instance, from reading other writers’ bios and featuring them on our socials! Our current chapbook authors, just published this fall, have books with Cider House Press, Driftwood Press, and Red Hen Press, for instance. And our contributors in the October issue have been published in places like Threepenny, The Ex-Puritan, OneART, Sh?, Baltimore Review, Image, and midnight & indigo, to name a few. I’ll give a little nod here to Foglifter as well, where I hold the role of Managing Fiction Editor.
I’d also like to shout out some of our partners for our infamous AWP scavenger hunt: Terrain.org, Santa Fe Writers Project, Mom Egg Review, and Tahoma Literary Review, all indie organizations doing wonderful things for writers.
HOPKINSON: What is your favorite part of being on staff with the Chestnut Review?
PICONE: For me, it’s working with writers in the editorial relationship, both for the magazine and for chapbooks, and also getting to meet them in person at some point later on and hearing more about what their publication means to them and how their treatment at Chestnut far exceeds their experience being published in other places. But I give a close second to the fact that I work with mind-blowingly amazing people who have found time in their busy, overcommitted lives to be here and create this, all of this.
HOPKINSON: Where can we send submissions?
PICONE: Through our Submittable link.
HOPKINSON: If someone has a question, how can they contact you?
PICONE: The easiest way would be either to use the Contact Us form on our site, or to email me: maria@chestnutreview.com. Please do make sure you have read through our submission guidelines thoroughly before that point.
HOPKINSON: Is there anything exciting coming up you’d like to mention?
PICONE: We just got back from a lovely domestic retreat for longform writing in Ithaca, NY, so I’m abuzz with my own creative energy as well as the high of sharing space with other talented writers who just maybe got what they need from our long weekend. We’re planning on renting an even bigger booth this year for AWP in March, so please come by and see us if you happen to be in Chicago. Likewise, I’m anticipating the Winter issue that will be out in January; we have already accepted one fantastic work of creative nonfiction and our staff will soon be meeting to discuss the shortlists in prose and poetry and accept the rest of the slate!
Click here to read submission guidelines.
- SUBMISSION DEADLINE: We have four reading periods a year, but we are always open! The next reading period deadline is Dec 31, 2026.
- FORMAT: Online, print (in our yearly anthology), audio, etc.
- SUBMISSION FEE: Free for flash fiction and CNF (1 piece of 1,000 words), poetry (up to three poems), prose for Black and Indigenous writers, and up to 20 pieces of art. $5 for prose submissions (1,001-5,000 words) or for 4-6 poem packets.
- PAYMENT: $120
- ISSUE FREQUENCY: Quarterly on the 15th of January, April, July, and October
- AVERAGE RESPONSE TIME: 30 days (usually less)
- SUBMISSION METHOD: Submittable
- SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS: Yes
- FORMS: Fiction, Non-fiction, Poetry, Artwork
- LISTINGS: Duotrope, Chill Subs, CLMP
- SOCIAL MEDIA: Bluesky, Instagram, YouTube
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