[Michael Juster]

One of the recommended paper subjects for my students this semester is to write a review of a recent formally oriented collection of poetry. Accordingly, I'm sure they would welcome brief notes about books you recommend as well as your comments about high quality journals that might accept unsolicited reviews from aspiring writers. Thanks in advance.

[Jodie Reyes]

I know Rattle accepts unsolicited reviews, and they don't have biases vs form; Felix Stefanile has appeared in their pages. Verse does seek reviewers for books and journals that publishers send them; I don't see why they would mind receiving reviews, though I guess it would be better to query. About a year ago, I got an email from the then-Review Editor of Gulf Coast , the University of Houston journal, stating that they wanted to expand their book review section and were actively seeking reviews. I can't find such a call on their website, but they still have a review editor. I suppose your students could query them. In any case, here's the call from a year ago:


Gulf Coast, the literary magazine published at the University of Houston, has expanded its book review section and is actively seeking essay-reviews (1200-1400 words) from writers nationwide.

Gulf Coast publishes 4-6 reviews of fiction, poetry, and non-fiction per volume (8-12 per year). In an effort to bring our readers’ attention to new and unknown talent, we focus on first books published by small, independent and university presses. We believe we show our taste through our enthusiasms, and that reviews should be an occasion for making an artistic statement, not a pedagogical one. Your essay-reviews should speak with a strong, personal voice, a constructive sensibility, and a sharp and expansive mind.
All submitted reviews and other editorial correspondence should be sent to:

Aaron Reynolds, Review Editor

Gulf Coast

Department of English

University of Houston

Houston, TX 77204-3012

Special Note: If possible, please list an email address on your cover letter and/or review.

Gulf Coast does not read from May 1 to August 15. We currently pay one (1) contributor's copy for published reviews.
Thank you,

Aaron Reynolds

Gulf Coast Review Editor


Finally, Pleiades , Georgia Review , and Harvard Review , while they technically don't accept unsolicited reviews, do accept queries.

[This message has been edited by Jodie Reyes (edited February 19, 2005).]

[J. Werlin]

Dear Mr. Juster,

I'd like to invite your students--and whoever else happens to be reading this--to submit reviews to Euphony. We're a literary magazine affiliated with the University of Chicago. We've published such poets as Mark Strand, Donald Justice and Srikanth Reddy (Charles Simic will be in our summer issue) and we'd like to start publishing more reviews than we do at present. Our standards are quite high, but we'll give serious consideration to any book reviews that come our way.

Please submit to euphony@uchicago.edu or check out our website at euphony.uchicago.edu.

Yours,
J. Werlin
Poetry Editor

[Michael Juster]

J: Thanks. My folks are off for the summer, but I'll remember next year. Mike