The Shore

ABOUT

The Shore is an online poetry quarterly founded in 2019 by Emma DePanise and colleagues, now edited by Sarah Brockhaus, Caroline Chavatel, and John A Nieves alongside a rotating masthead of interview, review, blog, and social media editors. It publishes four themed-by-season issues a year and has built a reputation for favoring poems that lean "cutting, strange, and daring" — work engaged with liminality and the instability of naming — over more conventional lyric fare. The magazine maintains an active Substack newsletter and social presence (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads), suggesting a younger, internet-native readership and contributor base.

Submissions are free and handled entirely by email (not a submissions manager): send 3–5 poems as a single .doc/.docx attachment with a specific subject-line format, a cover letter, and a third-person bio in the body. Reading periods run in fixed two-month windows at the start of each quarter (Jan 1–Mar 1, Apr 1–Jun 1, Jul 1–Sep 1, Oct 1–Dec 1), and the magazine does not hold submissions in between — so timing matters. One submission per reading period is enforced, simultaneous submissions are allowed with prompt notification, and previously published work (including on personal websites or social media) is not accepted. AI-generated work is explicitly barred. Response times are unusually fast for a literary journal — typically 1–10 days, rarely exceeding 60 — thanks to weekly editorial meetings. No payment is mentioned; former contributors must wait a year before resubmitting.