West Branch

ABOUT

West Branch is the literary magazine of Bucknell University, founded in 1977 and published through the Stadler Center for Poetry & Literary Arts. It has built a reputation as a poetry-forward journal that also runs fiction, translation, essays, and book reviews, with recurring features like "Split the Lark" (a survey column on contemporary poets) and occasional themed folios (e.g., a Spring/Summer 2027 nonfiction folio on food and appetite). The magazine's identity leans toward serious, craft-attentive lyric and narrative work rather than experimental extremes, and it has a long-standing presence in the university-affiliated small-press ecosystem alongside places like Ploughshares and The Missouri Review.

The journal publishes two issues a year (current issue on the site is No. 111, Spring/Summer 2026), and reading periods and submission mechanics are handled off-site (historically via Submittable), so writers should check the magazine's own submissions page for current windows and any reading-fee details rather than relying on this scrape, which doesn't show guidelines directly. West Branch pays contributors — standard for journals in its tier — though the exact rate isn't listed here. Themed folios (like the nonfiction call mentioned for the 2027 issue) are edited by guest or feature editors and announced with their own deadlines, so following the site or its call-for-submissions posts is the most reliable way to catch specific opportunities.