About West Trade Review
West Trade Review is an imprint of Iron Oak Editions and is published quarterly (one print edition each spring and an online quarterly each summer, fall, and winter). We strive to put forth the best contemporary poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction (personal essays/memoir), and publish a mix of established and up and coming writers/artists.
Work from our journal has been selected for inclusion in Best American Essays, Best Debut Short Stories (PEN/Richard J. Dau Prize), Best of the Net, and Best Small Fictions, and we regularly nominate writers for all major prizes including Pushcart, Best of the Net, Best American Series, and others.
Our mission is to perpetuate the work of artists both well known and yet-to-be-known, simultaneously enriching our world through the written word. We strive to reflect diversity in style, content and perspective throughout poetry and prose and seek to publish work that is authentically human, which for us means beautiful, messy, and complicated; work that is fearless, honest, and unafraid of judgment because that's where truth lies; work that is carefully crafted and takes artistic risks.
All work chosen for publication in our journal is from our slush pile with the exception of one poet and one prose writer selected for interview in our annual spring print edition. Although we offer expedited response and personalized feedback at a cost, free general submissions are always available the first week of each month from April to December. At other times there is a $3 submission charge to cover administrative costs.
We are committed to the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and want to hear from underrepresented voices of all types (cis and trans women, gender non-conforming, agender, non-binary, genderqueer, those who are two-spirit, people with disabilities, BIPOC, and LGBTQIA+).
We have recently featured poetry, prose, and interviews with Lilly Dancyger, Athena Dixon, Emily Hall, Richard Blanco, Robert Wood Lynn, Kirstin Allio, Luke Johnson, Dylan Krieger, Arisa White, John Amen, and Sonya Vatomsky. Recent fiction writers include Emily Hall, David Obuchowski, and Seth Clabough. We have also featured the artwork of Sophia Heymans, Patrick Dougher, Nika Novich, Julie Heffernan, Duy Huynh, Raina Gentry, Carlos Estevez, Sophia Heymans, Jamea Richmond-Edwards, Segun Aiyesan, Kelechi Nwaneri, and Tonia Nneji as well as the photography of Karina Juarez. We have also published interviews with each of these visual artists.
Although the roots of the journal go back a number of years, West Trade Review was founded in 2009 by Ken Harmon and based in Charlotte, NC. In 2020, a core group of editors, Ken Harmon, Kelly Harrison, Dan White, and Mary Sutton came together and the journal quickly expanded to include book reviews, novel excerpts, creative nonfiction, contests, regular interviews, and visual poetics and began to publish quarterly. While there is a small contingent of individuals in Charlotte, the majority of staff are scattered across the U.S.
After successfully growing and building their journal audience, a core group of West Trade editors decided that the next logical step was to continue that growth together as a press, Iron Oak Editions, and to begin publication of novels, short story collections, poetry collections, and nonfiction memoir. Iron Oak Editions first opened for submissions in January of 2024.
© 2016 West Trade Review
Editor: Ken Harmon
Prose Editor: D.W. White
Associate Prose Editors: Melissa Goodnight, Nicole Gantz, Michael Harper, Shirley Dees, and Devyn Andrews
Poetry Editor: Mikal Wix
Associate Poetry Editors: Claire Jussel, Allisa Cherry, Tom Hunley, Karen Sherk Chio, and Isaac Randel
Special Projects Editor: Samantha Long
Reviews Editor: Thomas Johnson
Book Design: Claudia Sanchez
Art Editor & Webmaster: Ken Harmon
Website Assistants: Lindzey Jacoby, and Briana Fowler
West Trade Visual Poetics: Sarah Edmonds
Audio Exclusives: Victoria Chan and Carson Peaden
Social Media Team: Sarah Archer, Cela Austin, Carson Peaden, Robert Ray, Samuel Argueta, and Natalie Brault
© 2018 West Trade Review
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Photo by Dominic Sansotta
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