"In Summer I resolve to remember my existence / I watch the fruit rotting on the counter" from one of our incredible finalists, "June Poem" by Alaina Craig. Read the whole #NaPoMo Issue for free: issuu.com/ironhorserev...
Iron Horse Literary Review 🐴
@ironhorselitrev.bsky.social
Literary journal based out of Texas Tech University. We publish fiction, poetry, and nonfiction in 3 print issues & 3 e-issues every year. Email: ihlr.mail@gmail.com Submit: ironhorse.submittable.com
"because the fox/ is already dead and I've been taught/ not to waste" - Todd Davis, Winner of our #NaPoMo Contest Getting back into our NaPoMo Issue with our Winning poem! Read the rest for free at: issuu.com/ironhorserev...
We're so excited to reveal the cover to our annual #NaPoMo Issue! This is a free digital issue with the winner and runners up of our 18th NaPoMo Contest issuu.com/ironhorserev...
"Who can explain why angels love damage, kneel/at destruction's pews?" - Ivy Raff A poem in IHLR 28.1. Is it about an electric burner? Love? Devotion? Read it and we can discuss Order your copy: ironhorse.submittable.com
"I imagine you sitting across from me at the table and saying, Please eat a little more form me. A roll and butter. Please." - Teresa Milbrodt, Sanctuaries of Butter A story from IHLR 28.1. Read this so we can cry about pastries together :( Order your copy: ironhorse.submittable.com
"A deer nearly broke her head on the reflective glass/ as though she'd been trying to leap back into herself." - Emily Light, "Inside" It's Poetry Month, so here's another great poem from IHLR 28.1. Order your copy here: ironhorse.submittable.com
Tomorrow is the last day to submit to our Prose Chapbook Contest! Send us your collections of fiction or nonfiction! We're excited to read your work! ironhorse.submittable.com
We're extending the deadline for our Prose Chapbook Contest until March 25th. We hope you'll send us your fiction or nonfiction collections. We can't wait to read them! ironhorse.submittable.com
Free Day for our Open Issue is here! Accepting limited submissions of prose and poetry. ironhorse.submittable.com/submit/9389f...
Free Submit Day is here!! Will close automatically when our cap is met. ironhorse.submittable.com/submit/d170a...
"A nameless pain throbs where I was severed from my mother’s body, an extension of/ the ache of the mother’s body being severed from God’s kingdom" - Svetlana Litvinchuk, "The Bees Have Always Known" from IHLR 28.1 Link to our your copy: ironhorse.submittable.com
"It came from a hotel, confirming a room-for-two booked in her husband’s name. But when the night passed and his wife wasn’t the one invited, it pushed her Mama out the door." - Marc Dickinson, "Safe Space" A great piece that we're sure you'll love! Link to order: ironhorse.submittable.com
In IHLR 28.1 we've got two pieces from Beatriz Brenes Mora: her story "How to Make Tamales After Lucía," and an installment of our interview series "From the Horses Mouth" We hope that you'll love both pieces! Link to order: ironhorse.submittable.com
Free Submit Day for our Open Issue is February 15th! The portal will open at 9 AM CST and will close automatically when we reach our cap. Link will be in our bio! #LitMag #WritersOfInstagram
We’re excited to announce the results of our 2026 NaPoMo Contest! Winner: “Alverdia Finds a Fox in the Neighbor’s Trap” by Todd Davis Check the images for Runners Up and Finalists! Congrats to everyone! Our NaPoMo Issue will release later this year.
Gates are Open! We’re accepting submissions for our Open Issue! Gates are Open! We’re accepting submissions for our Open Issue! Send us your best poems, fiction, or nonfiction! Deadline: March 15 Link: ironhorse.submittable.com
Y'all mind if I just show off the cover to our 2025 Chapbook Prize Winner? Love in the Key of Cobra by Katie Kemple! Full of incredible poems that we're all so excited to share with y'all. Order your copy via ironhorse.submittable.com/submit/21471...
We’re excited to announce the results of our 2025 Long Story Contest! Our winner is: "Building 2667" (Fiction) by Adam Straus! Congratulations! Slide to see our finalists. It was really a hard decision, but we loved all these pieces and had some heated debates.
Prose Chapbook Contest Submissions are OPEN! SenProse Chapbook Contest Submissions are OPEN! Send us your collection of short stories or essays, novella, or lyric essay. $1,000 prize for the winner & 15 copies of their chapbook Deadline: March 15 Submit via: ironhorse.submittable.com
Happy Holidays from the IHLR Staff! We're closing up the Iron Horse office for Winter Break, but we'll still check in on our social media accounts. Our latest issues, IHLR 27.2 and our Chapbook, just shipped. In January, we'll be posting info about our Open Issue submissions!
"Dirty Harry is what you called yourself. And Jeezus did you live up to it." from Make That a Double by Max Talley. This story was a RIDE. Love getting something this playful in our submissions. Read our Deception Issue here: ironhorse.submittable.com/submit/21485...
"It doesn't surprise me that writers today, after all this history, feel a holy obligation to anchor literature on solid ground. Our work feels ever more critical." - Leslie Jill Patterson Order yours: ironhorse.submittable.com/submit/21485...
"There will be enough/ bickering over the small bounty" by Onna Solomon Another great poem from our Deception Issue. Order here: ironhorse.submittable.com/submit/21485...
"don’t we always cast ourselves—//or the ones we love most—as the victims,/ the ones most sinned against." by Jesse Breite This poem really stuck with us. We hope y'all like it too! Read the rest in our Deception Issue! Order here: ironhorse.submittable.com/submit/21485...
"Can you recall/ what you did after your biggest/ heartbreak? I ground my teeth" - "To the Bereaved and the Betrayed" by Rachel Morgan Read the rest of this beautiful poem in our Deception Issue! Order your copy via ironhorse.submittable.com #LitMag #PoetrySpotlight
Sun's setting on our Toy's Submissions! Tomorrow's the last day to submit! Send us your best writing!
One Week left to submit to our TOYS Issue! Get those submissions in by November 17! Submit at: ironhorse.submittable.com
We’re still accepting submissions for our TOYS Issue! Send us poems, stories, or essays that play with language, form, and memory. Deadline: Nov 15 Submit via ironhorse.submittable.com
Free Submit Day is here!! Will close automatically when our cap is met. ironhorse.submittable.com/submit/8756a...
