Submission open March 1 – April 30, 2026
The Mid-Atlantic Review, a publication of Washington D.C.-based literary organization Day Eight, is pleased to open a call for Poems of U.S. History, to publish summer 2026 connected to the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The editors seek:
- Poems that tell stories of figures and events in U.S. history, particularly poems that share compelling narratives of famous, lesser-known or unknown, and minority perspectives;
- Poems that give voice to individuals from U.S. history, famous, lesser-known or unknown, and minority perspectives, including distant family members or communities commonly excluded from histories;
- Poems that express the study of U.S. history, the Declaration of Independence, or the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
The editors are looking for poems that illuminate a specific moment on the timeline of U.S. History, with preference for work grounded in historical reality over speculative histories.
Works will be selected by Carolivia Herron and Robert Bettmann. Carolivia Herron is a writer of adult and children’s literature, a scholar of African-American Judaica, a professor of Classics at Howard University, and an Advisory Editor of the Mid-Atlantic Review. Robert Bettmann is the managing editor of the Mid-Atlantic Review and co-editor with Susan Meehan of the interfaith poetry anthology, Falling Leaves, published in 2019 by Day Eight, 2019.
To submit, visit the Day Eight submittable at the link: https://dayeight.submittable.com/submit
Visit the Mid-Atlantic Review magazine website at the link: https://midatlanticreview.com/
Selected works will be published in the online magazine in May and June and a group of poems from the online published special section will also be included in the Mid-Atlantic Review 2026 print annual.